A good temporary card?

scottchen · Jun 16, 2005

Crash, GGP, and other gurus, need a little help, i just got rid of my sys again, and planning to pick up an Epox Nforce4 ultra board for 120CDN(not going with SLI board again since i can't find any rational means to get SLI setup) A Venice 3000+ for 160CDN(going to get X2 or 4000+ San Diego when price becomes acceptable), and looking at video cards, i was planning to get a X800XL, then saw the upcoming ATI cards's specs, X900XT PE 32pipes!! 500mhz core!! 1400mhz ram!! Decided to simply get a transition temporary card, something cheap that i won't feel sad to throw away, and get 1 of those X900XT's when ATI can supply them in the retail channels.

So I need your opinions on vid card, i'll put up some cards i can get at what prices.(All PCI Express by the way)
oh BTW right now i'm leaning towards the 115 dollars CDN X700Pro with 8 pipelines at 128bit memory interface clocked at 425/860DDR.

X700Pro:115CDN
X700XT: 140CDN
X800SE: 225CDN
GF6600: 145CDN
6600GT: 180CDN

scottchen · Jun 16, 2005

Don't feel justified paying 50 dollars extra to get DFI. And yeah it's pretty much completely gone besides the drives.

K8MAN · Jun 16, 2005

out of those i would get a 6600GT.

The know-most-of-it-all formally known as BOBSHACK

scottchen · Jun 16, 2005

The 6800LE/NU on pci-express cost far too much, they cost near and above the 300CDN line. I want something to use for 4-5 months then toss.

scottchen · Jun 16, 2005

The X700Pro really came out of no where, saw the pci express 3d charts, and x700pro came really close to the 6600GT, even though on paper it doesn't. And searched it up only 115CDN, i've never heard much about it. So is the X700pro just an underrated card, or is it crap and i just can't tell from tom's benchies.

scottchen · Jun 16, 2005

LOL, i think i can live playing at 960x600 without AA/AF for a little while.

pauldh · Jun 16, 2005

X700 pro isn't that bad. They are usually 256MB 128-bit and clocked 425/860 like yours. In some tests, the 256MB Pro beats out the 128MB XT's. They just are under-rated because the 6600GT was priced the same and edges them out in performance.

Anyway, it's not quite a 6600GT, but far from junk. At your prices, for a temporary card, the X700 pro is easily the best buy IMO.

Check the <A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/index0504.html" target="_new"> Digit-life charts</A> for more comparisons.

EDIT: I see there are 128MB X700 Pros too, but even so, the best price on pricewatch is $127 USD, so $115 Canadian is still a sweet deal. The 256MB ones are $150 USD.

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Edited by Pauldh on 06/16/05 07:39 AM.

scottchen · Jun 16, 2005

No trust me i'll be fine, i've lived witha Geforce2 MX400 for a couple month when i waited for the 6800GT's price to drop a bit after i sold my FX5900.

scottchen · Jun 16, 2005

Thx for the link, i think i'm just going to get the 128mb version, save the 20 dollars from the 256mb, just curious, how well does the x700pro 128mb compare to the 9800pro? The 9800pro does have a 256bit memory bandwidth, but the X700pro is a bit revised and has higher clocks.

scottchen · Jun 16, 2005

Oh Wusy the reason why i sold my whole system was because i wanted to get rid of my prometeia, i bought it for under 400, but managed to sell it for 700

I wasn't really using it, and i really don't need negative temperatures if i'm just going to run at under 1.6Vcore. Watercooling with peltier assisstance will handle it fine.

TheGreatGrapeApe · Jun 16, 2005

Of what you listed the X700PRO is the best 'deal' IMO. The X700XT is nice too.

All things being EQUAL and I would've said the GF6600GT, but considering that the GF6600non-gt is MORE than the X700XT, it's a pretty easy choice IMO. OF course the question then becomes, is it worth the $25 more for an XT?

The X800SE would be attractive if they were anywhere near as modable as we had hoped.

BTW, where the heck can you get an X700XT? NCIX used to have them listed, removed them, and I haven't seen them in 'retail' anywhere. Probably another one of your connections you B4$$TU2D! :tongue:

Heck at that price for an X700Pro that's freakin' awesome. Used, one time only, or 'cost' deal there?

EDIT: The R9800P has only the very VERY rarest of wins against the X700PRO (even less than against the GF6600GT).

- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp (or internet account) ! - <A HREF="http://www.redgreen.com/" target="_new">RED GREEN</A> GA to SK :evil:

Edited by TheGreatGrapeApe on 06/16/05 10:54 AM.

scottchen · Jun 16, 2005

It's all straight from supercom, They can get the X700XT except they don't have stock at the moment. All these are brand new out of sweatshops in China

They're all lite retails, so just card comes in an anti-static bag no cables/drivers.

X700Pro you think is good? Yeah I do wander if the XT is worth 25CDN, considering the fact this is a card i plan to toss in 4-5 months.

NCIX... oh yeah you should take their deal on that chaintech VNF4 ultra board, 130 something and you get a 6200 for free. I wanted to then realized i can get it at any time for that price

TheGreatGrapeApe · Jun 16, 2005

Actually I was looking at the DFI Ultra board for $160.

I'm still just not motivated for change due ot lack of time. But I have figured out my upgrade paths (thanks in part to your link to Dangeo in Calagary for the Memory).

I still want dual PEG16x.

If I were to build now I know what I want, but I probably won't get time until July, and since there should be alot of activity, especially along the MoBo front, then I'm willing to wait (prices rarely go up with time).

As for the X700Pro it's a good interim solution, the X700XT offers some niceties, but I was concerned with how much the 128 vs 256 affected the card at high res and high AA, it was the only drawback to give me pause about recommending it. But even as an oddity it might bring better resale value, just a though. And you could disprove the theory that the card doesn't exist. :lol:

- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp (or internet account) ! - <A HREF="http://www.redgreen.com/" target="_new">RED GREEN</A> GA to SK :evil:

scottchen · Jun 16, 2005

LOL I honestly don't expect the X700 series card to run games with aa/af.

It's true there's a lot of activity, but i don't like playing the wait game with computers.

I love 512mb DDR400 Samsung, it's only 37 dollars per stick

Vapor · Jun 16, 2005

I'm in the exact same position as you right now....just I still have my system (AGP card, useless on a DFI NF4 board) for now. I was about to quip out the 6600GT, which is what I think I'm gonna do (I also kinda need dual DVI, so that complicates things), but I noticed the X700Pro at that amazing price....definitely get that! Anyway, I'm not waiting for the X900XTpe (probably won't be available until December and I won't wait that long) so I'll be going with the 7800GTX in a month or so (at the soonest, I might wait for the price to drop to below $600).

Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.

scottchen · Jun 16, 2005

But i just love that sweet sweet 32 pixel pipelines.

Vapor · Jun 16, 2005

Wouldn't we all....

Too bad the chances of it being available are slim to none and slim left town a long time ago. Most reports are saying that what we will see first (due to yield problems) will be the 24 pipe version (this will be for a long time, too....not just the first two months of the X900 series).

There was, if I'm not mistaken, a report (or a few actually) that said that each pipe will be 1.3 times as efficient, which will result in the theoretical fillrate of a 32 pipe card, so that might have to tide you over.

Also, aren't the release dates for the X900 series cards some time in late July? The 7800GTX should be in quantity by then.

Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.

scottchen · Jun 16, 2005

I don't know about Nvidia this time, the 7800GTX is just a Go6800 with a die shrink and 8 more pipelines. It barely matches 6800GT SLI.

pauldh · Jun 16, 2005

I don't recall seeing this mentioned so far, but if you plan on using the stock cooler on the X700 pro, then beware some of them thangs are noisy. Somehow, I doubt you'd keep that stock cooler on for long anyhow.

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scottchen · Jun 17, 2005

LOL why should i even consider keeping stock on when i have a Swiftech MCW50 that's just sitting on my desk.

scottchen · Jun 17, 2005

BTW when is the X900 series going to debut? I know the Geforce7 series is about to paper launch soon so about 3 months from now we'll be able to get Geforce7 stuff, but what about ATI's side? When are they paper launching?

pauldh · Jun 17, 2005

Yeah, I figured as much coming from you. So the Wusy Editions (no warranty/no Heatsink) are right up you alley. He needs to get promoting the idea. Great price on that X700 pro. Considering it's 128MB, then I'd have to think about the XT for the $25 more. If it had been 256MB, I'd have stuck to the pro for $115. Both great deals you lucky "Connected" Canadian.

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pauldh · Jun 17, 2005

July 26th is R520's expected paper launch. Will there be cards ready to buy at launch like rumors say about the 7800GTX...we shall see.

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scottchen · Jun 17, 2005

No warranty? all my mods are reversable so there's always warranty

I am very tempted to pick up a 340 dollars X800XL, reason being, the pricing on the X9xx would be unaffordable, some rumours say they'll be in the 1000US dollars range for the top end.

X700Pro is the choice for me, assuming ATI can supply the X900XT in good quantity, and aren't douchebags with pricing. But on the other hand, if their is another supply shortage like with the X800XT's, then i'd be stuck with a X700Pro for a while.

pauldh · Jun 17, 2005

What can you get plain X800 PCI-e for up there? I seem to recall Grape mentioning them as a good buy in Canada once upon a time.

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A good temporary card?

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