X800 XL brands (for OC'ing)...

[Xylo]

I'm going to be getting a new graphics card...at first, I was thinking of getting a X800 Pro, but Newegg screwed me recently, so I have some credit with them, and I was thinking of getting an X800 XL instead (a good idea?).

In any case, the board is going to be water-cooled, so I don't care about stock fans, etc. Given that, what's the best brand to go with for an X800 XL? Perhaps Sapphire? There's also a reasonably priced Gigabyte @ Newegg also...As well as an MSI, Asus, Abit, HIS, and Connect3D...

Can anyone recommend one brand over another, and if so, why?

Also, I've never fiddled with any AIW cards before, but there appears to be a cheap X800 XT AIW floating around out there...maybe that would be even better??

Thanks!
Xylo

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

X800XLs for the most part don't overclock spectacularly, even with a volt-mod and water cooling they don't seem to do too well, as witnessed by mozzartusm's results.

For quality of build you might as well go with a BuiltByAti OEM, since the others will usually charge more for the extra bling and bundle, etc. The HIS' do well but alot of that has to do with the Arctic Cooler on it. Asus commes lower clocked, but since you're going to overclock anyways, it doesn't matter much. MSI is nice because it has the dual DVI and VIVO.

Also, I've never fiddled with any AIW cards before, but there appears to be a cheap X800 XT AIW floating around out there

Likely that would overclock better even despite the AIW add-ons.


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[Xylo]

Well, I just realized that the x800 xt was an AGP (doh!)...so that's out...