I'm buying a new PC, and dunno which to choose, x1950pro or 8600GTS. 1950 wins over 8600 in a few frames and is a few bucks cheaper, but 8600 has dx10.
I used to have x700pro, and i dont want to have problems which i had with it earlier, as it supports only sm2, i couldnt play any sm3-only games... i just hope sm4-only games will not come out too soon. Also i had some hardware problems with my ATI, so now i'm thinking on going back to nVidia... so now i dont know what to choose! Any advice?
1_It will take 1-2 or even more years for games to be fully DX10 optimized
2_The difference between DX9 and DX10 isnt much in todays game
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XPS M1730,IntelCore2Duo T9300@2.5GHZ,2x8800MGTX in SLI,4GB DDR2 667 RAM,DUAL 250GB 7200 RPM,VISTA HP with SP1,17" with 1920x1200 resolution
Go with the X1950Pro. It's faster then the 8600 and the later won't be nearly powerful enough to play Dx10 titles anyway. Present Dx10 titles are already putting the ultra-powerful 8800GTX on their knees, so imagine what next gen titles will do to a lonely 8600.
Just put aside whatever you save by purchassing the X1950Pro aside and get a next gen Dx10 card in 12-18 months from now.
Talk about weirdness.
When I read this post, to me it seemed as if I had posted it.
I was coming here to ask about the 8600GTS and the X1950Pro.
The most weird thing about this all, is that I am currently on an X700 myself, and am looking to upgrade.
Now everywhere I have read, people say that the X1950 is better than the 8600GTS.
I am cool with that, but the thing that bugs me is, that the 8600GTS has higher clock speeds than the X1950.
I thought the Clock Speeds of a GFX card was self-explanatory.
So my question is:
How do you tell how good a graphics card is without seeing benchmark results? Is that even possible?
Please don't flame me if I should already know this, which I don't.
it performs weak in both XP and VISTA compared to X1950PRO
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XPS M1730,IntelCore2Duo T9300@2.5GHZ,2x8800MGTX in SLI,4GB DDR2 667 RAM,DUAL 250GB 7200 RPM,VISTA HP with SP1,17" with 1920x1200 resolution
Talk about weirdness.
When I read this post, to me it seemed as if I had posted it.
I was coming here to ask about the 8600GTS and the X1950Pro.
The most weird thing about this all, is that I am currently on an X700 myself, and am looking to upgrade.
Now everywhere I have read, people say that the X1950 is better than the 8600GTS.
I am cool with that, but the thing that bugs me is, that the 8600GTS has higher clock speeds than the X1950.
I thought the Clock Speeds of a GFX card was self-explanatory.
So my question is:
How do you tell how good a graphics card is without seeing benchmark results? Is that even possible?
Please don't flame me if I should already know this, which I don't.
Don't worry that's a common misconception, what you need to take in consideration is that they are based on completely different architectures, which is what matters most. The X1950 Pro runs on the RV570 GPU, while the 8600GT and 8600GTS run on the G84 GPU.
If you want to see how little clock speeds actually matter, the 8600GTS has a 675Mhz core (using the G84 GPU) vs the 8800GTS's G80 core running "only" at 500Mhz, but the 8600GTS will still get horrible (And I mean HORRIBLE) results against the 8800GTS any day. So to answer your question, what truly matters is the architecture, which can only truly shine with good drivers on benchmarks.
When the price of the 8600GTS was around $220 and the 1950Pro around $150 the question was a lot easier. Now you can get either card for about $130. Size matters. What resolution do you use? 1280x1024 or 1600x1200? Using AA/AF? Depending on those answers and the actual games you play you could go either way. The 1950Pro does not blow the 8600GTS out of the water.
Do your homework. Research the games you want to play. Be sure to check if the benchmarks show the gaming resolutions and AA/AF setting you prefer to use. Then check prices too. (charts from review @ Xbit Labs 16 total games benchmarks plus synthetic benchmarks)
One good source is NewEgg.com 1950 Pro & 8600GTS cards where you can compare cards side by side. Without knowing where you are its hard to suggest the "best" source since things like taxes, shipping and rebates can also come into play. Be sure to check the length of the warranty. EVGA and XFX have lifetime warranties. I hope you already know about the "sticky rebate" issue - its not as easy to get the rebate as its to get the card. So pay attention to what you pay upfront. And then follow the rebate procedures VERY carefully. Once you find a card you like you can use some of the price checking engines to look for better deals. www.pricegrabber.com searing for MSI OC'd 8600GTS
