Deadman93723 said:
Agreed, all people are talking about is PCI-E when 75% of people are still running AGP. I do agree that the 7800GS is quite expensive, but no where near as expensive as a new mobo, cpu, ram, video card, and more than likely a new PSU.
I also agree with that statement. However that still doesnt mean the 7800gs is the best buy to avoid moving platforms, unless your just lazy and dont want to overclock at all. Truth is a x800gto can compete vs the 7800gs with only a little bit of work for about half the cost. Yes the 7800gs will beat the x800gto when overclocked but is that truely worth twice as much?
Currently the sapphire x800gto agp comes fully unlocked with a r430 core (x850) and a x850pcb. The 7800gs cannot be unlocked and is stuck at 16 pixel pipes, 6 vertex pipes, and 8 ROP pipes. In compairison the 7800gt(pci-e) has 20/7/16 and the 7800gtx(pci-e) has 24/8/16, you would think you could unlock the 7800gs via rivatuner but sadly you cant.
you can currently pick up a good x800gto for 130 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102002 however the heatsink on it sucks and if you want to push it anywhere you should get a better cooler. As long as the x800gto can overclock to xt speeds it should be able to compete vs a 7800gs. All that is req to do this is switch the cooler and overclock via ccc or ati tool, a bios flash is no longer needed as the cards currently shipping are unlocked.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html?modelx=33&model1=310&model2=297&chart=79
This link shows a x850xtpe vs the 7800gs, there are a lot of test just scroll through them to see performace compairsons. The only game that the 7800gs wins hands down is call of duty 2, and most of the resolutions are unplayable on both cards. Most of the games are taken by the x850xtpe, these clockspeeds are obtainable by overclocking the x800gto2, and the performace shouldnt reduce by much if clock speeds are reduced to x850xt levels. Also the 7800gs is overclocked to 460mhz in the comparison which is not stock, 7800gs cards come anywhere from 375-440mhz core clock stock.
Again yes the 7800gs should pull ahead when overclocked but does that justify paying twice as much?
naw just playin man if its better in benchies and real world and around the same price then thats the card u want... but i have always been a fan of nvidia and my 6600gt is pretty kick ***!
