Video Card Thread (Mostly Gecube x1950xt)

Sam I don't understand how you would go and spend 650 on a GFX card, being a student and all. I like computers, but not that much. I have some other priorities, like saving up money for that Omega Planet Ocean.

 

My X1900XT's getting on a bit, I bought it before I even became a student. Unfortunately living in the UK we have to pay over the odds. Think of it as around $400-$450, that's how much it would have cost over in the US at the time. As you may or may not have noticed, most of my time is spent using a PC, so I make it my priority for spending. I don't drink, and I don't go out partying every other night like most students, so actually it's pretty easy to spend that much on PCs, simply because I don't spend it on anything else. It might seem mad to pick the sort of components and peripherals I do, but the way I see it, the job's worth doing right.

 

Hmm, Thats a great idea! 2 8800GT in sli! Maybe... But, the mobo I want (that I put the link to) has 1 PCI-e 16x slot and another PCI-e 16x slot, but it says its 4x electrical. Does that mean I can only run the card that's in there at 4x speed? (I am referring to the black PCI-e slot)

 

Just a clarification, I'm not trying to be rude or anything. Good job on the no drinking thing BTW.

What do you do with your PC that you need such high-end PC's. I mean someone could say that about the Omega watch(all it does is tell time), but you know that's a different thing. Don't you just pay games, wouldn't an xbox360 suffice?

 

not for crysis....

 

Thank you Ray.
i co-own a 360 with friends, trust me it isn't the same, even with an HDTV (which we haven't got). You may not see the comparison owning a 60" or whatever TV versus a normal size PC monitor, but with a good display and good speakers, it's PC all the way, without question. My PC can make games look many times better than on the 360, and that's for the good titles, let alone the bad titles.
On the second PCIe slot being 4x, yes, the second card can only run at that speed. That may also mean you can't do SLI on it without modified firmware or BIOS.

 

Just adding in on how much bandwidth a 8800GT needs, it's 12x. So we haven't hit the limit yet for PCI-E 1.

Also yes the xbox 360 CAN run Crysis. May not look as good, but by god it can do it. The developers even said so. You see game consoles don't need as much power to run on the same kinda settings, also on game consoles the resolution doesn't go up that high so they don' have to worry about that. I don't know about you guys, but unless I was making more than 200,000 USD a year, I wouldn't consider going over a 1000 for a PC.

 

My PC running a game at 1680x1050 will beat the graphical quality of a 360 Elite (in 1080p mode) senseless...

 

Also, I dont see a xbox running a quad core, 4 gigs of ram and 4 8800GTXs in Quad Sli do I?

 

Indeed, but that's all relative, it's what that system can actually do that matters. Too many games on the 360 look ass for a modern console. Very few modern PC games look ass if you've got a decent system, there's no comparison.

 

Btw, here's a good 15 different reviews from different sites on the 8800GT: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=2110122&enterthread=y

 

Fair enough, but look at Gears of War, gorgeous game. Build me a Computer as powerful as a 360 for 350. You can't do it, you have to look relative to the price point. I also have a Wii, so you can tell I am not a graphics whore(funny term I acquired from my stay in the console forums, which I don't go to anymore).

I do like nice looking games, and some games are only on the PC, so that's why I built this beast(a VERY relative term, my PC is nothing compared to a Quad core, Quad SLI PC lol).

On a sidenote, it's so funny watching people argue back and forth over the 360 vs PS3, or PC vs MAC debates. Not that I would touch a PS3 or Mac... lol

 

I'd happily touch either, but I wouldn't buy either. You've kind of defeated your argument here. Rather than argue for why you should only get a 360, you're now arguing for why you should have both...

 

Ahh, the console vs pc debate, that's one I haven't had for a while! I agree with abuzar, consoles do have their place (for people who don't understand PC's mainly!) and also with the 'build me a pc as good as a 360 for 350', well that can't be done either. Microsoft can't even do you a 360 for that, you have to buy three games for your 360 before they break even. I wonder what the same stat for the PS3 is!? I think at the moment the next gen consoles are pretty damn good, there will be some astonishing titles to come for PS3, (which will make the 360 look like crap in the next year or so - so I reckon!) and with 1080p they finally have some decent res in the bag too. However, if you want to buy a 'console gaming rig' you need (en anglais) £350 for a PS3 say, and £400-500 for a HDTV, so you're spending nearly £1000 once you've bought a few games anyway! Money better spent on a PC in my opinion. With the pc in two years time all the technology will have moved on giving the pc huge amounts of extra power and consoles again will be dragging their feet. Think about playing GTA SA on the PS2 then on a PC (with a dual shock controller tho of course), no comparison. And that's why I agree ultimately with Sam, for the graphics whores out there, apart from the 6 months surrounding a console release and the playing of some exclusive releases, the PC is always going to be the hardware of choice. And it's a pc too!
However my caveat is, by a Wii ! I like the way that Nintendo has gone and I think they will domiate that new chunk of the market they've just created! (And they made gaming cool too).

 

Essentially what it boils down to is:
I co-own a 360 but I'd never pay full price for one. (Well I would, but I wouldn't pay full price for two of them, for when the first broke)
I'd never pay full price for a PS3, what games there are I think are good, but it isn't quite enough yet. As usual, I think the next gran Turismo game will tip the balance.
I'd happily pay for a Wii if I had any money left, it's a real hoot, and the graphics are irrelevant.
The reason I haven't got any money left, however, is that it all belongs in my PC.

 

Heres a video I made of the x1950xt playing the crysis SP demo on max settings: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ktKk92YKgm4

There are 2 more, 1 is being uploaded now and the other is allready uploaded.

 

800x600? Ugh, I sincerely hope I can go higher than that. I reckon I should, my card performs around 45-55% of the speed of an 8800GTX, and therefore should get around 20fps at 1600x1200. Obviously that's not playable, but the benchmark I read chose that high resolution as it was testing 8800 cards. Consequently at 1440x900, I reckon I'll get it playable.

 

I haven't played my Wii in months. Nothing good on it. I keep my 360 for titles like halo and gears of war. Plus I hate using keyboard and mouse for games like oblivion. I got it the first day it came out, I bought two and sold one, so I actually made a profit. BTW PS3, wont have better graphics, because overall the are about the same power.

Sam, why would you need to pay for a second one? You know they have a three year warranty right?

 

Hey Sam you will play it fine, since I get about the same FPS as Ray, on the same setting, just on a higher resolution. Since you have a more powerful card then mine, you should be fine.

 

Damn straight.

I think you miss my point about the 360, the repair process takes such a lot of time and seems to happen so often, you may as well get two so you have a backup... lol