HIS 1950XT - worth the money?

[Biscuit]

According to the Powercolor site, their XT memory speed is 1600MHz (2x800)

http://www.powercolor.com/eng/produc...?ProductID=511

Still slower than the Sapphire though. This gets more confusing the deeper you go...

Edit: Plus the Powercolour uses GDDR3, whereas Sapphire's is GDDR4...

In which case the sapphire is probs the one to go for as the GDDR4 is from the XTX. @ around £100 thats a hell of a bargain, not sure if the coolers that have been suggested would still suffice though :/

[aidanjt]

The stock Sapphire cooler is good enough, not the quietest, but it doesn't gobble up 2-3 backplates and the heat is manageable, for me, that's a good trade off.

[Smudger]

In which case the sapphire is probs the one to go for as the GDDR4 is from the XTX. @ around £100 thats a hell of a bargain, not sure if the coolers that have been suggested would still suffice though :/

I wonder if they're doing the same with the 1950 at end of line as they did with the 9800. Put the fastest chips from the top model into the next one down and under-clock. It'd certainly be worth paying £100 for an XTX...

[kalniel]

Few things to clear up here

I have the sapphire one - it uses GDDR3 memory, not GDDR4. However that memory is clocked at 900mhz (1800 effective). GPU speed is 621mhz.

Default cooler is more than effective enough, and it's not noisy until it ramps up - which it never does under normal load. It does run quite hot (70-80C) under load, but that is how sapphire/ATI have preferred to set it up as the fan doesn't seem to ramp up much at those temperatures. When it does ramp up it's quite smooth and there's no alternating of speeds over boundaries etc.

All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised.

[Smudger]

Yeah, I noticed the headers had all changed from the e-tropolis and ebuyer sites. The e-tropolis site still says that it's GDDR4 inthe description though. I've sent them an e-mail to ask them to clarify which it is...

Anyone know if Scan are likely to be carrying the Sapphire XT?

[Biscuit]

Yeah, I noticed the headers had all changed from the e-tropolis and ebuyer sites. The e-tropolis site still says that it's GDDR4 inthe description though. I've sent them an e-mail to ask them to clarify which it is...

Anyone know if Scan are likely to be carrying the Sapphire XT?

I think they used to so if its not there not i guess its unlikely.

Isnt it available on the ebuyer free delivery deal anyway?

[Smudger]

OK, think i'm going to go for the Sapphire XT. Anyone got one and put ATiTool onto it? What sort of speeds will they O/C to?

[Andaho]

a quiet graphics card is important to me... anyone know if the sapphire X1950XT card will be ok with the arctic cooler on it?

I can't find any reviews on the Power Color 1950XT, and worried about it being so much slower because of the slower RAM?

[Biscuit]

a quiet graphics card is important to me... anyone know if the sapphire X1950XT card will be ok with the arctic cooler on it?

I can't find any reviews on the Power Color 1950XT, and worried about it being so much slower because of the slower RAM?

I really dont think it will be so significantly slower that it will ruin your gaming experience TBH. Plus you can easily overclock these things and squeeze a little more out of it if needs be. If quietness really is an issues surely the 7950GT with passive cooler i mentioned would be the one to go for?

[Smudger]

For the price of a Powercolour, you could probably buy the sapphire and put one of AC's passive units on it...

[Biscuit]

For the price of a Powercolour, you could probably buy the sapphire and put one of AC's passive units on it...

yeah witht he passive it does work out at around the same...