X1900XTX vs 8600GT

[el-mariachi]

A friend of mine offer an Ati X1900XTX for a 100 bucks, do you thinks its a good deal if i replaced the 86gt with this one? how well do the card cope with these day games vs the 86GT it didnt have the SM.4 like the 86GT but the raw power of this card playing an SM.3 games maybe better. just for the record i dont use vista, so DX.10 is out of the question

[btarunr]

The 8600 GT is close to useless playing SM 4.0 games anyway. No, the X1900 has no 'raw power' you speak of. The 8600 GT can run SM 3 apps just as good as any GPU from its previous generation be it from ATI or NV.

[Kursah]

I know in 3D Mark scores they can come pretty close...my x1950xtx does pretty decent at 1280x1024/1440x900 in most new games at high settings, some require a medium setting here and there, mostly 2-0AA, I run 8-16AF where applicable in game. There are plenty of recent/new and older games that I could play at higher resolutions just fine on my CRT, but my 19" widescreen is limited to 1440x900 max.

What kind of games do you play? How much gaming do you do?

In raw processing power I believe the XTX wins, and I think it would be a better choice for a gaming card imo. We'll see what others have to say...as I have a 1950xtx, the only difference is I have gDDR4 (not that big of a deal either...)...and I do not have a 8600 to compare it to.

[DaedalusHelios]

Originally Posted by el-mariachi

A friend of mine offer an Ati X1900XTX for a 100 bucks, do you thinks its a good deal if i replaced the 86gt with this one? how well do the card cope with these day games vs the 86GT it didnt have the SM.4 like the 86GT but the raw power of this card playing an SM.3 games maybe better. just for the record i dont use vista, so DX.10 is out of the question

It would be an upgrade but not enough of one if you ask me. You would do much better with HD 3850 and OC'ing it or of course the new 9600GT.

[CrackerJack]

I would go for the x1900 xtx!!!

I hope this might help...some!
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....=378&card2=513

[Kursah]

For not much more though you could probably snag an 8800GS 384 which is a good card and comparable to the 9600GT, but very limited in stock anymore and is kind of set to get rid of lower-binned chips iirc. But still a good card. Then you'd have faster gaming with the newer technology also!

Or spend a little more and get a 9600GT or HD3850/70...and be set for a little while depending on gaming resolutions and such. Definately be set longer with one of those cards than a 1900xtx imo.

[JrRacinFan]

Does the GDDR4 make a difference in overclocking?

Kursah, you know what we could do, run a 3Dmark06 at stock cpu clocks for me. Cause my e1200 with my 24/7 clocks run really close to your e6300 stock. I score about 5700 in 3Dmark06.

[el-mariachi]

Originally Posted by Kursah

I know in 3D Mark scores they can come pretty close...my x1950xtx does pretty decent at 1280x1024/1440x900 in most new games at high settings, some require a medium setting here and there, mostly 2-0AA, I run 8-16AF where applicable in game. There are plenty of recent/new and older games that I could play at higher resolutions just fine on my CRT, but my 19" widescreen is limited to 1440x900 max.

What kind of games do you play? How much gaming do you do?

In raw processing power I believe the XTX wins, and I think it would be a better choice for a gaming card imo. We'll see what others have to say...as I have a 1950xtx, the only difference is I have gDDR4 (not that big of a deal either...)...and I do not have a 8600 to compare it to.

I'm a somewhat hardcore gamers in terms of playing time, im just bit worried about the power this XTX drain, its way too much compared to 8600GT i only have antec 400wtt psu, is that enough? dont tell me i have to buy me a new psu

[X-TeNDeR]

The X1900XTX is a monster card, one of the strongest SM3 cards available. its way better than the 8600GT in terms of performance, and IMO the SM4 isn't really usable with your card, as its very intensive.
The drawback is that the radeon is thermo-nuclear driven it consumes up to 200 watts of power or more, at full load. you need a really good PSU for this one.
And with stock cooling, you almost feel like your case is going airborne.. very noisy..

if you have a decent PSU, go for it and enjoy

Edit: oh wow, alot of new comments while i was typing. as mentioned, the 3850 is better and with the new price its very affordable. get it if you can.

[JrRacinFan]

Also to add to my above post, What motherboard do you plan on running the card on?

[CrackerJack]

Originally Posted by el-mariachi

I'm a somewhat hardcore gamers in terms of playing time, im just bit worried about the power this XTX drain, its way too much compared to 8600GT i only have antec 400wtt psu, is that enough? dont tell me i have to buy me a new psu

i had a x1950 on a 450watt, i couldn't oc anything. does that 400 come with a pci-e power connector?

[Kursah]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

Does the GDDR4 make a difference in overclocking?

In the newer ATI cards like the 2900's and HD series the GDDR4 was great for OC-ing from what i've seen, but it's pretty lackluster on the x1950xtx....really more of a dissapointment...I see others on TPU that can beat me in benches (oh well.. ) with GDDR3 x1900xtx's that have their memory clocked at my GDDR4's stock speed, which is 1000MHz in 3D...a hefty OC for them...yet my GDDR4 doesn't like to go above 1100...and really the performance increase from 1080 (lower voltage needed) is not very noticable and from 1000 to 1080 is negligable.

Kursah, you know what we could do, run a 3Dmark06 at stock cpu clocks for me. Cause my e1200 with my 24/7 clocks run really close to your e6300 stock. I score about 5700 in 3Dmark06.

Wow stock clocks...this 6300 has seen those maybe a total of 20 hours in the last year and few months I've owned it! So you're only running 1.86 GHz?

My x1950xtx is BIOS OC'd...and rock stable too, which is nice. Got the Core to 730 before, but it'd crash in ATI Tool, yet my games were fine...I still took it back down to 715 where it was stable in ATI Tool for as long as I could stand to run it (overnight a couple of times).

PM me and remind me to do so, I'll run 3DM06 stock for ya! NP. I may forget tho..so keep on me lol! I'm working on fine tuning my CPU/MB/RAM OC again...got up to 486FSB with 5-4-4-12 timings and so far so good...I didn't let memtest get all the way thru yet tho...about 50% and I decided to hop on the web for a few before bed and let it run all night...but I was able to drop my volts to 2.10v. If I could only hit that magical 500FSB with 4x1GB lol! But my CPU is running at 3.40 (EDIT LOL!) with a little less than stock voltage (stock is 1.32v, running at 1.28v) and is rock stable atm...I gotta run 1.34v for 3.5.

Well enuf hogging this poor guys' thread...sorry about that...I still say if you don't have more than $100 to spend get the XTX, if you can spare an extra $20-50...look on Newegg at 9600GT's, 8800GS's...you'll find something that's better than the XTX and will last you longer.

[Kursah]

Originally Posted by el-mariachi

I'm a somewhat hardcore gamers in terms of playing time, im just bit worried about the power this XTX drain, its way too much compared to 8600GT i only have antec 400wtt psu, is that enough? dont tell me i have to buy me a new psu

It will be a power hog...I have no issues on my HX520 Corsair..yet when I load my XTX down in ATI Tool...my 12v drops from 11.96v to about 11.89-11.92v...CPU stress it doesn't budge. Also another reason to get a 9600GT or 8800GS...power efficient and more powerful.

[JrRacinFan]

@Kursah & el-mariachi

I still say X1900XTX, not saying I don't love this card. But you will come acrossed that if you can't run in high res but with AA/AF it does surpass the 8600GT in games that are a little aged now. Although at the cost of extra wattage on the power supply.

What's your power supply rated for on the rails? Cause depending on which Antec it is you may not have problems.

[el-mariachi]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

Also to add to my above post, What motherboard do you plan on running the card on?

well that depend on my other post on the motherboard section, cant really decide it, yet Gigabyte seems solid enough

[JrRacinFan]

Yeah, well look gain....

The X1900XTX with my 5000BE build would rock!

[wolf]

i'd get the 8600GT and overclock its nuts off, then the x1900 wont touch it.

but thats just me

but it does depend on the resolution, if you game below 1600x1200 then the oc 8600GT is the choice imo, if your gaming @ 1600x1200 or more then the x1900 will have the beef for that.

[el-mariachi]

here's my PSU (i think)
Antec SmartPower 2.0 400 Watt ATX12V v2.0 PSU PCIE Ready Model SP400
http://reviews.pricegrabber.com/powe...ies/m/8192841/
it does have a pcie connector on it, and no idon't now What's my power supply rated for on the rails (i got that from a garage sale also and it painted black by the previous owner, nothin to see from the external casings)

[CrackerJack]

It got dual 12v rails. I would go with atleast a 600watt.


Do you plan to crossfire or sli?

[el-mariachi]

Originally Posted by wolf

i'd get the 8600GT and overclock its nuts off, then the x1900 wont touch it.

but thats just me

but it does depend on the resolution, if you game below 1600x1200 then the oc 8600GT is the choice imo, if your gaming @ 1600x1200 or more then the x1900 will have the beef for that.

i only have a 17' monitor so there's no 1600x1200 games for me there just have to play it at 1024x768

[Namslas90]

The X1900XTX is probably the most power dependant card out there, 600 watts or better with a minimum of 21 amps on the 12v+ rail is realy as low as you would want to go.

For $100, thats probably the best bang for the buck you can get.
Mine is still running strong and can run almost all current games NP.

[Kursah]

Well I have a Smartpower 2.0 500W in my G/F's rig, had the same 2x12V Rail setup...12V1 was good for 19a, and 12V2 was good for 17A (iirc)..but I believe yours will be a couple amps less per rail.

They're decent PSU's, definately not hardcore or top-end, but they get the job done just fine. I would say an XTX would make that PSU start to work pretty hard though, my 500W failed in my C2D setup with a 1950Pro (Antec RMA was like 6 weeks to top it off), but hard saying if it was just a premature failure or from being overloaded in the year before failure...the RMA replacement was an updated version with 4 and 8 Pin CPU (original only had 4-pin), fans seemed quieter, PSU seemed heavier...and it's been a solid unit since last May/June (iirc) running in my G/F's rig with an OC'd P4/3GB DDR400/x850xt pe.



What kind of a budget do you have for a vid card? Are you capable of going beyond $100?

[CrackerJack]

Originally Posted by el-mariachi

i only have a 17' monitor so there's no 1600x1200 games for me there just have to play it at 1024x768

don't feel bad i only game 1280x1024. I've got a Samsung LCD 17" monitor. I'm more than happy with that. There's of coarse a big difference between it and 1024x768

[tkpenalty]

Do we really need to reiterate this debate? Remember how the X1950PRO which is inferior to the X1900XTX by a fair bit is superior to the 8600GTS? A 8600GT sure can play SM4.0 games, however at a poor performance that is undesirable...

X1900XTX would be a better choice vs the 8600GT. Even at this age the X1900XTX has that "raw power"

No overclocking the 8600GT will NOT get you the same performance as the X1900XTX, maybe a X1950PRO (With solaris17's crazy voltmods) but not the X1900XTX. I think many of you guys base the performance off the naming conventions.

Unless that X1900XTX is artifacting like crazy I would get it over the 8600GT. Now heres an example of someone who got screwed over switching like that:

My uncle has a perfectly fine X1900XTX, and is happy with it, then he sees the 8600GTS which he thinks is better thanks to it being "new". However he was greeted with the inability to turn settings up like before, and ended up switching back to the X1900XTX, (now under my advice hes got a 8800GT).

Overall the 8600GT is nothing against the X1900XTX. The venerable X1900XTX can still hold its own against some of the newer cards in certain situations. I'm not saying that the 8600GT is a flop, as for a new card it provides good bang for buck, however if you can get a X1900XTX for the same price the 8600GT becomes something thats rather stupid to purchase. I have to agree with the rest of the people however, save up a bit more, sell your 8600 and get a 9600GT or 8800GT.

[el-mariachi]

Originally Posted by CrackerJack

It got dual 12v rails. I would go with atleast a 600watt.


Do you plan to crossfire or sli?

arrgh.... thats means more money there goes my X1900XTX flyin away form me
nope i havent thought about SLI nor Crossfire, dont have the money to do so