Going from 6600GT to X850XT?

[Darkfire001]

Hey guys,

I'm really starting to get interested in a new Video Card with these awesome price drops and increasing pressue on my 6600GT to keep pace.

I was searching Newegg and found the SAPPHIRE Radeon X850XT with 256MB of Memory for $154.00 after rebate 8O

This looks like an awesome deal, but just want to clear it with you guys

- Is the X850XT better then the X1600XT (I believe it is).
- Is it considerably better then the 6600GT? (Mine only has 128MB of Memory)

Thanks.

 

[DPolkowski]

The X850 is a shder model 2 part. You cannot have any of the eyecandy that the 6600 or the X1600 can produce. If you are purely looking at frame rates with low or nonexistant image quality for a twitch multiplayer game, by all means get one if you like. But let me point out that there is a REAL possibility of another AGP launch. If you are on PCI Express, you should upgrade to a better card as there are so many choices avaialble.

 

[Dr_asik]

A) Is the X850XT better then the X1600XT (I believe it is).
B) Is it considerably better then the 6600GT? (Mine only has 128MB of Memory)

A) Yes it is, but not much. It still beats it in pretty much every game and resolution: Benchmarks

B) Depends on what you mean by "considerably". I think there no essential difference between the 6600GT and those three relatively equivalent cards: X1600XT, X850XT and 6800GS. Yes, of course, they will allow for better handling of AA, AF and HDR for 2006-2007 than the 6600GT. However, if all this eyecandy is not really your concern, it is safe to assume that the 6600GT with still do a good job with most games at plain 1024x768 for the year to come.

Realize that you are considering an upgrade from a 6xxx card to the equivalent of a better 6xxx, in geForce terms. If I were you and in the price range you seem to be looking at, I would wait until prices go down a bit (maybe 8 months) and buy something equivalent to the 7800GT, maybe the X1800XT, which are really next-generation GPUs that can make a big difference, a difference worth your money at least

 

[fainis]

low and non-existing image quality.....?!!?? man you`re really of the case.....you and video shiet do not mate.......x850xt has shader 2.0b ..shader 3.0 is very close to that..
by the way x1600 is too weak to hande shader 3.0 it cannot even handle shader 2.0.......properly
6600gt is ok but a toy comparing to x850xt
...conclusion
x850xt is the most powerfull shader 2.0b video cpu ever build...
if you don`t know the case stop giving wrong advices

here is the test:
x850xt against 7800GS
both performed almost the same fps (i`m talking about f.e.a.r same settings) i could even say that same scenes prefer x850xt......when sm3 enabled...7800 dropped like hell in performance .. and there were minimum differences in image quality, except in SS and same water reflections ..but it`s hard to notice expecialy when you don`t know where to look

DPolkowski...if you want to know what shader model means...bip me

 

[fainis]

hold on .... i`m a little confused...where did you find x850xt for 154 bucks...tell me cause i`ll buy 10 of them and resell them for double ... there could be a little mistake in there......

 

[Anoobis]

It's right here.

I would wait and see where prices go now that the new 7900 series is out. Your 6600GT will hold out a little longer. If you look at Cleeve's Short List, you'll notice he advises the same.

However, for a $155.00, the X850XT is the best card out of the three. The 256 bit memory interface alone should make it quite clear.

 

[Darkfire001]

It's just so confusing with all of the card prices falling so fast, but great for us

I've been VERY Happy with the performance of my 6600GT in almost EVERY area. However I've noticed some performance issues in AA and I figure with all the new cards launching this month, may as well pick up a new one soon

With all the great price drops, I'm sure I can pickup a solid card for $150 to $200.

 

[G-Man]

What Fanis said, ditto. The x850xt rocks, and is at a great price. Has been around $160.00 usd, stateside for past coup weeks, alot of times is oem/refurb, though. Was gonna get one 2 days ago, but got that x1800xt for 299.00, who could pass that up? tried to get another that evening and the buggers want 399 now :twisted:

 

[pauldh]

The X850 is a shder model 2 part. You cannot have any of the eyecandy that the 6600 or the X1600 can produce. If you are purely looking at frame rates with low or nonexistant image quality for a twitch multiplayer game, by all means get one if you like. But let me point out that there is a REAL possibility of another AGP launch. If you are on PCI Express, you should upgrade to a better card as there are so many choices avaialble.

You have got to be kidding?!?! "low or nonexistant image quality"? That's about the dumbest thing I have read this year. These kind of crappy noob replies tick me off. There is no better PCI-e card for under $200 than the one he linked to. Your first sentence is the only true part. Besides that, it was an absolute horrible bit of advice to give. The X850XT will provide for a better gaming experience by far over any 6600. The 6600GT is far to weak to give any sm3 eye candy benefit you speak of. Even if we are talking a 6800U (like I have) vs X850XT, the useable SM3 eye candy is not worth much in all but a couple games tops. So you'd rather he play with HDR and softshadows at 800x600 or lower with no FSAA on a 6600GT vs 1280x1024 4Xaa/16Xaf on the X850XT??? Get real.

 

[G-Man]

Darkfire, if u have an extra 150-160 to upgrade a card, that x850xt is what u should get, is really a nice step up from ur current card. It along with the pe verson, has a bigger hs and double bladed, not single, fan. It overclocks quite nice also. I dont think that the price on that is gonna drop much more, its the best bang for buck at moment. If u plannin on spendin a lil more like 200-300 range, i would suggest waitin a lil while to see what nvida/ati gonna do with some prices on mid-range cards.

 

[linux_0]

This is not what you asked but the 7600GT and X1800 both look good.

The 7600GT is cheaper too and available now :-D

$189 - $229 on newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?DEPA=0&type=&description=7600GT&Submit=ENE&Ntk=all&N=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0


The 7900GT looks even better starting at around $299.

 

[Darkfire001]

Well I won't ever spend more then $180 or $200 on a video card so I figure that the X850XT is the best deal right now in that arena at around $160.

OEM isn't a problem at all, and plus I've got a person interested in my 6600GT at about $50, so may bring my upgrade cost down to a minimal of $100

 

[cleeve]

The X850 is a shder model 2 part. You cannot have any of the eyecandy that the 6600 or the X1600 can produce.

"You cannot have any of the eyecandy"?

Good lord, an X850 XT will handle TWICE the eyecandy when it comes to AA & AF.

Sure it has SM 2.0b, but the only place I've EVER seen a difference is when OpenEXR HDR is used... and even then, the X850 XT can do AA when the 6600 GT can't!

For $150, that's a HUGE IQ LEAP.

 

[linux_0]

The 7600GT is a better card and it is under $200 right now on newegg.

What's not to like?

The new X1800 is good too but it's not going to be out until the end of the month and is expected to sell for $249.


Here is a better newegg link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=0&Submit=ENE&description=7600GT+video+pci&DEPA=0&Ntk=all&Order=PRICE

5 different 7600GT cards are all under $200 and I would argue the 7600GT is a much better card than the 6600GT or X850


And here are some benchmarks to go with it:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/03/09/ati_and_nvidias_same_day_mega_launch_mayhem/

:-D

 

[pauldh]

5 different 7600GT cards are all under $200 and I would argue the 7600GT is a much better card than the 6600GT or X850

Seeing how the 7800GT often demolishes the 7600GT, I'd suspect in raw performance the X850XT would still beat out a 7600GT, at least in more games then it loses. I'm trying to base this on where the 7600GT falls compared to the 7800GT and 6800GS, which isn't an easy comparison.

In some(not many) games the X850XTpe can match the 7800GT, and the non-platinum isn't that far behind. Then factor in $40 saving for the X850XT, to me it's stilll a far better buy than a 7600GT. (for us Win XP folk anyway). Direct comparisons would be nice to see though. I'd like to see how the 7600GT compares to a 6800U and also the AGP 7800GS.

Edit: I still haven't seen a direct comparison. The 7600GT is a very nice edition to the under $200 club. This is the review I was thinking about. Seems the 7600GT is far closer to the 6800GS than to a 7800GT; so me thinks X850XT > 7600GT performance-wise.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2717&p=11

 

[fainis]

yes is true my friends x850xt can crush even a 7800gt......that 7600gt is made for x1600xt and other midrange cards ...remember the pixel pipes and memory bandwidth...many people are tempted to compare cards after names, date of marketing or who knows what but is the wrong way....compare the cards after pixel pipes, memory bandwidth, memory address width, type of memory etc...........

so x850xt has 16pipes, 34.5Gbps, 256 wide address, DDR3 and so on
7600gt has 12 pixel pipes, 22,4Gbps, 128 wide address and DDR3

so my friends you can cleary see the differences x850xt is a high end card
7600gt is indeed intended to be a mid range card
7600gt is here for x1800gto


the only good thing for us ..the users ..is that the card, x850xt has been around for almost one year and the price is dropping rapidly......imagine what price would have 7600Gt or whatever in one year....remember what happened to x800gto whitch came.. what...3 months ago....x800gto disappeared my friends...only the top of the end remained x850xt or x850xtpe which is pretty much the same only a higher frequency and memory bandwidth

the conclusion my friends...you can buy a top of the end card for a mid range card price ...good luck

 

[Elminster]

but in this case people are comparing benchmarks, and since the 7600gt easily beats the 6800gs and has newer technology than the x850xt, that is why it is being sudgested, not because of a name or an assumption. you might want to do more research fainis, comparing cards just on specifications is the wrong way to discover performance

 

[pauldh]

yes is true my friends x850xt can crush even a 7800gt

Not from what I have seen. The 7800GT easily wins most games. But for the price the X850XT is still quite a good buy.

 

[pauldh]

Yeah true, there is no comparison. But to make me feel better, I'll point out that my 7800GT was only $255. :roll: The 7900GT and X1800XT 256MB rock for the price, but we are talking almost double the price of the card he is looking at buying. Maybe used 7800GT's will be plentiful and cheap in the weeks to come.

One things for sure. What little appeal a high end AGP like the 7800GS or X850XT had, was greatly diminished once again. Now the 7800GS is priced equal to a 7900GT and gets spanked even harder this round.

 

[jeremy_pro]

Hey guys,

I'm really starting to get interested in a new Video Card with these awesome price drops and increasing pressue on my 6600GT to keep pace.

I was searching Newegg and found the SAPPHIRE Radeon X850XT with 256MB of Memory for $154.00 after rebate

This looks like an awesome deal, but just want to clear it with you guys

Bottom line - it's a great deal.

 

[linux_0]

lol, yea. But X850XT for like $160 is the best you can get for that price.

I have to agree with you guys, the X850XT seems to be a great deal.

I wonder how well the 7600GT performs against it however -- haven't seen any direct comparisons. It appears that the 7600GT is equal to or better than the X1800 -- dunno.

The recent benchmarks on THG were quite impressive and the card is quite reasonably priced at $189 so I would like to see some real world benchmarks to make a better assessment.

When I made my statement above I mentioned the 6600GT and X850 not the X850XT - methinks I got the X850XT confused with the X800 series.

If anyone has real world benchmarks I would love to see them.

Thanks!

Semper Fi Carry^H^H^H^H^H Linux on

 

[Heyyou27]

Oh please; the 6600GT and X1600 won't run any games with Shader Model 3.0, and with Shader Model 2.0 the X850 XT will destroy them both.

 

[Kanavit]

the 7600 GT kills the x1600xt or for that matter the x850xt with all the bells and whistles.

 

[linux_0]

Thanks very much :-D

After snooping around I found out the X850XT (8320) and X850XTPE (8640) have a theoretical pixel fill rate that is greater than the 7600GT (6720) and even the 7800GT (8000) however I haven't been able to find any game benches and the X850XT and X850XT PE takes up 2 slots, reportedly gets quite hot and consumes a lot of power.

X850XT 3DMark05 = 6068

I found these on newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102688

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161164

The SAPPHIRE makes me VERY nervous because they do not even list the core clock or the memory clock. The HiS seems a LOT nicer but is also more expensive.

The 7600GT ($189) and 7800GT ($249) are still competitive with lower temps and lower power consumption and only take 1 slot - although the ATI card seems to have more raw power.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130283

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130256


I'll try to find some game benches to try to settle this.

Based on what I have seen so far I would not recommend the X850XT unless you have a GREAT PSU (ANTEC TPII 550 and up) and lots of air flow.

 

[Kanavit]

the x850xt makes alot of heat as well, and doesn't support sm 3.0. Oblivion will come out soon and will use sm 3.0. i wouldn't recommend the x850xt as its slower than even the 7600 gt in 3dmark05.

the 7600 gt beats the x850xt even with only 12 pixel processor pipelines and 5 vertex engines.

http://www.vr-zone.com/index.php?i=3335&s=1