Radeon X850 Pro at ati shop for $139 NEW?

[bmlocal175]

Is this a good buy? In this price range for a NEW card is this the best choice?

It says it ships in a couple of weeks!

 

[prozac26]

It's a good deal for sure.

 

[pauldh]

At that price it's currently unbeatable in new AGP IMO. I ordered one a few days ago myself. It's a X800XL/6800GT caliber card; above the X800 pro/X800GTO/6800GS and cheaper than all of them.

 

[TurdBurglar]

The refurb X800XL for $119 with a one year warranty seems like a good deal to me as well. The $15 shipping hurts a little though. Still seems like a good AGP option.

 

[Human1]

I'm running an x800 XT and it plays pretty much any games right now at good fps and high detail. Well, except FEAR, but I didn't like it much.
The X850 pros are a couple steps up from my card; it should work great and such a fantastic price, too.

 

[TurdBurglar]

Actually, I think an X800XL outperforms an X850Pro in many if not most games. An X800XT should stomp it.

 

[pauldh]

Yes, and I have bought a couple refurbished ATI cards from shop ATI; I trust them with their good warranties. (mine had 3 year) The $15 shipping made it almost the same price, so to me the new X850 pro is as a good a deal or better. I just put NEW in front as that's by far the best NEW AGP card deal out now.

The X850 pro does a fine job in keeping up with the X800XL. They have different strengths and trade blows from what I have seen. Problem for X850 pro was it was priced higher than X800XL, so it got ignored. If you didn't need the VIVO of the X850 pro then it was smarter to go with the cheaper X800XL.

I agree, the X800XT is clearly a step above both these other cards.

 

[Panzerzero]

To think all I had to do was wait 1 year and I could have saved 160 dollars.

 

[TurdBurglar]

Unfortunately, the X850Pro is $20 higher, but then again, it is new. That kinda makes this choice a toss up. The warranties are the same, but like Paul said, ATI does a good job with its refurbished items. Also, the X850Pro doesn't ship until July 17. I think I'd almost be more inclined to go with an X800XL.

*X850Pro vs. X800XL Benchies

 

[pauldh]

No, it's $5 higher. For me anyway. I tried to buy both cards. The X800XL refurb had $15 shipping, but the X850 pro I ended up buying was free shipping. So for me the difference was $5; I went with the new X850 pro.

Shoot I just put both in my cart now, and it states free shipping. I could have had one of each for $258 shipped free.

 

[pauldh]

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/video/sapphire-13.html

In that review, the X850 pro and X800XL are about even, with the exception of a huge TOAD victory for the X850 pro.

Here are the charts for that review:
http://www.ixbt.com/video2/sapphire-13-d.shtml#p17

 

[TurdBurglar]

Wow, I just tried it as well, and got the free shipping option for the X850Pro. That levels the playing field a little more. To me, 12 pipe cards just carry a stigma when compared to 16 pipe cards. The higher clocks seem to be doing the job though. How overclockable is the X850Pro?

*I see it's R480. That should make it decent.

 

[pauldh]

That review shows max OC and performance favored the XL by a bit. Both came close to a stock X850XT. BUT, that's not a common X800XL they had there, some don't OC for beans. The X850 pro is a decent OC'er from what I hear. I'd expect to get more OC potential out of the X850 pro than the X800XL. In a few weaks I'll tell you how one does anyway.

 

[TurdBurglar]

Brother has a AGP X800XL and he can get 425Mhz core clock and 520Mhz memory before artifacts. Pretty negligible gains in real world performance. I haven't known too many R430s to be very good overclockers. I would assume the X850Pro would do significantly better than that. I've heard rumors of pipe unlocking as well. I'm tempted to get one just to play with for a while in an old system.

 

[TurdBurglar]

In higher resolutions the X850Pro seems to lose by a small margin to the X800XL in the majority of games. After overclocked, it would likely be a different story, as I don't see most XLs going to 460/1147.

 

[bmlocal175]

What kind of PSU for the X850 Pro? I couldn't find any stats.

My older gateway has a 250W but never added anything to it and has just the basic computer stuff. Sound card, video card, dvd rom, cdrw,1 7200 rpm hard drive,512 rdram going to upgrade to 1g, and 1 printer hooked up to the USB, floppy.

Most of the stuff is never in use so will there be a problem with a 250w PSU?

 

[TurdBurglar]

Amperages on the different rails vary widely among PSUs. So it depends. Worst case scenario is that your PSU won't do the job and you spend another $40-50 on a FSP Group or Sparkle (insert quality brand name here) PSU that you can transfer to a new build.

 

[enforcerfx]

That is a great deal, really doesnt get much better than that.

 

[bmlocal175]

This is the stats on my PSU will I need to upgrade for a X850 Pro?

GeneralManufacturer
Delta/Astec
Model NPS-250CBB/ATX250-3505-1412B Rev 01
Performance
Voltage 115/230 V
Frequency 50/60 Hz
Input current 6.5 Amps at 115 VAC
3.5 Amps at 230 VAC
Wattage 250 W
Environmental
Operating temperature 0 to 50° C ambient
Operating humidity 20 to 80% RH
Thermal regulation +/- 2% per ° C
Shock 40g (half sine), 11 ms shock
Vibration 2 to 300 Hz, 0.25 g sinusoidal vibration
Mean time between failure 100,000 hrs. minimum excluding fan at full load (25° C)
40,000 hrs. minimum for fan only (25° C)
Regulatory and safety compliance
EMI/RFI regulations FCC Part 15 Class B, EN550221993, EN55082-1 1992, EN61000-3-2, EN61000-3-3, VCCI Class II ITE, AS/NZS 3548:1992
Safety UL 1950, CSA 22.2 No. 950, EN60950, IEC 950 CB Scheme, NOM-019-SCFI-1993, AS/NZS 3260:1993