Please respond: Should I upgrade?

[hodgenutts]

New to overclocking and so forth. Curious as to weathter I had a decent video card or if I should upgrade. I have a ATI Radeon X1650PRO it has 512MB DDDR2 Memory. I can O.C. the core to about 700 MHZ with P-strip but have NO luck at O.C.-ing the memory. My motherboard is SLI capapble but I've never tried to run anything in SLI mode, so I wasn't sure how dificult that was. Was looking at possibly gett getting 2 7300 or 7600 card as they do not seem TOO expensive, or would I be better off just sticking with my X1650PRO. The reason I got the X1650 was I caught it at a rediculously low price. Thanks for any advice or recommendations.

 

[hodgenutts]

please give input!

 

[Ozoneman]

I guess it would depend on the games you play. It seems that a X1650 would be somewhat limited for today's games, unless you don't mind playing at lower resolutions.

 

[hodgenutts]

ok. What would be a good alternative.

 

[Ozoneman]

The 8800gt is probably the minimum that you would want to buy for today's games. If you can swing a gtx or ultra, go for it.

I just ordered two of the MSI 8800gt cards from Dell for $207 each. That is a very good deal at this time when others are charging around $300 for gt cards.

 

[Ozoneman]

btw, your vid card compares to a Nvidia 7600GS.

 

[Denithor]

Actually you would see a huge improvement even just moving up to the Radeon HD 3850 which is actually available (unlike the 8800GT which is MIA) at most online retailers for about $185. You could also consider the 512MB version that is about $215.

x1650xt far below level of x1900xt & 7950GT
Note this benchmark shows the x1650xt not the x1650pro you have (xt is faster).

HD 3850 destroys x1950xtx and 7950gt
And this benchmark shows the 7950GT as in the first but has the x1950xtx which is a much faster card than the x1900xt in the previous benchmark.

Considering these results you should be able to see how much better the 3850 is going to be versus your current card (really no comparison).

By the way, don't even bother with SLI, it generally doesn't scale very well (get 20-50% increase in performance versus single card) and even with perfect scaling with 7300/7600 level cards it's not going to come anywhere close to a the performance of a single 3850 in your rig.

 

[Peelback79]

Originally posted by: Ozoneman
The 8800gt is probably the minimum that you would want to buy for today's games. If you can swing a gtx or ultra, go for it.

I just ordered two of the MSI 8800gt cards from Dell for $207 each. That is a very good deal at this time when others are charging around $300 for gt cards.

It's true, the GTX and ULTRA are top of the line, but with the new G92 core GTS and GTX on the horizon, to buy a $400 card would be a bad idea. If you're desperate to get something I totally agree with the 8800GT as the bare minimum. If you're budget strapped I agree with Denithor on the 3850, or 3870 if you have the dough.

On a side not does anyone know the official release date of the new GTS and GTX?

 

[Ozoneman]

Yeah he could go cheap and get one of these ($170).

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=10007312

But if he can swing the 8800gt, he will be better off.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Ozoneman
Yeah he could go cheap and get one of these ($170).

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=10007312

But if he can swing the 8800gt, he will be better off.

Thats a really good deal on a Radeon 3850, and it'd be my choice over the 8800GT, though the OPs choice of games, budget and upgrade time frame would make a different

 

[Ozoneman]

Did you see this? The 256 8800GT will be less expensive than the 512 of course and will give the 3850 and 3870 some stiff competition for price and better performance.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2127025&enterthread=y