Video Card Thread (Mostly Gecube x1950xt)

Hello all. I'm going to upgrade soon to a gecube x1950xt (the specs are amazing on this thing!! The core is faster than an 8800!!! and its agp)

I've read some reviews on it and everyone complains on how the fan isnt connected to the core exactly, which causes it to get real hot... Like 90C.

Anyways, I just wanted to know any of you guys had any last thoughts, or have a solution like buying another fan, any good ones? I've found a site the fixes the small heat issue with the card, all you need to do is tighten the damn thing and slide some black tape in between the GPU and fan.

All thoughts are appreciated!

 

there are many good third party gpu cooling solutions on the market, i like the looks of the arctic cooling s1 heat sink and you can add 2 fans to it too to give it even more cooling power.

 

Can you add any kind of fans? I did a little searching and research on google, and found that 2 fans came with the product. Do you know how big they can be?

Thanks for the reply.

 

The Mhz are higher, but it is in fact a slower graphics card.
People may complain about the cooler not being attached properly, it is. The cards are meant to get that hot. The cards are also loud, because the stock cooling system is rubbish. I don't know whether they're supported yet, but I bought a Thermalright HR-03 for my X1900XT, it runs fanless (the optional fan wasn't necessary for me) and cools the card well.

 

I am looking for the fastest agp graphics card. Since I wont be using the computer a lot next year, I dont want to spend all that money on upgrading my mobo, cpu, gfx card and ram.

I was reading reviews, and they said that the card idled at something like 70C and then got to 90C under load, which is rediculous. My cheap 6800GS runs at 56-59C under load, and 47-53C Idled, even know it is overclocked a fair amount.

I am looking for the best agp graphics card money can buy, and I need something that can play bf2 and battlefield 2142 at high with great fps. I had a ATi 9800XT before my 6800 and it ran perfectly with no lag on high in battlefield 2. I wish I still had it.

I would also like to play some crysis on possible medium...

Any ideas? Thanks

 

The X1950XT is one of the fastest cards around for AGP, that's about the limit of the platform. My point was that it's slower than an 8800 series, despite the mhz being higher. If only you could get 8800 for AGP eh?
Crysis on Med should be doable with it.

In the Elder Scrolls Oblivion outdoors, max settings and AA/AF(so worse performance then you'll get with Crysis on medium), played at 1600x1200:

6800GT (no GS in the test): 2.9fps
X1950XT: 17.0fps
8800GTX: 32.5fps
I'd say that's a relatively good improvement, nearly 6x over a card that's faster than yours!

 

Man, I wish they came out with a 8800 for agp.... Oh well.

So I think I'll buy this x1950xt, do you know what fps it gets with Battlefield 2?, since thatt's the game I will be playing the most. I hope crysis too. What fps with crysis do you think I could get? I hope I get above 25. I can play any game with at least 20 fps, since that's what I get with my 6800GS on BF2 with medium/low @ 1024x768.

I like this fan alot(oooo, it lights up toooo!) http://www.xoxide.com/zalman-vf900-cu-led-cooler.html

I think it'll work with the gecube, since it says it's compatable with the Radeon X*** Series.

Thanks alot for the reply though!

 

Waymon3X6: although you said you don't want to upgrade everything why not look and see, via newegg if your in the US, then look it up at ZipZoomFly for a price comparison, if they have a PCI-E MoBo that supports your RAM, CPU etc. your stuff looks pretty new so I am sure they have one.

They might not but its just a suggestion. If your gonna stick with a X1950XT like you said then one thing you could do is grab a fog machine (or something similar) and test out your air flow so you can see where the air gets channeled to. A great improvement in air flow, through better cable running, fan placement etc. would result in lower temperatures everywhere in your PC.

 

For the not too different PCIe version, you can expect around 90fps at 1280x1024 (4xAA 16xAF), and around 80fps at 1600x1200 (4xAA 16xAF). In short there shouldn't be any resolution you can't run the game at. Forgot how good the X1950XT is!

 

Well I think my parents are getting a laptop for me this summer... for school so I dont want them to spend major $$$ on computer parts that I will only get to use for weekends.

@Pop_Smith, I did look a while ago (couple of weeks) and I priced everything, i think it was an ASUS mobo with PCI-e x16 sli and a qx6700 and an ATI 2900XT, I think the price came out to be like $1100... And thanks for the fog machine idea. I heard about doing the same thing with smoke... I guess I could do fog though.

@sammorris, thanks for the reply, I'm getting to like this card more and more now, and I think I'll buy the Zalman VF900-Cu LED VGA Cooler so i dont have to worry about overheating from the cheap cooler they put on there.


Thanks for helping me out guys!!!

 

Damn double post....

 

Yikes! Wait until July when the Intel price drop comes (July 22) and then think about it, just kidding.

Smoke would probably be better then fog as fog is water-based. I didn't think of using smoke due to the fact I did my test in my friend's basement.

But yeah fog, smoke etc. something so you can see where the air is flowing (or lack there of) is great to do to help get your PC "breathing" better.

Peace

 

$1100? That's absurd, that lot sets you back about £900 ($2000) here. Not that you'd want a 2900XT, the stock cooler should carry a noise hazard warning sticker, and isn't yet replaceable due to the ridiculous heat the incredibly inefficient architecture creates.
I've long supported ATi cards, but not this time.

 

Are you talking about the x1950xt?

Can you recommend any other cards that are up there with it?

 

No, the 2900XT, hence why I said that before that sentence!
The X1950XT is noisy but not quite so bad. On the AGP platform, buy the X1950XT, it bests any other offering, although the 7800GS+ (from Gainward I think? The plus sign is very important) is good.

 

Yea, I was looking at the Gainward before I knew about the x1950xt, and when I was over at incrysis.com at the forums, the recommended the x1950xt over the Gainward. The specs are a little bit slower though, at 425/1200 MHz. I think I could overclock it to 500/1400 since that's what I did to my 6800GS.

I think i'm still going to go with the x1950xt

 

The Gainward is faster per mhz than the X1950XT, but overall I suspect you're right. I know the X1950XT to be faster than the 7900GT which is what the Gainward is, so overall you can expect the Radeon to be your best bet.

 

Do you mean by memory? The x1950xt is 748mhz, and the 7800gs+ is only 450 for a core clock.

 

Oh yea, one more thing. I just ran 3dmark06 and got a crappy 2335 score with my 6800GS oced. Does anyone know what I can get with a x1950xt?

Thanks

 

Faster PER mhz, i.e. if it had a lower mhz, it would run at the same speed, within reason of course.

The X1950XT should bag around 6500-7000 3dmarks with a good processor.