[Iron Monkey]

If you did (or didn't) read the wonderful info Wid provided in my Quandry thread, I started doing some real homework on alternative video cards (versus buying a replacement GPU fan, $38), and discovered something really interesting....Neither ATI nor NVidia can hold a candle to the X800 XT or X1900 XT, for the price, with any of the X1xxx series or GeForce 7/8 series, without requiring SLi! You have to read the specs from the 2005, 2006 and current charts to figure the placement of either card (esp the X800 XT). Fascinating as hell.

Oh sure, either card has been surpassed, but for that price range, without playing current DX 10 games, those cards can't be beat. A 4-year-old graphics card still holds a contentious spot on the list, even if it's towards the bottom of the list.

Only one video card used to keep up, but is no longer available through mainstream anything...the NVidia 7900 GTS.

Utterly fascinating, and really settles my quandary. Thought I'd share that info.

[ReverendTed]

Folks took a lot of flak for having X800s and the like when Bioshock came out, since the X800 only supports Shader Model 2.0, and many newer games like Bioshock require SM3.0 (essentially DX10 as you mentioned).
The suggestion was that the X800 was a poor decision on ATI's part, since it was upgraded in terms of power, and surpassed the bog-standard Shader Model 2.0 with increased registers and instruction slots to create SM2.0b, but didn't actually make it all the way to SM3.0, and therefore was obsolete nearly as it was released.

As a result, you have a powerful card that could handle more advanced games but lacks a few critical features. (You might say it has the ability, but not the capability.)

Full disclosure: I'm also running an X800.

[WIDOWMAKER99]

i've got 2 X800's installed still (AGP models ) ....and a third in a box as backup

funny how if ya can still find one they pop up on zipzoomfly for about 300 bucks

example 1

http://www.compuplus...i6enp7er3wb0v84

VISIONTEK XTASY X800 PRO AGP 256MB
VISIONTEK XTASY RADEON X800 PRO AGP 256MB DDR 256-BIT VIDEO CARD RETAIL BOX WITH TV OUT AND DVI SUPPORT- VTKX800256AGP

price ..

$416.00

example 2

ASUS EXTREME AX800XT PE/2DHTV RADEON X800 XT 256MB DDR3 W/ TV OUT /HDTV / DUAL VGA / DUAL DVI PCI EXPRESS RETAIL BOX

http://www.pcprogres...800XT-PE2DHT256

price ?

$439.00

think that says it all

still dont understand why ATI keeps pumping out cards with 128 bit mem .. i'll bet if they switched to 256 bit the whole 2X00 line would have been better

[WIDOWMAKER99]

also found this

http://www.spartante...TIRX800XT256OEM

if your lookng for an AGP solution for other systems then your own

[WIDOWMAKER99]

oh and i found that nvidia 7900 card in stock ..it's not cheap ..

here

http://www.epartsand...id/0/rid/126190

[WIDOWMAKER99]

but mr monkey you'll get by with this .. and it's cheaper then your new fan

http://www.gearxs.co...oducts_id=10023

Price: $39.38

since it has
Free Shipping

the reason it's a refurb is it'll have an upgraded heatsink and fan

and most if not all x 800's will flash to the 16 pipes and the mem will overclock too

[Iron Monkey]

Good info as always, Wid. For the price tho', I can just replace the HS/Fan on ye olde card and extend its usefulness for a few more years

Ted: Agreed, but my intent is to keep that machine around as a useful platform for older games. I keep an old 3dfx 5500/Win98 machine for older 3dfx games. Same with this bad-body. I'd assert to those who abuse ATI's decision not to go Shader 3.0/DX 10 on the X800 that the card IS over 4 years old....useful life of any gaming card is about 3-4 years, if you intend to keep up with current games/new games. I plan to replace my gaming machine every 2-3 years....that's enough time to get really good use, without burning out the rig.

[WIDOWMAKER99]

haha you and i think alike Mr Monkey

i still keep a p III 600 EB
soyo agp 4 x sy6vca motherboard
with a voodoo 5 5500 AGP
512 meg of pc 133 sd ram
and a soundblaster AWE 64 with 2 -8.4 gig WD drives /win 98 SE /around for shits and giggles for old games too