How far will a X1800XT 512MB take me?

[EvoPro]

Just curious to know how far the card will take me both in terms of framerates on top titles (Oblivion, BF2, HL2) and time wise. Can it tide me over till summer '07?

More specifically, does the company (MSI, Sapphire, ASUS) make that much difference?

 

[monkey999]

since no ones said anything so far i will say....
they are pre good and it could last maybe if u get a ppu to go with everything

 

[EvoPro]

I'd like to in the future play Oblivion. Will this support it with decent fps? I don't require that every setting be on high, just want it to look decent and run at a playable speed.

 

[uber_g]

Just curious to know how far the card will take me both in terms of framerates on top titles (Oblivion, BF2, HL2) and time wise. Can it tide me over till summer '07?

More specifically, does the company (MSI, Sapphire, ASUS) make that much difference?

u should be kool...

but ........


x1900xt looks good

 

[pauldh]

Oblivion is a beast of a game for any single card, crossfire is the best way to play that game at high resolutions. But the only single cards better than the X1800XT in Oblivion are the X1900XT and XTX. I upgraded to a X1800XT just for Oblivion and it spanks the 7800GT I had. I am running 1024x768 high details with HDR and 2X fsaa using Cat 6.3 and the chuck patch. BF2 and HL2 should be a piece of cake for the X1800XT. I haven't seen HL2 episode 1 benchies yet, but I assume they are coming. Even with HDR, I expect the X1800XT to not struggle in Episode 1, but can't say for sure until I try it (my order hasn't arrived yet).

As far as Summer of 2007, that's hard to say. Like any high end card, you will be able to use it for years but over time you will have to make sacrifices in resolution and detial levels. But for the money it's an outstanding card though. For Oblivion alone it was worth the upgrade for me.

 

[sdrawkcaBgoD]

does the company (MSI, Sapphire, ASUS) make that much difference?

No.

 

[edwuave]

X1800XT 512MB is a decent card, it can run almost every game smoothly at decent settings, provided you have a good cpu, and enough RAM. however, if u intend to play Crysis, (going to release in a few months time) u have to sacrifice all the eye-candy,not a good thing.

 

[jaguarskx]

Just curious to know how far the card will take me both in terms of framerates on top titles (Oblivion, BF2, HL2) and time wise. Can it tide me over till summer '07?

More specifically, does the company (MSI, Sapphire, ASUS) make that much difference?

You should read Anandtech's Oblivion GPU review. As a single card solution the X1800XT offers middle of the road performance. No, the X1800XT don't suck. But Oblivion is a very, very demanding game. Read the entire article to find out how high the graphics settings are used, and there there basically two test settings. HDR on. Bloom on, but HDR off.

Like it or not, games like Oblivion are just over the horizon. You will see more demanding games choking your GPU to death if you set the eye candy too high.

Is the X1800XT going to be good enough to last you for 1 year? Maybe. That depends on your gaming habits. Then again can you afford to dish out $400 - $600 just for the top of the line GPU every year or two?

 

[prozac26]

X1800XT 512MB is a decent card, it can run almost every game smoothly at decent settings, provided you have a good cpu, and enough RAM. however, if u intend to play Crysis, (going to release in a few months time) u have to sacrifice all the eye-candy,not a good thing.

X1800XT is a good card. Can play most (probably all) games at max settings, and good resolutions. I'd say the X1800XT will last nicely untill you need a DX10 card.

 

[pauldh]

if u intend to play Crysis, (going to release in a few months time) u have to sacrifice all the eye-candy,not a good thing.

How do you figure losing all the eye candy? Have you seen pre release crysis benchies and the X1800XT is hurting? The Pre-E3 demo the press saw of Crysis was on a single X1900 card. There were small differences seen at E3 while running DX10 hardware. Sure the next gen DX10 cards will be better for Crysis, but if a single X1900 was the card of choice for demo-ing the game, the X1800XT should still do a good job without sacrificing "all the eye candy" as you say.

 

[Primitivus]

since no ones said anything so far i will say....
they are pre good and it could last maybe if u get a ppu to go with everything

That comment about the ppu is entirely off the mark. There is nothing as of yet to support that a ppu will make performance in games better

 

[sailer]

I'd like to in the future play Oblivion. Will this support it with decent fps? I don't require that every setting be on high, just want it to look decent and run at a playable speed.

While the 1800XT 512mg is a good card, if you're looking to Oblivion and games beyond, I'd go with a 1900 XT or XTX with 512mg if purchasing a new card. When I by a card, I like to buy that latest and greatest so that it will last the longest before becoming dated. Yes, that cost a few extra bucks, but in my opinion, its worth it in the long run. For myself, I'm putting away some money for a Saphire 1900XTXm but if someting better comes along in the next month or so before I get the money all together, I'll get that.

Oh yes, for those who might comment, I've seen the performance of Nvidia's 7950 and it looks good.

 

[cleeve]

The X1800 will carry you far into the savage future!

 

[JonathanDeane]

Beleive it or not HL2e1 runs great even on my lowly X1300 (512MB's) I have to give Valve some major props they can seemingly get great graphics at good frame rates even out of low end card. Im looking at buying a X1800 as the prices are dropping nice and it does look nice

Edit: I also play Oblivion with HDR but I play at 800X600 res so I think the X1800 would be able to do HDR at a higher res for sure

 

[clue69less]

Just curious to know how far the card will take me

To infinity - and beyond!!

Sorry, couldn't resist. I've got an 1800XT on a 4400+/939 rig and a 1900XT on an Opty 170 rig. No doubt at 1600x1200 you can see the difference between the two cards. But, I got a great deal on the 1800 and it is an excellent card. I also hear excellent reviews on the 256MB version.

More specifically, does the company (MSI, Sapphire, ASUS) make that much difference?

I have a friend that has way too much. As in: too much time available to tweak, too much high end PC gear available and way too much desire to attain the maximum OC. He claims that most Sapphire products will not OC as well as ATI, gigabyte, HIS and MSI. Thing is, he's got a bunch of high-end rigs and he's not basing his conclusion on just one Sapphire X1900XT. His play room has enough spare parts laying around to build a medium-sized gaming parlor. He's got too much of a good thing and I think it's become an obsession. But along the way, he's become a real OC expert - too bad he doesn't contribute here but he's too busy trying to find the single best pairs of DDR2 sticks on the face of the planet to eek a tiny bit more out of his Conroe and AM2 super-rigs. How did he get ahold of Conroe before Toms? He won't share his benches with me yet because he's not fully tweaked. The point of all this is that I trust this guy as much as any magazine or web review because tweaking is all he does all the time (some people don't have to work, you know) and I've seen his results enough to know he's got it together. So don't buy Sapphire if you want the optimum OC - but then again, his Toxic absolutely screams so this is all relative to getting the very best OC performance.

 

[uber_g]

Beleive it or not HL2e1 runs great even on my lowly X1300 (512MB's) I have to give Valve some major props they can seemingly get great graphics at good frame rates even out of low end card. Im looking at buying a X1800 as the prices are dropping nice and it does look nice

Edit: I also play Oblivion with HDR but I play at 800X600 res so I think the X1800 would be able to do HDR at a higher res for sure

thank God for the source engine !

 

[prozac26]

Beleive it or not HL2e1 runs great even on my lowly X1300 (512MB's) I have to give Valve some major props they can seemingly get great graphics at good frame rates even out of low end card. Im looking at buying a X1800 as the prices are dropping nice and it does look nice

Edit: I also play Oblivion with HDR but I play at 800X600 res so I think the X1800 would be able to do HDR at a higher res for sure

thank God for the source engine !
Word.

 

[EvoPro]

So then would, for $70 more dollars, would the X1900XT be a better bang for my buck?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102004

Quoted here.

 

[prozac26]

X1900XT is a better card, and if you want to spend the extra $70, then it's worth it also.

 

[EvoPro]

X1900XT is a better card, and if you want to spend the extra $70, then it's worth it also.

I get that its a better card, but is there a noticable amount of performance increase for the extra $70. Also, I plan on building a new system either this winter or next summer, depending on what cash flow looks like. I just want a card that'll play me through till then when I get better stuff.

 

[prozac26]

If you're planning on a big upgrade, then get the 256mb X1800XT for about $250 at newegg. It will last until then.

 

[ryokinshin]

if u are planning on a new system winter or nxt summer, i woudlnt even suggest getting a x1800xl or xt, save ur money for a high end dx10 card, jus buy a mid range card or something thats close, like x850, 6800, 7600 or x1800gto

 

[ethel]

If you're planning on a big upgrade, then get the 256mb X1800XT for about $250 at newegg. It will last until then.

Agree 100% - the X1800XT 256MB is much better value.

The X1800XT 512MB is too close to the X1900XT in price IMO - I would get an X1900XT if I had that choice, as it has huge pixel processing power in comparison.

 

[Mobius]

It is impossible to predict the future. Period.

One can GUESS and one can SPECULATE, but they have no real meaning because of sentence #1.

 

[EvoPro]

I'm going with the X1800XT 256MB for now. When I upgrade I'll be sure to let others know about the performance.