Recommendation Needed

[Chris]

I'm stow-away from nVidia. I'm currently using a Geforce FX 5600, however
I've heard that ATI is light years ahead of nVidia at this point. So I need
a recommendation.
My system setup looks as follows...

AMD 2700+
512 mbs PC3200 RAM
A7N8X motherboard
Geforce FX 5600

I'm looking at the new X800, or a high line Radeon card. Would the X800
beneift me enough to warrant the price difference?
How long should I wait to purchase the X800 so I don't have to get a loan to
pay for it?

Thanks guys!

 

[Conor Turton]

I'm stow-away from nVidia. I'm currently using a Geforce FX 5600, however
I've heard that ATI is light years ahead of nVidia at this point. So I need
a recommendation.
My system setup looks as follows...

AMD 2700+
512 mbs PC3200 RAM
A7N8X motherboard
Geforce FX 5600

I'm looking at the new X800, or a high line Radeon card. Would the X800
beneift me enough to warrant the price difference?
How long should I wait to purchase the X800 so I don't have to get a loan to
pay for it?

Work on about 6 months. The best bet is to stay a step behind the top
end gear so you've something that'll play most things you can throw at
it and you still have money in your pocket.

 

[Sham B]

Games like Far Cry seem to be almost as dependent on 1gb of ram as they are on a fast processor.

that 1gb doesnt neccessarily give you faster performance, but it prevents those annoying 0.5s pauses
in the game, which would really kill game immersion, X800 at 200fps or no X800

My 'play machine' now has a 9800 pro (oced to 450/380, not to be tried without an after sales cooler
if you want to have a long lasting card!), 1Gb, XP2800, and seems reasonably good at all games
except one (lock-on, which is a real processor hog - 25fps average at medium/high settings unless
you have the absolute latest gear). the rig certainly plays well on more mainstream games like far
cry though....

sooo. I would say go 9800pro and an extra 512Mb stick instead of an X800. Type of memory has less
impact than how much memory btw, so if you have pc2700, it wont make much difference if you stick
with it rather than 3200 or whatever (I find that changinng the memory clock has a lot less
difference to game performance as does taking away one stick or changing the processor clock, so can
only conclude that really fast memory is a bit of a con).

FWIW, I was a big nvidia fanboy until the 9500 pro appeared, where ATI started producing stable
drivers and cheaper like-for-like cards. nVidia cards seem to be hitting the heat limits well
before ATI, which is exactly the thing that killed voodoo. I think nvidia are on the decline in the
same way - ATI cards can be fabricated to similar performance at a cheaper price point, and that
will be nVidias downfall long term.

S

 

[Dark Avenger]

I'm stow-away from nVidia. I'm currently using a Geforce FX 5600,
however I've heard that ATI is light years ahead of nVidia at this
point. So I need a recommendation.
My system setup looks as follows...

AMD 2700+
512 mbs PC3200 RAM
A7N8X motherboard
Geforce FX 5600

I'm looking at the new X800, or a high line Radeon card. Would the X800
beneift me enough to warrant the price difference?
How long should I wait to purchase the X800 so I don't have to get a
loan to pay for it?

Thanks guys!

Lightyears?

Well no, on technical scale they are head to head when it comes to
implementing new technology.

Nvidia now has SM3.0 ( smartshader ) and should be compatible with
Dx10..atleast if.. Dx10 becomes what is said about it..wich is not much!

Ati though has 3dc compression wich means that they can much easier make use
of almost perfectly looking models in games..

See, not lightyears...

And the FX5600 is ... crap. It's from the old FX line wich in Pixelshader
2.0 has the performance of a cowcud with sleeping disease!

The X800SE ( 8 pipelines ), X800Pro ( 12 pipelines), X800XT ( 16 pipelines )
are much faster indeed then the FX5600, but the X800SE with 8 pipelines..
well.. probably buying it while you can buy a nice 9800 Pro for less then
200 dollar might not be worth it!

Atleast think about the X800 Pro, with 12 pipelines it should.. well will
make Farcry run fine

 

[borolad]

I'm stow-away from nVidia. I'm currently using a Geforce FX 5600, however
I've heard that ATI is light years ahead of nVidia at this point. So I need
a recommendation.
My system setup looks as follows...

AMD 2700+
512 mbs PC3200 RAM

Is this 2x256 or 1x512 ?, if its 2x256 you can run the CPU as a 3200XP
If it's 1x512 you should get another identical stick and go AMD3200XP
*<

A7N8X motherboard
http://www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html

Geforce FX 5600

I'm looking at the new X800, or a high line Radeon card. Would the X800
beneift me enough to warrant the price difference?
How long should I wait to purchase the X800 so I don't have to get a loan to
pay for it?

Thanks guys!

20x11 at stock voltage on this MOBO will give you a huge benefit free
of charge and the 1 GiG will make a massive difference whatever ATi
card you buy

BoroLad

 

[Chris]

It's 1x512. The problem with overclocking the AMD to a 3200, is I'm afraid
the processor might heat.
That is what you're talking about (overclocking the processor), correct?

 

[borolad]

It's 1x512. The problem with overclocking the AMD to a 3200, is I'm afraid
the processor might heat.

No, not the CPU, but the FSB. Heat is linear to voltage and you are
not increasing your voltage - so you will not increase your heat.

Goto : http://www.h-oda.com/ and download wcpu330.exe. Install this
and it will give you all your CPU detail . You are currently
running at :

2x166= 333FSB, but are capable of running at ;
11x200=2200FSB.

All you need to do to achieve this is have two sticks of PC3200 in
your memory slots, and change your BIOS settings from :

2x166= 333FSB, to ;
11x200=2200FSB.

You didn't answer the question " Is your memory 2x256 or 1x512 ? "

BoroLad

N.B look at the Ben Pope site, loads of MOBO specific info there !

 

[borolad]

«snip»«snip»«snip»«snip»«snip»«snip»«snip»«snip»«snip»«snip»

Further thought, ask for Ben Pope by name he reads this site.

 

[Ben Pope]

Is this 2x256 or 1x512 ?, if its 2x256 you can run the CPU as a 3200XP
If it's 1x512 you should get another identical stick and go AMD3200XP
*<

Why would you need the second stick? And he would likely have Tbred, not a
Barton, so 200*11 wouldn't be 3200+

Ben

 

[Ben Pope]

I'm stow-away from nVidia. I'm currently using a Geforce FX 5600, however
I've heard that ATI is light years ahead of nVidia at this point. So I
need a recommendation.
My system setup looks as follows...

AMD 2700+
512 mbs PC3200 RAM
A7N8X motherboard
Geforce FX 5600

I'm looking at the new X800, or a high line Radeon card. Would the X800
beneift me enough to warrant the price difference?

....that would depend on how you define "worth"! There are planety of
benchmarks out there, your CPU is certainly fast enough to see big
improvements in the latest games.

How long should I wait to purchase the X800 so I don't have to get a loan
to pay for it?

That would depend on how much you want to spend!

Ben

 

[Chris]

That's correct, I have 2700+ Thoroughbred.
I have 1x512 (1 stick of 512 meg RAM).
With all the comments though, I'm getting sort of confused as to what to do.
=)

 

[borolad]

Why would you need the second stick? And he would likely have Tbred, not a
Barton, so 200*11 wouldn't be 3200+

Glad you spotted my *uckup, I'd assumed 'Barton', I should have
checked, my apologies to ' Chris ' the O/P.

Ben

BoroLad

 

[Ben Pope]

That's correct, I have 2700+ Thoroughbred.
I have 1x512 (1 stick of 512 meg RAM).
With all the comments though, I'm getting sort of confused as to what to
do. =)

Well, I wouldn't say ATI are light years ahead of nVidia... they're actually
about the same in terms of performance right now. Maybe ATI just nip nVidia
in terms of price/performance.

Right now, I'd say your video card is holding you back most. Whether or not
the X800 is £300 worth of improvement, you'll have to decide...

Ben