HD2600xt vs. x1950pro with new 7.10 driver?

[akaiello]

With the new 7.10 driver which card would be a better choice HD2600XT with DX10 or x1950pro 512MB with DX9?
Sorry if it's a stupid question.

 

[zenmaster]

x1950pro still.

 

[akaiello]

Thanks

 

[mactronix]

The 2600XT is a lot closser to a 1950 pro than a lot of people think but its still basically the better card (1950 pro).
If you are running Vista and want DX10 then from what i have see at nominal resolutions the 8600gts seems to be the best of the so called midrange cards.Price point depends on where you live but i think it is generally more expensive.
Also the new drivers were released to suport the x2*** cards and the x1*** cards so the drivers on there own are not a reason to expect inprovement ,the last two seemed to concentrate more onthe 2*** series but the 7.10 seems quite equal across the board.
Mactronix

 

[marvelous211]

2600xt is pretty close 1950pro in some games but it's a toss up in some other games.

In unreal 3 it performs nearly to 1950pro speeds but in COD4 it does not.

http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=326&page=1

8600gts is the better card of the 2 and it constantly gets near 1950pro speeds or sometimes beat it with dx10 option for $122 after rebate at newegg which isn't bad.

 

[akaiello]

Thanks for all the help. I have been using the VGA Charts 2007 that blade85 gave me. Just wanted to know if the 7.10 driver would change anything. Thanks for all the help.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=858&model2=724&chart=286

 

[night_wolf_in]

that chart is from july, n wasnt updated since then. so u souldnt be really following it.

 

[randomizer]

The 8600GTS can beat the x1950 pro by reasonable margins now in some games.

 

[marvelous211]

The 8600GTS can beat the x1950 pro by reasonable margins now in some games.

It always did but the mass doesn't see anything beyond what you tell them. They see 1950 pro beating 8600gts by 3 fps and people bash on 8600gts. People keep point to the 128bit memory bus but you have to realize it's running @ 1000mhz or over and has 16 TMU compared to 1950pro 12 TMU. 8600gts shader are more efficient and more powerful as well.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTMyNCw5LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

8600gts stomps 1950pro in MS Flight Simulator X by a mile.

 

[randomizer]

And has better image quality too (apparently).

 

[pauldh]

If you hate the jaggies, the X1950 pro still easily outperforms the HD 2600XT when using FSAA.

These are the Cat 7.9's, but look at these results and read the summary below it. The 2600's tank with fsaa on. Go back and look at the 0xfsaa tests, and the 2600's do great. I doubt the cat 7.10's will bring it back on par with the others with fsaa.

4xaa http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=691&p=3
0xaa http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=691&p=2

 

[zenmaster]

I don't think people have really been bashing the 8600GTS.

1) Lots of People confuse the 8600GT and GTS or are not careful when commenting.

2) The 8600GTS has taken a while to come down in price. It has tended to be more expensive than cards with similar performance such as the 7900GT, 1950pro, and a few others. As a result, those one very tight budgets go with what is cheaper but provides about the same performance.

3) However, the 8600GTS has finally started to come down to be as cheap is not cheaper. Add to this that is used far less power (Read Easier to Cool/Quiter for those who don't pay power bills) and you start to have a real winner in that price segment.

 

[marvelous211]

I don't think that's true. I suggested to many people here when the prices have dropped to 1950pro levels and lot of other forums and some people really have their panties on backwards and think 1950pro is so much better but it's not the case. They are actually comparable cards speed wise. 1950pro edging out 8600gts when AA is enabled in some older games since it has 4 more rops and 25% memory bandwidth but when it's all done it's not much slower at all while pertaining better image quality.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/244360-33-card-options-left-8600gts-x1950pro

Just look at the other thread in August. You can clearly see how ignorant some people are. They are both similarly priced yet only 3 people voted for 8600gts and I was one of the people who voted 8600gts. 8600gts has many advantages over 1950pro. Better HDCP support, lower power consumption, better AA and AF, dx 10 option. Most games yes the 1950pro edges out 8600gts by 2-5 fps in 80% of the games while 8600gts beats 1950 pro in other but in reality is that 2-5 fps going to make any drastic speed differences that you won't be playing at the same resolution or higher AA? Of course not. But hey don't let the ignorance hit you on the way out.

 

[ausch30]

I don't think people have really been bashing the 8600GTS.

1) Lots of People confuse the 8600GT and GTS or are not careful when commenting.

2) The 8600GTS has taken a while to come down in price. It has tended to be more expensive than cards with similar performance such as the 7900GT, 1950pro, and a few others. As a result, those one very tight budgets go with what is cheaper but provides about the same performance.

3) However, the 8600GTS has finally started to come down to be as cheap is not cheaper. Add to this that is used far less power (Read Easier to Cool/Quiter for those who don't pay power bills) and you start to have a real winner in that price segment.

I have the Superclocked Evga 8600GTS in my backup system and I'm running it at 1280 by 1024 and it runs every game I have on high so for those on a budget (I got mine for $155) it's a great card.

 

[pauldh]

Drivers have helped even the 8600GTS to where it now truely trades blows with the X1950 pro. This wasn't the case at launch. People that bashed the card months ago rightfully did so to some degree as it was priced higher and performed worse than it does now.

 

[San Pedro]

Wait and see how much 8800GT will be at the end of the month.

 

[Evilonigiri]

Woah woah, you guys talk all about nvidia. What about ATI? Especially since the supposedly 80% increase in performance (Like 5fps to 9fps? lol) Well if it does bring a huge performance jump, the 2600XT may own the 8600GTS.

 

[zenmaster]

Well, the 7.10 Driver has not really done much from what I have seen in most cases. In some games in which it was basically broken it may have seen big increases. Not in games in which it operated properly. They also increased XFire performance, but that is not what we are looking at here.

 

[marvelous211]

Woah woah, you guys talk all about nvidia. What about ATI? Especially since the supposedly 80% increase in performance (Like 5fps to 9fps? lol) Well if it does bring a huge performance jump, the 2600XT may own the 8600GTS.

Supposedly 80% is right. It's only crossfire performance because crossfire didn't work for some games. Now ATI fixed it.

Other than that 7.10 drivers do nothing except maybe add 1 or 2 fps into the performance of top end cards.

Wait and see how much 8800GT will be at the end of the month.

Rumor has it it's still going to be around $249-299. I'm going to get that card eventually but I'm still satisfied for the most part since I only game 1440x900.

 

[marvelous211]

Drivers have helped even the 8600GTS to where it now truely trades blows with the X1950 pro. This wasn't the case at launch. People that bashed the card months ago rightfully did so to some degree as it was priced higher and performed worse than it does now.

That's not entirely true. Drivers were always good and performance was always there but it was still premature and drivers did improve some especially AA performance but not drastically. 8600gts was always very close to 1950pro performance but it got beat in many games when AA was added because 1950pro had 12 rops and 25% more memory bandwidth. These are just previews here when they were first released in April. The other thread was back in August when the price dropped to 1950pro levels as you can see by the other thread both cards were $140. Performance didn't improve that drastically between then and now. I've been recommending 8600gts since the price drop.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2975&p=3
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_8600_gts_preview/page7.asp

In fear @ 1280x1024 it tied 1950pro at raw performance. When AA was added it got beat by 10fps at anandtech while at firingsquad it got beat by 6fps.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2970&p=5

In battlefield 2 it was only couple fps within 1950pro at raw speed no AA.

Again when AA was added it got beat by 1950 by more than 10fps but it's not the case today if you look at

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2970&p=6

In oblivion 8600gts beat 1950pro pretty good.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2970&p=7

In prey it's within 1950pro performance by couple fps.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2970&p=8

In rainbow six. It ties with 1950pro.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2975&p=4

In stalker 8600gts has the edge.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2975&p=5

In supreme commander it ties with 1950pro.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_8600_gts_preview/page6.asp

In BF2142 it ties with 1950pro. If you looked at current benchmarks 8600gts wins.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_8600_gts_preview/page10.asp

In COD2 it loses to 1950pro by 6fps again this is with AA enabled.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_8600_gts_preview/page11.asp

Half Life 2. It ties with 1950pro

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_8600_gts_preview/page13.asp

In quake 4 8600gts wins by few fps.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_8600_gts_preview/page15.asp

In Farcry 8600gts wins by few fps.


Basically 1950pro wins by few fps in 70% of the game especially when AA is enabled while it either ties or gets beaten by 8600gts. Adding couple fps into mix doesn't change how the gamer plays the game. You will still play the same resolution just couple fps less. What people don't realize is that 8600gts Aniso filter is superior to 1950pro. Texture quality is much more pleasing to the eye than 1950pro. CSAA is superior to ATI's AA. Games like BF2 and Half Life 2 you can add 8xCSAA making the image quality far superior to anything 1950pro can draw on the screen.

 

[bardia]

marvelous do you think it would be worth trading my 7900 gs for a 8600gts? I think I can do it for about the same price, or maybe $20-30 at most.

Also, I currently game at 1280X1024, and my 7900gs is plenty good. However, I just ordered a 21" LCD, so I guess 1680 X 1050 is where I'll be at... unless the lower res setting still looks decent on the 21".

Would the 8600gts be able to handle that kind of high res as well as my 7900?

 

[bardia]

In otherwords, I understand that the 8600gts is a hair better than the 7900gs, but I'm curious if the 128bit bus shows greater degridation at higher res.

Edit:

Heh, never mind, I just noticed most of those benchmarks have high res benchmarks further down. Yay.

 

[lunyone]

From the OP's question, the x1950pro would be better, but buy the 8600gts if it's at a resonable price. Or wait a few weeks and see what the 8800gt's are going to do, if you have the $ to spend on them.

 

[justinmcg67]

marvelous do you think it would be worth trading my 7900 gs for a 8600gts? I think I can do it for about the same price, or maybe $20-30 at most.

Also, I currently game at 1280X1024, and my 7900gs is plenty good. However, I just ordered a 21" LCD, so I guess 1680 X 1050 is where I'll be at... unless the lower res setting still looks decent on the 21".

Would the 8600gts be able to handle that kind of high res as well as my 7900?

I too am using a 7900GS until my 8800GTX OC arrives here on Wednesday, I scaled how much of a boost I'd get in comparison to other cards, and the 7900GS, at the time I checked, was on par with an 8600. Do i think it can handle higher resolution better? Perhaps, but I'd get something better than an 8600; that's for sure.

 

[marvelous211]

marvelous do you think it would be worth trading my 7900 gs for a 8600gts? I think I can do it for about the same price, or maybe $20-30 at most.

Also, I currently game at 1280X1024, and my 7900gs is plenty good. However, I just ordered a 21" LCD, so I guess 1680 X 1050 is where I'll be at... unless the lower res setting still looks decent on the 21".

Would the 8600gts be able to handle that kind of high res as well as my 7900?

Nope I don't think it's worth it just to get 10% better performance. You should look into 8800gt when it comes out.