Is the Saphire ATI X1300 512Mb a bit pants???

[mpaul0055]

Hi Guys

Just got my new Pc built and it was going to be used mainly for Audio Production... But since its a Dual Core 4200+ with 2gigs or ram i thought it would be ashame not to splash out on a graphics card thats **** hot to go with it:)

Ive got a Ati X1300 512 at the mo, and after trying to get FEAR workin on it in medium settings, ive come to the conclusion, Its Crap.....

The framerate is about 82% under 15 with everthing on medieum, which just isnt good enough.... To be honest i want to have everthing atleast on full, if not Max....

So what am i gonna have to pay then? Ive seen some 1gig cards for £300+ but was hopin for something around the £250 Mark.. Oh and i dont have SLI motherboard.. Just a Pci Express Slot :)

Any advise would be great as i took my eye off the PC Gaming scene for about a year and its just lept ahead so far, now im lost .. lol

Cheers

[Tom|Nbk]

Hi Guys

Just got my new Pc built and it was going to be used mainly for Audio Production... But since its a Dual Core 4200+ with 2gigs or ram i thought it would be ashame not to splash out on a graphics card thats **** hot to go with it:)

Ive got a Ati X1300 512 at the mo, and after trying to get FEAR workin on it in medium settings, ive come to the conclusion, Its Crap.....

The framerate is about 82% under 15 with everthing on medieum, which just isnt good enough.... To be honest i want to have everthing atleast on full, if not Max....

So what am i gonna have to pay then? Ive seen some 1gig cards for £300+ but was hopin for something around the £250 Mark.. Oh and i dont have SLI motherboard.. Just a Pci Express Slot :)

Any advise would be great as i took my eye off the PC Gaming scene for about a year and its just lept ahead so far, now im lost .. lol

Cheers

hi there!, a x1900xt would be perfect for you, OcUK have some cracking deals on these cards at the minute i have an 1900xt i got it 5 months ago it chucks everything about http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/X1900_Series.html you can pick the 512mb version up from here for £200 which is a bargain, i paid 250 for mine 5 months ago and even then it was a bargain! :thumbsup:.

[mpaul0055]

:thumbsup: hi there!, a x1900xt would be perfect for you, OcUK have some cracking deals on these cards at the minute i have an 1900xt i got it 5 months ago it chucks everything about http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/X1900_Series.html you can pick the 512mb version up from here for £200 which is a bargain, i paid 250 for mine 5 months ago and even then it was a bargain! :thumbsup:.

Cheers Tom :thumbsup:

will probably go for the Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3.

Any other advise?? Should the x1300 perform as bad as it is, or is it a driver issue ???? Helllllp :)

[Tom|Nbk]

:thumbsup:

Cheers Tom :thumbsup:

will probably go for the Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3.

Any other advise??

what psu do you have?, just want to make sure it will be ok to handle it as these 1900's love power

[mpaul0055]

Ive got an AMD 4200+ X2Dual....

Is the X1300 that bad that fear had to be on low settings on a Res of 800 x 600... That seems really poor to me..

[MikeKay1976]

Ive got an AMD 4200+ X2Dual....

Is the X1300 that bad that fear had to be on low settings on a Res of 800 x 600... That seems really poor to me..

a computer is only as fast as its slowest part, and FEAR is a big system hog.

put a 1.1 fiesta engine in a ferrari and it will still go like a 1.1 litre fiesta ;)

[PlexShaw]

Ive got an AMD 4200+ X2Dual....
Tom|Nbk was asking what PSU (power supply unit) you have, not CPU. A PSU is one of most vital, yet undervalued, components of a PC, and you need a decent one (don't just assume that the higher the wattage, the better - not all PSUs are the same) if you want to ensure overall system stability. Brands like Seasonic and Tagan are worth a look.

As for the X1300, well... unfortunately with gaming you get what you pay for. Don't get hung up on the number of MBs the card has - it's pretty meaningless at the lower end of the scale. My 256MB 7800GTX, for example, runs FEAR at 1280 x 1024 with little difficulty simply because its a pretty powerful card (albeit getting a bit long in the tooth now).

An ATI X1900XT or an nVidia 7900GT would be a good choice, given your requirements.

[Lord Midas]

You can get a nice nvidia 7900GT for under £180!!! that's a lot of bang for not much bucks.

I have a 7800GT and a Athlon 64 3200+ (o/c 2.5GHz) and it can run Oblivion absolutely fine (at 1280x800)! And the 7900GT is more powerful and cheaper than my card.

[mpaul0055]

Cheers for the replys guys.... :thumbsup:

Im sat infront of a Ati Radeon X1900 XT 512 gddr3 :) at the moment, just itching to get home....

Ill have a look at the PSU when i get back,

Damn another thing to spend money on.... The list just never enddddsssssss.....:rotfl:

[pRot3us]

Any other advise?? Should the x1300 perform as bad as it is, or is it a driver issue ???? Helllllp :)

Yes it really is crap,I have no idea why they gave it 512Mb of ram, its certainly not a gaming card.

will probably go for the Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3.
X1900XT, wise choice, it will blow you away :grin:

[mpaul0055]

Ha Ha i thought it Was....

Anyways Guys..... Ive got home clutching my X1900 Xt , god it felt like christmas :) Untill i cant find the appropriate power connection coming from the power supply :(

Its a Hiper with 400w Max.

Can i turn her on anyway. Dont want to go breaking it. Or do i need a new Power Supply ??

Any help would be great as there is gonna be tears soon .. lol

[pRot3us]

you need to have a pci-e power lead coming off your PSU to plug directly into the gfx card, otherwise forget it. You could try getting an adapter like this one : clicky (http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=LE-PSPCI-E&af=50)

Personally I'd get a compatible PSU though

Edit : If you have that lead but are concerned about power requirements try this PSU calculator (http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp), enter your system details and it'll give you you approximate power consumption needs.

[sunderland]

ive got the hiper but mine is the 580w but you should have a seperate 6 pin cable for your card with them psu

[mpaul0055]

Unfortunately it looks like i got a crap PSU :(

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?hyp-3s350&P=0

Looks like ill be buying a new one tommorrow.

Any advise on a decent one guys?

[pRot3us]

Make sure you go for a decent make, I've always gone for an Enermax, but other decent brands would include ; Tagan,Seasonic,Antec,Hiper

As you're upgrading go for at least 500w and don't expect a decent PSU to be cheap, I recently bought a Enermax Liberty 620W ATX2.2 Modular PSU, great unit but cost over £100

[mpaul0055]

Cheers PrOt3us

These few took my eye on Scan... its only a 45 min drive away so will pop down tommorrow to collect..

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=230450

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=228620

So which one do ya think guys.

Thanks for all the help... Would of been goin grey without you lot.:thumbsup:

[MikeKay1976]

Cheers PrOt3us

These few took my eye on Scan... its only a 45 min drive away so will pop down tommorrow to collect..

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=230450

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=228620

So which one do ya think guys.

Thanks for all the help... Would of been goin grey without you lot.:thumbsup:


i have the hiperpower one, great psu and a 10er cheaper.

that one gets my vote (mine was £42 but it isnt modular) other than that tho its the same as mine as its solid.

[pRot3us]

Either of those would do fine

I'd probably go for the Hiper as I like modular PSUs and it has the advantage of being cheaper, the only thing the Tagan really has over it is more connectors, but if you did need more connections in future you could just buy a few Y-adapters cables.

[mpaul0055]

Either of those would do fine

I'd probably go for the Hiper as I like modular PSUs and it has the advantage of being cheaper, the only thing the Tagan really has over it is more connectors, but if you did need more connections in future you could just buy a few Y-adapters cables.

Cheers pRot3us :thumbsup:

Probably a stupid question, but what is modular???

[fathazza]

Cheers pRot3us :thumbsup:

Probably a stupid question, but what is modular???

it means the cables arent hard wired into the psu...

so you only have the cables in your case that you need to use and is therefore a lot less messy.

[mpaul0055]

it means the cables arent hard wired into the psu...

so you only have the cables in your case that you need to use and is therefore a lot less messy.

That sounds much better. Cheers Guys

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: