Need a good card for budget build

DJORedDragon · Dec 12, 2005, 03:02 AM

I am building a new comp this christmas and need a a vid card under $200 as my budget is $950, I will use ATi only.the 2 I am looking at are the X800 Pro or the X1600XT
X1600XT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131317
X800Pro: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102466

I would like your guys opinions about which one will best suite me.

***Zardon*** · Dec 12, 2005, 04:27 AM

What about the GTO ?

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/...0gto/index.htm

DJORedDragon · Dec 12, 2005, 05:05 AM

I'm leaning towards the X1600 as it has SM 3.0 support, and I'd like to play Quake 4 and Battlefield 2 @ full settings, and have a card that will run UT07 when it's released. Your thoughts on this?

SSXeon · Dec 12, 2005, 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJORedDragon

I'm leaning towards the X1600 as it has SM 3.0 support, and I'd like to play Quake 4 and Battlefield 2 @ full settings, and have a card that will run UT07 when it's released. Your thoughts on this?

Alot of ppl bash the X1600XT, but i dont know why. It will play Most every game @ 1280 16x HQAF, cept FEAR and COD2 (1024 16x HQAF). If i dont get nuff money for christmas im going to pick up a X1600XT myself. The selling point for me is the decent 1280 performance and the HQ AF, SM3.0 is nice to have but IMHO its not a HUGE deal. Heres its performance in newer titles:

(Performance Mainstream)
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...ames-2005.html

Good luck.

SSXeon

e!i · Dec 12, 2005, 06:38 AM

I will use ati only, thats like saying i'll only take left hand turns, which means you go round and round in circles forever.

H3X4D3C1M4L · Dec 12, 2005, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by e!i

I will use ati only, thats like saying i'll only take left hand turns, which means you go round and round in circles forever.

...been working fine for me, for I don't know how many years now...

TheBoss84 · Dec 12, 2005, 04:05 PM

It all depends what games you play. SM 3.0 is still new and not many games have it and the diferenes between SM 3.0 And SM 2.0 are few. So if you want to play current games like far cry, UT, half life and all those games i would recomend the x800GTO not the PRO because the GTO has awesome overclock cababilities. If you want to play games like splinter cell CT or other games that support SM 3.0 buy the x1600xt

Intel pentium 4 1.6Ghz

Intel 845EPI 4xAGP

Connect 3d radeon 9200 SE OC (275/440)

512mb ram (266)

H3X4D3C1M4L · Dec 12, 2005, 04:11 PM

Actually TBH Sm3.0 games don't even see much improvement over SM2/2.1 in most situations, besides, not enough to warrant spending more on a card just for that.

X800 series cards, esp. the GT or GTO one would be a good deal

**Vikingod** · Dec 12, 2005, 04:35 PM

Big difference between SM3 and SM2, companies still program for sm3. Many games who have SM3 support will drop you to sm1.1 if you dont have a SM3 card. SM3 has better support for HDR lighting, something that is big for future games.

H3X4D3C1M4L · Dec 12, 2005, 04:37 PM

Yeah but by then budget cards now won't be able to play those at uber lowest resolutions anyway and we'll all have to upgrade so why not save a few bucks now in preparation for that? hehe