Sapphire's ATI Rialto'ed X800XL AGPs appearing

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

ComputerBase has some pics of the new Sapphires <A HREF="http://www.computerbase.de/bild/news/10254/1/" target="_new">X850XT</A> (native AGP R481) and the <A HREF="http://www.computerbase.de/bild/news/10254/4/" target="_new">X800XL</A> using the Rialto bridge.

<A HREF="http://www.computerbase.de/news/hardware/grafikkarten/ati/2005/maerz/sapphire_x850_x800_xl_agp/" target="_new">http://www.computerbase.de/news/hardware/grafikkarten/ati/2005/maerz/sapphire_x850_x800_xl_agp/</A>

Notice the need for the <A HREF="http://www.computerbase.de/bild/news/10254/3/" target="_new">molex power connector on the X800XL</A> since it draws more than the AGP but well under PCIe (Guru3D says 50-65W[max under 3Dmk]).

So for those of you waiting for these new AGP cards, the wait may not be that long.


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[cleeve]

Well, that's it then. If these end up as cheap as they're supposed to be, I might grab one and keep my trusty XP3200+ a little bit longer...

Anybody want to buy a 9700 PRO for $120?

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>

 

[pauldh]

I read somewhere the X800XL AGP was going to retail for $350 not $300, which put's it's list price up with the street price of the 6800GT AGP. I hope it was bad info, but it supposedly came from within ATI. I'll post the link if I can find it.

But X800XL is going to dominate in PCI-e with 6800GT's costing way more. Hopefully the bridged AGP cards will not be $50 more.


<A HREF="http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1770898,00.asp" target="_new">http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1770898,00.asp</A>


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<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Pauldh on 03/03/05 09:19 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[pauldh]

Maybe Sapphire will have them first, but <A HREF="http://www.hisdigital.com/html/productnews_20050228.html" target="_new">HIS</A> is saying available in March. So, we basically should start seeing these any time now. It is nice to finally have official announcements for these AGP versions. Now We just need a pricing chart followed by widespread availability.



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<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Pauldh on 03/03/05 09:28 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[cleeve]

Hmmm... well, $50 will make it a harder sell for me.

I'm not going to bother upgrading to anything less than a 6800GT or X800XL... the 6600GT or even X800 PRO isn't enough of a jump for me to bother... I can play games already, I want to enable all the visual goodies (uberdetail settings, 4x temporal AA and 8x AF at 1024x768) and those cards won't let me do that either.

But when it hits the $350 USD range, it becomes much less appealing. I guess I'll get a 6800GT/X800XL AGP in 6-8 months when they come down to the $300 price point (hopefully)... the first one to hit $300 USD wins! Hell, if the R520 is actually released in May (which is the word on the street) it should have an impact on selling price, too.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>

 

[pauldh]

I felt the same as you. I was looking to spend $300 and wanted 6800GT performance or would stick to the 9800 pro. I would have been thrilled to have a $300 X800XL AGP, but just got tired of waiting.



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<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Pauldh on 03/03/05 10:03 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[cleeve]

So now that you've had it for a while, any regrets at all? Or has the 6800GT amazed and dazzled beyond expectation?

SM 3.0 would be nice to have, but the only thing that I'd really miss going back to Nvidia is the temporal AA. Doubling your effective AA is no small treat... I'm surprised people don't tout it more.

I might even accept a X800 PRO if they come down to $250... just to be a miser.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>

 

[pauldh]

Well, I bought the BFG 6800 Ultra OC. I like it alot, but it is far from powerful enough to just crank eye candy all you want. My hopes were 1280x1024 4X/8X in every game, but that was being overly optimistic even with a 2.2GHz A64 and a 6800U. All things equal, i would rather have stuck to ATI myself, But for the price I paid, no i have no regrets at all. I don't see a X800XT or X850XT AGP being $350 for quite some time, and really that is what it would take to be better than a 6800U IMO.


I have to say, the new Splinter Cell Chaos Theory demo blew me away. For one, it looked amazing as HDR was enabled by default. It's a PS1.1 or PS3.0 demo only. Anyway, the visuals were sweet, but the performance hit was unreal. No way no how did I expect NV's top card to struggle at 1024x768 without AA even. But HDR is even more crippling to framerates than AA it seems. yet it was enabled by default for me!

The 6800U will be my card for a year or so until I finally go PCI-e. If I OC it, I can run farcry at 1280x1024 4x/8x on every level. Without OC'in it, I need to reduce it to 2X AA in spots or suffer through some low fps areas if I don't. I prefer smoothness to AA, so I reduce it rather than chug. I am still experimenting and am about halfway though replaying Farcry now. NFSU2 needs 2X AA only also at times, which is a little dissapointing. ATI cards seem to do better in that game. This is the first time I have owned a current top of the line card as my 9800 pro was purchased as they dropped toward $200. I am a bit dissapointed that there are already games/demos that can make it struggle. As if 3dmark05 wasn't good enough at doing that. But when framerates drop, or I reduce a setting, i try to remember the price I paid and not that it's NV's top card I am using.


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