rcrevolution, it might surprise you to hear that the vast majority of people purchase a card for what it CAN do, not for what it MIGHT do with overclocking ;)
Catweazle 140 Grandad Team Colleague
JonnyBlazexx 0 Light Poster
Actually there is zero difference CURRENTLY between pci-e and AGP 8X. No difference. None. 0%. pci-e may have 4 times as much bandwidth as AGP 8X, but todays applications don't even use all the bandwidth that AGP has to offer. Obviously in a couple years this may change, but currently the pci-e has no performance increase over AGP.
I am going to have to disagree with you :lol:
My friend has a new dell xps with a radeon x800 pro pci-e card. And while there are considerations to take into the equation such as that he has ddr2, his computer smokes mine in 3Dmark and all other 3d tests, (My 3500+ owns his pentium 3.2ghz, my memory bandwidth is sooo much greater than his thanks to htt of socket 939, i have raptor harddrives vs his 7200 rpm 160's.)
pretty much it comes down to my system owns his. I could NOT figure out why his system was scoring well over 800+ points over mine in 3dmark, when I am using another friends agp x800 pro. While the systems are not a same comparison, i do believe it is fair to say that in all aspects, other than the pci-e, there is no explanation for how his system dominates mine ( when mine performs better in just about every way other than video). I realize your point, that software has not been coded to take full advantage of the new pci-e technology. However, I do believe it has been proven that there is an advantage to it, even if that advantage is not as great as it should be with the technology.
Just wanted to bring another perspective to this.
JonnyBlaze
JonnyBlazexx 0 Light Poster
I dont even care, I just finished ordering a 6800GT and a 200Gb Sata HDD, my gaming pc is finished
I am glad you went with the 6800gt, good choice!
I also like 200gb harddrives.. I dont know what the obsession is.. maybe its just because for the money I cant think of a better performing/high capacity harddrive. I hope its western digital or a maxtor. Oh yes.. 8mb cache is a must.
I have used a 200gb maxtor 7200rpm, 8mb cache and I found that to be an awesome harddrive. After getting my raptors though, it got moved to my brothers new computer. I also use a 200gb maxtor in my xbox. haha.
I am actually probably going to buy a 200gb maxtor sata for backup/extra storage on my computer now.
oenone 0 Junior Poster in Training
I am going to have to disagree with you :lol:
My friend has a new dell xps with a radeon x800 pro pci-e card. And while there are considerations to take into the equation such as that he has ddr2, his computer smokes mine in 3Dmark and all other 3d tests, (My 3500+ owns his pentium 3.2ghz, my memory bandwidth is sooo much greater than his thanks to htt of socket 939, i have raptor harddrives vs his 7200 rpm 160's.)
pretty much it comes down to my system owns his. I could NOT figure out why his system was scoring well over 800+ points over mine in 3dmark, when I am using another friends agp x800 pro. While the systems are not a same comparison, i do believe it is fair to say that in all aspects, other than the pci-e, there is no explanation for how his system dominates mine ( when mine performs better in just about every way other than video). I realize your point, that software has not been coded to take full advantage of the new pci-e technology. However, I do believe it has been proven that there is an advantage to it, even if that advantage is not as great as it should be with the technology.Just wanted to bring another perspective to this.
JonnyBlaze
I have seen the benchmarks, In all applications including 3dmark and aquamark there was less than 1% performance difference between AGP and pci-e (some were FASTER on AGP). Was your friend running it at different resolutions or settings than you? Does he have MORE ram? Also, make sure he has a X800 PRO not an X800 XT video card. Like you, I see no reason why his system should outperform yours.
JonnyBlazexx 0 Light Poster
blazexx dont you think getting a already overclocked video card isnt a good idea? it is already extra strain added to the card and it doesn't allow for much overclocking if you want to do it
When you say already overclocked, are you reffering to a card like the BFG 6800gt OC'ed.? That is the card that I have, and I honestly love the hell out of it. I guess I just appreciate that it does everything that I need it to. Other than not being able to max antialiasing.. I never have any troubles at all. And it does overclock somewhat substantially (bfg overclocks it from the factory a stock 20mhz, but they do put considerable cooling on the card itself) I am trying to think of my max overclock.. it certainly isnt 150 mhz though. That cannot be done without additional cooling and a voltage increase by flashing the card. i think the max that i have hit on my card is 430mhz with a memory of 1.15ghz (150mhz over) but the stock normal clock for the core is suposed to be 350 i believ? So 430mhz is only 80mhz overclock. not that awesome. But again, I do not need nor wish to overclock the video card. It isnt as fun as overclocking my cpu! :cool:
JonnyBlazexx 0 Light Poster
I have seen the benchmarks, In all applications including 3dmark and aquamark there was less than 1% performance difference between AGP and pci-e (some were FASTER on AGP). Was your friend running it at different resolutions or settings than you? Does he have MORE ram? Also, make sure he has a X800 PRO not an X800 XT video card. Like you, I see no reason why his system should outperform yours.
You are right about the numbers. They make me glad that I didnt wait for a pci-e capable board. By the time that pci-e is really used to its fullest, it will be time for a new computer anyways! hah
I know, i am dumbfounded. I do not understand. He has 1gb of ram, but again, I have ocz enhanced bandwidth ram. I have like twice the bandwidth that his system allows. I just cant figure it out. I am pretty sure he has the pro.. but you know what, maybe he has the xt? I just know he does havent the xt platinum edition. That could be why.. hmm
Catweazle 140 Grandad Team Colleague
Goodness, please don't draw assumptions about the comparitive performance of display cards unless they are being tested in identical systems! Tested in motherboards which provide BOTH AGP and PCI-E, the PCI-E versions of cards have proved a tiny tad slower in todays games. Future games, which make better use of available bandwidth, will perform better on PCI-E versions of display cards.
oenone 0 Junior Poster in Training
Yeah, theres too many variables for you to compare 2 graphics cards in 2 systems that are radically different.
rcrevolution 0 Posting Whiz
theres what I got, the HDD was a maxtor 200GB sata, newegg has it it is $161 for retail, has a liquid motor for quiet operation and says it is ideal for gaming and performance.
the video card was a BFG 6800GT OC, its core is 370Mhz and ram is 1000Mhz. it has dual fans on it.
vegeoku 0 Newbie Poster
Hey, I'm looking for a simi good graphics card for low cost. I'm kinda new to the whole thign and don't really understand all the fine points of it all. I was reading through here and looking for good cards you have suggested, and the 6800gt is so far out of my price range it isnt funny. I was looking at the 5200 ultra from PNY, i noticed someone on here said dont get anything from PNY so I'm not sure. I also noted someone said I could get a 9800 for 100? I was looking around and the cheapest I found a 9800 was 150.
Does anyone know of a good card for around 50-100 USD? I'm not an uber gamer, I'm not looking for anything great, just soemthing better than my Voodoo2 card, which means just about anything and everything.
I also had a question on the memory on the video cards, does having say 256mb make it faster than a card with only 128mb or what? I was looking around at some fx5200 cards and ntoiced a 5200 ultra 128mb card was the same as a 5200 256mb card, would the ultra be better than the 256mb or what? Or should I look for a completely different card? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
rcrevolution 0 Posting Whiz
if u have a decent pc u can go with a 9600XT for $130, or nvidia has the 6600GT if u can afford it, I think it is like $250
There really isnt anything good for only $50-100 today the way games are going, the most decent card I have seen for the cheapest price is the 5700LE (256MB) for $119
Coconut Monkey 40 Inside your PC Team Colleague
the most decent card I have seen for the cheapest price is the 5700LE (256MB) for $119
Which is hardly decent anyway!
Steer clear from budget cards with 256Mb of memory - they typcially perform slower than their 128Mb brethren due to reduced clockspeeds, and the extra memory is useless for such a low-end card.
What games do you plan on playing and what are the rest of your system specs? If you're just after some extra frame-rates in old classics that your Voodoo 2 was starting to struggle in, then an FX5200 of some description would be an enormous performance boost (but we need to know what kind of system you currently have).
If you plan on putting some money on recently released games, then I suggest you start saving for a more comprehensive upgrade!
rcrevolution 0 Posting Whiz
the 9600XT out performs the 5200 and is only $130 which isnt too bad,and my old 9600XT was able to power through HL2 on everything high
vegeoku 0 Newbie Poster
Well currently my computer is running on Win98se, has somewhere around 30gb of storage, with my old Voodoo2 card. I believe its a 400Mhz CPU with an AMD mobo and 96mb of ram.
Before I'm getting my video card I'm planning to upgrade my motherboard to a Soyo with around a 2.0Ghz processor. I'm planning to also up my ram to probably aorund 512mb and get new faster larger harddrives.
I'm really just wanting to play anything, not things really highend, maybe CS, EQ and other games liek that. Really right now even low end games are slow.
rcrevolution 0 Posting Whiz
the reason I am saying go ATI is because if memory serves me right the 5200 does not work with directx 9.0c only 8.1 (i might be wrong) but the 9600XT is still a video card which isnt afraid to run anything that is thrown at it. I believe newegg has them for about $120-$150, and I had Directx 9.0c installed with my 9600XT
Coconut Monkey 40 Inside your PC Team Colleague
Well currently my computer is running on Win98se, has somewhere around 30gb of storage, with my old Voodoo2 card. I believe its a 400Mhz CPU with an AMD mobo and 96mb of ram.
Before I'm getting my video card I'm planning to upgrade my motherboard to a Soyo with around a 2.0Ghz processor. I'm planning to also up my ram to probably aorund 512mb and get new faster larger harddrives.
I'm really just wanting to play anything, not things really highend, maybe CS, EQ and other games liek that. Really right now even low end games are slow.
You're looking at a much more comprehensive upgrade to support what you want. You need a new motherboard, CPU, and replacement RAM (you might be able to use the old stuff, but it's not recommended!). Chances are you will also need a new power supply and possibly a case.
To couple with a 400Mhz CPU, I would just look for a second hand Geforce of some description. There's no point going higher than a Geforce 4 MX for a PC of those specifications.
vegeoku 0 Newbie Poster
If you would note from my previous post, I said i was upgrading just about everything, and I'm even putting it in a new case. I'm getting all the other stuff before the video card, I'm just planning ahead.
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