Video Card question

[HarryB]

Which would be better bang for the buck:

An ATI x800 (xl, xt, pro, GTO) with DDR3 (doesn't matter what brand)

or

An Nvidia 6800 (doesn't matter what brand) with DDR.

I ask this, because most places online have a x800 xl ddr3 agp for around $300- $400 Canadian. However, my local Futureshop has one for $299.99. This is the cheapest I've found for it.

Most 6800s agp seem to be around the $300 - $400 dollar range as well, but the majority of them are ddr. ddr3 6800s are over $500 hundred dollars here.

So I ask, considering the prices, which would you suggest? Bear in mind I have no brand loyalty (though the last two cards I've owned were a Sapphire Radeon 9000, and my current card a Sapphire Radeon 9800 SE softmodded to a PRO {Sapphire generally has the best bang for the buck with ATI}) and will choose an Nvidia card if it generally in my price range.

As for price range, I am not willing to spend more than $450 Canadian. And before you ask, I'm not going to upgrade my motherboard to a pci-e one because I just bought a new 2gig amd socket a processor because my old one died, the new MBs are going for 939 socket. I may upgrade in the future, but right now I'm sticking with AGP cards.

[StandingCow]

from www.tomshardware.com:

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050217/images/image002.gif

If your gonna be playing more halflife 2 mods, then get the ATI, if not then Nvidia.

Personally I still say X800XL just cuz I own one and love it.

[General Bordinko]

x800XT or XL Would be my personal preferance

[Moe_Rahn]

Good lord, Canada just gets raped on the prices. My AGP 6800 cost $189.

[HarryB]

AIW x800 xlhttp://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=16636&vpn=100-714301&manufacture=ATI

Chaintech 6800
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=12557&vpn=AA6800&manufacture=CHAINTECH%20COMPUTER

eVGA 6800
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=13345&vpn=128-A8-N343-AX%20&manufacture=eVGA

Sapphire x800
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=12417&vpn=X800T-256MB&manufacture=SAPPHIRE

BFG 6800
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1213309&CatId=0

eVGA 6800 ($178)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1009366&CatId=0

XFX 6800
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1004009&CatId=0

Note that the last couple are only 12 pipeline cards.

Then of course there's the a ATI Radeon x800 xl for $299, and a ATI Radeon x850(might be a x800 xt, can't remember) for $399 at Futureshop which I'm weary of.

[Glock23]

Why in God's good name did you rebuy a Socket A MB + Proc when you could have put that money into a s939 + Athlon 3000+, or something like that?

/edit nvm, saw you just got the proc.

I'd say, go with the nvidia; many tests, comparisons, and reviews I've read put the 6800GT slightly ahead of the comparable ATI card.

[siddy]

Harry, if you have a PCI-E mobo, look at getting the x800GT (i think) it can be softmodded to 850 speeds and 4 pipelines can be activated.

[Moe_Rahn]

Harry, if you have a PCI-E mobo, look at getting the x800GT (i think) it can be softmodded to 850 speeds and 4 pipelines can be activated.
And before you ask, I'm not going to upgrade my motherboard to a pci-e one
Oh, also you can try and softmod any AGP 6800s to 16 pipes from 12. Plus, overclocking a vanilla 6800 to GT core speeds ain't no thing (since it's only a 25Mhz difference) especially the eVGA ones, since they use the same cooler on the vanilla 6800s and the GTs, unlike XFX who use 6600GT-style coolers on their vanilla 6800s. Right now my eVGA 6800 is running just fine at 350/750 on stock pipes.

[whuh?]

the XFX 6600gt is the biggest pos card. The 6800 is one of the best.:confused: Go figure.

[HarryB]

Well the problem is, I'm not completely sure what pipelines do. As far as I can tell, most x800 cards come with 16, DDR3 memory (which I can assume is better than just DDR), and 256 of it to boot. Where as most 6800 cards in the same price range have only 12 pipelines, 256 DDR. So while I don't mind purchasing a Nvidia card, I'm not sure why I would.

[Agent Law]

Only the X800 XT and X800 XL have 16 pipelines. Pipelines, AFAIK, are how many parallel operations the GPU can do at once. The X800 XL's clock speed is low among the other X800's (at 400MHz), but the memory clock is the speed of the X800 XT.

If you get an X800 GTO, you can unlock to 16 pipelines and overclock to X850 XT speeds.

[HarryB]

Apparenlty, only the Connect3d GTO will mod, while you need a GTO2 from Sapphire to do the same. The rest don't. Also, you have to flash the BIOS, which I'm not confortable to do.

[Agent Law]

All X800 GT and GTO use the R480 chip. They are all able to be modded, and OC'ed. Just the ones like the GTO² are more suited to be pushed. There should not be much difference between the models, though. You can still OC without unlocking the pipelines. Performance will still be high enough that you get a lot of bang for your buck.

[HarryB]

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/127

Says otherwise.

[GundamCL]

I would just recommend you the x800xl if you play direct x9 games (half-life 2, Battlefield 2 I think)

[siddy]

I would just recommend you the x800xl if you play direct x9 games (half-life 2, Battlefield 2 I think)

that's probably the best move.