Which of these midrange passive cards is the best?

mfc2 · Post by **mfc2** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:16 pm

I just came across this article at Tom's Hardware
How much Graphics Power Does a PC Really Need? (March 2, 2005)

The article basically states what other people have already said in that 3D gaming cards offer essentially no benefit outside of games. One issue that the article does not address is support for the 24inch+ sized monitors.

mfc2 · Post by **mfc2** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 10:21 am

If anyone is interested, the Sapphire Toxic Radeon X700 Pro got a 4 out of 10 score by Maximum PC. They said that a poor-performing graphics card should not take up three PCI slots. In that price range, the 6600GT is much better card.

manni · Post by **manni** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 2:07 am

Btw, Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro Ultimate Edition is very compatible with Zalman coolers, I have ZM-OP1 on my 9800 with Sapphire branded heatpipe (pic. I have ZM-OP1 running with 5 V, it's almost inaudible and offers enough air to heatsink.

madman2003 · Post by **madman2003** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 3:23 am

The gigabyte 6600GT is a PCI-Express card, not a pci card. The card is also available as a AGP version with a very big heatsink. I think they also have a plain 6600 which is passively cooled, not sure if they made an agp version.

atomidude · Post by **atomidude** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 4:01 am

i'm using the Gigabyte 6800 since late September. what a great piece of hardware! if you have the money to spend on it, get it, you won't be sorry.

it runs at 50C idle, 65C under 3dmark tests or gaming. pretty cold considering that i've got only one fan in my rig, a 120mm that blows on it from the side cover, spinning at 950 rpm. everything else is passive in my box (cpu, mobo chipset, Phantom PSU).

the card allows me to play any game at high settings, since i've got 18.8k/9.9k/4k in 3dmark01/03/05. to get these scores i oc to 370/780. not too bad for a very, very quiet computer.

nici · Post by **nici** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 7:28 am

Im feeling lazy today so i wont read all the posts, but if i Radeon x800XL can be considered midrange i can honestly recommend it. My Club 3d card OCd to 459/555 from 400/500 without hickups and got me a score of 5440 in 3dMark05

Havent run any other benchmarks yet as i just reintalled windows so have to download them again.. Aanyway.. The card cost me 339€, 10€ more than other x800xl cards but htis one has dual-DVI and VIVO so i wont complain

The watercooling might have got me another 10mHz out of the core, but i dont think that affect performance that much. This still overclocked better than my old 9800Pro, wich got 2700 in 3dMakr05 when running at the absolute limit, this card still has some safety margin as i didnt see one single artifact.