04-14-2009, 04:00 PM
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#1
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#1 Goaltender
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Video card geeks - need opinion
I have two spare graphics cards that I'm looking at chucking into a machine, and I can't decide which is the better card, and thus which I should keep.
First is a Radeon HD2600XT with 256 megs of GDDR3 RAM.
Second is an Nvidia 9400GT with 1 GB of DDR2 (maybe DDR3) RAM
Which card would you pick if you could only have one? Right now I'm leaning towards the 9400GT. Less power consumption, more texture memory, PhysX capable.
But I'm wondering if overall the HD2600XT is faster.
Chucking both and getting something newer/faster/not-very-expensive is not the point here - you have to sell me on one of these two cards.
Gaming would be limited to mid-end stuff, mostly Flight Sims, Civ4, stuff like that. My monitor only does 1440x900 on this machine, so its not like I have a ton of pixels to push anyways.
Reason I'm asking for opinions is because I'm finding it tough to google good benchmarks on the two cards, as they are roughly a generation apart or maybe a half-generation, so the test platforms changed on the respective benchmarks. And because I'm too lazy to run benchmarks.
__________________
-Scott
Last edited by sclitheroe; 04-14-2009 at 04:02 PM.
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04-14-2009, 04:20 PM
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#2
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Not sure
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Well, this will hardly sell you on it but after some of the experiences I've had with Radeon cards, I would never use them again.
I currently have an Nvidia card and it has caused no problems what so ever. It's the 8800 GTS. Solid card. Although the amount of RAM is not the end all say all of a card, 250 Megs seems really low by todays standards.
I used to love Radeon cards but from what I have heard, the quality has declined somewhat over the years.
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04-14-2009, 04:24 PM
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#3
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Scoring Winger
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay
Well, this will hardly sell you on it but after some of the experiences I've had with Radeon cards, I would never use them again.
I currently have an Nvidia card and it has caused no problems what so ever. It's the 8800 GTS. Solid card. Although the amount of RAM is not the end all say all of a card, 250 Megs seems really low by todays standards.
I used to love Radeon cards but from what I have heard, the quality has declined somewhat over the years.
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they're starting to get really good again... card manufacturers usually cycle in being good/ty... for a while nvidia's were garbage because of terrible drivers.
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04-14-2009, 04:32 PM
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#4
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: in your blind spot.
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The 2600XT was fighting with the 8800GTS (or there about) when it came out.
The 9400GT was NVidia's first attempt to fight back at the low price point - the definition of the low end budget card. I'm actually surprised they offered it with 1GB of RAM
3DMark 06 benchmarks (1280 x 1024 No FSAA/AF)
9400GT - 3167
2600XT - 5324
FEAR (1280 x 1024 No FSAA/AF)
9400GT - 29.2 fps
2600XT - 56 fps
These benchmarks only used a 9400GT with 512MB, but screen resolutions of 1280x1024 won't use big textures anyways.
2600XT >> 9400GT
Edit: and NVidia has kicked the living crap out of ATI for a while, but the latest ATI cards have caught NVidia by surprise (by NVidia's own grudging admission) and the battle is neck and neck once more.
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
Last edited by Bobblehead; 04-14-2009 at 04:34 PM.
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Bobblehead For This Useful Post:
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04-14-2009, 04:52 PM
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#5
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Not sure
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/\/\
That's good to know. Is ATI still a Canadian company?
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04-14-2009, 04:59 PM
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#6
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Scoring Winger
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay
/\/\
That's good to know. Is ATI still a Canadian company?
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yes and no... They're owned by AMD (I R SMRT!) but still operate and have their HQ in Canada AFAIK
Last edited by cSpooge; 04-14-2009 at 05:44 PM.
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04-14-2009, 05:09 PM
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#7
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Sunshine Coast
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay
/\/\
That's good to know. Is ATI still a Canadian company?
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Naw, we lost another one, it was bought out by AMD.
When the 2600XT came out, it was just below the 8600GTS which I had and I got about 5800 3D Mark 06 points. My 8800GT and I would guess also the 8800GTS, easily doubles that.
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04-14-2009, 05:19 PM
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#8
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Powerplay Quarterback
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: N/A
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I've got the HD 4870 and I love the card, I can play many games on high resolution without any lag problems.
I use to be strictly Nvidia but now I am leaning towards only going with Radeon.
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04-14-2009, 05:29 PM
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#9
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First Line Centre
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I have the GTX 295, and wouldn't dare switch to ATI.
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04-14-2009, 05:54 PM
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#10
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The new goggles also do nothing.
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Calgary
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At that resolution I think an 8800GT would be great, and you could probably find one used for pretty cheap.
A new 9800GT an be found for $140 or so.
__________________
Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
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04-14-2009, 08:55 PM
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#11
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Threadkiller
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: 51.0544° N, 114.0669° W
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is the radeon x1950 512mb pci-e decent?
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04-14-2009, 09:28 PM
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#12
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Powerplay Quarterback
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wherever you go there you are.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ricosuave
is the radeon x1950 512mb pci-e decent?
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Not really. It's competitor card is the 7800 series from Nvidia, and you lose out on Shader logic. It would make for an amusing 20$ card like my AIW 850XT, but it would be facing an uphill battle to render anything recent.
__________________
Tacitus: Rara temporum felicitate, ubi sentire quae velis, et quae sentias dicere licet.
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04-14-2009, 09:41 PM
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#13
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The new goggles also do nothing.
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Calgary
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Yeah the x1950 is a bit behind, we had half of them develop problems in our office too, so I wouldn't recommend them.
__________________
Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
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04-14-2009, 09:57 PM
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#14
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Offered up a bag of cans for a custom user title
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Westside
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Check out maximum PC, you can look this stuff up.
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04-14-2009, 10:09 PM
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#15
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The new goggles also do nothing.
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Calgary
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__________________
Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
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04-15-2009, 10:12 AM
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#16
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Atomic Nerd
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Calgary
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If you still want Canadian...uhh....
Buy Matrox? :P
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