256MB Connect X800 XT @£320 - in stock

[CrapshoT]

Some even have the XT sticker on the heatsink.Why am I never lucky enough to catch these sort of bargains first time round?

[Bartop]

I ordered one of these XT's last night when the news broke on another forum - order has been updated to invoiced so should be getting it tomorrow

Anyone wanna buy a couple of x800pro's including a club3d softmod one ?

[Spud1]

Bartop if it is guarenteed to softmod then me is possibly interested

interested in any trades? pm me with a price

[myth]

I'm waiting for the MSI version! Has a sweet bundel!

[Bartop]

Bartop if it is guarenteed to softmod then me is possibly interested

interested in any trades? pm me with a price

Need some cash back to help pay the CC bill for all these cards

Notice you got a Hydrocool there - don't suppose you got the GPU / Northbridge blocks yet ?

[Spud1]

nah no GPU/NB blocks yet tho i aint gonna get any i dont rekon, i have a zalman passive NB cooler that gives me a nice oclock, and an arctic cooler for me 9800pro =)

[SilentDeath]

Defiant ATI cores are speed binned, that means they take a few from each batch, test them etc.. and the batches with more that are likely to fail are downgraded. Before speed binning ALL of the cores are mixed together with "bad" ones.

Variations in overclock between softmodded cards/downgraded chips could be down to several factors, the main one being voltage. 9700's for example used 1.5vgpu, while the 9800 used 1.7vgpu. Not a huge increase in voltage. the 9700 (r300) and 9800 (r350) chips are almost exactly the same. The layout of the cards, and additional components, however are not. The cards power regulation was comleatly redisgned to be more efficent and give higher gpu voltage, which it needed to be stable at higher speeds.

Also Volt mods do **NOT** significantly degrade the life of a chip, if it is done properly. There are limits, as to how far they should be pushed.
In my opinion, 0.4v is a safe max over the LOWEST released stock speed for that type of chip. Most chips will do more but depends on the chip. Intel p4's for example dont like too much voltage, which I expect is probably becuase they are given more voltage in the first place, making them more stable etc.. which intel seems to have a psudo reputation for.

A rule I use, when overclocking is to keep the loaded temp of the chip below 45c. In hot weather it can rise to 50, but its still fine.
Voltage has the highest effect on temperatures, as it increases current aswell. A 2x increase in voltage, for example, will take 4x more power, in total. A 2x voltage increase is a LOT - this was just an example.
Small volt mods are fine, upto 0.2v I would do without caring much - there are greater factors which can damage the chip, like how clean the power supply is.

electromigration is what kills the chips, when the conductors inside either break, or join (short) becuase of the stress - caused by too much current and temperature.

ATI will not make any annoncement that the chips are similar, becuase it is obvious. Some of the 9800pros (R350) are using 9800XT (R360) cores which are downgraded. the cards are very similar, and it is to be expected, ATI have done this before.

[redbird]

i will stick with my £240 x800 pro performance difference is not worth another £100+++++

[gbone]

Greetings from Canada.
My friend who's an integrator and ati dealer goes to the ati headquarters every now and again. He said that they test these cards in batches when they come in from Taiwan or wherever and, essentially, the tester is looking at a screen with a bunch of green or red lights representing pass/fail cards @ xt speeds. Thus that is essentially what the vivos are. They are xts that cannot run at xt speeds with stock cooling. My sapphire vivo with 16 pipes enabled cannot run any higher than 500/520 for very long periods. I hit 80 degrees in a pretty cool basement. Sure if you had a good cooling solution you could prob do it but just thought you should know that without a doubt that these vivo cards are just failed xts.

Either way, the extra rendering pipes matter alot more than the clock/mem speed. I'm happy I saved the money and went with the vivo. Everything runs like silk with everything maxed out.

EDIT: didn't see someone already said this. Well...

[Noxis]

You have to wonder then why ATI dont release a card with pro speeds but 16 pipes?

"X800 Pro Extended Edition"

[Stewart]

You have to wonder then why ATI dont release a card with pro speeds but 16 pipes?

"X800 Pro Extended Edition"

Because, if those extra pipes mean a lot more than the higher core and mem clocks, no-one would spend the extra to buy an XT, they'd all but X800pro Extended Edition cards instead.

[gbone]

Because, if those extra pipes mean a lot more than the higher core and mem clocks, no-one would spend the extra to buy an XT, they'd all but X800pro Extended Edition cards instead.

Very very true. If ATI gave me the option of a prototype 20 pipe card that could only run at 450/425 (or something like that) I'd take it over the xt in a sec.

[Noxis]

Because, if those extra pipes mean a lot more than the higher core and mem clocks, no-one would spend the extra to buy an XT, they'd all but X800pro Extended Edition cards instead.

Depends how it was priced, it would be just the same as the GT vs Ultra of the 6800 range.

[gobbo]

Tempted, tempted, can i afford it?!

No i cant' ,but i still might buy it though.

[gbone]

With my xt converted sapphire x800 vivo I get 12239 with the optimization removing patch in 3d2003 @ 500/500. I can't run higher than that or it will overheat with stock cooling.

Would you guys say this is inline with other people who've got the 16 pipes enabled but can't overclock to xt speeds with stock cooling?

[Noxis]

Yea i heard of alot of those.