x1600 not so good

[smartel7070]

I recently bought a Sapphire x1600pro 256mb and I am starting to regret this decision. It performs from well to pretty well in some games (hl2, bf2) and in others it totally sucks (q4, cod2). I wanna change for something more powerful AND that performs good in all games. Since I am on a budget I have no more than 250 can to spend and in that price range i've found some nvidia 6800gs from xfx and evga. Would the 6800gs get me better and more stable performance ? I've also looked at the 7600gt but I am concerned about the 128bits mem interface as I think it is the reason my x1600 doesn't perform that well. Also I'll buy pci-e since my board supports both agp and pci-e.

Your toughts ? Any other cards I should be looking at ? I prefer going the nvidia way since I had cards from both ati and nvidia over the years and for me catalyst = mem hog

 

[PX7800GT]

Go For BFG or VGA 7600GT , See Some Benchmark ... 7600GT is Faster Than 6800GS ... Dont Waste Your Money on 6800GS ... :twisted:

 

[spookz]

I am in an almost similar situation, while I have not fully bought any card yet, I was thinking of splurging and buying the 6800gs co se which is faster than the x1600pro. I was also considering the 7600gt but I rather not get something that is 128bit memory so I'm getting the 7800gt hopefully soon since most stores are slashing down prices. If you absolutely have to have something, I would suggest the 6800gs and oc it to an ultra speed. Doing so will help increase performance considerably and make cod2 run alot better.

 

[smartel7070]

the problem with the 7600gt is the price i can't find any under 260 can and with taxes here it will go over 300 wich is over my budget.

and for the 6800gs i have a zalman vga cooler (vf700cu) that I will put on the card so if I buy a evga 6800gs oc and put the zalman on it you guys think I'll be able to oc even higher ?

 

[spookz]

That is an excellent cooler but not the best of the best, it can oc well. Do what you can with it and search some oc settings you can set it to. If you happen to live in Toronto, I can recommend you a store that sells the 7600gt by asus for 249.99

 

[bourgeoisdude]

Try the newest Catalyst Drivers--I hear some of the "mysteriously" slow games with the x1600 are fixed...

 

[nubetube]

Don't by the 6800GS... You know what GS stands for?

Nvidia 6800GhettoSlow

 

[bourgeoisdude]

Don't by the 6800GS... You know what GS stands for?

Nvidia 6800GhettoSlow

Welcome to the Forumz, nubetube. Out of curiosity...well, you could have posted just about anything in your first post, yet you chose to post this message. Why, may I ask?

 

[nubetube]

I used to have a 6800gs and it was quite possibly the worst buy I have ever encountered.

 

[smartel7070]

if you are talking about catalyst 6.3 i already have them installed and I see no differences in any games

 

[bront]

You might be able to find a 7800 GT for that price, or I would highly recomend trying to scrape up $50 more and get a 7900 GT. Without overclocking, stock, they about the same speed as the 7800 GTX, and you can get some fairly insane "stock" overclocks. Stock is 450/1320, I've seen the EVGA cards stock at 500/1500 at the $299 price point.

 

[cleeve]

You will see a large difference with the 7600 GT.

the problem with the X1600 isn't the memory interface, it's the architecture. It's 12 pixel processors are throttled and work in banks of 3, only outputting 4 pixels per clock... like a 4 pipeline card

the 7600 GT can output 12 pixels per clock, a true 12-pipeline card. Most new games are shader limited and not bandwidth limited, the 7600 GT is a notable bump over the X1600 PRO.

But try overclocking your PRO first, the core should go up quite a few Mhz. Might make enough difference to allow you to enjoy it for a while...

 

[bourgeoisdude]

if you are talking about catalyst 6.3 i already have them installed and I see no differences in any games

Assuming you have PCI-e version. If for some reason you have the AGP, then try updated AGP drivers from ULi's website...

...other than that, I don't know, man.

 

[only_me]

you could try to find a x1800xl they have come down in price and would be faster than a 7600 gt, i was talking about this earlier and the x1800xl won on price vs performance

 

[turbo_mcgillicutty]

Don't by the 6800GS... You know what GS stands for?

Nvidia 6800GhettoSlow

you just put a large smile on my face during a slow work day. Come on 5:00-oblivion, here it come!! (i know, nothing to do with the topic at hand.)

 

[smartel7070]

The 7800gt goes for 400$ here in Canada. That is double my budget so forget about 7800 or 7900. At this point it is between the 6800gs and the 7600gt. Both are priced the same (around $200can).

So what do you guys think ..... go for high end from previous generation (6800gs) or go for latest gfx chip (7600gt) ?

the problem with the X1600 isn't the memory interface, it's the architecture. It's 12 pixel processors are throttled and work in banks of 3, only outputting 4 pixels per clock... like a 4 pipeline card

the 7600 GT can output 12 pixels per clock, a true 12-pipeline card. Most new games are shader limited and not bandwidth limited, the 7600 GT is a notable bump over the X1600 PRO.

my main concern with the 7600gt was mem interface. Even after reading the post above it still is my main concern. The 6800gs has a 32gb/s mem bandwidth compared to 22gb/s for the 7600gt. If so why are so many people thrashing the 6800gs ?

 

[cleeve]

If so why are so many people thrashing the 6800gs ?

Because the 7600 GT beats the 6800GS in EVERY SINGLE BENCHMARK, regardless of it's memory interface.

 

[smartel7070]

Well after LOTS of reading .... yeah it seems the 7600 gt is a better preformer than 6800gs, thx to firingsquad for the article and you guys for comments i'll post 3dmark scores when i buy it, probably next week.

 

[jeremy_pro]

Simply. The 7K core is better than 6k.

 

[bourgeoisdude]

Simply. The 7K core is better than 6k.

Yes and no--it isn't that simple unfortunately. Try using a GeForce 7 7300LE and then switch to GeForce 6 6800 Ultra 256MB PCI-e...