Is this a good Video Card?

[waste gate]

I have an opportunity to gey this video card. Will it work well withSH3?

X600SE,256MB ATI HYPER MEM PCI-E X16 DIM


Any help would be welcome.

Thank you in advane
waste gate

[elite_hunter_sh3]

yes the x series from the x300 to the latest x1900 XTX 512mb video cards are good the x600 will last you a good 2-3 years but i went ahead and payed the extra 300$ and got myself a BFG 7800 gt which will last me a good 4 -5 years

[sik1977]

yes the x series from the x300 to the latest x1900 XTX 512mb video cards are good the x600 will last you a good 2-3 years but i went ahead and payed the extra 300$ and got myself a BFG 7800 gt which will last me a good 4 -5 years

With all due respect, that is bad advice and you are absolutely wrong about the x600SE being good for any number of years. You did do the right thing of not getting one for yourself ofcourse (and thats what your advice should have been).

@ Waste gate

Avoid the X600SE or any other card with the SE (ATI cards) or LE (nVidia cards) suffix like the plague. These cards are only slightly better then integrated graphic chips found on some cheap motherboards.

The 256MB ram is only for show and is worthless on a card with 64-bit memory interface. These SE versions are not special editions, rather slow-editions which have half the pixel pipelines and memory bandwidth. This X600SE is ALREADY OBSOLETE if you wish to play anything curently available in the market, much rather SH3 on acceptable frame rates, even on low settings. A X600Pro/XT with 128Mb would have been alright, but despite a similar name, thats a completely different card from this X600SE.

Whats your budget? if you are looking for a PCI-E card to play SH3, i.e., more then a slide show, you need to spend around a $100 or so on a half decent graphics card ranging from the nVidia 6600/6600gt to the ATI X700pro/xt. These cards will run SH3 on decent settings, not max out with AA or AF, but enjoyable and without too much lag. Also what are your other specs, like processor and Ram? 1Gb Ram is also advised for SH3, though 512Mb would do.

If you need more advice, feel free to ask. And once again, do not waste money on these SE/LE versions, they are not for gaming beyond tetris or the like.

[sober]

All jokes aside , i would say a radeon x800 pro minimum . I am not pro radeon . I have had Nvidia cards . X800 is more bang for your money compared to nvidia . Just my opinion .

[Gizzmoe]

Avoid the X600SE or any other card with the SE (ATI cards) or LE (nVidia cards) suffix like the plague. These cards are only slightly better then integrated graphic chips found on some cheap motherboards.

Yes, absolutely correct!

[waste gate]

Thank you for your advice fellas.

[ironkross]

Whats your budget? if you are looking for a PCI-E card to play SH3, i.e., more then a slide show, you need to spend around a $100 or so on a half decent graphics card ranging from the nVidia 6600/6600gt to the ATI X700pro/xt. These cards will run SH3 on decent settings, not max out with AA or AF, but enjoyable and without too much lag. Also what are your other specs, like processor and Ram? 1Gb Ram is also advised for SH3, though 512Mb would do.

If you need more advice, feel free to ask. And once again, do not waste money on these SE/LE versions, they are not for gaming beyond tetris or the like.

I ordered an EVGA 6800GS PCI-E, (I was going to get AGP as my board has an AGP slot currently for my 6600GT agp) but since I've decided to upgrade my CPU (ordered an AMD 64 3700+) I would have to upgrade my board so common sense says switch boards to support PCI-E cards. Any suggestions for a 939 pin mobo? Asus or DFI maybe? I would like to get the most out of my graphics card. I want to stay under $150 USD if I can help it. (Also ordered 512x2 DDR SDRAM).

[sik1977]

I ordered an EVGA 6800GS PCI-E, (I was going to get AGP as my board has an AGP slot currently for my 6600GT agp) but since I've decided to upgrade my CPU (ordered an AMD 64 3700+) I would have to upgrade my board so common sense says switch boards to support PCI-E cards. Any suggestions for a 939 pin mobo? Asus or DFI maybe? I would like to get the most out of my graphics card. I want to stay under $150 USD if I can help it. (Also ordered 512x2 DDR SDRAM).

This is my current setup with 3dmark05 score for comparison:

Athlon64 3700+ (San Diego)
Corsair Value 2x512 @1T 2.5-3-3-8
Asus 7800GTX 256MB TOP 486/1350 (factory OC)
MSI K8N NEO4 Platinum (nForce4 Ultra Chipset S939 Mobo)
200GB WD SATA II
Aerocool Turbine 550W
3DMark05 = 8550 (with stock settings)

I have the same motherboard in my office computer with the A64 3000+ CPU and MSI 6600GT. This Board is non-SLI as i am not planning on using SLI. I have overclocked my Office computer a little bit, i.e., the CPU is overclocked from 1.8Ghz to 1.93Ghz (I simply upped the FSB to 215 from 200Mhz), and the 6600GT to 570/1140 from 500/1000. The Mobo is full of features such as dual GB Lan, SATAII, 4SataII ports, 2IDE, Firewire, lots of USB 2.0, 7 Channel AC97 sound with digital-out (optical and co-axial), basically all the nForce4 Ultra chipset features.

I would say that though my current boards are working stable and without issues (touchwood), I did loose one Board after one month of use. I am to date not sure if it was the board or the PSU because they both burnt out at the same time. So I cant really blame the board unless i was sure it was the board.

On the Toms Hardware Forums, I have read that Asus A8N nForce4 series boards and DFI Lanparty series are very good and stable. Specially, the DFI boards as they seem to be better at overclocking and are mostly free of all issues. I also hear that DFI is expensive as compared to the rest. In your budget of $150 I think you can easily get the MSI and Asus motherboards (non-SLI), maybe also the DFI.

You can also check www.tomshardware.com for this article on S939 Motherboards

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/05/13/life_in_the_fast_lane/

My motherboard is in there as well, and I actually bought it because of the consistent high scores and recommendation by Tom's Hardware.

Hope it all helps.

[ironkross]

This is my current setup with 3dmark05 score for comparison:

Athlon64 3700+ (San Diego)
Corsair Value 2x512 @1T 2.5-3-3-8
Asus 7800GTX 256MB TOP 486/1350 (factory OC)
MSI K8N NEO4 Platinum (nForce4 Ultra Chipset S939 Mobo)
200GB WD SATA II
Aerocool Turbine 550W
3DMark05 = 8550 (with stock settings)

I have the same motherboard in my office computer with the A64 3000+ CPU and MSI 6600GT. This Board is non-SLI as i am not planning on using SLI. I have overclocked my Office computer a little bit, i.e., the CPU is overclocked from 1.8Ghz to 1.93Ghz (I simply upped the FSB to 215 from 200Mhz), and the 6600GT to 570/1140 from 500/1000. The Mobo is full of features such as dual GB Lan, SATAII, 4SataII ports, 2IDE, Firewire, lots of USB 2.0, 7 Channel AC97 sound with digital-out (optical and co-axial), basically all the nForce4 Ultra chipset features.

I would say that though my current boards are working stable and without issues (touchwood), I did loose one Board after one month of use. I am to date not sure if it was the board or the PSU because they both burnt out at the same time. So I cant really blame the board unless i was sure it was the board.

On the Toms Hardware Forums, I have read that Asus A8N nForce4 series boards and DFI Lanparty series are very good and stable. Specially, the DFI boards as they seem to be better at overclocking and are mostly free of all issues. I also hear that DFI is expensive as compared to the rest. In your budget of $150 I think you can easily get the MSI and Asus motherboards (non-SLI), maybe also the DFI.

You can also check www.tomshardware.com for this article on S939 Motherboards

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/05/13/life_in_the_fast_lane/

My motherboard is in there as well, and I actually bought it because of the consistent high scores and recommendation by Tom's Hardware.

Hope it all helps.

Yes it certainly does and thank you for it. Our systems (once I get mine in) will be very similar except for your blazing fast Asus card.
The 7800s are a little over my budget, but the EVGA 6800GS is under $200 and that fits nicely. I'm also very interested in your power supply b/c if I'm buying a mobo, graphics card, CPU, DDR and have a new hd here already, why not just go with a new case and redo everything?
I am really considering buying an SLI board. Not planning on using SLI now either but it would be there if I do get another card later.
I was just reading Toms last nite and also Anand Tech's mobo reviews. I'm also thinking Asus and DFI Lanparty as the way to go for mobos. There is an Asus SLI card at Newegg for $118, there's also a Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI for just over $100. The only thing is it has no fan and uses passive cooling. Otherwise I like it for the price. Finally I saw the MSI K8N SLI-F for $99. I really don't think I could go wrong with any of those choices, but I'm also a noob at computer hardware.

[waste gate]

OK this is what I decided upon given my budget and equipment.

Radeon X800 XL.

Will it do?

Thank you

[Gizzmoe]

Radeon X800 XL.

Will it do?

Yes, it´s a very good card!

[Wulfmann]

The X850 has just had a big drop in price at Newegg and is really kicy ars with the fan venting outside the back, very good stats. If that is too much ($220.00) then the X800GTO or GTO2 (better) is in the $175.00 range

IronK, I have the Asus A8N-SLI Mobo and it is a dream. Asus and DFI are the 2 most recommended and it is around $120.00 (maybe less now) and most 939 Mobos have amny feedbacks on Newegg
I got SLI in case I wanted to go that route latter.

The 6800 has not worked well on SH3, the 6600 has actually runs better. If you can not go the 7800 go the X800 if SH3 is important to you. Search the back post to see all the headaches involving the 6800 and SH3.

While I agree the SE series should be avoided I bought a 9800SE128MB 2 years ago and recently unlocked the pipes to 8 and OCed it to 410/730 and it is as good or better than a 9800128MB pro, seriously (for my email PC, 2700 1.5GBDDR) It runs Sh3 decent but certainly not like the bigger PC(3500, X800GTO 2 GB DDR).

Wulfmann

[waste gate]

Thank you for the advice Wulfmann. Unfortunately I don't ahve the powersupply for the X850 so the X800 is about my max limit.


BTW I am also a fan of Thomas Jefferson, "protect the borders and deliver the mail".

The Feds can do neither in 2006.

[sik1977]

OK this is what I decided upon given my budget and equipment.

Radeon X800 XL.

Will it do?

Thank you

Yes its a good card and should run SH3 on max settings with some AA and AF. Also look for the X800XL without an additional power connector. All AGP variants of X800XL will have the additional power connector, but PCI-Ex versions can do without the additional power connector as the card consumes less then 75W (which a 16xPCI-Ex port can provide as opposed to 42W for AGP8X).

I would point out that this card does not have Shader Modle 3.0 support and can only do SM2.0b, which is just as good but most games don't have the specific code written for 2.0b, only 2.0 and 3.0. For example, the X800/x850 series cannot complete the 3dMark06 tests as it does not have SM3.0 for the latest demos added to the 3dMark06. Also you can go to Toms Hardware and check out the Article on latest features on todays graphics cards. It has picture illustrations of what SM3.0 does better then SM2.0. Basically, the 6 & 7 series from nVidia and x1000 series from ATI has full SM3.0 support.

I would have recommended the 7800GT to you, as I have seen it sold as low as 199 pounds on www.aria.co.uk and perhaps www.ebuyer.com some time ago. It was only some 30 pounds more then the X800XL at the time. It does however require a slightly better PSU, i.e., 350W from a decent PSU maker (atleast 18A on the 12V rails). No need to go for overkill with 550W or so power supplies unless you plan on running two 7800GTs.

[Sulikate]

OK this is what I decided upon given my budget and equipment.

Radeon X800 XL.

Will it do?

Thank you

Yes its a good card and should run SH3 on max settings with some AA and AF. Also look for the X800XL without an additional power connector. All AGP variants of X800XL will have the additional power connector, but PCI-Ex versions can do without the additional power connector as the card consumes less then 75W (which a 16xPCI-Ex port can provide as opposed to 42W for AGP8X).

I would point out that this card does not have Shader Modle 3.0 support and can only do SM2.0b, which is just as good but most games don't have the specific code written for 2.0b, only 2.0 and 3.0. For example, the X800/x850 series cannot complete the 3dMark06 tests as it does not have SM3.0 for the latest demos added to the 3dMark06. Also you can go to Toms Hardware and check out the Article on latest features on todays graphics cards. It has picture illustrations of what SM3.0 does better then SM2.0. Basically, the 6 & 7 series from nVidia and x1000 series from ATI has full SM3.0 support.

I would have recommended the 7800GT to you, as I have seen it sold as low as 199 pounds on www.aria.co.uk and perhaps www.ebuyer.com some time ago. It was only some 30 pounds more then the X800XL at the time. It does however require a slightly better PSU, i.e., 350W from a decent PSU maker (atleast 18A on the 12V rails). No need to go for overkill with 550W or so power supplies unless you plan on running two 7800GTs.

If you buy X800XL, you are making a good choice, but I recently bought a 6600 (with shader model 3.0) so as to run the next-gen games that need shaders 3. Maybe you should get 7800GT, cause you would be surely running the games in the maximum for some time.

ps: my 6600 runs SHIII in max, with AF 16x and AA in 4x (AGP)