Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 19 Feb 2007, 23:08

You didn't really answer my question before, you never said whether it could be the cause of any performance loss.

PSZeTa · Post by **PSZeTa** » 19 Feb 2007, 23:55

Hm, my mistake then.

But why are you still running that card? To me, it seems pretty obvious that it could cause your low scores. It's on the card after all, and if they weren't needed for the card to properly function, they wouldn't be there.

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 19 Feb 2007, 23:59

Im still running the card because I need to use my computer for school and I am waiting for a time when I won't need my computer for anything important. I am going to RMA it sometime this week.

vellu · Post by **vellu** » 20 Feb 2007, 00:03

Lucky it works at all...

I wouldn't even try to run my machine if some components had fallen out. I have no idea what those parts really do, but you run the risk of further damage if those missing parts cause voltage or current spikes.

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 20 Feb 2007, 22:24

Well I sent the card out 1-day priority shipping to newegg and after they process it I should get it within 3 days after they ship it out. So now Im stuck with my old ATI Radeon 9250, at least it has dual monitor support.

Jmac- · Post by **Jmac-** » 21 Feb 2007, 05:07

weedman173 wrote:Does anyone know whats up with my graphics card? I have an ATI Radeon X1900XTX and on newegg it says the memory clock is 1550MHz and the core clock is 650MHz. Yet when I look at the ATI Control Panel, it only shows 500MHz for the core clock and 594MHz for the memory. Please answer this question if you can, it seems every time I ask something, nobody replys for days and days. The core clock does go up to 641MHz when I play a game and the memory clock goes up to 774MHz, but the memory is a considerable amount lower than it should be. Also does anyone know how far this can be overclocked with stock cooling? Sorry for the long post.

Most cards these days adjust their clock speeds depending on what they're doing ...

For example, when you're in a 2D Environment (browsing the internet, typing a document, etc.), it will downclock itself to save energy, run cooler, and usually also reduces the fan speed to lower noise. When you enter a 3D Environment (i.e. play a game), it'll clock itself up to its standard specs.

The memory speed is accurate: It's DDR memory, meaning it's double-speed ... So 2 x 774 = 1548 MHz, which is accurate enough (you won't notice 2 MHz difference).

The Core is a little lower than advertised but, again, you won't notice a 9 MHz difference.

Jmac- · Post by **Jmac-** » 21 Feb 2007, 05:09

weedman173 wrote:Ok, well could someone explain to me why someone with the same processor and graphics card got score of 8079 in 3Dmark06 and I got a measly 5471?The other person only has a gig more RAM, that can't raise the score that much, can it?
As a matter of fact here is the system of the person that got the 8079:
HERE

And Here is mine:
HERE\

Also, I posted this before. Could that be the reason why its not as high?
weedman173 wrote:Well, take a look at this picture. The four little things that I circled came off during an installation. I had to put in a new motherboard after my other one died and those fell off when I installed the card. Could that be the cause any performance loss? Also Im going to try to RMA the card for a high pitched noise coming from it. It's not the sound a fan would make, maybe one of the capacitors whining.

X1900 XTX isn't doing 8079 by itself ... There's no doubt in my mind that that's in Crossfire mode ...

5500 is about right for an X1900 XTX ...

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 21 Feb 2007, 05:30

Well Jmac, the catalyst control panel has an automated overclocking utility called ATI Overdrive. I ran that and it raised both clocks about 60 or 70 MHz for each one. The card got up to about 88 degrees celcius during that process, thought the card was gonna blow at that temperature. But like I said before, I sent out the damaged card and am awaiting the replacement. And I never knew that you doubled the speed that the control panel shows to get the real speed, thats why I thought it was low.

TheNoobofFerraris · Post by **TheNoobofFerraris** » 23 Feb 2007, 20:48

Looking for a good Nvidia geforce video card on a $160 budget. I have a HP dx5150 Base Model Small Form Factor PC.

darknight788 · Post by **darknight788** » 23 Feb 2007, 20:53

is that board agp or pci ? and what kind of psu does you have ?

TheNoobofFerraris · Post by **TheNoobofFerraris** » 23 Feb 2007, 22:18

Its a pci *short*

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 27 Feb 2007, 18:24

Ok guys, newegg does not have a replacement for my graphics card, so they are going to credit me back with the $354.99 I payed for my graphics card. It looks like I can get something better than what I had. Here are some options for me, tell me what you think is the best out all of these options. I know some of you would instantly pick the 8800, but I want to know what you guys think about these options.

ASUS X1950XT

Leadtek WinFast PX8800 GTS

DIAMOND X1950XTX 512PCIE Radeon X1950XTX 256-bit GDDR4

NFSBLUECIVIC · Post by **NFSBLUECIVIC** » 27 Feb 2007, 20:02

get the 8800, i have one and it blows away anything i throw at it. Nothing can even slow it down, but if i were you I might get a better brand like XFX or eVGA

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 27 Feb 2007, 21:52

Could you tell me if I have enough power for it? I have a 750 watt PSU with 1 dvd drive, 1 hard drive, 2 case fans, 1 processor fan, and two hard drive cooling fans. I want to at least get the 640mb version of the card, but I can't afford it with those 2 brands.

BrontoX · Post by **BrontoX** » 27 Feb 2007, 21:53

Get the 8800 GTS and Leadtek not that good try Gainward or XFX.
Yes it can power it

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 27 Feb 2007, 22:12

Whats wrong with Leadtek? Does it have known problems or something, because if I went with those name brands, I would only be able to afford the 320mb version. Plus the only bad reviews on newegg were because the card was DOA, the rest were all good.

PSZeTa · Post by **PSZeTa** » 27 Feb 2007, 22:54

Leadtek is fine. Your PSU should be fine too.

BrontoX · Post by **BrontoX** » 27 Feb 2007, 23:53

Nothing wrong with Leadtek just that it has lower performance than the others but if you can't afford Gainward i would go for Leadtek

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 28 Feb 2007, 00:00

Just placed the order, I saw some reviews saying that this is a good overclocker. I don't plan on doing anything to it because it probably won't need it. I saw some videos on youtube with someone that had an AMD Athlon 64X2 4200 playing games with the same card and it looks awesome, I have the 4600 so it should be a little better.

NFSBLUECIVIC · Post by **NFSBLUECIVIC** » 28 Feb 2007, 03:30

they are all good overclockers

!

PSZeTa · Post by **PSZeTa** » 28 Feb 2007, 08:57

BrontoX wrote:Nothing wrong with Leadtek just that it has lower performance than the others but if you can't afford Gainward i would go for Leadtek

Nionsense.. All cards are identical.

BrontoX · Post by **BrontoX** » 28 Feb 2007, 10:55

No they are not i just read an article in a magazine and they were comparing Gainward with Leadtek. Gainward got 10% more performance on everything.
The magazine is called Chip but it's in Romanian

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 28 Feb 2007, 17:28

I don't really care about 10%, that's a small amount to me. If I really want to get that extra 10%, I'll just overclock. As long as Leadtek isn't know for graphics cards that don;t last Im fine with it.

t3ice · Post by **t3ice** » 01 Mar 2007, 10:23

Actually i once had a leadtek a400 GT..aka 6800 GT, and it somehow always used to cause problems...in fact i got it replaced about 2 times..and i finally sold it to some bloke at school.
And the problems were only with that card..and it wasnt because of insufficient power or anything else.

PSZeTa · Post by **PSZeTa** » 01 Mar 2007, 16:28

BrontoX wrote:No they are not i just read an article in a magazine and they were comparing Gainward with Leadtek. Gainward got 10% more performance on everything.
The magazine is called Chip but it's in Romanian

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35725

Wow! Awfully similar!