more vid card questions

[DukeofSerbia]

Basically, all of the numbers that I can find or understand on the x1300 XGE are equal to or greater than those of the x850 pro. The only number I can't find on the x1300 XGE is the number of pipelines. I know that one of the big deals with the x850 pro is the ability to unlock four extra pipes for a total of 16.

This overclocked version of the x1300 doesn't appear on any of the Tom's Hardware VGA charts.

I bought the x1300, but I haven't opened the box yet. Can anyone advise whether this is a good deal? Is the x1300 XGE better than the x850 pro? Is it a generation past the x850?

My main purpose for buying this card would be to upgrade my integrated graphics. Assuming the rest of my system is ok, is this a decent card for MTW2?

X850Pro is far away better card then X1300. X1300 is newer generation, but X850Pro is peak of the previous.

7600GT is best for AGP. 7800GS is slightly faster but cost much much more and it's not worth.

~ rank of AGP cards. Not 100% accurate, but mostly is.

GeForce 7800GS
GeForce 7600GT
• Radeon X850XT PE
• Radeon X800XT PE
• Radeon X850XT
• Radeon X800XT
GeForce 6800 Ultra
GeForce 6800GT
GeForce 7600GS
• Radeon X800Pro
GeForce 6800
• Radeon X1600Pro
• Radeon X800GT
GeForce 6600GT
GeForce 6800LE
• Radeon X1300Pro
GeForce 6600
• Radeon 9800XT
• Radeon 9800Pro
• Radeon 9700Pro
• Radeon 9800
• Radeon 9700

[gunslinger]

Thank you for that info. Just as an update, I went ahead and plugged that x1300 xge in to my machine, and bought a new power supply to run it. It will run the gold demo, but not to the point where you can actually play it. With all the settings at low, no anti-aliasing or anything, it still gets jerky, especially when I try to move the camera around. And that's just on the agincourt battle. I've heard from others that Againcourt is about the easiest battle on the demo as far as hardware is concerned. I'm pretty sure the rest of my system is ok with 2.8 ghz HT processor and 512 RAM (I know another 512 wouldn't be a bad idea, but upgrading from my integrated graphics was the priority).

So, as a warning to others, the VisionTek ATI Radeon x1300 xge is NOT a good card for MTW2 even though it has 512mb of RAM and is overclocked to 600mhz.

Since I bought it at Best Buy, I'm pretty sure I can just yank it out of there and return it. After all, the salesman there told me it would run any game, and it turns out he was wrong!

I've been browsing for the 7600 and 7800 for AGP, but they seem pretty hard to come by.

[DukeofSerbia]

Don't buy 7800GS! It is not woth. 7600GT is the best.
Because in Serbia it's impossible to buy Leadtek 7600GT AGP (I can buy it in Croatia) I will buy 7600GS (MSI model probably or Gigabyte, others manufactrers' of 7600GS are not good).

[Geezer57]

That x850Pro, especially if you can find one that's unlockable to the full 16 pipes, is potentially a faster card for the money than the "next-best" thing, which is the GeForce 7600GT. But for someone not able to make the effort, or not wanting to take a chance, the 7600GT is certainly very close, much more widely available, and can be more often found at a better price.

As the Duke said, the 7800GS isn't worth the money (unless you can convince someone to give you one gratis!) - the performance difference between it and a 7600GT is virtually nil, while the price differential is usually quite large!

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Well, technically the fastest AGP card you can buy is the Gainward 7800 GS+, which is essentially a 7900 GT. But that's pretty expensive, and might be hard to find.

[Beirut]

Don't buy 7800GS! It is not woth. 7600GT is the best.

Poor 7800GS. Everyone hates it for some reason.

I have a BFG 7800GS and it works very well. Looks good, tastes good, I'm very happy with it. Has enough juice to run all my stuff at high settings. (Runs quietly too.) The 7800GS got very good performance reviews.

It does cost more then the 7600GT.

[Geezer57]

Tom's Hardware has an interesting tool to play with here: http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
It should give you some idea of relative standings among the various graphics setups.

[gunslinger]

Hmmm. That graph shows the 7600GT coming in way behind the 7800GS and almost all of the x800 types.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

The vanilla 7800 GS wasn't tested, they only used the 7800GS+, which, as I said, is essentially a 7900GT.

[DukeofSerbia]

Poor 7800GS. Everyone hates it for some reason.

I have a BFG 7800GS and it works very well. Looks good, tastes good, I'm very happy with it. Has enough juice to run all my stuff at high settings. (Runs quietly too.) The 7800GS got very good performance reviews.

It does cost more then the 7600GT.

Nobody said that 7800GS is not fast. But it cost too much money. Card is overpriced because of the high cost of production.


gunslinger

x8xx series is faster than 7600GT in games where are ATI preferred like HL. 7600GT is overall faster and better because of the newest technology.

[gunslinger]

x8xx series is faster than 7600GT in games where are ATI preferred like HL. 7600GT is overall faster and better because of the newest technology.

So, what brand does M2TW prefer?

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

As a general rule, Nvidia cards do better with OpenGL, and ATI cards do better with DirectX. Or is it the other way around? I can't remember.

[DukeofSerbia]

So, what brand does M2TW prefer?

In RTW and BI nVidia was preferred.

As a general rule, Nvidia cards do better with OpenGL, and ATI cards do better with DirectX. Or is it the other way around? I can't remember.

It is true that nVidia cards are better in OpenGL and that is because of drivers. This is mostly past. ATI drastically increased performances in OpenGL last several months. In some OpenGL games like Q4 now ATI is faster.
In DirectX depend from publishers. Some publishers have contracts with ATI and much more with nVidia.