What card for an occasional gamer?

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Ropes4u
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What card for an occasional gamer?

Post by Ropes4u » Thu Mar 29, 2007 4:45 am

I am looking the below cards I play an occasional game, do some 3d modeling in MCX and Solidworks. the pc in my sig is going to the kids to replace their P4.

X1950 PRO SCS3
7950GT


Thank You, John

Maelwys
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Post by Maelwys » Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:18 am

I too am an occasional gamer, usually playing the slightly older titles and only occasionally something brand new. Civ4 and Neverwinter Nights are my gaming staples, and I've been playing Titan Quest a bit lately as well.

Using that as background, I just picked up an X1950 Pro and it does everything I need without any complaints. Of course, I can't speak to the 3D Modeling, but I imagine it would be powerful enough for what you need there as well. Highly recommended.

Of note, there are some passively cooled X1950 Pros out now for the SPCR factor.

Buddabing
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Post by Buddabing » Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:25 am

I also recommend a passively cooled 1950 Pro.

IMO the price/performance is excellent with these cards. My 1950 is not passively cooled but the fan on it is not terribly loud. I can play Oblivion on it with no problems. I just got Flight Simulator X, another demanding game, and the 1950 runs it as well with no problems.

I try to have all games run at 1280x1024 since that is my monitor's native resolution.

angelkiller
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Post by angelkiller » Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:23 am

Wow. I too have a X1950pro. I'd recommend it for you. I also game a 1280x1024. It's a great card, after I installed aftermarket cooling. I use an Arctic Cooling X2. It's decent at lower fan speeds, and cools really well. Overall its a good card. And don't waste your money on the 512MB card. (Unless it helps in 3D modeling)

RSJ
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UK Passiive X1950Pro

Post by RSJ » Sun Apr 01, 2007 1:59 am

I have been looking for a passive X1950 Pro for a while and have only found the Club3D Radeon X1950Pro 256MB in the UK. Can anyone tell me more cards available in UK, I would prefer 1 x DVI and 1 x HDMI

Will this card, or another passive X1950 pro, fit in an Antec P180 Advanced Super Midi Tower Case?

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=332348

Kaleid
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Post by Kaleid » Sun Apr 01, 2007 2:40 am

Generally the Nvidia 79xx series are easier to cool down than x19xx line.

angelkiller
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Post by angelkiller » Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:12 am

Kaleid wrote:Generally the Nvidia 79xx series are easier to cool down than x19xx line.
VERY true! Look at this article. (scroll down) The 7900GT uses under 50W under load! And the X1900 series is much hotter than the X1950 series. (The X1950pro uses less power and is more powerful than the X1900GT.) But the X1950pro still uses more power than Nvidia's cards.

regal196
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Post by regal196 » Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:01 pm

angelkiller wrote:
Kaleid wrote:Generally the Nvidia 79xx series are easier to cool down than x19xx line.
VERY true! Look at this article. (scroll down) The 7900GT uses under 50W under load! And the X1900 series is much hotter than the X1950 series. (The X1950pro uses less power and is more powerful than the X1900GT.) But the X1950pro still uses more power than Nvidia's cards.
are you sure, i'm running a x1900gt. i always thought the better the card the more power it draws...

qviri
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Post by qviri » Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:21 pm

regal196 wrote:i always thought the better the card the more power it draws...
By this logic Pentium 4 Prescott would be kicking Core 2 Duo's ass...

jojo4u
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Post by jojo4u » Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:36 pm

In Germany, best bang for the buck is represented by the
Palit/XpertVision Radeon X1950 GT 512MB 500/600 MHz for 120 EUR. Cheapest X1950 pro 512MB 580/700 MHz is 150 EUR

angelkiller
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Post by angelkiller » Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:53 pm

regal196 wrote:are you sure, i'm running a x1900gt. i always thought the better the card the more power it draws...
Generally, more power is needed for more speed. Generally. Efficiency is another issue. The X1950 series is more efficient, so at the same performance level, the X1950 series would use less power. Look at the chart. (Which comes from the X-Bit Labs article) The X1900GT uses more power than the X1950pro, and is slower.

~El~Jefe~
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Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Mon Apr 09, 2007 7:45 pm

512 megs of ram does help. more importantly though is how many shaders the thing boasts as x1950 is the end life-do-what-you-want-oem-special. my x1900 aiwonder has set standards but the x1950 does not.

I would forget the extra ram if the thing became passive only without it. On games where you crank the AA up at decent resolutions, you will notice about a 5%-7% boost in frames for some games with double the ram.

still, all that being said, 256 is good enough for near maxing out games on the right system. bang for buck it wins too.

xilencer
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Post by xilencer » Thu Apr 12, 2007 12:49 am

8600GT is due out 17th April at 43W power consumption

Sylph-DS
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Post by Sylph-DS » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:21 am

I've done some 3D modelling (3Ds Max) in the past, first some on an ATI Radeon 9800XT, and then on a Sapphire Radeon X1600XT, now I noticed a bit of difference in performance in gaming with those different cards, but not a whole lot in 3D modelling. As far as I know, the main difference is in render times, but while actually working on the model, there isn't much difference. I'm not a real specialist as far as professional gaming goes, but I think, for the casual amateur modeller, a card that performs well enough in gaming will do.

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