Gainward 6800GS 512mb Golden Sample Vs ATi X850XT?

[silverback007]

I have a AMD 64 3000 on AGP and I want to update my ATi 9800 SE - I have seen the Gainward 6800GS 512mb Golden Sample and ATi X850XT, which both look great cards - however the ATi looks better in lab tests but lacks smartshader 3.0 - does anyone know if this will imapct games like BF2 or the upcoming FPS Cyrsis game. I'm an avid FPS fan and adore hours and hours of BF2 (addicted beyond belief).

I have also looked at the 7800GS - which is slightly over budget but what the heck only a little bit @ £215 (All prices come from overclockers.uk) is it worth the extra spend?

Plus I'm not sure what my PSU runs at - What power supply should I use for these cards - would a 600W from ebuyer @ £18 do the job.

I'm also gonna drop 2X1Gb of DDRMemory

 

[Adywebb]

I leave the question of graphics cards to those here that know about such things, but as regards PSU's I would have thought a 450W would do the job fine - however make sure you buy something of decent quality (an £18 jobbie from ebuyer isn't going to be)

Good makes include Seasonic/Hiper/Tagan/Enermax

 

[Reefsmoka]

A 7800GS definatly.

Dunno bout ur powersupply though, definatly dont get a cheapy no make thing from ebuyer. Go for one made by either Enermax, Antec, Tagan, Hiper, OCZ or seasonic if you can.

 

[floppybootstomp]

A 7800GS definatly.

Dunno bout ur powersupply though, definatly dont get a cheapy no make thing from ebuyer. Go for one made by either Enermax, Antec, Tagan, Hiper, OCZ or seasonic if you can.

Agreed

 

[psd99]

I'm also gonna drop 2X11Gb of DDRMemory

that will be superfast like lightning!

 

[TriplexDread]

Take the above as a major warning m8. Please dont spend £18 on a PSU or you will be just asking for trouble

 

[PotGuy]

7800gs all the way. You wont get a better agp card.

 

[silverback007]

Thanks for all your feedback - I'm gonna buy the following;

Gainward BLISS GeForce 7800 GS SILENT 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI
Corsair 2GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0 Kit (2x1GB)
Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU

One last question, does anyone know what the dimensions of the card are so I can make sure it fits in my case?

Cheers Peeps

 

[TriplexDread]

It should fit no problem. However you will be in for a surprise when you get it all new generation of GFX cards are huge

 

[silverback007]

Thanks TriplexDread, will order tonight

 

[silverback007]

Sorry need to wrack your brains again - bought the 7800GS OC 256mb BFG, however I am having serious problems playing BF2 - everytime I load a multi-player map on any video quality setting the game freezes and I have to power down my pc with the off switch.

I have downloaded and installed the correct driver 91.47 (I think) and installed the latest BF2 patch V1.4....prior to changing my graphics card I installed 2gb of ram and this worked like a dream with my old card ATi 9800SE.

With the grahics card I alsdo upgraded my psu to a £70 Tagan to give the new card a bit of extra juice - I can't understand why I can play the game at the highest settings 1900x1024 with everthing maxed out, but unable to play multi-player on the lowest settings :-(

Please help as I am one unhappy dude....