FX5700U or R9600XT?

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Here is the fastest XT being made. <A HREF="http://demo.gecube.com.tw/productCategory.php?proID=17" target="_new">http://demo.gecube.com.tw/productCategory.php?proID=17</A>

<b>Athlon XP 2100+ @2.02Ghz
MSI K7N2 Delta-L nForce2 Ultra 400
768mb of Generic DDR266 @310 6-3-3-2
Built by ATi R9800 @420/630</b>
 
I purchased a GeXcube (which is actually Gigabyte - edit: this may not be true, don't take it as fact) 9600XT a week ago, model GC-R96XTG-C3. I've never been a fan of ATI due to their crappy drivers (learn't from bitter experience in the past), so was a little concerned, but so far so good. Big improvement over my old Geforce 3 :)

Reason for the 9600XT;
1. Very good price/performance ratio (less than 3/4 the cost of a 5700Ultra)
2. Relatively 'cheap' here in Australia.
3. Bundled Half-Life 2 (which takes about a 3rd of the price off the card, making it half the price of the 5700Ultra!)

Reason for the GeXcube;
1. Price and availability.
2. VERY good cooling solution from the photo on their site http://www.gecube.com.tw/productCategory.php?proID=17 (I'll throw up some pic's of mine if anyone's interested...)

The memory is factory overclocked at 324MHz. Believe it or not, I've been able to stably(sp?) run the memory at 400MHz with it's stock cooling. I've had it run 3DMark03, Aquamark and looped the FFXI benchmark one after the other at this speed without any noticeable problems (results uploaded to their respective sites). However, I do worry about it at that speed and normally run it stock (I don't game all that often and have been happy at default anyway).

I've had the core easily at 550Mhz as well. I initially tried the max overclock Rage3D gave me, which was 573, and got a VPU recover at some point. Haven't tried pushing that high again, though I would expect it should be capable. I do wonder if the card is able to get enough power to run both the core and memory at extreme speeds without modding...

One thing, I just happened to notice when looking the card over, out of the box, that the heatsink wasn't properly attached. One of the plastic 'pins' that hold it on wasn't pushed all the way through, leaving a visible gap between the sink and one of the RAM chips. Easily corrected, but a note to give the card a once over before installing.

Also note, as with many other 9600XT owners (from reading many forums) mine doesn't display the Overdrive tab in the display properties. I expect this will eventually get sorted out, but from all reports it's of little consequence.

Anyway, I'm quite happy. As someone mentioned, the prices here in Australia are a little screwy. Where one card might only be 10% more than another in the US, it can be 50% more here (even with our really good exchange rate at the moment).

Oh, thought I should mention, low noise was also a purchasing factor. I run a fairly quiet computer, Antec Sonata with a Zalman 7000A-Cu cooling an XP2100 @ 2200Mhz (the Zalman is excellent!) and the GeXcube 9600XT doesn't appear to add much of anything over the noise of the PSU fan (though I wish that was quieter). <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by arcanthis on 01/04/04 08:14 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
The gigagyte GV-R96X128D (radeon 9600xt) is in my hand.
Using samsung ram k4d3238e-gc2a 4m x32 chips, rated 350mhz, info <A HREF="http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semiconductor/GraphicsMemory/DDRSDRAM/128Mbit/K4D263238E/K4D263238E.htm" target="_new"> here </A>, GPU clock is 500mhz default, ram 600mhz.

Will test this baby soon, stay tune.
 
Complete initial test, result as follow:

Overdrive disable.
GPU clock to 573mhz with stock hsf, which is maximum allowed by Rage3d, without crash in game.

A little disappointed with ram overclocking: screen tearing start at 380mhz(760ddr), consider the ram rated at 350mhz.
 
A 9% increase over it's rating is a pretty good OC. Besides, isn't stock 300MHz?? A 25% OC (assuming 375 works) is pretty damn good.

Also, did you burn in the RAM?? If you keep your card OCed at those levels right out of the box, you won't have it for very long. (three hours [found from your last post] is not enough to burn in the RAM) Give it a day or two at stock, then increase progressively. You will might be able to 380MHz if you work your way up.

Damn Rambus.
 
Well, I'm happy with mine after a week. If nothing else, the heatsink looks pretty cool 😉 Then again, you'll never see it once installed :) As always, your mileage may vary...
 
Hmm, perhaps Gigacube and Gigabyte are not the same? I thought I had read they were, though it's odd they would have competing products, although not unheard of.

Note the card Ed_Phoon has is branded Gigabyte and quite different from the GeXcube one. The GeXcube has heatsinks on all the ram, on both sides of the card (which likely explains my very high ram overclock). From reviews, I've noticed this is not the case with most 9600xt's.
 
Circuit City has the retail Built by ATI with Halflife 2 for $150 After rebates. If priced the same I'd take the Built by.

ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 512MB Corsair TwinX PC3200LL, Radeon 9500 Pro, Santa Cruz, Antec 1000AMG, TruePower 430watt
 
Wad memory is it using?

Athlon XP 1800+ (1.52ghz) O/Ced.
Gigabyte GA-7VKML
Powercolour R9600pro Bravo @ 480/340
128+256 PC2100 DDR
IBM 20gb 5400rpm 2mb+WD 40gb 5400rpm 2mb
Creative SB Live! 5.1 Digital
 
The built by ATi 9600XT is the one with slower 3.3ns memory.....I had one....

<b>Athlon XP 2100+ @2.02Ghz
MSI K7N2 Delta-L nForce2 Ultra 400
768mb of Generic DDR266 @310 6-3-3-2
Built by ATi R9800 @420/630</b>
 
Righteo. So, the GeXcube's RAM overclocks better than the Gigabyte one... But what about when compared with Sapphire?

This is looking good. If I get the GeXcube instead of the Sapphire, it means I can either get medium 5.1 or really good 2.1 speakers.
 
That's what I thought at first, but someone said Sapphire used better parts than Gigacube... so that confused me a bit.

So, did that mean Sapphire has cheaper, better, or about the same quality parts as the Gigacube?
 
Well that totally sucks. It tells me to avoid both 256MB and GeXcube... In other words, that totally removes all of my options about the 9600XT...

So... then that's saying Gigacube has even more 'value' parts... But the Sapphire has inferior 256MB mem... Didn't someone say the Gigacube overclocked well though?

EDIT: Hmm, I gotta check out the specs of the 9600 Pro then, when I have the time. Gigabyte 128MB one only costs $255. It says that it's highly overclockable... But, after overclocking (I know it varies a lot), will it reach speeds similar to or higher than the 9600 XT? <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Yangster on 01/06/04 04:28 AM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
Aside from the 9600XT coming with Half Life 2 and the 9600 Pro not the only difference I can see between the 2 is that the 9600XT has a 500mhz core clock speed compared to the Pro's 400mhz core clock speed. However since where I am the XT is only a few dollars more then the Pro its diffenitly better to get the XT where I am.
 
Yeah, and while the PRO does often overclock to the point of an XT, the XT overclocks beyond that. And as long as it's a fast memory version of the XT then it's the winner by a long shot IMO.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil:
 
OK, so I guess it's Gigacube then... According to the people who have it, it's not that bad right? I mean, HS on all the RAM is pretty good.
 
I'm not a fan of Gigacube/GeXcube, but like I said it looks like you are limited in your options. Just make sure you get good warranty assurances. Keep your receipts.

Likely your best option of a mediocre choice list, but just don't expect this to be a quality board of the calibre of ASUS, Hercules, and the like. This is a tier 2 mfr at best.
But it should give you good bang for the buck. I like Gigabyte better, but some people (including GW by the looks of things) have had a few issues with them too.

Go with your gut. If you have a day or two, try putting the two models you're looking at in Goggle and see what comes up from the various forums and reviews. Also maybe visit Rage3D's forum and see what they have to say about this generation.

Good Luck!


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil:
 
Well, I guess I'll have to go with the Gigacube... I've read that some people found that it has a short lifespan due to cheaper components, but I'm wondering how short that is. I don't intend to use this VGA card for any time longer than 2 years whatsoever, and most likely, only 1-1.5 years. So... it should last at least that long right?

Otherwise, which is better? 256MB or 128MB? I read that the cards with 256MB usually have inferior memory, so does that mean the 128MB is better? Because I have found a 128MB Sapphire for $10 more than the 256MB one, and if I choose that instead of the Gigacube, I'll have to give up 5.1 speakers and go with 2.1 instead.

So... which do you think is a better choice? Gigacube + 5.1 or Sapphire + 2.1?
 
Oie now that is a pickle. How about selling a pint of blood? :evil:

In this case go for the toys. The memory size may not make much difference here (you can get equal speed memory it just depends on the overall build). Just make sure that the speeds given by the makers are the same. Gigacube does have a habbit of putting cheaper/slower memory on boards and then giving them special names similar to PROC3 vs PROC3-lite vs PROD3-lite vs 9600C3-lite. Meant to confuse consumers IMO. See <A HREF="http://www.overclockers.co.nz/ocnz/review.php?id=03vga00r9600progigacube9600lite0104" target="_new">HERE</A> as an example. I would make sure I know what I'm supposed to be getting first before commiting to anything, you could wind up with an R9600 XT-F4-Low_Carb edition. :wink:

Gigacube/GeXcube (aka GigaPuke) has made statements and actions to show they wish to change their image with some faster than stock products, but the proof will be once enough of them are out there.

One of the best ways to ensure longevity of cheap products, don't overclock them. In general I'd say don't OC the memory too much, the core should be close the the equivalent of all other cores.

I'd say go for the better audio with the slightly worse card since the difference in performance may not be noticeable, but if you like your audio then the 5.1 vs 2.1 will be night and day. I use headphones on my rigs, except when editing video (unless picking/filtering out background noise etc), I keep the 5.1 and 7.1 for my two entertainment units. I can hook up my gaming computer to the one in my bedroom for 5.1, but I prefer headphones even for gaming.

In the end you need to decide what you need most, if this is your only entertainment unit then I'd say the advanatages fo surround sound are greater, but it's up to you, you're the one who has to live/play with it.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil:
 
A pint of blood? 2 years ago they gave me 11 blood tests in just 3 months, and 3/4 of it was stored in 2 enormous jars and never used. And I wasn't paid. And this is a true story by the way.

Hmm, that link was an interesting read. I didn't know Gigacube was a subsidiary of Gigabyte. However, none of those are the 9600XT, as none had a clock speed of 500MHz...

However, interestingly, none had memory of 2.86... So, is there anyway of knowing whether the XT will come with 2.86? Or is it luck?

I do know that they have 2 XT's... One is C3 or something, and the other is an EXTREME (I think - from memory). The C3 is the normal one, and the EXTREME is an overclocked XT with 2.5ns mem... Weird.

I am seriously having second thoughts about getting a Gigacube... I have found some with 2.8 and 2.5 at
http://www.cysoftcomputers.com.au/prod669.htm and http://www.cysoftcomputers.com.au/prod667.htm... with prices including GST... That's good, much cheaper.

I do have another option. 128MB Asus 3.3ns one for $335.60.

But they're my only options... Is the Gigacube one so bad that I can't OC it and still make it last 1-1.5 years?
 
They aren't a subsidiary of Gigabyte, this reviewer like so many others was fooled into believing they are the same because GeXcube made their name closely match Gigabyte's, even going so far as to name their parent Gigabyte Group, to make the link appear even more solid. They are in fact NOT related. See even reviewers screw it up.

While these aren't XTs, I was simply showing you that they have a history of funky naming strategies for their cards (let alone their company). The whole company seems to use name games to portray a better product. That was my point, not that these are XTs in the review.

Both of the Gigacube XTs you've listed should perform better in the memory department than the Built By ATI, and THAT Asus you make mention of.

The 2.8 ns memory should allow you to overclock to at least 325mhz for long term (with a max of 350+), and the 2.5 ns memory should allow you to reach 340 for long term, and breach 360+ easily. My R9600Pro runs stable (for hours of benchmarking) @ 360 on my 2.86ns memory. I can sprint bench at just over 370mhz. However day to day I run it @ 321mhz as an arbitrary 'safe' number.

If the 2.5ns Gigacube/GeXcube is within your budget that would be the better of the two GC cards, and would allow you higher maximum and higher long term overclocks. But the 2.86ns stuff should still give you an advantage over the reference XTs. The R9600AIW uses the 2.86ns samsung memory and has a 'stock' speed of 325mhz on the memory.

The ASUS will likely give you some nicer software feature, plus Video-in/Video-out (VIVO), but if you are on a budget you'll need to consider what your needs are. ASUS is definitely a better company with a better reputation, but that 3.3ns memory really does cripple those XTs (which are starved for memory more than anything), you'll likely only be able to get MAX 310mhz out of that board even with ramsinks, no more than 315mhz. So if you wanna OC your coard then those gigacubes will far outpace the ASUS in the memory department, but might have crummy core OCs. If you are serious about overclocking, then the 2.5ns memory version of the GC will likely give you the best results, and if they sort the VPUs it will likely get the better cores out of the two as well.

The Giacubes aren't devil spawn they are more like the hard working brother in law you can't trust (especialy with the beer :wink: . They may be awesome performers, but don't be surprised if they turn on you, so be prepared with receipts and return policy info.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil:
 
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