Need advice comparing ATI X1600 Pro 512Mb AGP to GForce 6/7

[djthewizz]

This is my rig:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ S754 (Clocked at 2.2Ghz)
MSI K8N Neo Platinum Board (MS-7030)
1Gb DDR400
ATI Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro 256mb DDR (128bits)
Seagate HD SATA 150 160Gb
Onboard Realtek 7ch Audio

Now my question is: Wich is better between ATI X1600 Pro 512mb DDR2 AGP and GForce N6800 TD 512mb DDR2 AGP or GForce 7800GS 256mb GDDR3 AGP

Now for the price, the ATI X1600Pro, i can have it for 156$ CAD
The GForce N6800 is 203$ CAD and
the GForce 7800GS is 343$ CAD.

Clearly, right now i can't afford 300$ on a graphic card.. so i won't go for the 7800GS for sure but i'm curious to know what kind of performance is between those 3 cards.
I could not find some benchmark for the ATI X1600 Pro AGP so that's why i would like to know if someone have a ATI X1600 Pro 512mb or know where i can find a benchmark or comparaison for it.

I don't want to upgrade to PCI-X right now cause it'll cost me to much and i use my computer only for gaming.

Thanx for all the help.

 

[Snorkius]

1) Memory size is the last thing you should look at. The high-end cards that can really use all that memory are not usually sold with less than they require, and low-end or mainstream cards (such as the x1600) are sold with that much memory as a marketing gimmick. I doubt they ever use 1/4 of that 512 mb.

2) Compared to the other three, the X1600 Pro is weak. It's slower than a 6600GT at stock speeds - really comparing it to the 6800 or 7800 is a waste of time.

3)Try to find an X800GTO within your budget. It seems to be the top performing AGP card under $200 US at the moment.

 

[djthewizz]

Thx for the info!

I'll go with the GForce N6800
Sadly, i can't found any ATI GTO's card. I know they're some web sites who's have it but it's cheaper for me to buy from my supplier since i'm working in a computer store (i have it at cost price :lol: )
So for 203$ CAD , i think the N6800 will be alot better than my ATI 9600 Pro

Once again, thx for your reply!

 

[african_leopard]

Look at these reviews - don't know whether it will help you

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/326/1/. They used the X1600 and 6800 cards for comparison.

For the X1800GTO review look here http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/327/

HTH

 

[pauldh]

I'll go with the GForce N6800

I am going to disagree with what has been said. The only 512MB N6800 AGP I know about is this Asus, and it is a piece of junk lame version of the 6800 with 512MB of slow clocked memory on a crippled 128-bit memory bus. I would bet the X1600 pro would easily beat this card. A 128MB 6600GT would beat both.

Anyway, a 7800GS and X850XT are in a whole different league than these cards. A X800GTO or 6800GS would be next down and be better options compared to what you listed. A real 256-bit 350/700 clocked GF6800 (vanilla) would come next, (if you can find it priced reasonably), which is basically a slower clocked 6800GS.

The 6600GT would beat out the 1600 pro most of the time, and I think that pitiful Asus 128-bit 350/540 clocked 6800 would bring up the rear, almost down near a 6600 vanilla.

Anyway, I hope for your sake you didn't order a 128-bit 6800 with 512MB of 540MHz memory. If so, cancel the order. It's a marketing scam and a waste of money.

 

[Snorkius]

My god, I didn't even know they made cards like that!

And, come to think of it, how can they? Doesn't Nvidia set the guidelines? When someone says '6800' I automatically assume 350/600 or + clocks. If you're going to put-out crap, out-of-spec 6800s, why not just rebrand your pile of 6200TC?

This is what I hate about the whole market - not only do they make complete alphabet soup out of the whole thing, they blatantly try to rip people off.

 

[pauldh]

I agree with you and it's pitiful. And problem is, that Asus is the most popular non GS 6800 now. It's always showing up on my price searching.

Speaking of price, It's priced as high as a X800GTO, which would kill it. It's more than a 6600GT which would beat it.

Ati allowed their Radeon 9800 pro name to be tarnished just the same with crippled 128-bit versions. And Asus went one further that say Sapphire, by offering 512MB of RAM to sweeten the deal. 8O The problem is, people buy them without knowing the impact of the mem bus speed. And the 512MB is very attractive to people who are tricked into buying junk without knowing it. Look at the Newegg user reviews. Most of them are clueless with what they bought. Only a few mention the 128 bit mem bus, others if they managed to get through the drivers OK, just say "512MB, It's the bestest...so much better than my GF2 MX it replaced." :roll:

 

[pengwin]

actually AGP is almost dead i would go with the 6600GT Agp edition it slike 130 bucks, does the job, my friend got one he cna run BF2 and HL2 smoothly

 

[djthewizz]

So you're saying that a GForce 6600GT 128mb will beats the N6800 512mb??? If it's true, i can have one XFX GeForce 6600 GT AGP8X 128MB DDR3 for less than a 150$ CAD
It sure would be nice if it's really true and if it's true, i'll go right away with that one :lol:

But after all the comments i received, it make me think and i think i'll go with the GForce 7800GS 256DDR3.. i didn't order the N6800 yet. And this card will be good at least for the time i'll change for PCI-X
and i will when AMD Socket AM2 with the DDR-800 will be out! So that's why i want a AGP High End Card instead of buying a S939 right now. I know there's a board S754 with PCI-X but i really like my MSI K8N Neo Platinum

Thank you all for your advices.
Peace!

 

[djthewizz]

***Correction***

DDR2-800

sowwy...

 

[djthewizz]

Now what about the EVGA GeForce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3 AGP 8X
It's a 100$ cheaper than the XFX GEFORCE 7800GS AGP 8X 256MB DDR3
Surely it should be faster than one GFo 6600 GT ??

The GPU of the EVGA 6800GS is 350Mhz and the Memory is 1000Mhz
comare to the XFX 7800GS who's 375Mhz Gpu and 1300Mhz Memory.

Is this really a big difference or not ? Wich one should i take?

 

[lordroddington]

a 6800gs would be good, definately faster than a 6600gt. remember you can't just look at clock speeds, the cores have different amounts of pipelines, and the memory interface for the 6600gt is only 128bit instead of 256 in a 6800gs. the agp version of the 6800gs can also have pipelines unlocked(if you're lucky)

7800gs would do even better, but at that point i'm not convinced it's worth the extra money

 

[djthewizz]

well... nevermind what i said about the comparaison of the 6800GS and the 7800GS.. cause i just found the EVGA GeForce 6800GS OC 256MB GDDR3 who's 400Mhz GPU and 1100Mhz Memory for 11$ more than the 6800GS standard. so i finally found my card, with 12 pipelines and a 35.2 GB/s Memory Bandwidth, i'm sure i won't go wrong!

Thx again to all who help me!

 

[cleeve]

Dude, you have a socket 754 Athlon 64...

There are lots of Nforce3 754 motherboards that support PCI-express out there.

Get one, and all of a sudden you can buy a genuine 7800 GT for under $300 that will kill a 7800 GS.

Or spend the $300 on top of a mobo and get an X1800 XT!

 

[cleeve]

Here's an Nforce4 mobo for 754, $70 shipped.

http://www.connexions-pw.com/category.html?i=361.0.14700&Refer=20218

There are quite a few 754 PCI express mobos out there.

Sell your old board for $40 and you're laughing.

If you're going to spend over $300 on upgrading an AGP system, and you have a socket 754 CPU, it's a waste.

PCI express videocards are so much cheaper/better. Then you have a ton of new options, like the 7600 GT for under $200...