XFX NVidia 7800GS or Radeon X1950 PRO (512mb) from XFX GeForce 6800GS - Tech Support Forums

Sharktooth · December 19th, 2006, 03:53 PM

Hi guys,

Before I start let me wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

I have the XFX NVidia GeForce 6800 GS 256mb AGP8x. It is a fantastic card an allows my computer to play Company of Heroes and Faces of War amongst many numerous graphically demanding games like Tomb Raider Legends, X3 Reunion, Oblivion, Half Life 2, FEAR, you get the idea. My system specs are 2.93GHz Celeron D340 Processor, 2GB DDR RAM. Games run quite well but not as well as I may want. I am quite fussy about graphics.

In the new year I intend to upgrade still retaining the AGP slots. I would like to look at the Gainward Bliss Geforce 7800GS 512mb

http://www.mvktech.net/content/view/3368/39/

and the Radeon X1950PRO 512mb

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=119956

With which card can I expect larger improvement in graphics and fps in Company of Heroes and Faces of War?

Cheers.

washe · December 19th, 2006, 04:02 PM

Welcome to Techimo....

Those cards will be bottlenecked by your CPU, Celerons are not meant to be used for gaming at least not for performance as you are looking for.

carl33p · December 19th, 2006, 04:08 PM

The x1950PRO will get a couple more frames then the 7800GS.
BUT, it proly wont much which card you get. That CeleronD Processor you have there will bottleneck your gaming performance.

You might not get better performance with either card until you upgrade your CPU.
Be aware that a GPU upgrade may need a more powerful Power SUpply.
Whats your current PSU? Manufactuer, watts, and amps on 12V? (All should be on a sticker on your PSU)

SoloCamo · December 19th, 2006, 04:08 PM

Welcome to TechIMO!

The X1950pro is the better of the two cards, no doubt about that.

However, I would look into upgrading that cpu aswell, if you have the cash that is.

Also, what make and model is your PSU? The new cards can be power hogs.

(wow, I was beat to the punch! guess that's what I get for waiting an extra minute to reply

)

Sharktooth · December 20th, 2006, 09:00 AM

Cheers,

I did realize that my CPU may be a problem. What can you suggest I do about it, do I buy a P4 and replace it in the slot where the Celeron D340 currently resides? Is it very simple replacing CPU's or do I need a whole new motherboard altogether? Got the new PC system to upgrade on a few months back, I did realize that Celeron is a bad choice, it should have been the option with a P4 but it was so much cheaper and that model with the P4 already had parts in the rig before that. Can you tell me about replacing CPU,s and give me links to excellent UK sites with fair deals on CPU's please? Are the two cards I suggested above both alternatives of a certain card series?
Also I have had some trouble with my XFX 6800GS, it performs impressively but it is prone to overheating, in a room with average temperature 15mins into a game like CoH it gets too hot and graphics start to artifact (goes up to 86degrees, with core temp of 66 degrees, XFX driver seemed to help as on Nvidia driver it can get up to 110degrees!). I have four fans in the case, one for the power pack, on for the CPU cooling, and two 12 inch fans with a neon blue glow for sucking cool air in and blowing hot air out on the other side. The power pack is an ISO 400PP by the way with a max of 300W output.
Also a Geforce 7600GS 245mb, would I expect better performance with that compared to the XFX 6800GS? What is the ATI alternative?
What can I do and how can I keep it cheap and simple but still get better performance on Coh and FoW?

Thank you in advance.

Sharktooth · December 20th, 2006, 12:13 PM

For further information, the MOBO is a N1996, it is Pentium 4 and Celeron complaint. Would I be able to purchase a P4 3.2GHz and put it in place of the Celeron D340? The GeForce 6800GS is still quite good apart from some overheating, but like you said I feel my Celeron D340 is bottlenecking the graphics performance of the D340. The MOBO has an mPGA478 slot for CPU's.

The Powerpack is a ISO 400PP, the ratings are ISO Switching Power Supply
Model: ISO-400PP
AC Input: 230V, 4A, 47-63Hz

+3.3V +5V +12V +5VSB -5V -12V
20A 30A 15A 2A 0.5A 0.5A.

pullmyfoot · December 20th, 2006, 12:28 PM

even a pentium 4 will be a bottleneck. if you get the fastest P4, it will be a bottleneck like your celeron by next years games. rather, you shoukld just do a complete new system (also rather than wasting money on an AGP card which is gonna be obsolute soon cuz it cant give enough banwidth for anything more than a 7800. i dont think it can even give a 7800 enough for it to perform at its max.) your card is quite decent, just sticjk to that til a new systam comes your way

Sharktooth · December 20th, 2006, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pullmyfoot

even a pentium 4 will be a bottleneck. if you get the fastest P4, it will be a bottleneck like your celeron by next years games. rather, you shoukld just do a complete new system (also rather than wasting money on an AGP card which is gonna be obsolute soon cuz it cant give enough banwidth for anything more than a 7800. i dont think it can even give a 7800 enough for it to perform at its max.) your card is quite decent, just sticjk to that til a new systam comes your way

Thank you for your reply. Maybe I will stick to my current card but I have problems with it in keeping it cool, it gets too hot and starts to artifact when I play CoH or FoW. What can I do about it? I have four fans in the system to create airflow, and the GPU has a few more copper heat sinks added onto it to help spread the heat. The XFX driver seems to work better than Nvidia as temperatures during operation seems lower by 5degrees. If I put a Pentium 4 processor onto the MOBO in place of Celeron D340 can I still expect better graphical performance? (system and MOBO details in a few threads above).

Rootstonian · December 20th, 2006, 08:55 PM

Why stick with AGP? To the best of my knowledge, the PCI-E 16 slot is THE hot ticket for graphics.

Like I've posted in other threads, I waited out the market till the Core 2 Duo chip came out and went with it and a mobo with PCI-E slot (my "older" pc's did not have this slot). ATI Radeon X1950 Pro tucked in the box makes for one sweet machine!

pullmyfoot · December 21st, 2006, 08:13 AM

yeah the performance will be much better. but its still a waste of money. but you will definatly see a big improvement cuz celerons seriously suck to the core man. its up to you. of course it totally depends on what you will be upgrading to. what socket you got and what are you willing to spend by the way? and Rootstonian, he firstly dosent have a PCIe slot and it would be usless to upgrade his graphics when his processor is a serious bottleneck.