Help a real Noob out - No flames please

[Kabuto]

Hello,

i've been lurking around the forum for quite a while now and I am currently saving up for a video card =).

i have my eyes set on a x800 but i noticed that there are other brands such as HIS, SAPHIRE, etc. What is the main difference between these brands of cards?

Also, I have a P4 1.6, 512 PC2100 [Yeah. not too great but it works]. will the x800 be okay with my comp?

thanks.

[SilverJag]

With that system, I wouldn't get the X800. Your computer will hold it back like crazy. Get maybe an ATi 9700 PRO, or a Geforce FX 5700.

[Big_Baller]

Don't worry about flaming or noob questions here. Flaming isn't allowed so feel free to ask (just as long as the answer isn't in a sticky or it hasn't been answered 20k times in posts..)

Your system is deffenetly not up to par when thinking about feeding an x800. Your bottleneck would just be your system.

Perhaps you could settle half way. Get a newer system like a 512 ddr 3200 amd XP and mobo and grab the 9800p

The main difference between brands...is sometimes big and sometimes not so big. Sometimes the cheaper cards will have slower video ram in them which can be a big deal but not too hard to spot.

With brands like HIS you will get this massive cooler for the video card enabling you to Overclock more and sometimes keeping the noise level down from the stock cooler that comes with different and cheaper cards.

The software bundle is another difference. Each brand will usually include software from difference venders.

The color of the PCB board also varies from brand to brand.

[Sentential]

Don't worry about flaming or noob questions here. Flaming isn't allowed so feel free to ask (just as long as the answer isn't in a sticky or it hasn't been answered 20k times in posts..)

Your system is deffinetly not up to par when thinking about feeding an x800. Your bottelneck would just be your system.

Perhaps you could settle half way. Get a newer system like a 512 ddr 3200 amd XP and mobo and grab the 9800p
Or better yet, get a Athlon64 and 9700PRO or something.

[Syx]

yeah save a couple hundred on the card and put it to a better system

[SilverJag]

Yeah, if you do update to a decent system, then the X800 will be a good bet.
Tips:
-A64 or wait for A64 PCI-E
-P4 (PCI-E)
-X800 PRO, XT
-6800 NU, GT, ULTRA
-1 GB memory (OCZ, Mushkin, Corsair)

[Big_Baller]

If you have unlimited cash flow then sure go for the A64.... unless you want to buy the already outdated version....

[Kabuto]

Thanks alot...
I was thinking of a new vid card first and then a system but I guess that wouldn't work too good.=(

[hUMANbEATbOX]

no, that would work fine.

the x800 will work perfectly in your system, it won't perform to its full potential is all.

if you are planning on upgrading soon, i'd say you'd be ok buying this card. just be aware that it is an AGP card, and a brand new lga775 p4 system will need a pci-e video card. you could get the agp card now, and go for a socket 478 p4 or amd rig in the future.

if you get a 9700pro or 9800pro, you may feel like you want more out of your video card once the rest of your new rig shapes up.

[ViperJohn]

Hello,

i've been lurking around the forum for quite a while now and I am currently saving up for a video card =).

i have my eyes set on a x800 but i noticed that there are other brands such as HIS, SAPHIRE, etc. What is the main difference between these brands of cards?

Also, I have a P4 1.6, 512 PC2100 [Yeah. not too great but it works]. will the x800 be okay with my comp?

thanks.

Putting an x800 in your current system would be a waste as the card would be choked to death
by your current computer. Your money would be much better spent getting a MUCH faster system.

Viper

[batboy]

Putting an x800 in your current system would be a waste as the card would be choked to death
by your current computer. Your money would be much better spent getting a MUCH faster system.

Viper

Proof? I highly doubt it would "choke it to death". Get real.

While I agree his current system will not run the X800 at it's full potential, there is nothing wrong with upgrading one component at a time. If Kubuto wants to play some of the newer games and if his vid card is the current bottleneck, then getting a better vid card first does makes sense.

What mobo do you have? Can you overclock this system? If you could run this at 133 FSB with the 1:1 memory ratio, then you'd definitely see some performance improvement until you can afford to upgrade the system.

To answer your question, the built by ATI is one of the better brands. Generally, Sapphire and Powercolor tend to be good solid brands. I've been hearing good things about the HIS too.

[hUMANbEATbOX]

Your money would be much better spent getting a MUCH faster system.

Viper

agreed, if he was to ONLY upgrade either the vid card OR the mobo/cpu/ram, then yes, go for the system upgrade.

but if he's planning on doing both, then why not get the vid card first? aside from the fact that it may drop in price by the timethe rest of the setup is complete.

[ViperJohn]

Proof? I highly doubt it would "choke it to death". Get real.

While I agree his current system will not run the X800 at it's full potential, there is nothing wrong with upgrading one component at a time. If Kubuto wants to play some of the newer games and if his vid card is the current bottleneck, then getting a better vid card first does makes sense.

What mobo do you have? Can you overclock this system? If you could run this at 133 FSB with the 1:1 memory ratio, then you'd definitely see some performance improvement until you can afford to upgrade the system.

To answer your question, the built by ATI is one of the better brands. Generally, Sapphire and Powercolor tend to be good solid brands. I've been hearing good things about the HIS too.

Proof is easy. Just down clock your system to his specs and you will see what I mean. If you
haven't done it then you need to get "real" lol.

Dropping 400-500 on a vid card with that system is not the way to get bang for the buck unless
he has a very slow vid card. If he has a decent vid card now then the money is better spent
getting his system speed up. For the price of the vid card he could go with a DFI UI, XP2600
Mobile and 2x256 BH5 and have reasonably fast that will OC great and have money left over.

hUMANbEATbOX made a another point above about the card price. It will come down in
price with time which will get still more bang for the buck,

Viper

[David]

An x800 would work with that system, although not to its full potential. What power supply do you have as this may need upgraded to power a faster graphics card.

What graphics card do you currently have? As has been mentioned, you will see more benefit from getting a slightly slower graphics card and upgrading your CPU and memory. For the sake of example, a Pentium 4 2.4GHz will give you 1 1/2 times the CPU power, as well as Hyperthreading which increases performance when multitasking whereas a new graphics card only really affects games and not system performance as a whole.

[batboy]

my point was that it won't "choke to death". That implies that the card won't work. I realize you were exaggerating to make a point and in your latest post you qualify yourself a little better. I have underclocked systems before and if you have a crappy vid card, then it won't play the newer 3D games that well. But, a really good card on a marginal system will play 3D games... maybe not as well as a good card in a good system, but it will work.

It really does come down to what vid card he presently has. I think overclocking that system he has and getting whatever card he desires first is a viable option in the upgrade path. It might not be everyone's priority, but I see nothing wrong with it, especially if the present vid card is the bottleneck (like I said earlier).

[ViperJohn]

my point was that it won't "choke to death". That implies that the card won't work. I realize you were exaggerating to make a point and in your latest post you qualify yourself a little better. I have underclocked systems before and if you have a crappy vid card, then it won't play the newer 3D games that well. But, a really good card on a marginal system will play 3D games... maybe not as well as a good card in a good system, but it will work.

It really does come down to what vid card he presently has. I think overclocking that system he has and getting whatever card he desires first is a viable option in the upgrade path. It might not be everyone's priority, but I see nothing wrong with it, especially if the present vid card is the bottleneck (like I said earlier).

Choked to death does not mean the card will not work. What it does mean is the card will benchmark
several thousand points lower and the frame rate in games may improve very little depending on the
vid card he has now and even a stock clocked 9700pro would far under perform in his current
system. If he already has a 9700pro or later card then upgrading his 4+ year old system would give
him much better bang for the buck and a good foundation for higher performance video cards.

Viper

[Goateh]

Hello,

i've been lurking around the forum for quite a while now and I am currently saving up for a video card =).

i have my eyes set on a x800 but i noticed that there are other brands such as HIS, SAPHIRE, etc. What is the main difference between these brands of cards?

Also, I have a P4 1.6, 512 PC2100 [Yeah. not too great but it works]. will the x800 be okay with my comp?

thanks.

I would personally get the video card, and yeah the x800 would work fine in your computer it just won't perform as fast as if you had a faster cpu and ram :)

If you're planning to upgrade in the future its up to you wether you want the video card now or later, just remember that and AGP card (the slot on your current p4 setup) won't be compatible with the latest P4 (possibly AMD either) 6months down the track :)

[ViperJohn]

I would personally get the video card, and yeah the x800 would work fine in your computer it just won't perform as fast as if you had a faster cpu and ram :)

If you're planning to upgrade in the future its up to you wether you want the video card now or later, just remember that and AGP card (the slot on your current p4 setup) won't be compatible with the latest P4 (possibly AMD either) 6months down the track :)

Whether it is an AGP or PCIe solution is a function of MB design, not the CPU. High performance
AGP MB's will be available for years. If the switch from ISA to PCI and PCI to AGP is any indication
PCIe won't be the mainstream solution for at least 1 and more than likely 2 years do to the high
cost for the change for the end typical user. Not until the major box builders are shipping large
quantities of PCie systems and a large installed base of those systems are in the field will PCIe
become a mainstream "have to".

Viper

[SilverJag]

no, that would work fine.

the x800 will work perfectly in your system, it won't perform to its full potential is all.

if you are planning on upgrading soon, i'd say you'd be ok buying this card. just be aware that it is an AGP card, and a brand new lga775 p4 system will need a pci-e video card. you could get the agp card now, and go for a socket 478 p4 or amd rig in the future.

if you get a 9700pro or 9800pro, you may feel like you want more out of your video card once the rest of your new rig shapes up.

Why tell him to get the X800 if it won't be used to or near it's fullest potential... C'mon guys give some good advice to the guy.. Trust me bro, an ATi 9700 PRO will be fine with your current system.


Proof? I highly doubt it would "choke it to death". Get real.
Sarcasm.(?) :cool:

[hUMANbEATbOX]

Why tell him to get the X800 if it won't be used to or near it's fullest potential... C'mon guys give some good advice to the guy.. Trust me bro, an ATi 9700 PRO will be fine with your current system.


because he said he was about to upgrade his whole rig pretty soon. this is the first step of his upgrade. read my advice again, i think it was pretty good.

[ViperJohn]

Why tell him to get the X800 if it won't be used to or near it's fullest potential... C'mon guys give some good advice to the guy.. Trust me bro, an ATi 9700 PRO will be fine with your current system.



Sound advice for the cash strapped. You can pickup a 9700Pro on Ebay for a bit over $100 and
use the $ saved to up grade the system. It would probably be close to a push price wise and be
better off than slapping an x800 in what you have now. Later down the road you can sell the
9700 then get your x800 after the prices have come down and you have a system that can
really make the x800 work for you.

Viper

[SilverJag]

no, that would work fine.

the x800 will work perfectly in your system, it won't perform to its full potential is all.

You're telling us that the x800 will work PERFECTLY in his system.. Mind me, but I belive it's not true. You're contradicting yourself and others at the same time...

[Goateh]

Whether it is an AGP or PCIe solution is a function of MB design, not the CPU. High performance
AGP MB's will be available for years. If the switch from ISA to PCI and PCI to AGP is any indication
PCIe won't be the mainstream solution for at least 1 and more than likely 2 years do to the high
cost for the change for the end typical user. Not until the major box builders are shipping large
quantities of PCie systems and a large installed base of those systems are in the field will PCIe
become a mainstream "have to".

Viper

I never said that AGP will die out quickly, I just said that if he plans on getting the top of the line p4 (possibly AMD) that his agp wouldn't fit in it, because LGA775 uses the pci-e :)

Geez, I was just giving advice to someone. No need to pick my advice to pieces :cry:

edit :: But yes I do agree that it would be a waste of money for his current system, if he plans on keeping his current.. maybe a 9700pro or 9800 would suffice for a while. Its up to him in the end though :)

[Mr.Guvernment]

Will his motherboard support the AGP specifications of an X800 pro?

[SilverJag]

I guess I'll be the first to ask? LOL, what's your FULL system specs? :beer:
His mobo might support AGP 4x (I believe) which is compatible with X800.

[Goateh]

lol
thats a good point

[JigPu]

Lets keep it calm in here people :) Full specs WOULD be very handy to see whether upgrading the video or the system first would be best. Please post them up if you can.


As far as video cards go, the X800 will definitely serve you well. Like hUMANbEATbOX said, it should work perfectly except for sub-par performance (from the rest of your system bottlenecking it). As long as you're planning on upgrading the rest of the system fairly quickly though, the performance should be almost a non-issue.

Now, whether you should upgrade to the X800 or get a new system (P4 2.8 or something) depends on your current card.... Here's where I'd personally draw the lines (based on my own experiences. others are free to comment with their own suggestions for which should be upgraded when :))

- Low end card (TI4200, Radeon 9100, etc): Upgrade to X800 first. Your bottleneck is likely your slow video card currently, and upgrading your CPU right now would do almost nothing for your games.

- Medium end card (FX5700, Radeon 9600, etc): Upgrade either first. Your video card and system are fairly close to each other in performance, so upgrading either would be fine. At 1.6GHz, you CPU is probably a bit more of the bottleneck than your video card (and so I'd reccomend a system upgrade first), but upgrading either is sensible.

- High end card (FX5900, Radeon 9800, etc): Upgrade your system first. Your system is definitely your current bottleneck, and an X800 will give you only a handful of extra speed. I'm currently in this situation with a XP1800+ and an overclocked 9700, and my system is definitely what is limiting my framerates. Buying an X800 first would give no benefit until the rest of your system is faster.

JigPu

[Goateh]

Yeah, I concur with Mr. Jigpu on that