Upgrading from x850xt 256mb, looking for advice

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rockon_rrh

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I have been using a Sapphire x850xt 256mb 256bit card for over two years now and have been really satisfied with it. However, with 3.0 shader support required for many new games, not to mention the tremendous amount of raw power needed, the card no longer makes the cut.

I have a budget of $100-$150. This had limited my choices to (all found on newegg):

Powercolor Radeon x1950pro 512mb 256bit
GeCube Geforce 8600gts 256mb 128bit
Sapphire HD2900pro 512mb 512bit

Here are my current specs:
Rosewill 450watt
Abit Motherboard 800mhz fsb
Pentium D 3.0ghz
2gb G.Skill DDR2 800
Western Digital 200gb 7600rpm SATA
Maxtor 500gb 7600rpm SATA
Windows XP Pro (so DX10 is not a necessity)

The card is primarily for gaming. Specifically I play CoD4, UnrealTournament3, Medieval II: Total War (and kingdoms), Republic Commando, Company of Heroes, etc.

Any help with deciding on these cards would be awesome. Thanks in advance!
 
hd2900pro out of those (especially if you flash it to the hd2900xt bios [Google it])
 
a get the 2900pro, if not try for a 3850, 10$ more will be worth it, but you will see beter performence from the pro if you flash it, you may need a new psu if you go with the 2900 tho, that why i recomend the 3850. if anything try and sell your x850xt for 50$ to afford the 3850.
 
a get the 2900pro, if not try for a 3850, 10$ more will be worth it, but you will see beter performence from the pro if you flash it, you may need a new psu if you go with the 2900 tho, that why i recomend the 3850. if anything try and sell your x850xt for 50$ to afford the 3850.

450watts not enough for 2900pro??


BTW: Im running all this on a 22" widescreen with 1680x1050 native resolution
 
psu aside, it sounds like people are saying the 2900pro is the best price/performer of the three listed above, correct?

I looked up some 3850's and found a couple within $20 above my current price range. Let me ask, is this slight price increase a big performance boost, and will it suck up less power than the 2900pro?
 
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