ATI X1950 XT or Nvidia 7900 GT OC

[toast78]

hi!
i have just assembled a new desktop..
{
intel c2d e6400 (2.13 ghz)
asus p5w dh delux 975 mobo (crossfire ready)
512 mb ram 800 mhz
19" tft (1440*900)
etc..
}
now i have to purchase a graphics card ($ 260-$270 max)..
i am currently thinking of
1) Nvidia 7900 GT OC
or
2) ATI X1950 XT

which of these will be better ??

 

[Ycon]

First off, you need more RAM

 

[toast78]

thanks...
but will i get it in my budget ??

 

[Arrowyx]

I'd say drop your video card down to something like a Radeon X1950PRO for $200 and use the rest to buy another 512MB stick of the same RAM. The 1950PRO is a perfectly capable card unless you need to run at high resolutions with all the eye candy, then the X1950XT would be better but picking it would leave you with so little RAM that it wouldn't matter anyways.

 

[toast78]

Thanks for ur suggestion...
:idea: but won't 512 mb be enough ??
(since it is 800 mhz and not 667 mhz)

 

[prozac26]

512mb is no where near enough. You need at least 1gb of RAM.

 

[jitpublisher]

Agree with everyone here, you need at least 1 gig of RAM or upgrading to a better video card is going to be a dissapointment.
Going for the extra 512 meg of RAM and the 1950pro would be a far, far better upgrade than the 1950xt with only 512 meg of system RAM.
With only 512 meg of memory, your games will spend so much time swapping files to your hard disk that the performance of the video card will be really held back.

 

[techgeek]

Thanks for ur suggestion...
:idea: but won't 512 mb be enough ??
(since it is 800 mhz and not 667 mhz)

The speed matters little, especially since unless you are overclocking, you aren't using that speed anyway. Your system is likely showing PC2 4200 which means your running it a DDR2 533 not DDR2 800, and even if it does show PC2 6400, your using a divider which isn't exactly optimal.

You need at least 1Gig if your going to game, hell, if you have more than a couple of apps open you'll want a Gig.

If you went with DDR2 800, to get your moneys worth, you have to overclock. Otherwise you should have saved yourself the money and gotten generic PC2 4200 / DDR2 533 (these mean the same thing one is theoretical bandwidth the other is effective bus speed).

As for the graphics card, the X1950XT or Pro will serve you well. Unless you want to go for a 8800GTS (which is a lot more expensive), I would stay away from equivalently priced nVidia cards, ATI's DX9 cards rule right now.

 

[toast78]

okk....then
i m getting one 512mb stick more...that wud make it 1 gb total !!
i hav $220 left...
now which card should i buy ??
can i still get a 7900 GT ??

 

[Arrowyx]

That MIR is nice and almost puts it in his budget but you have to account for shipping and taxes and there's always the possibility that he wont even get the rebate check.

toast78, if you really want the X1950XT then save up to make sure you can cover the whole cost of it; you should never assume that you'll get the rebate check back, thats just bad budgeting practice. Just $30 more or so and you could get it but if you don't think you can, or don't want to, save that little bit more then get the X1950PRO.

 

[PizzaFTW]

If the OP isn't willing to deal with the $35 mail in rebate to bring the x1950xt into his price range, this could be a viable alternative.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814142085

Just a side note: It's about 30 bucks more than the cheapest 1950PRO that I see on newegg.

 

[toast78]

okk...
i am finally gettin the 1950XT !
but i am really worried about the rebate.. :roll:
huh..