Video Card Thread (Mostly Gecube x1950xt)

lol

Sure Muslims dont mind when EVEN OTHERS say Allah is great! lol

My 4850 cost me a cool 155.

 

All right, then. Allah Akhbar!!

Boozer $155 for 4850. Damn that even fries me more to shell out $229 for HIS 3850 agp and wait for rebate, and still invest $189. Sam are you absolutely sure I can't just scrape by with sapphire and shi**y cooler, with my excessive cooling that I already have:

You mentioned noisy on sapphire, but I'm already noisy as hell with the blitztorm turned up, and I use headphones, so noise - not an issue. $139 - oh so cheappeeee!! Say it's ok Sam!!!
Lol Rich

 

My Sapphire HD3870 made to that design was not only noisy and hot, but it also broke within a day...
The HIS version probably has negative comments solely on the basis that it's a high end card, which are never reliable, even when they're not the Gecube 1950.

I'm not going to change my tune that a 3850 AGP is a bad idea, especially given how cheap a decent 4850 is. Hell, if you haven't got the funds, get a new board and keep the CPU! RAM is cheap as chips for DDR2 now, if you expand on DDR1 you will pay far more. if your existing RAM is already DDR2, just transfer it across.

 

Yeah, Sam, but as I recall, your 3870 was bought on ebay and not newegg - so yeah it broke in one day, but I could always RMA mine back to newegg. When you say the guys had trouble because any high-end agp card is problematic - that's probably spot on my exact point. They couldn't get the drivers to work. Over and over that was the HIS complaint, and then when they put the sapphire in it fired up easily!!

So:
1. yours broke in one day but if that happened I could Rma
2. Any difference in power consumption?
3. I have boat loads of cooling already - I'm probably ok, right?
4. I don't care about noise - I already have a high-db rig LOL
5. performance is the same, right? Or at least close?
6. price/performance ratio - $139 cheap cheap cheap, and did I mention, cheap?

Whatcha Say Sam??

 

whats is the rest of your specs?

 

Hey shaff, it's just a p4 at 3.2 gig, agp, 1 gig ram that I'll change to 2 gigs for $73, weak allied 500 watts psu with only 20amps on 12 volt rail, that I don't want to change, 2246 3dmarks with my x850xtpe that I want to change out for the 3850 - lots of cooling and ventilation - see back a few posts. I'm just looking to (cheaply) finalize the rig, get shader 3.0, play airborne, and double my 3dmarks to somewhere in the 4000s. Then I'll retire the rig next year and do a new build, new case, the works - keep this one for a friend or for a spare.

 

the 3850 wont work. trust me. 20A ont he 12V. your P4 at 3.2 is goign to eat ALOT of that. its a voltage muncher.

please ditch the entire thisn NOWWW!!!!

 

Sorry to interrupt this but I have yet another question....

Looking over on Tom's Hardware, the required PSU for duel 4870X2's must be at least 1KW - my 700watt Kingwin won't do it

Now, I have been looking around on newegg and found the Antec TruPower 1000Watt and the Corsair 1000Watt PSU's - the Corsair being $10 more... Which one should I get? I'm leaning towards the Corsair but the Antec looks pretty damn good too...

Links:
Corsair0:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007

Antec:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371012

 

Well the Corsair is the only 1KW psu rated for TRI sli. Just saying...

 

Nope - that particular 3870 came from a shop - it was promptly RMA'ed for an Asus instead. The ebay one worked brilliantly until I broke it trying to install the crummy S1 cooler.

Ray: No, the 700W Kingwin won't cut it. However, two 4870X2s only draw about 650W with an overclocked quad core. You could potentially get away with an 850W Zalman. To be on the safe side though, get this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817379009
Don't get the Antec, your ears will bleed.

Why not the Corsair, you ask? I like my quiet PSUs, and as it happens, I'm pretty certain the Zalman 1KW is as quiet as they come.
Corsair's mainstream PSUs (not sure about the 1KW but I see no reason why it would be different) reach 40dB around 500W for the modular ones, and 400W for the non-Modulars (with the exception of the VX which reaches this level at 300W). Since nobody usually uses that much power, nobody says Corsair PSUs are noisy.
The Zalman 1KW unit, on the other hand, doesn't reach 40dB until an astonishing 800W, and that's as loud as it ever gets. Other Corsair units go to at least 43dB, sometimes as much as 50dB.

 

id recommend the Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro seriies of PSUs for extreme quiet

not sure if they have made their way to the US yet.

heres a very recent review of mine:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/07/29/be-quiet-dark-power-pro-650w/1

 

To my knowledge, they aren't available in the US. Apart from the extra power connectors though, they're nothing special. Corsair and Enermax offer the same level of quality and performance, and quietness...

 

well im sure they will pop up in the US at some point.

with the rails within 1% of their rated voltages, underload and not, im very happy with this.

i cant even hear it when i put my ear next to it. and i love the fan connectors.

and it looks very nice

plus with only 1 hardwired cable, cablemangement hasnt been easier.




wait so they offer amazing quailty, and yet you post seems to put them down....why?

 

I'm not putting them down, but all my rails are also 1% within spec, the PSU is dead silent by comparison to most units (I can't say I can't hear it because that's a lie, all PSUs make electrical buzz I can hear). The Bequiet units I'm sure are good, but they're not the only good units out there.

 

and i have never said there is not other brilliant PSUs. it always seems when i bring this one up, you seem not to like it....

 

It doesn't matter, HE CANT BUY THEM IN THE US.

 

That's pretty much the sum of it. Creature of habit as I am I recommend Corsair to people in the UK, and of course there not being a BeQuiet in the US I can't recommend them there, but if someone outlined me a build with a BeQuiet PSU in I wouldn't tell them to change it - just because I don't advocate a brand doesn't mean I don't like it.

 

i understand you cannot get them, i wasnt arguing that at all.

 

Well... I don't know what to say.

 

Nor me...