The X1600 Pro...

[Phasma]

Okay guys, I need to know how well the X1600 performs on the lastest games out (like Quake 4 and Oblivion).

You see I'm spending about a hundred dollars on a video card and from what it looks like, the X1600 Pro is the pro choice for the money, with Shader Model 3.0. I'm buying it to play Oblivion on the highest possible settings I can get with a card for about $100. My current card is a Geforce FX 5500, which I assume won't do much for Oblivion.

So question is:

A. How much of an improvment will I see over my 5500?

B. Will this video card be able to play Oblivion fairly smoothly on, say, 10*7 resolution with most settings on?

C. The card supposidly doesn't really have 12 Pipes, but 4 pipes per 3 vertex shaders or whatever. Does this mean that it only really has 4 pipes and that there won't be much difference over a normal card like the 5500 with 4 Pipes?

Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

BTW, no I can't spend extra money, go the extra price, or whatever, so please don't suggest any cards or whatever over $115.

 

[jaguarskx]

While the X1600 Pro will represent a boost in performance over the FX 5500, it is not a power card. I would recommend nothing lower than a X1600XT.

Click here to see how some modern GPU performs.

This X1600XT is $127 shipped after a $20 mail-in rebate.

If $115 is really your max, and you don't feel like saving up extra money, then go for the X1600Pro, but playing it with HDR on may stress the card too much.

Read this review. It will tell you and show what happens if you lower the graphic settings.

 

[GeneticWeapon]

I would also recommend X1600XT instead.

X1600XT is PCI-e only :roll:

Seeing how he has an FX5500 curently, I dont see why you would recommend that card to him, because he surely doesnt have a PCI-e slot.

 

[jaguarskx]

I would also recommend X1600XT instead.

X1600XT is PCI-e only :roll:

Seeing how he has an FX5500 curently, I dont see why you would recommend that card to him, because he surely doesnt have a PCI-e slot.

Oops!!! I guess I'm guilty of that too.

To the OP:

Just get the X1600 Pro AGP then.

 

[cleeve]

Oblivion might be the only game an X1600 PRO would run relatively well.

You're better bet in AGP would be a 6600 GT. Even better would be a used X800 XL or 6800 GT, you'll get far better performance on the cheap.

 

[Phasma]

Also, how do you think this system will perform with Oblivion:

ASUS 800 Mhz FSB Socket 754 Mobo

AMD Sempron 3000+ 1.8 Ghz (128 MB Cache)

X1600 Pro 256 MB

512 MB Low Latency RAM

 

[Scougs]

If you can go up to $150 or so you might consider an X800GTO. I have a Sapphire AGP X800GTO and have been pretty happy with it. I think the X800 would give you better performance but doesn't support SM3.0.

 

[cleeve]

That system would do OK at medium-low detail, the weakest link is the 512mb of RAM.. oblivion should really have 1 GB or 2 GB.

X800 GTO would be better tho.

 

[Phasma]

Medium-Low on what resolution? 10*7 or 8*6?

How much would more RAM improve gameplay?

 

[cleeve]

1028x756, you should be able to eek out 20-30 fps on an X1600 with med-low settings.

More memory will help alot in oblivion because the levels are so large. It'll prevent alot of skipping as it loads.

 

[Phasma]

Alright, thanks for the help guys, much appreciated.

(Here's to hoping that my SATA Hard drive will help the loading times a little bit).

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Oblivion might be the only game an X1600 PRO would run relatively well.

You're better bet in AGP would be a 6600 GT.

Nah, the GF6600GT shouldn't be bought by anyone at this point in time unless really cheap.
The X800GTO or GF6800GS would be better choices for all around performance.

Oblivion is the only game I'd even recommend the X1600P for, and always with the Caveat that it's not as good in other games, whereas the GF6600GT is close in other games but in Oblivion is noticeably slower, and has less options. But price performance, for other games it's worth moving up a generation in AGP.

Even better would be a used X800 XL or 6800 GT, you'll get far better performance on the cheap.

The only problem with that is the price of them most times. The X800XT is usually cheaper than the XL, and the GT is almost impossible to find nowadays, but if he can find them for the same price they'd be good.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Medium-Low on what resolution? 10*7 or 8*6?

How much would more RAM improve gameplay?

My experience with the X1600Pro that my friend put in my old editing rig for Oblivion, I'd say that you could get medium settings (Large textures though) sliders half way in most things, and HDR. It'll be very playable but the occasional hiccup every system experiences (even X1900XTXs) when they are close to their optimal setting for this game. I found even HDR+2XAA to be playable @ 10x7 as long as grass size was 100 or better.

That's on an old dual proc system with 1.5 GB of DDR266 memory.

And like Cleeve said minimum of 1GB is pretty much a MUST.

 

[Primitivus]

The X1600 Pro will not run Oblivion "fairly well" at 10x7, maybe at 8x6. But if your budget cannot stretch any further than that then you're better off with the X1600 than with the 6600 since, on average,ATI cards do better in Oblivion than NVidia cards. Also, at least 1GB of RAM is definitely necessary

 

[nihonto]

Oblivion, at 800x600, with it on high quality with HDR it runs fine, no problems for me. Though, mind the ddr200 ram will load some things slow while in game, like the trees, but its hard to notice. Other than that, its good. Just yea you need 1gb of ram.

BTW my friend has a 5500 and he can play oblivion, I don't know what he runs it on but yeah.

Anyways not much choice for AGP anymore, thats why I got the x1600pro, still its a good card.

 

[edwuave]

it seems like u r limited by the AGP upgrade path, u will have a wider choice for PCI-E, since u still want to max out the performance of AGP, i suggest getting a 6800 GS. if u can invest more, then get a 7800 GS. there shouldnt be anymore powerful card release for AGP version from NVIDIA or ATI. so get a 6800GS or 7800GS before u decide to upgrade the whole system to all-new-architecture (PCI-E, AMD-K8L, DX10 GPU).

 

[cleeve]

In AGP the 6800 GS isn't that great a card, unless you can successfully unlock pipes.

the X800 GTO is the more consistant AGP bet.

 

[pojomofo]

I believe that the X1600pro is about the same performance as my 6800 (although mine is unlocked which probably makes a difference) but I play on all medium settings 10x7 and HDR. FPS is solid between 35-45.

I agree that 1GB RAM is needed

 

[Guest]

In AGP the 6800 GS isn't that great a card, unless you can successfully unlock pipes.

the X800 GTO is the more consistant AGP bet.

 

[Guest]

woops forgot to type my reply lol. I actually have 2 gigs of RAM and the X1600 pro and i run Oblivion at MAX settings. Well i don't have HDR lighting on but Anti Aliasing is on and the resolution is 10* by 7