x1950pro comparison

[smallzfsu]

OK, so I have decided on the x1950Pro, but I havent decided which model to get. Im torn betwen two, the HIS turbo, and the Sapphire Ultimate Edition. The HIS has a higher GPU clock, but lower mem speeds, and the Sapphire has higher mem speeds and lower gpu clock (respectively). Also the sapphire from what I understand doesnt have VIVO, and the bundle is a little less enticing. The Sapphire has a zalman cooler, but I have heard rave reviews on the ICEq3 cooler from HIS. SO Im torn. If thats not enough I see that newegg has a diamond model that is 512MB but at stock speeds.... UGH! HELP! any suggestions please?

 

[ATIonion]

HiS has always done me well....their coolers are nice and usually quiet when compaired to the stock ati cooler...they usually overclock nice too...

sapphire isnt my fav. brand name. usually you will hear bad stories about them...i have owned 2 sapphires (9600xt and x850pro) and they both wouldnt overclock well, then i checked and the thermal paste was crap and hardly covered the core...re applied and it helped only a little...seems that the sapphire line is usually already maxed out...

VIVO is nice if you use it...for me i use it for my tv tuner which cant run on XP but the VIVO of ati picks it up and tunes the channels for me...the MMC is nice...you can overlay video onto desktop or in game...so you can play and watch a small tv or movie in the corner too...

I'd go HiS...you will be glad you did, and dont worry about its clocks, they will go up....

 

[xman2007]

i would personally go with the sapphire if the memory is higher, more room for improvement plus you should get a good oc out of the gpu aswell. and ive had a few sapphire cards never let me down or had one die on me yet

 

[micron]

plus you should get a good oc out of the gpu aswell.

X1950Pro's Dont seem to overclock well....regardless of the brand.

 

[JC316]

I like Sapphire alot. HIS is what I would go for though.

 

[Azn Tr14dZ]

I would go for the HIS. It has a great cooler (IceQ3) which is really silent, and also exhausts air out of the back which will help case temps as well. The Zalman cooler on the Sapphire is great, but doesn't exhaust. Also, the Sapphire has Aluminum RAMsinks, while the HIS has the Copper from the heatsink itself, so it should do better in terms of cooling.

And no, the Sapphire doesn't have VIVO. If you look at the 2nd picture on the Sapphire, it's missing the (Rage Theatre?) chip, which holds VIVO capabilities.

 

[InfDamarvel]

1950pros overclock well its just that people have yet to realize that they need some pretty decent cooling on the vrms or theyll overheat.

 

[smallzfsu]

yep

Yes, I agree with the copper ram sink, as well it is seperate from the heat sink that is on the gpu, so the heat from the gpu wont transfer to the ram. Not many opinions on whether the stock speeds @ double the VRAM is better than facotry overclock @ 256?

 

[smallzfsu]

1950pros overclock well its just that people have yet to realize that they need some pretty decent cooling on the vrms or theyll overheat.

So lets say the HIS is my purchase, I know that the blower is over the VRMs , and that part of the copper is over them as well, but is it sufficient to the level that you have suggested here?

 

[ATIonion]

So lets say the HIS is my purchase, I know that the blower is over the VRMs , and that part of the copper is over them as well, but is it sufficient to the level that you have suggested here?

as good as it can be anyway....but if you need more and plan on H2O cooling in the future, then they make a water block of sorts that fits over the VRMs....but i doubt that it would be a problem for you...and aside from the waterblock for it, there isnt anything else you can do to cool it..

 

[DaMulta]

I bet the water blocks would not go onto a his without problems. I would go with Connet3D good cards, samsung memory and its pretty much a ATi copy.

 

[smallzfsu]

cool

as good as it can be anyway....but if you need more and plan on H2O cooling in the future, then they make a water block of sorts that fits over the VRMs....but i doubt that it would be a problem for you...and aside from the waterblock for it, there isnt anything else you can do to cool it..

Dunno, Im still wary about putting liquids inside my electronics, I dont want to let the magic smoke out!

As for the 512 argument how do you think the HIS holds up against the Diamond Viper x1950pro?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103022

What more important to you, a faster card, or more VRAM? Keep in mind that as soon as DX10 becomes a must (I am gauging that as a yer or two) I will be in the market for a card, so do you think 256 will hold out for 1-2 years? (wanna borrow my crystal ball?)

 

[WarEagleAU]

Id go for 512MB <G> and get an
ICEq3 cooler for it.

 

[ATIonion]

Dunno, Im still wary about putting liquids inside my electronics, I dont want to let the magic smoke out!

As for the 512 argument how do you think the HIS holds up against the Diamond Viper x1950pro?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103022

What more important to you, a faster card, or more VRAM? Keep in mind that as soon as DX10 becomes a must (I am gauging that as a yer or two) I will be in the market for a card, so do you think 256 will hold out for 1-2 years? (wanna borrow my crystal ball?)

its really hard to say...most games you should be fine with..the diff is really noticed when running higher res. so it depends on what res you run at...anything 1600x1200 and under should be about the same as a 512 card...

My opinion on cards for pciX is this...with Dx10 coming to light soon, it would be somewhat silly to invest too much money in a high end card...yes Dx10 will be around for many years, and we all will prob end up with Dx10 cards sooner then we think..Save what money you can for that time...if you need to update your system and want to save $$$ then i would go for the x1800gto myself...with a simple volt mod and bios flash that card can see 700/700 clocks...i have done this with the ATI and the HiS cards....its a $139 card right now and if clocked like i said it can perform close to if not better then the x19xx line...yes it is only 256mb/256bit, but its also a great deal for a card that most likely will get replaced in less then a year with a Dx10 card....

either way 256mb/256bit is plenty good enough for at least the next year or so for games...hope that helps you..

 

[DaMulta]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161047


Hmmmm

 

[smallzfsu]

its really hard to say...most games you should be fine with..the diff is really noticed when running higher res. so it depends on what res you run at...anything 1600x1200 and under should be about the same as a 512 card...

My opinion on cards for pciX is this...with Dx10 coming to light soon, it would be somewhat silly to invest too much money in a high end card...yes Dx10 will be around for many years, and we all will prob end up with Dx10 cards sooner then we think..Save what money you can for that time...if you need to update your system and want to save $$$ then i would go for the x1800gto myself...with a simple volt mod and bios flash that card can see 700/700 clocks...i have done this with the ATI and the HiS cards....its a $139 card right now and if clocked like i said it can perform close to if not better then the x19xx line...yes it is only 256mb/256bit, but its also a great deal for a card that most likely will get replaced in less then a year with a Dx10 card....

either way 256mb/256bit is plenty good enough for at least the next year or so for games...hope that helps you..

Definetly does help, and I have resigned myself to the fact that DX10 is in the _future_ and I can not worrow about something that isnt even real yet (of course I know its real, but do _you_ have it? ) Anyway, I think Im going to just go with the HIS turbo, the 512MB is 20 bucks more, and Im already pushing the envelope with the wife by going over 200 with the HIS. She may blow a gasket if I say 20 more than expected.

Think of it this way as well, Im upgrading from a 9600SE, so I think the HIS is going to blow _my_ socks off, why worry about anything else?