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A hard choice ? Or not ?

astral

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I'm considering a new card...but I do not wish to name the contenders here because than many irrelevant aspects can come into consideration, so I would like to ask the question in purely technological terms. :)

Consider two cards: they both have 8 pixel pipes. They both have the exact same GDDR3 memory of exact same 2.0 latency, both Samsung.

Card A has:

- 3 vertex pipes
- higher default clocks 500/900 and can be securely overclocked to ~550/1100 (and maybe even a more) for everyday use.
- has 128bit mem interface and 128MB of video mem

Card B has:

- 6 vertex pipes
- lower default clocks 425/800 and can be securely overclocked to ~500/1000 for everyday use.
- has 256bit mem interface and 256 of video mem.

Card B is slightly more expensive (about 20%), but as the amounts are not huge, the price difference is not really big in real money.

Which one would be theoretically better ? Are the higher speeds and overclockability more significant/important than the higher memory interface and more memory quantity ?

Exactly in which situations in real life applications (read: games) would the better interface and more memory come into account ? And in which situations is the higher clock/memory speeds more important ?

Thanks for any advice and comments. :cool:
 
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Card B would def. be a lot better. Card A has nicer clocks and memory, but would bottle neck since it only has 3 vertex pipes and only is 128 bit interface. I never would go with a 128 bit card due to that. Also, have a look at the x850xt or the x800 on newegg. The x800 is going for $80 whereas the x850xt is going for $160. Jump on it dude.
 
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in no stituation would the extra clock speed be good (better) if the rest of the card is lacking the basics which card A quite cleary is..

the two cards are not even in the same league.. it would have been easier to name the contenders.. but with only a 20% price difference card b is far better value than card A..

trog
 

zekrahminator

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something tells me that Card B is an X800 :p . If you have the cash, DEFINITELY card B. And considering the high memory clocks on card A, I'm guessing its Nvida something or another...lol. In my opinion, Nvidia cards become outdated alot faster then ATI cards (6 series vs Xx00, and almost all the Xx00 cards can still play most games, while the 6200 is listed as a "minimum requirement" to play lol)
 
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yeah i agree seems like an nv 6600gt (though a lower mem clocked version) vs an x800gt, quite an obvious choice to me, the x800gt.
 
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and astral was trying to avoid a fanboy bias.. shame on him... he he he

trog
 
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psh you can't avoid fanboy bias, we don't know how to make a decision without ati's or nv's influence. tsk tsk. lol
 

astral

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Hehe, yeah, seems naming the cards is unavoidable, and you people guessed it right (almost). :cool:

My "problem" is AGP in the first place, since I don't want to change everthing just yet just to go PCI-E, since I think there is no real reason yet to do it (the performance vs cost gains are minimal, if any at all).

Card A is of course a NVidia 6600GT.

Card B is and ATI X800...but SE, a MSI X800SE. ( http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/vga/vga/pro_vga_detail.php?UID=665 )

With an X800GT (or any other X800 "flavour"), the choice would have been crystal clear, but that card is even more expensive, to much for my actual budget, and almost impossible to find in AGP where I live.

So basically, the question and the dilemma was: can even such a low reputation ATI SE (or so called S*cky Edition) card be a better choice than a well respected NVidia 6600GT !?!? :eek:
 

zekrahminator

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um dude? there is a MUCH better version. and in the ATI world, SE stands for SUCKY EDITION. Lower clocks, higher latency memory, not enough pipelines, just...they insult the card :p . This version is pretty good...copper cooler, nice clocks, 12 pipes, all the stuff you'd expect from an X800, only alot cheaper. of course, you CAN do better, but for $80 after rebates? $110 down? This OWNS the 6600GT. Happy Gaming!
 
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