x1600 or x800xl ??

[benskia]

Well folks,
I've been waiting for a few weeks now for today's news as I am desparately needing to upgrade my PC.

When I go for it, I'm moving to pci-e to make myself a little more future proof, rather than getting another agp board.

So, I have to change my 9800pro for something a bit more modern.

I was hoping the x1600 would be out in days, rather than weeks as I was planning on getting the latest mid-range card to slap into the thing. But instead, it sounds like a wait of around 2 months.

The other alternative is an x800xl for about 170 pounds. Do you think this will still be good up against an x1600xt 128mb when they come out, or should I hold on.

Ta.

[toolsong]

...I am desparately needing to upgrade my PC...

To play which new GPU devouring game? Or have you simply got the upgrade bug

The Hexus review of the X1800 XT says they will have results for the other new cards within a week.

If you can't wait perhaps consider the new SAPPHIRE Radeon X800 GTO² 256MB that can have its BIOS flashed.

[sawyen]

x800xl will smack x1600 to the stone age... definitely.. case closed

[lawrywild]

x1800xl will beat any x1600 series

gonna cost ya tho, £350

[sawyen]

he's refering to X800XL not X1800XL

[benskia]

Hey cheers guys.
That GTO2 looks like a good option. I'm very tempted.

Sawyen,
What makes you so confident of the x800xl's abilities.
Is it usually the way that the previous high end card still out classes the new mid range ones?

I'm not being argumentative btw. Just making sure I spend my wonga on the right decision.

[jamadaia]

Yep x800xl will def be faster. By loads or not, depends on the resolutions and settings.

[benskia]

Cheers.
That's great news, as it means I can start ordering my bits tomorrow.

[Octavean]

I’d say wait to see what the benchmarks are like. A SAPPHIRE Radeon X800 GTO² 256MB modded to X850XT PE spec should be a (cheap) force to reckon with. Still, you never know what the X1600XT can do until you actually see some benches.

[sawyen]

Hey cheers guys.
That GTO2 looks like a good option. I'm very tempted.

Sawyen,
What makes you so confident of the x800xl's abilities.
Is it usually the way that the previous high end card still out classes the new mid range ones?

I'm not being argumentative btw. Just making sure I spend my wonga on the right decision.

Look at it this way.. 16p to 8p.. you do the maths..

midrange cards will always be midrange cards.. since X800XL is considered to be an the previous upper mid range winner, x1600 wont make it any different from a minor clock boost in one generation.

[Octavean]

Benchmarks:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2552&p=8

Looks like even the lowly X800 (no suffix) can whip the X1600XT but not all the time. It looks like an X800GTO2 (mod or no mod to an X850XT PE) would rule over an X1600XT,…the X800GTO2 might even get a price drop when the X1600XT comes out.

X1600XT for $250

Or

X800GTO2 (quasi X850XT PE) for $219 or less.

Hummmmmmm