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Connect 3D x1900xt/Sapphire x1900xt?

Associate
Joined
20 May 2006
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135
Hi, question as is stated in the subject title

Both of the 512mb versions of these cards sell for £258 inc vat on here, there doesnt appear to be any kind of bundle with these, no free games or anything, so Im just wondering which of these cards would I be most happy with?
 
Soldato
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12 Jul 2005
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Just over your shoulder
killer_uk said:
The sapphire card as far as I know comes with 4 trial games. You then get to pick 2 of them to 'unlock' them into the full games.
Aye, that it does - got mine from OCUK and you get a CD which you can trial 4 games for a limited time and permanently unlock 2 of them via key provided.

Anysways......common opinion is that there isn't much to choose between (except the sticker thing ;))......unless one has better warranty/support/BIOS updates/pretty box/free toaster/availability etc.

That said, I have seen benchies scattered around the interweb showing Sapphire X1900XT cards just ahead in many instances......and mine certainly clocked beyond XT-X speeds with ease and no volt mods/boosts etc. (although I also understand that this was indicative of earlier models benefitting from 1.1ns RAM on XT's as per XT-X's..... :rolleyes: )
 
Soldato
Joined
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13,779
While the performance difference is utterly marginal at best, Sapphire cards tend to pull ahead and overclock better too. They also come with free games.

Also, Sapphire are just cooler than Connect3D. Let it be done. :cool:
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Jun 2006
Posts
38,372
Úlfhednar said:
While the performance difference is utterly marginal at best, Sapphire cards tend to pull ahead and overclock better too. They also come with free games.

Also, Sapphire are just cooler than Connect3D. Let it be done. :cool:

difference should be none in performance as for overclocking it depends on the chip itself not the make, if you get lucky you might get a good clocker but you shouldnt really need to overclock an x1900xt necause it runs everything on full smoothly
 
Soldato
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Psycho Sonny said:
difference should be none in performance as for overclocking it depends on the chip itself not the make, if you get lucky you might get a good clocker but you shouldnt really need to overclock an x1900xt necause it runs everything on full smoothly
This forum is absolutely packed with people who overclock and benchmark just for fun, you know.
 
Caporegime
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Úlfhednar said:
This forum is absolutely packed with people who overclock and benchmark just for fun, you know.

yeh i know that, my 6800 LE is unlocked to 16 pipes and 5 shaders and is overclocked like 200 on the core and memory which means it beats ultra's at stock, but when it comes to overclocking high end cards i see no point, x1900xt's run sooooooooooo hot and consume so much power do you really want them to run any hotter, unless you are watercooling i would never suggest overclocking an x1800xt or x1900xt unless you have a dell and need the extra power whereas i have a 32 inch hdtv which has a res of 1360 x 768 i run most things at 100fps, and i dont really think i see a decrease in quality my other tft is 17 inch 1280 x 1024 viewsonic, my x1900xt is also the ice q version which is meant to be one of the best overclockers too, i did overclock it but it doesnt really like it it feels more smooth at stock, what can i say ive had some bad experiences with overclocking too high and learnt if it aint broke dont fix it, my 6800LE has the best cooler i have ever seen in my life though thats why its clocked soooo much
 
Soldato
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Psycho Sonny said:
x1900xt's run sooooooooooo hot and consume so much power do you really want them to run any hotter, unless you are watercooling i would never suggest overclocking an x1800xt or x1900xt unless you have a dell and need the extra power
This is what the Zalman VF900-CU was made for. :) My X1800XT, even with this heavy OC on it, is a whole lot cooler than it was at stock with the stock cooler on. I am talking like 20-25ºc lower.

Psycho Sonny said:
whereas i have a 32 inch hdtv which has a res of 1360 x 768 i run most things at 100fps, and i dont really think i see a decrease in quality my other tft is 17 inch 1280 x 1024 viewsonic
I just went from a 19" CRT @ 1280x960 and 1600x1200 to a 19" widescreen LCD @ 1440x900 and I have always seen a pretty big difference between 625/725Mhz and 720/900Mhz on my X1800XT (so long as my CPU is overclocked, otherwise it's a huge bottleneck.) I am sure others would say the same.

Psycho Sonny said:
my x1900xt is also the ice q version which is meant to be one of the best overclockers too, i did overclock it but it doesnt really like it it feels more smooth at stock, what can i say ive had some bad experiences with overclocking too high and learnt if it aint broke dont fix it, my 6800LE has the best cooler i have ever seen in my life though thats why its clocked soooo much
Stick a Zalman VF900-CU on that X1900XT and it'll fly. ;)

Back to my point anyway; There is plenty of reason to overclock high-end graphics cards. Not only does it improve benchmarks, but it still creates a noticeable difference in performance. It can even help with CPU limitation as it allows you to slap on more AA/AF or increase the resolution in some cases, making the GPU do much more work at relatively lower performance loss.
 
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Soldato
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Horsham
go saphire....

my x1900 is o/ced....it used to crash on oblivion for some unbeknown reason when at stock .... i shoved a vf-900 on it, clocked it up 80hz and voila perfect gameplay... and running at about 40'c.... who said ventos arnt that cool ;)
 
Associate
OP
Joined
20 May 2006
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135
Ive found the connect3d for £245 inc vat and delivery on a competitors website, the only game id be interested in playing in the sapphire bundle would be band of brothers anyway.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Jun 2003
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Scotland
Some of the connect 3D 1900XT cards have 1.1ns memory chips on them,at least mine does :D Most of the Xts have 1.2ns mem chips on.

More than happy with mine,good clocker as well 780/840 so far ;)

Rob
 
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