Hepppp me!!! x700 x800 pro xt se gt ultra orange bowl

[graffen]

I use the itty bitty Radeon x300se (PCI-x16) on a P4 3.0 630HT chipset. 1 Gig ram.

I decided to go for an upgrade of my gpu, and the wife authorized me up to $200.

I went to newegg and there were so many damn versions and makers of the x800 that I didn't know where to start. Prices were from $180 to $360, also. (?) If I remember, x800 pro and x800 xt and even the x800se (I'll avoid that one).

Then, someone I trust here said the $150 x700 pro is worth looking at, too.

I guess my question is where should I invest my $200 right now on a PCI-x gpu?

Any sound advices appreciated!

[slow_n_ez]

I am not sure about PCI cards but I bought a X700 Pro Radeon AGP card about 2 or 3 months ago... Cost was about 150.00 dollars but it was on sale from 199 at the time ... So far after getting the right catylast installed it runs SH3 flawlessly and smoothly .... I wanted a X 800 pro .. but as you stated they are like $ 360 ..............

[Gizzmoe]

Buy the X800 (non-pro, $180), it´s a very good card. It´s much faster than a X700Pro or X700XT.

[Kondor77]

There are so many different X800's to chose from. I'm personally going after a brand new X850XL soon :arrgh!:

But if you are under budget I can recommend these two:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121529

My friend has this Asus card and really likes it, he was able to OC it a bit and run all of his games at full graphics with no hiccups :).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131416

This one was another one that caught my eye as well.

Like with anything computer, it pays to shop around for a month or so looking at the pros and cons of all the different products, then settling on whats best for your rig.

Personally I think this line of ATi cards are the best bang for the buck, period :).

[big_feef]

I recently got an ATI X800XL from NewEgg for $270, great card... overclocks really well and blows away my GF FX 5950 Ultra. I have SH3 running flawlessly at 70-75fps (capped at my screen refresh rate) with 6X AA and 16X AF; believe me, it's a beaut to behold.

I have a P4 3.2 Extreme Edition with 2GB of RAM, but I tried the same card on my brother's computer which has a P4 2.8 HT and 1GB of RAM and we were getting similar fps of around 70-75 with 6X AA and 16X AF. I would recommend the X800XL (best card for the money right now), but if you can't put the extra $70, then the X800 Pro is a good choice.

Currently playing SH3, DS2 and Guild Wars with all the graphical options turned on with this baby and getting max fps I've set for my rig (70-75) on all of them; really great card.

[graffen]

Thanks to everyone for the replies so far. It's been very helpful.

Taking your advice, and considering my $200 budget, here is what Pricewatch reports for today, 23 Aug 2005:

$254 - RADEON X850 Pro PCI Express 256mb
$193 - RADEON X800 XT 128mb PCI Express
$177 - RADEON X800 PCI Express 256mb
$159 - RADEON X800 PCI Express 128mb

There is also listed within this budget:
$160 - RADEON X700 LE 128mb
$115 - RADEON X700 Pro PCI Express 256mb

I've never heard of the LE before.

Sadly, the X850 is out of my budget. Does anyone know what the compelling reasons in the market are for prices to go down? For instance, when might we see the lower X850 line drop below $200?

Thanks in advance.