Going, Going, GONE!

[pentium]

If I want to live with my board for a bit longer I had to max every spec of it.
I had the processor and ram figured out (on paper) but when it came time to get a video card the one I had been looking at for the past few weeks, the most powerful AGP card you could buy had suddenly vanished.
The GeCube Radeon X1950XT (AGP version) was the best out there and for a new price of $200 it seemed great for what it could do.
I have searched everywhere. Ebay, Amazon, Newegg, the GeCube site and I can't even find a used one ANYWHERE! Now I am finding out that they discontinued the whole 1900 line when it was at it's peak in sales, what kind of retarded move is that?! I absolutely refuse to use anything other than the X1950XT (OCD moment ).

[kikkoman]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

there are a few ones on ebay here in germany (and apparently nowhere else in europe), but they go for over 210€.
one step down would be the x1950pro, i guess. it's 40mhz slower, but on the other hand there are 512mb versions, and availability seems to be much better.

what about the gf 7950gt? big difference?

[pentium]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

The GT is the third best, the PRO is second and the XT is THE best.
The GT costs less than the PRO but that's because it's not as good as the PRO.
Those high prices are a result of them killing the product line when they were still in demand.
I'm also hearing that the 7950gt is not the best of video cards.

[shadow]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

For the X1950XT I found a few US auctions on ebay as well as one in the UK. Here is Australia, we have no X1950XT's at the moment but there are plenty of X1950 Pro cards around.

Edit: All the X1950XT cards that I spotted were PCI-E. None were AGP.

[pentium]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

The AGP version is the one I am after.
It's the most powerful card ever made for AGP 8x.
No other AGP card beats it in performance yet at the same time, this card marks the end of AGP. From what I hear, the X1950XT AGP is the last video card that will be developed for an AGP port.
Kinda sad really. They finish the era with this but only release it for a short while.

[dood]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

The AGP version is the one I am after.
It's the most powerful card ever made for AGP 8x.
No other AGP card beats it in performance yet at the same time, this card marks the end of AGP. From what I hear, the X1950XT AGP is the last video card that will be developed for an AGP port.
Kinda sad really. They finish the era with this but only release it for a short while.

How is it sad? AGP, Socket 462, DDR.... it's all a dead technology. Yeah, it's still out there, but why should manufacturers continue to put money into developing these "boutique" cards that very few people would buy.

I just can't see dumping that kind of money into my own Socket A system (yes, it's even my main system). My 6600gt will hold me over until I save the money for a new system with at least current technology. And it won't cost me as much as you think.

[dood]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

And, even my 6600gt is natively a PCI Express card, with a bridge chip on it. The native PCI Express version was cheaper!

[kikkoman]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

OTOH... what about the rest of your system?
i'd guess that even with let's say a maxed out skt462 system, the difference in performance will be marginal since the AGP bus (not sure) and definitely the CPU will be the limiting factors.

edit: just saw that the xt has 4 quads (pro: 3) and a different core, but i still think that the difference won't be too big.
btw, do you use water cooling?

[shadow]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

I found a website that discussed the difference in performance between the X1950XT and the X1950 Pro cards. The conclusion was that the XT was around 12-20fps faster in everything. However once games start utilising more than 256mb of memory (which I do not anticipate any time soon), then performance may favour the X1950 Pro with 512mb of memory.

[kikkoman]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

another important factor is anti-aliasing (and AF), of course. this is where you can clearly see the difference between the cores.
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/?menu=...icle_id=560961

but then again, don't get fooled about the memory thing. stalker for instance uses lots of memory if you crank it up to maximum detail (and it's not even new... think about bioshock or crysis...)

and again, if you read test results somewhere, take the CPU into consideration.

[pentium]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

I think the most graphic intensive game I will be running will be Half-Life2 Episode 2. I would just upgrade everything but the problem is that I still rely heavily on PCI slots for most of my hardware and finding a board these days with a PCI Express slot as well as at least four PCI slots is not that easy. Don't forget that I would also have to buy a new processor which jacks the price even more.

How is it sad? AGP, Socket 462, DDR.... it's all a dead technology.

*Grumble*
Why am I always one step behind?
When I got a gig of Sdram, it became obsolete.
When I got a gig of DDR ram, it became obsolete.
I expect that when I first try to use DDR2 ram it too will be obsolete.

Anyways...
As I said, A complete upgrade would not be economical for me. What I have now should suit me fine for what I do. I just need a better video card to get the speed I need for Half-Life and FRAPS. I really don't expect to be running games like Crysis. That game will seriously rape the FPS on my video card.

Here is the card running on a system close to mine when it comes to specs.

[kikkoman]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

*Grumble*
Why am I always one step behind?

that step saves you LOTS of money. that's why i never really buy any cutting-edge hardware.

just ugpraded from the old xp3000+/radeon9500pro to a x2 3800+/x800xl. it cost me about 140€ (i can still use my 'old' 1.5g ram) and i tell you it's a HUGE step.

about half-life 2: can't say anything about episode2, but episode 1 and everything else ran fine even on my old system. not at 90fps but definitely playable on high settings. the source engine is pretty forgiving... runs on almost everything.

[pentium]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

Well I guess if you put it that way I could take the PRO and in the open PCI slot next to it I could install a nice PCI SC Fiber NIC.

Oh hell, why not. It's only 25 FPS so it's not like it's going to be the end of the world if I go with the 1950PRO.

[kikkoman]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

this might be interesting:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/12/...ard/page5.html

[yanz]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

Why am I always one step behind?

hehe, u're not the only one

[pentium]

Re: Going, Going, GONE!

Actually, I did a closer look at the 1950PRO and It will suit me well.
Since I added a new hard drive bay I am no longer able to fit the 1950XT in my system. It might also be nice to also free up the adjacent PCI slot (I was thinking of fiber these days).

Decision made. I'm dropping the XT version for the PRO.