Worth purchasing an x1950XTX now?

[APerfect10]

I currently have an ATI x1650XT and have an order in for an x1950XTX; however, it will not ship for another 2-3 weeks. I'm starting to wonder if its worth purchasing an x1950XTX now for $400 or just waiting for the R600 or even the x2K series models. I know the R600 is due out soon (a few weeks?) although I have the slightest clue when the 2k series is due.

If money wasnt a huge object and you could afford the R600 or a newer x2K series as soon as they are available would you even bother purchasing an x1950XTX now or no?

 

[col-p-todd]

If I,m not mistaken the R600 is the codename for the X2*00, and thus is the same thing.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

$400 is too much for an XTX

You can get a GTS for significantly less which will blows the doors off the XTX most of the time.

Also the XT is going for around $200, and even if the GTS didn't exist the XTX is not worth $200 more than an XT.

Wait if you must, or buy a GF8800GTS-320 for less money than that XTX.

BTW, the R600 series is the X2K.

The closer we get to it's launch the better it is to wait, but the GTS-320 and GTS-640 are solid cards for that price range and less.

 

[col-p-todd]

I agree on the XT that's why I got it instead of the XTX. Same goes for the rest get the GTS instead or wait for the X2*00.

$400 is too much for an XTX

You can get a GTS for significantly less which will blows the doors off the XTX most of the time.

Also the XT is going for around $200, and even if the GTS didn't exist the XTX is not worth $200 more than an XT.

Wait if you must, or buy a GF8800GTS-320 for less money than that XTX.

BTW, the R600 series is the X2K.

The closer we get to it's launch the better it is to wait, but the GTS-320 and GTS-640 are solid cards for that price range and less.

 

[dsidious]

Look at the benchmarks at Tom's Hardware ... In most cases you're better off with an 8800 GTS, which costs only 25% more. If money is really not a serious object (that is, you can afford $700 instead of $400) go for the 8800 GTX. I would wait a bit though because NVidia will have to drop prices once the R600 is out.

Keep in mind that performance depends on the game too, not just the card. Some games work better on ATI cards, some on NVidia.

For example ATI does better in Half-Life while NVidia does better in Titan Quest.

Titan Quest

Also, any fps over 60 is generally overkill, especially if your LCD monitor only displays 60 frames a second anyway (that's the usual refresh rate for LCD).

 

[APerfect10]

My apologies for confusing the x2K series with the R600. I'm fairly ignorant on this...

So the sentiment appears to be screw ATI and get the NVidia 8800 GTS. Interesting considering this is the ATI forum. I like ATI's crossfire possibility much more than NVidia's SLI though....hmm.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Look at the benchmarks at Tom's Hardware ... In most cases you're better off with an 8800 GTS, which costs only 25% more. If money is really not a serious object (that is, you can afford $700 instead of $400) go for the 8800 GTX.

Well the GTS 320 is $280 US (don't know the currency of the OP though), and the GTS-640 is about $350, so really for cheaper than $400, a much better card in 99.44% of the situations IMO.

I would wait a bit though because NVidia will have to drop prices once the R600 is out.

Maybe, depend on price/performance of the R600.

Keep in mind that performance depends on the game too, not just the card. Some games work better on ATI cards, some on NVidia.

True but the situations where an XTX would best a GTS-640 are very few and far between, the GF8800 pretty much wiped out most of nV's shortcomings inthe GF7 series, and retained most of it's benefits.

Also, any fps over 60 is generally overkill, especially if your LCD monitor only displays 60 frames a second anyway (that's the usual refresh rate for LCD).

Most LCDs now moved to higher refresh rates now that latencies are better, 75hz is quite common.

However the thing to remember is avg is not as important as min fps, especially on an LCD low fps is far more apparent and unlike CRTs you cannot scale without dealing with interpolation (which pretty much kills any AF you were planning on using).

Better to have a GTS for the same price and have lotsa headroom than to be using an XTX and finding yourself in low min fps numbers within a year.

For $190 (or less) for an XT that's fine, for over $250 the GTS is the only way to go IMO.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

So the sentiment appears to be screw ATI and get the NVidia 8800 GTS.

Not really, it's not ATi vs nV, it's price/performance. For the money you wanna spend the XTX is way overpriced, for under $200 the plain XT is a good deal, but if you have the money a GF800GTS-320 will give you better performance now than that XTX in general, and take you further into future gaming with more features in current and future gaming.

Interesting considering this is the ATI forum.

Yeah, but it's not like we ignore the rest of the world. Never trust anyone who recommends only on brand, or who positions their reasoning as ATi or nV being better than the other for everything. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, so in this case it's just about bang/buck.
Something to consider looking at is Cleeve's article which should help put some of this into context for you;
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/03/06/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/index.html

I like ATI's crossfire possibility much more than NVidia's SLI though....hmm.

Well in that case, if you don't need anything right away, then wait the 3-7 weeks until ATi announces their R600 info, and hopefully shows some meaningful demos. But spending $400 on an X1900XTX right now makes no sense at all IMO. Even buying a cheap X1900/1950GT for $120 and then waiting for the launch, and then using the X19xxGT for physics later, makes far more sense to me, and if you need something short term the X1900GT should be more than capable in any modern game, sure not as sexy as a GF8800GTS, but better than nothing, and much better than throwing your money away on an XTX.

Just my two frames' worth as always.

 

[APerfect10]

I really appreciate your in-depth answers! This has definitely piqued my interest in the Nv 8800 GTS/X. Like I said earlier, I am completely ignorant to a lot of this stuff; especially Nvidia. I did not even realize that the 8800 was DX10

I've already canceled my order for the 1950XTX. Now I need to decide on whether or not to get a cheaper ATI and combine it with the R600 or just go all out and get the 8800 GTX.

A lot of prices being thrown around in this thread seem very low. Looking around online I'm having a difficult time finding similar prices except on used items off Ebay which I want to avoid.

This probably deserves its own thread in the Nvidia forum but I'll ask it here anyways. Is there much difference between the Nvidia based brands (ie PNY, etc)? How about the same with ATI with Sapphire, etc? Does anyone know a good benchmark comparisons of them?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Really most of us read all the threads (if you go to the graphics section at the front you can view all with the drill-down), so it's up to you if you need a new thread, I'd say you likely get about the same people either way.

The prices are usually taken from NewEgg.com, so if you're in the US it's a great place to start for a general idea of prices. And then from there prigrabber, prciewatch, and the individual stores like Fry's (aka Outpost.com), BestBuy, NICX, etc. occasionally have good sales.

For nV based brands I would say the one to stay away from is PNY (heard more bad than good about them, they used to be awesome though), the big boyz in nV are eVGA, BFG, and XFX, they usually have the most options of cards, nice features, often factory overclocked cards, and then good warranties and customer service (and in eVGA's case a step-up program that allows you to use the price of the card you just bought to buy a new one should something better come out within the next 90days). MSI and ASUS makes good cards, but they seems to be jsut above average and not as popular with enthusiasts. Outside of the US Gainward is IMO the best nV card maker period, but they are mainly Euro and Austral-Asia market, not available in the US without special order and paying a big premium.

Best recent comparison of GF800s IMO are the following;


Good Reviews of the eVGA GF8800GTS-320 Superclocked;

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/evga_e-geforce_8800_gts_superclocked_320mb/

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI5MywxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

BFG GF8800GTS-320 OC;

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI4MSwsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

BFG, MSI, Foxconn;

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/video/g80-7.html

In the Digit-Life test, the X1950 does pretty well in some situations, but really overall the winner is pretty clear, and the potential in the GF8800s is pretty good. And I think company of Heroes is more of an immature product issue, as time goes on the GTS wil gain improvements in better drivers, whereas the X1950s are near the most the drivers will pull from them.

Hope that helps.

 

[APerfect10]

You rock. Thanks for helping a noob out

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

No problems, enjoy whatever you decide on getting.

Oh yeah BTW, for the ATi side of things (sorry kinda missed that segment in your original post), my view would be the best being HIS (personal choice, but also the one that makes the effort to do more than stock features), but that most are very similar with MSI giving good features for ATi, ASUS being once again above average, and Sapphire being the average and above average depending on what you buy, another good brand is Gigabyte with the same as Sapphire, both standard ho-hum models, and tweaked models.

Some companies like Powercolor/Colourpower and Visiontek have lifetime warranties similar to some of the nV dealers. Companies like ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte and HIS are 3years (pretty much the life of the card in one person's hands). Sapphire it depends on the model but 1-3 years, and ATi brand name cards are 1 year warranty (they used to be 3yr [about 3 years ago ]).

 

[APerfect10]

You convinced me of the EVGA 8800 GTS Superclocked.

I picked one up from Tiger Direct for $410 minus $30 rebate. A little cheaper than the 1950XTX I was going to buy...

Thanks again.

 

[Heyyou27]

You convinced me of the EVGA 8800 GTS Superclocked.

I picked one up from Tiger Direct for $410 minus $30 rebate. A little cheaper than the 1950XTX I was going to buy...

Thanks again.

Don't buy the pre-overclocked cards if they're more expensive than the normal ones, as I've found you're easily able to hit those clockspeeds and you'll save some cash.

 

[Catscratch]

I hate to say this but, Top ATI cards are pretty much 1024x768 cards. When the resolution goes 1280x1024 and above, 8800GTS and GTX beats them hands down according to vga charts.

There are only 3 cards at the top. 8800GTX, GTS and x1950xtx. If you are on budget, take the 4th x1950xt. If you want performance, 8800GTS will last long enough.

 

[lyall]

Buy it now unless you want to play oblivion then you'll have to wait for the r600 because even the 8800 isn't fast yet (in my opinon) for oblivion. Also X1950XTX provides good folding performance, around 1000 ppd apparently so you can help cure nasty diseases.

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/THGC-Team-40051ftopic-62650-days0-orderasc-1750.html

 

[Heyyou27]

I play Oblivion at 1680x1050 with all in game qualities at the max with 4xAA and 16xAF and it runs fine on my overclocked 8800GTX. :?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

You convinced me of the EVGA 8800 GTS Superclocked.

I picked one up from Tiger Direct for $410 minus $30 rebate. A little cheaper than the 1950XTX I was going to buy...

Thanks again.

I'd say that's a good choice. If you're more comfortable with tweaking then overclocking yourself is a nice benefit and you chould've shaved $20 off the card price, but if you'd rather not worry about it, it's a good card and a good price after the rebate. Far better than the XTX.

Whiel I agree with Heyyou27 for ME or HIM, for you I'd says it's worth the $20 to get the comfort of the facotry overclock, less hassle IMO and if it were a bigger price margin fine, but for the $15-20, meh.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

I hate to say this but, Top ATI cards are pretty much 1024x768 cards. When the resolution goes 1280x1024 and above, 8800GTS and GTX beats them hands down according to vga charts.

Actually you're overstating things, they aren' 1024x768 cards, they do fine at 1280x1024 and 1600x1200, just not as good as the GTS and GTX.
Which isn't the only story. Price/Performance is what most people go with, so some good deals on the lower X1900/1950 cards make them attractive good buys.

The XTX is overpriced, and has better rivals.
However the X1900/1950GT and X1950Pro are good cards in their price range, and great values even when compared to the GTS/GTX, and the occasionaly cheap X1900/1950XTs can be good to if the price is low enough.

It's a question of looking at the overall picture of price, current erformance, and added potential for the future. And usually it runs in that order. Only rarely does price either get removed or dropped to the back, but those are by people truely just looking for #1 regardless of price so the GTS drops out too.

 

[slim142]

I currently have an ATI x1650XT and have an order in for an x1950XTX; however, it will not ship for another 2-3 weeks. I'm starting to wonder if its worth purchasing an x1950XTX now for $400 or just waiting for the R600 or even the x2K series models. I know the R600 is due out soon (a few weeks?) although I have the slightest clue when the 2k series is due.

If money wasnt a huge object and you could afford the R600 or a newer x2K series as soon as they are available would you even bother purchasing an x1950XTX now or no?

Sorry ati fans but

Right now you should not waste your money on ATI. With $300 you can get the 8800GTS.

I would only consider ATI if I had to buy a $180-$200 card.

 

[APerfect10]

Whiel I agree with Heyyou27 for ME or HIM, for you I'd says it's worth the $20 to get the comfort of the facotry overclock, less hassle IMO and if it were a bigger price margin fine, but for the $15-20, meh.

This was my thoughts exactly. I am not nearly as experienced as you all and for a measly $20 I do get the comfort of the factory overclock. Maybe my next big card I will go the cheaper route and do it myself but for now I think this was best.

 

[Heyyou27]

Whiel I agree with Heyyou27 for ME or HIM, for you I'd says it's worth the $20 to get the comfort of the facotry overclock, less hassle IMO and if it were a bigger price margin fine, but for the $15-20, meh.

This was my thoughts exactly. I am not nearly as experienced as you all and for a measly $20 I do get the comfort of the factory overclock. Maybe my next big card I will go the cheaper route and do it myself but for now I think this was best.If it's only $20 more, than it's alright; in the case with the 8800GTXs, some of the overclocked 8800GTXs were $100 more than the non-overclocked ones. 8O