• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

X800 v X1800

Associate
Joined
19 May 2004
Posts
939
Location
Horsham, West Sussex
I'm about to upgrade my system. My current card is a 9700 Pro (128MB) which can still performs well but is struggling with the latest games with all the graphics bells and whistles turned on.

I'm going to stick with ATi and move to PCI-Express.

Many years ago I decided that I'm not the type of person to pay premium for leading technology, preferring to stay one or two steps behind at bargain prices.

So here I am, with a couple of choices

Radeon X800/X850
or
Radeon X1800

I've read that with certain types of X800 you can flash/mod them to perform like a X850.

Thw X1800 is pushing my budget but I could stretch to a GTO if the benefits were good enough. Trouble is I then fall into the time-honoured trap of "but the X1800 XT is only another £25".

Where I am struggling is trying to judge the comparitive performance of an X850 with an X1800.

I've tried Tomshardware but as they don't appear in the same VGA Chart tests its difficult to tell - I'm not sure its valid to compare the results from one test with those of another.

Basically I'm looking at the following

HIS or Sapphire X800 GTO2 (which I believe can be flashed to X850??) - £115
HIS X1800 GTO - £147
Connect3D X1800 XT - £170

My initial bugdet was £100 give or take a bit

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Jul 2004
Posts
5,010
Location
llanelli , south wales
well ive owned an x800 pro vivo ( agp ) .

then changed my sytem abit and went to pci-e . sapphire x1800xt 256 mb

now i have done some gaming at 1600 x 1200 with the x800 but i play nearly all enemy territory. x800 gives you mostly high effects if you game at 1280 x 1024 and decent framerate.

an x1800xt takes you into another league again.1200 x 1024 you can crank the aa + af to max . except on the very new games from what ive read.

so personally i'd choose the 1800xt . but you did say your budget is tight. i'd look at the performance difference between an x1800 GTO and the and XT and see if you can justify the extra spending.

wouldn't really consider the x800 . although it will boost things quite a lot. depends what you game at.
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Dec 2005
Posts
40,065
Location
Autonomy
If budget is important then get a 7600 GT for 117 quid.
This card offers great performance at 12x10 res and at this price nothing can touch it.

It comes in between the 6800 ultra and 7800 GT and at this price cannot be sniffed at. :)
 
Joined
20 Oct 2005
Posts
5,938
nheather said:
I'm going to stick with ATi and move to PCI-Express.



So here I am, with a couple of choices

Radeon X800/X850
or
Radeon X1800


Nigel


easyrider said:
If budget is important then get a 7600 GT for 117 quid.
This card offers great performance at 12x10 res and at this price nothing can touch it.

It comes in between the 6800 ultra and 7800 GT and at this price cannot be sniffed at. :)

:rolleyes:
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Feb 2006
Posts
3,368
I went from a 9800 pro to a x800 gto 16 and the difference was BIG. I then got a x1800 xt 256mb. The x1800 is a lot faster in the newest games and will be usable for gaming longer. My only regret is that i did not get the x1800 xt 512mb.

FredFlint.
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Dec 2005
Posts
40,065
Location
Autonomy
williamw11 said:

Thanks for the eye roll. :p

But the issue here is bang for buck.If the OP wants to get an inferior card for more money then thats his choice.

If he wants to stick with ATI and spend more for less performance then thats his choice.

I was just offering a better avenue.
 
Associate
Joined
15 Nov 2005
Posts
2,307
Location
Newcastle
I went from a 9800xt to an x850xt then up to an x1800xt and the performance difference each upgrade was huge. I'd definetly recommend the x1800xt and if its does seem a little over budget then you could always buy 1 2nd hand as they go for as little as £120.
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Dec 2005
Posts
40,065
Location
Autonomy
LoadsaMoney said:
I thought you were getting rid of your 7600 GT now though as it struggles, as you donwgraded from the GTX as you said the 7600 GT would do the job, but now it don't.

Please read threads in full: ;)

The R600 thread is a perfect example of you making mistakes in post's.

At widescreen resolutions the 7600 GT does not cut it.
But for 12x10 NOTHING can touch it for £117.

The 7600 GT offers staggering performance for 12x10 res gamers pure and simple.And if the OP's budget is around 100 NOTHING can touch it.
 
Caporegime
Joined
8 Jul 2003
Posts
30,062
Location
In a house
easyrider said:
Please read threads in full: ;)

The R600 thread is a perfect example of you making mistakes in post's.

At widescreen resolutions the 7600 GT does not cut it.
But for 12x10 NOTHING can touch it for £117.

The 7600 GT offers staggering performance for 12x10 res gamers pure and simple.And if the OP's budget is around 100 NOTHING can touch it.

Yeah thats my mistake then, at ws resolutions it would struggle, he aint said what resolution though, i agree though at 12x10 its stonking card for that res, and its at a cracking price.

OT i didn't make a mistake in the R600 thread, i meant the same as everyone else, im just useless at getting what i mean across. :p
 
Associate
OP
Joined
19 May 2004
Posts
939
Location
Horsham, West Sussex
Thanks for the help guys.

Sounds like the X1800 XT is the way to go.

I was just trying to understand the step between the X850 and X1800 - from what you guy's have said it sounds pretty significant so it would be silly of me not to find another £50 to get one.

Any opinions on makes - they vary so much in price

Connect3D - £170
HIS - £206
PowerCooler - £247
Sapphire - £188

I note the cheaper ones have 256MB rather than 512MB - how much memory is really needed?

Since, they all use the same chipset is there any significant difference between makes?

Are ther any flash/mod upgrades I should be aware of for the X1800 series?

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Soldato
Joined
24 May 2006
Posts
3,828
Location
Surrey - UK
The x800 GTO 512mb is about £111 or so INC everything and i've had that run BF2 maxed out on 1024 x 768 on a bog standard IDE HDD with a A64 3000 Venice and a gig of memory.

My system is x1800xt, 2gb ram, venice 3200, and it doesnt look that much better.

If i could roll back time i'd proberly buy the x800 as a cheap upgrade, then grab a x1900xt when they drop somewhere between £100 - £180.

So personally what i'd say is, if you want the card to last grab the bigger one, and if you can afford to upgrade again in the near future grab the x800, as it should last a while before it struggles.

If thats of any help, yw.

Any more info?.... just ask.
 
Associate
Joined
15 Nov 2005
Posts
2,307
Location
Newcastle
What res do you game in?? only the 256mb will be fine unless your gaming in high res or widescreen, at that point the 512 might come in handy but it wont make a huge difference.
The gap between an x850xt and an x1800xt is big. Take 3dmark05 for example my old x850xt that was clocked past xt pe speeds scored 6500 iirc and my x1800xt scores 9800points. OK points in a benchmark dont mean that much but gives you an idea of the difference.
If I was you and you dont play in a really high res then just go for the cheapest 256mb x1800xt and you wont look back :)
 
Back
Top Bottom