Finally done?

[nvening]

What exactly is benching, thought it was just a test? ActI will want to overclock, but i have never done it before.

[Firelord]

R-Gone works for DFI and is one of their techsupport engineers so I don't think he would make up a hoax as that would look bad for DFI

[nvening]

Whats R-gone??? (yes i have google it and all it comes up with is stuff about head lice lol)

[skuzgib]

Whats R-gone??? (yes i have google it and all it comes up with is stuff about head lice lol)

The chap who got a 3ghz oc.

Are you actually reading this thread?

[iranu]

R-gone - that's an inert gas ain't it.


Grabs coat and shuts door on way out.....

[nvening]

lol, I read that post wrong, so it would seem the 3700+s will OC. mmmmmmm
Well, it seems that would be the best deal 4 me. Think its just time for a def on the GPU. So far it would seem the x800xl is best for £220, but i can get an 850xt pe for just £40 more. mmmmmmmm

[Firelord]

But do you have a business? You can only order the dell if you have a business ie business fax etc so without that then your stuffed.

I got a Sapphire X850XT from scan on today only for £280 and does everything I need it to do

[nvening]

I can order the card, anyway apparentally u can get it over the phone delivered to home.

[Allen]

You need to match the components. It does no good to put a $600.00 videocard on a $200.00 CPU, but it's sometimes good to put a $200.00 videocard on a $600.00 CPU depending on how you use your computer.

I have a £300 videocard working with a £50 CPU, and I don't see any bottlenecking going on. IMO it's a reasonable setup for the money and also overclocked it quite well.

[StormPC]

I have a £300 videocard working with a £50 CPU, and I don't see any bottlenecking going on. IMO it's a reasonable setup for the money and also overclocked it quite well.

What CPU and what videocard? And yes, even a stock FX-55 is a bottleneck for an X800 XT PE, so you've got a heck of a bottleneck at the CPU. That does not mean your system doesn't run games well, it just means you are not utilizing the speed of your card completely.

Here's the fastest X800XL on the FM 2K1 ORB with a 2400MHz A64:
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=8549066

And here's the fastest X850 XT PE with a 2400MHz A64:
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=8547033

Even though the XL looses overall it's not by much. The XL actually wins in 5 out of 7 tests. Hardly worth the $250.00-$300.00 premium IMO. Now if you are running a 2900MHz+ FX-55 it's another story.

[nvening]

What about the $80 premium?

[jimborae]

Here's the fastest X800XL on the FM 2K1 ORB with a 2400MHz A64:
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=8549066

And here's the fastest X850 XT PE with a 2400MHz A64:
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=8547033

Even though the XL looses overall it's not by much. The XL actually wins in 5 out of 7 tests. Hardly worth the $250.00-$300.00 premium IMO. Now if you are running a 2900MHz+ FX-55 it's another story.

But thats 3dmark 01, I'd have thought there would be a greater difference on 03 & 05 plus with higher resolutions & eye candy. Also, as in car tuning, the faster you want to go the more it costs with a diminishing return on the investment.

[Butcher]

'01 is close to worthless on the latest generation of cards, a much more valid comparison is '05, with the speeds of current cards '01 is more about how fast your CPU and mobo are than your GFX card.

[dodgybob]

Check out the scan today only deal.

http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/

£186.83+ delivery for an X800XT. Might be worth a look if you buy today.

[StormPC]

'01 is close to worthless on the latest generation of cards, a much more valid comparison is '05, with the speeds of current cards '01 is more about how fast your CPU and mobo are than your GFX card.

Not true at all. 3DMark2001 is still the best overall system test that simulates real usage. While most NEW games take advantage of DX9 functionality, many do not. And even the ones that do will run very well on a DX8.1 card as well. Most games require DX8.1 or better while only a handful actually require DX9.

Yes it is true that 3DMark05 is a better test for DX9 games, but that's not all you do with your computer is it? Also, neither 2k3 nor 2k5 are affected much by CPU power. 2k1 is greatly affected by both CPU and GPU, so it is much more valid as a general systems test.

Yes it is also true that there is a bigger difference between the X800XL and X850 XT PE in DX9 games, but nowhere near double. The price however is just about double in most parts of the world.

X850 XT is slower than X850 XT PE (which is what I compared).

Scan's normal prices:

256M Sapphire PCI-E X800XL GDDR3 VGA TVO DVI = £206.20 vat included
256M HIS PCI-E ATI X850XT-PE Platinum Tv/DVI = £362.75 vat included

On a 2400MHz or slower system you will not realize a substantial difference between these cards, and they will both run the same software.

jimborae;

Both the X800XL and X850XT PE in the compares are the top scores in their CPU class (2400MHz and under) so both are overclocked, and both are on stock air cooling without vmods.

[nvening]

Mabe ill just get an x800xl and a 3500+ venice.

EDIT: forget that ill have the 3700+
I just still dont know weather to get the x850xt pe or not. Its such a good deal, but is it really.