which is better MSI 5900 or the 5950?

[yacoub_99]

HI iam going to purchase a new computer and was looking for a video card. Iam confused between the FX5900 and FX5900 ultra and was wondering which would be a better buy.And if i buy the FX5900 will i be able to play games like Half-Life 2 and all the new ones cause it's only 128mb. Thanks for your help. Is say a FX 5700 better than the 128mb fx5900 because it's like 256mb

[DR]

Welcome to the forums - the better is the 5950 - it is the newer revision of the 5900 series.

[Zak33]

Is say a FX 5700 better than the 128mb fx5900 because it's like 256mb

no ....volume of ram is only vaguely important once you have 128mb or more. Whilst its good to have more ram, its only good if its fast ram.

and a 5700 with 256mb is not as fast as a 5900 with 128.

As David says....the 5950 is the fastest of those that you have mentioned.

[skattrd]

One thing quite a few people don't notice is that quite alot of cards use different RAM for the 128 and 256MB versions.

A 128MB card often has faster rated RAM than the same card with 256MB, so have a check as to what RAM is on each version.

[yacoub_99]

Thanks for the help guys. But iam still wondering if i get Halflife 2 will i be able to play it say on high graphics, if i get a FX 5900 (128mb). And what do you guys advise i should get is the fx 5950 really that much better or should i stick with the 5900. Thanks again.

[Agent]

Here is a secret
You can BIOS flash quite a few 5900's into 5950 ultras (with 128meg of RAM).
Ive got a Gainward golden sample 5900xt, thats flashed as a 5950Ultra. And then its overclocked on top of it.
I got it stupidly cheap in the first place, so i was well happy

What brands / models are you looking at ?

[yacoub_99]

Iam thinking about MSI or Gainword , either an fx 5950 or a 5900