[eyeball]

Hi all,

now that i have settled on my P5b Deluxe motherboard i am going to have to upgrade my graphics card to PCIe
like i said i dont play games, but i am an emulation fan, PSX, N64 ect so i want a half decent card, and if the rest of my system is gonna be great the graphics may as well be too. also it has to support dual output as i have 2 monitors.

I have narrowed it down to the ATI Sapphire X1950XT 256MB

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/in...duct_uid=119441

it seems really good, especially for what i want but there is also the X1950 PRO 512MB which costs a bit more but has double the VRAM

http://www.ebuyer.co.../product/126774

does anyone know which one would be better?

thank you

[Zxian]

Can I recommend an nVidia card...? I've dealt with ATI cards for the past three years, and their driver support is the pits.

An nVidia 8800GTS is a bit more pricey, but far better in terms of lack-of-headaches.

[ripken204]

i too would go nvidia.
the 8800gts 320mb costs a little too much for him tho so get a 7900gs/8600gts.

[nmX.Memnoch]

ripken204, on Aug 19 2007, 06:48 PM, said:

the 8800gts 320mb costs a little too much for him tho so get a 7900gs/8600gts.

For the money that a good 7900GS would cost you could just go with a 7950GT. NewEgg has the BFG 7950GT 256MB for ~$180.

XFX 7900GS - 256MB 256-bit DDR3 / 450MHz Core / 1320MHz Memory / 20 pixel pipelines
Or
BFG 7950GT - 256MB 256-bit DDR3 / 565MHz Core / 1430MHz Memory / 24 pixel pipelines


They're the same price...

I 3rd the NVIDIA suggestion though.

EDIT: Yeah, yeah...the first one is AGP but my point still stands.

This post has been edited by nmX.Memnoch: 19 August 2007 - 06:59 PM

[Griefage]

ever try omega drivers? i've held on to this 9700 pro forever, they have done quite well for me

when the x38 boards come out and i'm satisfied that its a solid chipset then i'll have no choice!

[ripken204]

nmX.Memnoch, on Aug 19 2007, 08:52 PM, said:

ripken204, on Aug 19 2007, 06:48 PM, said:

the 8800gts 320mb costs a little too much for him tho so get a 7900gs/8600gts.

For the money that a good 7900GS would cost you could just go with a 7950GT. NewEgg has the BFG 7950GT 256MB for ~$180.

XFX 7900GS - 256MB 256-bit DDR3 / 450MHz Core / 1320MHz Memory / 20 pixel pipelines
Or
BFG 7950GT - 256MB 256-bit DDR3 / 565MHz Core / 1430MHz Memory / 24 pixel pipelines


They're the same price...

I 3rd the NVIDIA suggestion though.

EDIT: Yeah, yeah...the first one is AGP but my point still stands.

he's not getting it from newegg..

http://www.ebuyer.co.../product/125936 vs http://www.ebuyer.co.../product/128026

[nmX.Memnoch]

Considering that he was already looking at spending £105, going up to £140 isn't that much. Would he save some getting the 7900GS? Sure. Is it the better recommendation. Not in my opinion.

[eyeball]

thanks guys, i dont want a card that is too powerful for 2 reasons..
1) i dont play games much so it will never be fully utilised
2) im not sure my psu's can handle everything this setup will have

anyway back to the point, i really like the look of that X1950XT if it comes back in stock and im not 100% sure on why i would want an Nvidia over an ATI, as they have always been great for me. But if anyone can convince me otherwise im willing to listen.
Also i would say £110 is the most i will spend on a card, of course the cheaper the better but lets not be too skimpy or il just regret it later
cheers

[eyeball]

anyone please?
iv got the cash ready now and im dying to get this system up and running
anyone at all got anything to say on this?

[slipk487]

i am using a 7600gt right now. i have not had any problems when running emulators. i think that even at 7900 is a bit over kill as it is the top of the 7 series. if you into watching videos a lot id recommend the 8600gt. the newer pure video helps decode video so the processor doesn't have to do all the work.

[eyeball]

slipk487, on Aug 20 2007, 07:39 AM, said:

if you into watching videos a lot id recommend the 8600gt. the newer pure video helps decode video so the processor doesn't have to do all the work.

thats interesting, thats one of the reasons i have 2 monitors as im always watching something on one of them, what is that feature called exactly?
thanks

[3aces]

right honestly....get hold of the 1650 pro..... for emulators that will do........i can run ps2 emu alright with that!! and n64 mame...... and it dont kill me on watts either!!

[puntoMX]

First, we need to know a bit more about your system.
Can you give us some specs please, like Motherboard type and Power Supply (how much Amperes does it say on the 12volt line(s))?
What kind of screens do you use (brand and model number)?

The x1950xx/79x0xx are nice cards but power-hungry and some cards don’t come with DVI to VGA adaptors...

[eyeball]

right here goes, il post the finished pc specs:

2 X Hiper 580W Type-R PSU - Not sure about the 12V rails but each one has 4 so 8 in total

Asus P5B Deluxe Mobo

Q6600 Quad Core

4GB DDR2 800

4 X 400GB IDE HDD's

2 x 500GB SATA HDD's

1x 250GB SATA HDD

2x 40GB SATA HDD's

6 Case Fans + Controller

AND the Graphics card i am yet to decide on



thanks

This post has been edited by eyeball: 20 August 2007 - 01:48 PM

[puntoMX]

Okay, so enough power is here. Still we don’t know what screens are hooked up to your computer.

[eyeball]

sorry the screens are an Acer 19" model - AL1916

and a V7 20" model - S20PD

thanks

[puntoMX]

Okay, so you need a card that can support 2 DVI to VGA converters. I would go with the XFX 7900GS XXX 256MB GDDR3 256bit DVI HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card and an extra DVI to VGA converter. 69 Quit is a fair price and comes stock OCed so it will come close to a 7900GT, if not the same speed.

[eyeball]

thanks!

il do a bit of research on that card as i am willing to pay more, however if i can get it that cheap then thats fantastic
thanks puntoMX

--- EDIT ---

wow its like 2 or 3 fps behind the X1950XT and its loads cheaper, im very tempted, gonna download the manual and have a proper look.
thanks a lot

This post has been edited by puntoMX: 20 August 2007 - 02:46 PM

[puntoMX]

As you can see on Tomshardware page they perform almost the same, but remember that the XFX card I showed you has a core of 600MHz vs. 450MHz and memory of 1.6GHz vs. 1.32Ghz of the standard 7900GS.

I remember that I recommended some one an x1950GT a few weeks ago, that was more expensive then this one...

[eyeball]

you make a very convincing argument, im going for it, that card and 4GB of OCZ 6400 Gold
il post some pics when its done
thanks everyone