X1600PRO AGP OR X1600XT card?

bjdj82 · May 3, 2006, 05:22 PM

For my budget I have decided to get an X1600 card because I don't want to change my motherboard which is AGP. So the X1600 agp seems best for the purpose (and budget). It supports most of the new features in games and it's inexpensive but question's abound.

Apparantly there are more types of X1600 agp cards out there - a PRO and a XT version?

Then the questions about memory. Is 256 mb on the PRO card enough? Can you get an XT with less than 512?

Somebody help me out of this jungle of possibilities! What card should I get with how much memory?

Does the more expensive XT version make good on its price?

This newbie appreciates any help given!

bjdj82 · May 3, 2006, 05:52 PM

And the XT does come in an AGP version ... doesn't it?

Yousaif · May 3, 2006, 07:34 PM

I can't speak for the XT as I don't own one, but for my needs the X1600PRO with 256MB of RAM is perfectly fine. I've noticed some people having issues with the HIS version lately, especially on P4 systems, so you may want to check the rest of this forum for thos posts.

Main game I am playing right now is Star Wars: Empire at War and I can run at 1600 x 1200 at high settings with little or no trouble. When I run at 1280x1024 at full it doesn't even make the card heat up.

Tipstaff · May 3, 2006, 11:06 PM

The XT is faster due to higher clock rates for both the GPU and Memory (infact, the memory is clocked almost 2x over the Pros speed). The reason being is that the X1600 Pro uses DDR2, while the X1600XT uses DDR3 (which translates to 2x the memory bandwidth).

Of interest, you can find X1600 Pro cards with 512mb of ram, as well a ones that have an HDMI connector (Sapphire sells one actually). I've yet to see an X1600XT that has either of these 2 features.

In any case take a look at THIS review of the Sapphire X1600XT. In the test results they have the X1600 Pro, and as you can see the XT outperforms the Pro.

H3X4D3C1M4L · May 4, 2006, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

The XT is faster due to higher clock rates for both the GPU and Memory (infact, the memory is clocked almost 2x over the Pros speed). The reason being is that the X1600 Pro uses DDR2, while the X1600XT uses DDR3 (which translates to 2x the memory bandwidth).

Of interest, you can find X1600 Pro cards with 512mb of ram, as well a ones that have an HDMI connector (Sapphire sells one actually). I've yet to see an X1600XT that has either of these 2 features.

In any case take a look at THIS review of the Sapphire X1600XT. In the test results they have the X1600 Pro, and as you can see the XT outperforms the Pro.

Thats PCI-E though.... I don't think theres an AGP X1600XT

the big Firefly · May 4, 2006, 09:00 AM

get a 7800gs they also going for cheap now a days

bug77 · May 4, 2006, 09:27 AM

The XT is much faster (if it exists for AGP). But for that price, a 6600GT is a much better choice.
And 256MB is already too much for those cards, 512MB is a complete waste.

bjdj82 · May 4, 2006, 11:54 AM

So, what if I got a 6800GS - would that be the best choice within the price range? The 7800 are still an extra 100 bucks I don't have...

Yousaif · May 4, 2006, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bug77

The XT is much faster (if it exists for AGP). But for that price, a 6600GT is a much better choice.
And 256MB is already too much for those cards, 512MB is a complete waste.

The 1600PRO outperforms the 6600GT in most tests plus with AVIVO its a much prettier picture to look at.

The 6800GS would be a fine choice as well, but it doesn't support SM 3.0 and the 1600PRO does.

Tipstaff · May 4, 2006, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yousaif

The 6800GS would be a fine choice as well, but it doesn't support SM 3.0 and the 1600PRO does.

Actually, all 6xxx and 7xxx series Nvidia cards support SM3.0, and that includes the 6800GS.

Yousaif · May 5, 2006, 12:24 PM

whoops I stand corrected. I'd still go with a 1600PRO over a 6600GT.

Tipstaff · May 5, 2006, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yousaif

whoops I stand corrected. I'd still go with a 1600PRO over a 6600GT.

AGP version? Yes, unless you can find the X1600XT AGP, then I'd by it (or, um.. win one.. LOL). I know they were "supposded" to be out as of last month.. I've just yet to see one. I know suppliers are very, very particluar about stocking AGP cards these days.

H3X4D3C1M4L · May 6, 2006, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

AGP version? Yes, unless you can find the X1600XT AGP, then I'd by it (or, um.. win one.. LOL). I know they were "supposded" to be out as of last month.. I've just yet to see one. I know suppliers are very, very particluar about stocking AGP cards these days.

Yeah TBH I doubt we see an AGP X1600XT