New Video Card for New AMD Rig

[ruben00]

Ok,

So I've been asking questions all over, and now its time for a video card question...

Im getting an AMD X2 3800 with an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium

this is a PCIe motherboard, so I cant use AGP...

Since this will be my first PCIe card, I am not even sure where to begin... I did search a bit, and in my search I found a few cards and I want peoples opinion on:

Sapphire Radeon X1300 PCI Express 256MB DDR Video Card

X850XT

I do know 1 thing, and that is that I want an ATI card....any suggestions?

 

[mpjesse]

If you're getting an SLI motherboard, you need to get an nVidia card. ATI crossfire does not work on SLI certified motherboards. If you don't plan to use SLI, then don't get an SLI motherboard- it's a waste of space.

If you really want ATI, look into getting a Crossfire 200 based mobo.

-mpjesse

 

[cleeve]

Ati cards are great, as long as you don't plan to use SLI... because SLI is Nvidia only. But why did you buy an SLI board then?

Good ATI gaming cards for the price in PCI-express are X1300 PRO, X800 GT, X800, X800 GTO, X800 XL, X800 XT, and X1800 XT. (from least to most powerful for gaming)

The X1300 is the absolute bottom of cards that would be acceptable as far as gaming goes. They'll give you decent performance in 1024x768 or below in most games, but you won't be able to have nice eyecandy like Antialiassing or Anistropic filtering. And in real tough titles you might have to run in lower resolutions like 800x600.

An X800 GT is the minimum you'd want for gaming.

but you never said if you're going to use it for gaming. If you're not gaming, the X1300 PRO is really good, probably better than most of the X800 Cards because of enhanced video playback & encoding.

 

[pauldh]

What is your price range? $100, $200, $300, $500+ ?

Top ATI PCI-e cards(best to worst)

X1800XT (WOW!)
X1800XL (Better bang for buck compared to card above or below it)
X850XTpe (probably overpriced)
X850XT Great Price $220 click me
X800XL
X850pro
X800GTO2 (modding dream)
X800pro, X800GTO (Good value now)
X800 (Good value now)
X800GT
X700pro

 

[ruben00]

Hey Guys,

I did not buy the mobo yet...and i do want a good asus mobo, but i guess i should have decided on the video card first before the motherboard

oh, and yeah, I will be using this for gaming for sure....

the 220 for the x850xt sounds just about right to me....

so what motherboard do you guys suggest if im getting a x850xt?

 

[pauldh]

Not a NF4 SLI.

I'd say NF4 ultra. You could go NF4 if you don't need the ultra features, but NF4 ultras are pretty cheap too. If you want keep crossfire as an option, get an ATI chipset.

 

[hella-d]

I Cannot Relly Comment On The Video Card Chices But Personally Im An Nvidia Man (See Below) But Id Like Ta Comment On PC.... I Love It (Hint, Hint)... AMD IS THE PLACE TO BE!!!

 

[nottheking]

Ok,

So I've been asking questions all over, and now its time for a video card question...

Im getting an AMD X2 3800 with an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium

this is a PCIe motherboard, so I cant use AGP...

Since this will be my first PCIe card, I am not even sure where to begin... I did search a bit, and in my search I found a few cards and I want peoples opinion on:

Sapphire Radeon X1300 PCI Express 256MB DDR Video Card

X850XT

I do know 1 thing, and that is that I want an ATI card....any suggestions?

As the others said, if you only plan on using an ATi card, don't spend the extra money on a SLi board; the nForce 4 ultra is just as capable when it comes to performance as the nForce 4 SLi, and costs less.

As for the video cards, I really wouldn't recommend the plain X1300; the X1300pro ($101US @NewEgg) would generally be a better idea. Similar for the X850XT; it'll wipe the floor with the X1300, but I might recommend an X1800XL ($320US @TigerDirect) instead; it'll be a bit more expensive even while not significantly more powerful, but will offer quite a bit more in the way of features.

Other cards I might recommend are the X800GTO, as you can pick up a 128MB version ($129US @AllStarShop) for about the same price as a GeForce 6600GT, much to nVidia's chagrin. Additionally, I might recommend the X1600 series of video cards; the X1600XT ($167US @NewEgg) seems to be on a pair with the X800GTO 256MB, but also, as I mention above, has better feature support, as with all X1k series cards. The X1600pro ($129US @NewEgg) is similar, but more of ATi's SM 3.0 counter to the GeForce 6600GT.

I Cannot Relly Comment On The Video Card Chices But Personally Im An Nvidia Man (See Below) But Id Like Ta Comment On PC.... I Love It (Hint, Hint)... AMD IS THE PLACE TO BE!!!

Although it's slightly off-topic, and I can't fault you choice of components, I must say that all the testing I've seen, as well as done myself, show that for an Athlon64 system, the speed and even latency of the RAM is virtually immaterial; memory performance seems to hinge on the performance of the processor itself.

 

[hella-d]

Thanx Man