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No 7600 GT available, this guy is AGP if he's running a Radeon 9550...

If you have to choose between the X1600 XT and X800 GTO... they will perform closely, the X1600 XT will have a slight advantage in most stuff, and it's newer technology so it allows for SM 3.0 class stuff like OpenEXR HDR.

Sorry, forgot to mention that I can do PCI Express x16. My MB has both that and AGP. ASRock 939Dual SATA

Well, if you cna afford it go with a 7600 GT for sure. Huge performance increase over the X1600 and X800.

On that note, I may even consider going with the x1800 GTO after rereading the list. I'm comfortable with O/C with atitool, and a small part of me would like to stick with the ATI cards, since I've always had one. (brand loyalty) Whatever I do end up deciding on, I'll try to remember to come back and let you know and give you my new 3DMark05 score.

The X1800 GTO is a great card and you'll be very happy with it. Stock 3dMark 05 score will probably be around 6000 - 7000, overclocked it might hit 8000 without too much trouble.

Would you still rate the X1800XT 512 MB GFX card a top choice for its price? $300 on newegg. I'm looking to upgrade form my X700Pro but don't want to pay an arm and a leg for a X1900XT.

My dilemma is that I'll want to upgrade next summer (most likely) but I want a performance boost over the course of the next year that'll still be able to play the newest top titles without falling short before I upgrade.

Should I go wth the X1800XT now? Or can I get away with spending a little less and get the performance I want to tide me over till next summer?

Coming from an X700? the 7600 GT or X1800 GTO would be a cheaper temporary solution that will show you excellent results over your X700.

But the X1800 is still an awesome card for the $$.

I forgot another question. Do you happen to know if either the 7600 GT or X1800 GTO require a direct connection to the power supply via the special cord? I know there are adapters I can get, since my PS doesn't have the hookup, but I'd like to avoid that.

7600 GTs don't need it, some X1800 GTOs do need the power cord (but not all)

Are you sure about that?

Alot of reviews I've seen and alot of the cards on NewEgg show the GT with a 6 pin power connector, but not all.

D'oh!

Forget it, confusing some capacitor or transistor box with a power connector;

http://www.firingsquad.com/media/a [...] sp/1816/05

You can kinda see it in this pic versus the true power connector a little closer to the edge on the GF6800GS in that pic.

I have discovered that the Sapphire X1800 GTO comes with the adapter to connect it to a power supply that does not have the 6-pin connection already.

FYI - I still haven't made up my mind between the X1800 GTO and the 7600 GT. I've given myself a 2-week deadline to make my choice. I know that either one will be awesome compared to what I'm currently at, but it's still a hard choice.

there might be a new sweet spot to go after. After spending some time researching into it,i disocvered that the X1900 All-In-Wonder card is the same fully unlocked R580 core, uses same type of memory and everything so the only differences are:

X1900XT/XTX:
512mb
600+mhz core
700+mhz memory
dual slot cooling
Crossfire
priced $400 or better
X1900 AIW
256mb
500mhz core
480 memory
single slot cooling
multimedia functions
no Corssfire
priced $280 or better

So in theory with a better heatsink the AIW card should be able to clock up to the same speeds as the XT/XTX which in turn would make that card a steal at its price... when my card gets here tomorrow, i will hook it up try out the stock cooler before i order a new heatsink and push it to the limit.

Also its rumoured that theres an X1900??? coming out thats the same thing as the AIW but without the tuner and multimedia functions at that 300-350 price range, which will became the ultimate bargain if its fully unlocked unlike the GT version

let ya know how it OCs, bye

The X1900 all-in-wonder will core overclock easily, but I doubt you'll ever get the slow memory anywhere near X1900 XT specifications.

In the end, the X1900 AIW's memory will certainly cripple it to run much slower than an X1900 XT, then again if you overclock it'll probably still be faster than the X1800 XT, so if you're an overclocker it's a good card in the $300 price range. Then again, so is the 7900 GT though...

its the same memory, its just not as much 512mb -vs- 256mb, and as is the case with system memory less memory = faster latency. i may never reach the 700+mhz of the XT/XTX but i figure if i can reach 600 or 650 my latency should easily make it just as good as the 700+

but as i said next week or so, whenever i determine the best heatsink i can buy for that card, i will push its limits and see if i can reach the XT specs

It's not the same memory, it's 200 Mhz slower.

I wouldn't count on reaching 650 on X1900 XT memory, 600 might even be a challenge although it's probably doable.

It really depends on what the manufacturer puts on the card. You might get lucky, you might not, but I wouldn't count on it...

The core is pretty much a given to overclock though. I'd pick an X1900 AIW over an X1800 XT, myself, for overclocking purposes.

This may be old news, or news nobody cares about but HKEPC has a review (in Chinese of course) on the upcoming AGP 7600GS vs the X1600Pro.

You can check it out here.

Just in case you don't get what Cleeve's saying the X1900 AIW has 1.6ns memory chips and the X1900XT hs 1.26 ns memory which is a BIG difference. The X1900XTX has 1.1ns memory which is actually quite a sizeable difference too.

That 1.6ns memory isn't going anywhere near the same level. You might be able to reach XT stock speeds with some water cooling, but the XT would far outpace that with the same setup. And the latency isn't enough of an issue to compensate for that 200(400)mhz difference.

time to give the x1800XT 256MB the nod at the $200-250 price range... the Sapphire 100154L's regular price is now $249 on Newegg, and it's even on sale currently for $219 after a $30 MIR. however, there's a 512MB MSI x1800XT for $269 after MIR... is it worth the extra $50 to pick up a 512MB version of the card rather than 256MB?

Hey guys, what's a good PCI E card below $100?

I'm using an ASUS board. and I'm running AMD 64 on it. thanks.

This one.

Yeah, it's time to update the list...