If I'm going to get a 2900XT, what brand?

[Anjow]

This would be the first ATI card I've ever bought, since I normally go with NVIDIA. So I don't know what brands are good and for what reasons. Anyway, I've had enough problems with 8800GTXs so I decided I'd try a 2900XT.

Which brand should I get?

[IAmMoen]

just remember that the drivers for the 2900xt are even less mature than the ones for the 8800

[Anjow]

4x 8800GTX cards have failed to work with my systems, as per my post in the NVIDIA section. I am not getting another one.

[YOO]

i would get sapphire, i have owned 2 cards from that brand and i never had a problem.

[ChinStrap]

are you going to be putting this in the same ASRock Dual-SATA2 that killed the 8800gtx's?

[omniskillz]

from what i was told sapphire, cuz they give u 2yr warranty and sapphire makes all the ati cards anyway

[BossBorot]

there tends to be far more rebrander loyalty on the nVidia side as ATi rebranders tend to offer very similar warranties. Sapphire however tends to get the slight edge due to their close connections with ATi and their great PR building cards such as the x800gto² and x1800gto². Price should be the main factor in your decision though. Just grab whichever is the cheapest and if they all are similarly price go with sapphire or "built by ATi" cards.

Also when the first cards hit the rebranders dont tend to try to deversify as much so bundles, coolers, etc, should be very similar. ATi tends not to bin cores for pre overclocked cards like nVidia does further lessening the differences between rebranders.

[Anjow]

are you going to be putting this in the same ASRock Dual-SATA2 that killed the 8800gtx's?

No, and it didn't necessarily kill the 8800GTXs because I used the most recent one in it and, although it didn't work, when the vendor tested it it did for them so it hadn't been 'killed'.

I will be either using the card in an Asus M2V or a better board that I haven't decided on yet.

[Rattle]

honestly I would concentrate on upgrading that system before putting in a 8800 or 2900

[LeAd_Poisoning]

if your stuck for bucks, get a skt 939 DFI ultra D for cheap off of ebay and overclock the hell out of the 3700+, easily the best board if you are in the market for a 939 board (run the oc'd 3700+/your existing DDR and the new gfx card in the DFI board, this would get you by if you couldnt afford any upgrade)

if you have a little extra cash, ebay a replacement 939 dual core and get rid of the 3700+ as well (really cheap in light of C2D and AM2) = much better system to handle either a 2900/8800

(ive seen both these cards happily run in a DFI ultra D/SLi-D)

but if you can swing the cash, get a total upgrade to DDR2/C2D - should be cheaper after July 22

'killed' gtx's.....power supply issue on your part?

[vixro]

I recommend not buying a 2900xt to use with that system.

Even with my core2duo @ 3.2ghz I am still bottlenecked.

But if you do, Sapphire for sure. :)

[Anjow]

Which system are you talking about? The one in my signature? That's not the one I'm going to be using it in.

It will be in:

Asus M2V (possibly a better board)
A64 X2 4200+
2GB DDR800
Currently an X1600 Pro

...and that will be being upgraded at christmas anyway. Currently the graphics card is the limiting factor, so that's what I'm going to be replacing.

'killed' gtx's.....power supply issue on your part?

No, in both machines I tried them in I had adequate OCZ 700W+ PSUs. But there is another thread for talk of that in the NVIDIA forum.

[BossBorot]

death to all x1600's :mad:

[LeAd_Poisoning]

that X2 4200+/DDR2 setup would be fine running an 8800/2900, just make sure it is highly overclocked. Sure you will be cpu limited, but it will be more than playable, im sure you'll be gpu limited if you put all the eye candy on anyway

[Cheator]

just remember that the drivers for the 2900xt are even less mature than the ones for the 8800

They have matured to the point of surpasing the 8800GTS in performance and seem to be less buggy than any nvidia Vista driver, so I don't know that that applies anymore.

[Spoudazo]

I recommend not buying a 2900xt to use with that system.

Even with my core2duo @ 3.2ghz I am still bottlenecked.

But if you do, Sapphire for sure. :)

You playing all your games at 800x600 or something? :burn:

[-_{MoW}_-Assasi]

Sapphire ftw :)

They sleep with ATi, so why not trust em? :p

[deathman20]

death to all x1600's :mad:

Hey my laptop here at work has one and it does damn good. Not the best card on the block but it can hold its own.

They have matured to the point of surpasing the 8800GTS in performance and seem to be less buggy than any nvidia Vista driver, so I don't know that that applies anymore.

Eh I wouldn't say that. ATI's drivers are far from matured, heck really theres only been 1 Official release of drivers so far, and we'll see the second hopefully this week. Now I'm lucky but I've rarely suffered any issues with ATI drivers compared to other people as well. I'm biased on this and think ATI drivers are the best on the market in stability terms compared to nVidia's.


As for brands of cards, Sapphire, HIS, Powercolor. Owned all and all have been great no issues. Really only thing majorly different between them is, warrenties, bundles, and HIS usually with a more advanced aftermarket cooler after a few months on the market.

I got a sapphire this time for the 2900XT because it was the cheapest when it was released, otherwise I had a HIS for my X1900XT a sapphire for my X1800XL, Powercolor for my X800Pro. All good in my book but sapphire is the main one out there.

[vixro]

You playing all your games at 800x600 or something? :burn:

1680x1050 Qualities maxed as much as possible within the games and usually 4xAA.

[Anjow]

I'm just checking in case there's something I've missed, but does anyone see a problem with running this card:

http://microdirect.co.uk/(17480)Sapphire-ATi-Radeon-HD-2900-XT-512MB-GDDR3.aspx

With this board:

http://microdirect.co.uk/(14050)Asus-M2NSLI-Deluxe-AM2-Skt940-nForce-570SLI.aspx

If not, those are the ones I'll get.

[ChinStrap]

i like the combo :thup:

[ViperJohn]

This would be the first ATI card I've ever bought, since I normally go with NVIDIA. So I don't know what brands are good and for what reasons. Anyway, I've had enough problems with 8800GTXs so I decided I'd try a 2900XT.

Which brand should I get?

Sapphire is building them all so it really doesn't matter.

Shoot me an Email on the 2900XT I have for sale.

Viper

[Hazaro]

So everything is the same card, but with different stickers?

[ViperJohn]

So everything is the same card, but with different stickers?

They all go down the same stuffing lines. The difference is in the labels, sometimes the bios (clock
speeds), often the graphics on the cooler and the final packaging. Basically is just cosmetic and
can be done by Sapphire or the by the OEM after receiving the base cards in bulk from Sapphire.

It is the same way with FlexTronics and NV cards.

Viper

[Anjow]

Thanks for the advice.

Shoot me an Email on the 2900XT I have for sale.

Would do but I'm the other side of the Atlantic.

[ViperJohn]

Thanks for the advice.

Would do but I'm the other side of the Atlantic.

That is no problem at all. I ship all over the world especially the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Viper

[ahbroody]

Well I guess thats why I like sapphire so much.
I own ati nd nv cards and overall the best price for performance and happy factor always seems to come from sapphire. Funny how now I learn they make most of them.

Not sure what to tell you about your GTX's very confused. Sounds like a wierd hardware conflict. I love my GTS no issues great fps

[Anjow]

I'm pleased to report that, after running the card and motherboard specified earlier for 24 hours, I have not had a single graphical artefact or system freeze. Let's hope it stays that way, so I can lose my fear of upgrading.

[rainless]

Well I guess thats why I like sapphire so much.
I own ati nd nv cards and overall the best price for performance and happy factor always seems to come from sapphire. Funny how now I learn they make most of them.

Not sure what to tell you about your GTX's very confused. Sounds like a wierd hardware conflict. I love my GTS no issues great fps

I just like Sapphire's packaging and fan surface designs. I was going to get a Gigabyte 8600GTS (instead of the 8800GTS I have now...) just because of the Supreme Commander graphic etched onto the cooler. I'm a real sucker for aesthetics. :)

If I remember right H.I.S. made the best ATI graphics cards. Sapphire made the prettiest. And then there were two tonka toy brands, one NVIDIA and one ATI, I think it was PowerColor and Powermax or something...

EDIT: The other one was "Point of View"

[metloaf]

I went with a Sapphire card as well and love it so far. The warranty is nice and so far it has worked like a champ out of the box.

[Anjow]

Another added bonus for the Sapphire card I got (don't know if other brands do this) was that it came with a coupon for free HL2:E2/Portal/TF2!