ATI 9800XT 256MB vs X1600XT 512MB: Which is better?

[jemeni]

I have an old 9800XT 256MB and I am thinking of buying the AGP version of the 512MB X1600XT. Is it worth the upgrade? not just in numbers but with a difference I can actually see?

The X1600XT would cost me around $100.

 

[marneus]

well, it would be faster & you gain PS 3.0...

but it would be better value to get the AGP x1950pro...

 

[Frank_M]

If he's switching an 9800 to an 1600, I don't think a 1950 is in his budget

Me, I'm in a similar situation, stuck with agp for now; will upgrade to C2D sometime
next year. Just look at the vga charts here and elsewhere and you'll see that
1600 < 6600GT < 7600GS < 7600GT < 800GTO is the usual order.
I'm thinking of a 7600GS, and from those, Galaxy makes very good ones (Zalman
cooling and higher-speed GDDR3 memory upgrades ). However, depending
on where you live, an x800 might not be much more.
These would be a difference you'd see. The 1600 is crippled imo, and therefore
weak, so not worth buying.

 

[jemeni]

Yeah the 1950 is not in my budget. I am looking for a good AGP upgrade for the 9800XT that's under $200.

is the x800 better than the x1600? I thought the higher the number the "better" the card?

 

[redwing]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131027

Comes with quiet aftermarket cooling too. If you spend a bit of time, I'm certain you can find a x1950 under 200$.

Here are some typical benchmarks :

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/308/10/

As you can see, the x1600xt is more in the 6600GT/6800XT category. It's strong suit are it's features & bundle mostly. In my opinion, it'd be a waste of money to upgrade from a 9800XT to a x1600XT.
There are some x1950Pro and 7900GS for under 200$ that will put this card to shame.

 

[jemeni]

I think those cards are PCI xpress though. I need an AGP card thats better than the 9800XT. I am don't want to have to upgrade my motherboard to use the card. I checked around on Newegg and can't seem to find the AGP versions of the cards you suggested.

 

[juggy]

Yeah the 1950 is not in my budget. I am looking for a good AGP upgrade for the 9800XT that's under $200.

is the x800 better than the x1600? I thought the higher the number the "better" the card?

Depending on what games you play x800 is perhaps batter(also depends, there is great diference in a X800 and a X800 XT...X850 XT PE).
By the way
I thing he meant ...<7600GT<X1800GTO

 

[jemeni]

This is turning out to be more complicated than I thought! Maybe I should just play console games...

I would like to play all the latest PC games with an AGP card that doesn't choke at a decent resolution, say 1280 x 1024...

forget the 1600xt then...whats the best gaming AGP card for under $200?

 

[juggy]

Well, you will probably be best suited with a 7600 GS, but if you can buy a 7600GT that would be good.

 

[Nitro350Z]

I would recomend the X800. It's a great card and will outperform the X1600.

From what I've seen, the X1600 is about the same performance as the 9800 pro, the xt should outperform it.

If you look on Ati's site, there were a few good deals for X800's that I can remember.

As for the numbering, the X800 is top card from the last gen, the X1600 is just above the lowest budject card for this gen. The X800 outperforms the X1600 hands down.

Also, the fact that the X1600 has SM 3, it's basicaly useless as the card doesnt have enough power to use it and achieve decent framerates.

Thats my $0.02

 

[jemeni]

thanks for all the input guys. I think I should be able to make a choice now!

 

[redwing]

One more suggestion. From what I read, I assume you need a decent mid-level card to let you game with decent image quality at 1280*1024.

Consider

1) 6800GS ( roughly the same as a 6800GT, overclockable)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1779348&CatId=318

2) 7600GS (performance on par with a 6800GT, poor overclocker on memory - DDR2, potentially decent core overclock) - SM 3.0

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2484227&CatId=0


Both are significantly faster than your 9800XT, that will give you roughly 2x the fps you're getting currently. In the AGP segment, it's hard to find anything that gives you the same performance for that price (110-130$).
If you get one of these cards, you can last just long enough so that your next upgrade would be a midrange DX10 card, when those become affordable.

Keep in mind that neither of these cards are monsters, but they are both a significant upgrade from the 9800 and offer good value for their price.

Ideally I would look for an AGP version of x1950Pro, but I cant seem to find one for a good price, and 280$ is borderline pointless to pay for a card whose PCI-E version sells for less than 200$.

There are definitely better cards to be found for AGP, but they are grossly overpriced compared to their PCI-E counterparts. Almost to the point that you can get a new motherboard and PCI-E card for the price of the equivalent AGP version of the card.

Cheers

 

[ikaz]

If you can spend an xtra $40 I would get this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102606

That would be a nice jump from the 9800xt and its better than the GS's

 

[megame255]

If you can spend an xtra $40 I would get this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102606

That would be a nice jump from the 9800xt and its better than the GS's

I agree with that suggestion. The only thing that the X850PRO lacks is sm3, other than that it's a decent card.

Unless you can get an AGP version of the 7600GT. It's probably the best >$200 AGP card out there, if you can find it.