Is it Worth it?

[Xusen]

Hi peeps

I Currently have,
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Gigabyte GA-K8NS Pro NF3 Pro 250, 754
AMD ATHLON 64 3400(2.4GHZ)Stable at 2.6GHZ
BFG 6800GT @ 400/1100
512MB PC 3200
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But i recently got a ATI X850XT PCi-E and I was thinking of Getting a MSI K8N Neo4 Diamond or less and AMD ATHLON 64 3500 and another 512 Ram, what i am asking is that is it worth replacing the stuff i have now and going with the Nforce 4 PCi-e?

Thanks
Xusen

[cptwhite_uk]

For the performance gain I'd have to say no. Sell your RAM and buy yourself some PC4000 (if you've OC'd your CPU above original FSB speed). Or cheaper PC3200 CAS 2.5 if you're not bothered about overclocking.

[Xusen]

Thanks for the reply, the original speed of cpu is 2400GHz and using the elcheepo ram i got it upto 2600GHz that on stock fan and voltage, at the moment i am not that intrested in oc, how does the x850xt compare to the my 6800GT? i never tried ati and i hope it will be worth the upgrades if i do so.

Xusen

[StormPC]

Thanks for the reply, the original speed of cpu is 2400GHz and using the elcheepo ram i got it upto 2600GHz that on stock fan and voltage, at the moment i am not that intrested in oc, how does the x850xt compare to the my 6800GT? i never tried ati and i hope it will be worth the upgrades if i do so.

Xusen

The X850 XT slaps the 6800GT silly in most benches but I'd still rather have the 6800GT for gaming.

[Butcher]

Depends what you call slapped silly. At best (HL2) it's about 25% quicker, at worst (doom3) it slightly slower than the 6800GT. Other games will fall in between. You'll probably pick up ~1000 3d marks in 05. It's not worth spending a lot of cash on IMO.

[StormPC]

It is not slower in Doom 3 with the correct drivers, especially when overclocked. I should have said I was speaking about benching/overclocking, not stock benches. Even stock the X850 XT is nearly 40% faster in Doom 3 on average with the right drivers unless you use LOD tweaks on the 6800 (which are cheating IMO).

But I do prefer the nVidia stuff for gaming. I think IQ and smoothness of play are more important than FPS in gaming.

[0iD]

I say stick with what you've got Xusen too. The marginal benefits I recon are outweiged by the financial outlay. I mean, even if you sell your original kit you're only going to get back a fraction of what it cost.

Settle for another 512 of ram, or get a gig of low latency or higher freq stuff. Still a very nippy setup you got there.

[aidanjt]

this kid certainly knows how to go through hardware :S
Wish I could do it too lol..

Yea, best thing you can do is invest in good quality RAM, paying money for a CPU 1 step up is a waste of money, you could probibly get your current cpu clocked at a rate of 3700+ or above with decent RAM and a stable PSU.

[Xusen]

Thanks for the advice guys, ill stick with what i have now, hopefully it will be easier once i complete my linux setup aswell, as nvidia have better driver support in linux. now to ebay the x850xt or does anyone here want to make an offer?

Xusen

[Butcher]

It is not slower in Doom 3 with the correct drivers, especially when overclocked. I should have said I was speaking about benching/overclocking, not stock benches. Even stock the X850 XT is nearly 40% faster in Doom 3 on average with the right drivers unless you use LOD tweaks on the 6800 (which are cheating IMO).

But I do prefer the nVidia stuff for gaming. I think IQ and smoothness of play are more important than FPS in gaming.

Overclocked numbers are not a good basis for comparison due to the random nature of overclocking.

[StormPC]

They are if your are speaking to how the cards overclock. If some asks you which card overclocks better are you going to base it on stock numbers?

Also, overclocking is deliberate and not random at all.

[Butcher]

He didn't though. He specifically states he is not interested in overclocking in fact.
And overclocking is random - you may do it deliberately, but the results are somewhat random based on how well your particular chip/card does. You can't go out and buy a gfx card and say "this will do X" if X is greater than the stock speed because they are only guaranteed to work at stock.

BTW use of those smileys is very immature and doesn't make your arguments more compelling, quite the opposite. Civility costs you nothing you know.

[StormPC]

Actually if you read his post he used the words "that interested" which means he's interested but it's not his primary concern. English is my first language. If it's not your's I can see how you might miss that word.

I gave two comparisons, one is how they overclock and the other is for gaming use. Also, I am not arguing and I am not trying to compell anybody to do anything. Just sharing a little experience.

I'm sorry if you don't like the smilies. Take that up with Hexus if you don't like them. Hexus obviously doesn't have a problem with them. You should try being a little less sensitive to smilies and concentrate more on the topic.

Your opinion on overclocking is noted and shows me that you have not done much of it. There is nothing random about it though. All hardware has limits and while the limits vary slightly (they vary on stock cards also) they are by no means random. For example, every 9800 Pro on earth is slower than every X800 XT PE.

[aidanjt]

there is variation between overclockability due to a large number of variables, including (but not limited to) your motherboard, PSU, GPU core batch and revision, circut board design (track width, length etc, RAM chips used etc.). Any one of these factors can influnce the overclocking rate thats achiveable

[StormPC]

there is variation between overclockability due to a large number of variables, including (but not limited to) your motherboard, PSU, GPU core batch and revision, circut board design (track width, length etc, RAM chips used etc.). Any one of these factors can influnce the overclocking rate thats achiveable

That's true but has nothing to do with the topic. I mentioned overclocking in passing but this thread is not about that. Please keep everything in context. If you wish to speak about overclocking in general start your own thread. Thanks!

Xusen asked if it was worth it to switch to NF4 and X850 XT. My answer was no if you are a gamer, and yes if you are a bencher.

[Xusen]

That's true but has nothing to do with the topic. I mentioned overclocking in passing but this thread is not about that. Please keep everything in context. If you wish to speak about overclocking in general start your own thread. Thanks!

Xusen asked if it was worth it to switch to NF4 and X850 XT. My answer was no if you are a gamer, and yes if you are a bencher.

There are people classed as bencher's now?.... pointless thing to be in my opinion as...there is always a number higher than what you might get. Thanks for the feedback guys and if anyone has more advice keep it coming, i still have the x850xt so i might change my mind if you make a good case for it.
Thanks again
Xusen