Video Card advice (ATI)

[venividivici]

Hello, I am new to these forums, however my first of probably many more questions to come has to do with video cards.

I want to get a new video card and I am looking at either the ATI Radeon x1600 Pro 512mb PCI-E or the ATI Radeon x1800XT 512mb PCI-E.

Right now my only concern is if I will see a huge or significant difference between the two cards. At the moment I can get the x1600 brand new for $229 CDN and I can get the x1800XT used on ebay for $370 CDN (after shipping and taxes).

World of Warcraft is really the only game I currently play and my Sapphire Radeon 9600 256mb handles it but at times can be sluggish as it is a few years old.

The card may also be useful for when I begin the various graphic design programs as I am a Web Development & Graphic Design student.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. In advance I won't be looking into switching to Nvidia, I am an ATI user only, haha.
Thanks in advance!

 

[StylinGolfShoes]

ATI Radeon x1800XT 512mb PCI-E. get that

 

[PP Mguire]

THe X1800XT will run circles around that X1600. You will see a major difference between the 2 and it will seem like your old 9600 is an old Voodoo card.

 

[Pepsiboy700]

Yeah x1800xt. Kicks the x1600's ***!

 

[venividivici]

Well I just bought it off ebay, its used but in excellent condition so now the wait begins.

Next thing I need to do is decide on a new MoBo and possibly a new cpu.

 

[dario03]

World of Warcraft is really the only game I currently play and my Sapphire Radeon 9600 256mb handles it but at times can be sluggish as it is a few years old.

The card may also be useful for when I begin the various graphic design programs as I am a Web Development & Graphic Design student.

WoW only requires something along the lines of a 9800pro to run at max. But if you think you may need more power later than the x1800xt is a good card to go with.

 

[venividivici]

Re: Re: Video Card advice (ATI)

WoW only requires something along the lines of a 9800pro to run at max. But if you think you may need more power later than the x1800xt is a good card to go with.

Oh I have really no problems with my 9600 running WoW at max other than the odd time when it will drop the frame rate down quite low for a few seconds, but I am upgrading a few things and figured I would upgrade my video card.

In my opinion I thought why not get something that will last for a couple of years and still get the job done for me. So for around $370 CDN used I will have the x1800XT which is good because I paid $230 CDN for my 9600 (Sapphire).

Taxes in Ontario are a killer, 14% *sigh* that added nearly $50 to the price because when it passes through customs UPS is gonna tack that on unless the sender marks it as a gift or as other which sometimes they are nice enough and do that.

 

[PP Mguire]

You could always ask them to do that.

 

[venividivici]

I certainly could, but some people will threaten to report you for that request. I don't think a person should be charged taxes by customs on used products. He already shipped it so I will find out if I have to pay taxes or not.

Either way its still much cheaper then what it would cost me brand new up here. The Sapphire version was $589.99CDN plus tax at a place that I buy parts from.

Now that I have the card on its way I need to figure out which MoBo I want because I need one with PCI-E and I am also torn in if I want to go with an AM2 or 939/940 socket board as I plan to upgrade from my AMD Athlon 64 3000+.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=010701&cid=MB.526 That is the board I am looking at getting. Although I should ask this question in another thread, it says it supports dual channel DDR2 ram, would it support DDR 400 ram as well? I figure the answer is yes, but I want to make sure. My current board doesn't support dual channel (mistake on my part), so my Corsair XMS ram is not being used to its full potential, lol :\.

 

[PP Mguire]

No that board is sockey AM2 and they only support DDR2. If you want to use your current ram you have to go S939. Also, ask him on an instant messeger and you should have no problems. But since its already on the way i guess dont bother.