X850 XT or 780GT OC

[Pulsar]

Hi guys.

I am looking to upgrade my PC, and am trying to choose between these two graphics cards. I have read reviews with benchmarks showing the Geforce ahead of the Radeon in most games, but none of the benchmarks were on games using the Source engine. From what I understand, the Radeon's are fairly quick with this engine and the X850 could out perform the 7800GT. Do any of you guys know which is quicker for this game engine? Also, if you have any other general comments to make about these two cards then please fire away.

On a totally different question, I have a 1 year old PSu that doesn't have and PCI-e power connections on it. Can I buy and kind of adapter, or is a new PSU required?

Cheers

Rob

 

[Darko]

I just got the BFG 7800GT OC after reading countless reviews comparing the 2 .The way I see it its newer technology .

Also the BFG card comes with a pci x adaptor.

Cheers Darko

 

[Adderson]

IMHO
I brought a 850 installed it, had nothing but problems with it for 3 months so I sold it & bought a 7800GT installed it & it worked perfectly since.
Looks & feels great.
go for the 7800

 

[james.miller]

x800gto2. £150 and fast as hell. best bang for buck since the 9700's

 

[InsertNameHere]

Between the two I would go for the 7800GT (not overclocked). Seen them for as low as £235 (including a BFG card on offer, which incidently was overclocked). It will be the better card in the long run.

However, about your PSU I've seen adapters for sale so you can get them but if you aren't using one now, it suggests that your old card is AGP which in turn suggests your motherboard is AGP too. If that's the case then a PCI-E card obviously wouldn't be compatible. I mention this because when you say upgrade, I don't kow whether you meant just your card or your motherboard, CPU and memory as well. If you meant the latter then you can ignore what I've said (in this paragraph anyway ).

 

[Pulsar]

I just got the BFG 7800GT OC after reading countless reviews comparing the 2 .The way I see it its newer technology .

Also the BFG card comes with a pci x adaptor.

Cheers Darko

Hi Darko,

Thanks for the info. So you are saying that the BFG card comes with a PCI-e power adaptor? Does it take a standard 4 pin molex input? How loud is the fan oin your 7800GT?

Cheers

Rob

 

[Pulsar]

x800gto2. £150 and fast as hell. best bang for buck since the 9700's

James,

The x800GTO2 is actually what I mean when I say X850 as from what I have read on OcUK they are almost guaranteed to overclock to X850 speeds/pipes. I read on there that you have yours, are you enjoying it?

Adderson,

Thanks for your view. I guess we all have similar experiences with different hardware. I have had Radeons for 3 years+ and no real problems at all.

Rob

 

[Pulsar]

InsertNameHere,

You are right, I am currently using a AGP board/card combo, and are therefore looking to do a complete upgrade. My plan is to from:

MSI K8N Neo skt 754
Athlon 64 3000+
1GB PC4000 Ballistix RAM
Radeon 9700 Pro (Have had a x800 XT up until 4 months ago)

to something like:

Gigabyte K8N SLi nForce4 SLi
Athlon 64 3500+
1GB PC4000 Ballistix RAM
GeForce 7800GT or X850

I currently use a Tagen 480 watt PSU which I am very happy with and don't wish to change unless I have to. I keep reading that I need a ATX 2.0 PSU, does this just mean one with the larger motherboard connector? I know my Tagen currently uses an adaptor to connect to my current ATX motherboard, so I assume that the standard connector is ATX 2.0. Am I right?

Cheers

Rob

 

[james.miller]

James,

The x800GTO2 is actually what I mean when I say X850 as from what I have read on OcUK they are almost guaranteed to overclock to X850 speeds/pipes. I read on there that you have yours, are you enjoying it?

Adderson,

Thanks for your view. I guess we all have similar experiences with different hardware. I have had Radeons for 3 years+ and no real problems at all.

Rob

you could say that yeah i'm loving the card mate. absolutely faultless and everything looks so smooth and detailed now. A very worthy upgrade from my 9700pro

 

[Darko]

Yes mate it has a pci to molex adaptor and it is a sweet card, I got it from overclockers for 233 i think and I am running it on a Abit AN8 Fatal1ty mobo which is also sweet .....Bud **** it get them both I still tingle when I turn this beast on..


Cheers Darko

 

[Knyght_byte]

if you going for PCI-E then best to get the 7800GT OC, the BFG darko has is only £211 now.....and as you getting an SLI mobo, save up some money and you can SLI the 7800GT later on to get more oomph.........

however with that in mind, it might be worth investing in a truly decent PSU around 550watts, a nice heavy duty one to make sure....lol

if you want some good benchmarks over various games on the various current gen cards, goto www.anandtech.com its a very good tech forum i go to, USA based, they fairly thorough and quite fair in there write ups, they dont pander too much to any particular company....

 

[AML]

Lets not forget the new 1800 series by ATi. These cards compete directly against the 7800 series. Even so, HardOCP said that the 7800 cards are the best considering prices and availability.

Theres also a new water cooled 7800GT by BFG.

Go over to the HardOCP site to have a look at comparisons of the new cards and go to the BFG site to see the water cooled card.

 

[Pulsar]

Hi guys,

I am going for the 7800 GT and a SLI motherboard, so I MAY look to go for a second 7800 GT in the future if it is required.

Thanks for the help.

Rob

 

[Darko]

Go for the Abit Fatal1ty AN8 sli MOBO I cant vouch that the card and board work well together and it comes with tons of overclocking tools and even a digital display for your tower

I love my new PC it makes my house electrics flux woop woop


Darko

 

[InsertNameHere]

I currently use a Tagen 480 watt PSU which I am very happy with and don't wish to change unless I have to. I keep reading that I need a ATX 2.0 PSU, does this just mean one with the larger motherboard connector? I know my Tagen currently uses an adaptor to connect to my current ATX motherboard, so I assume that the standard connector is ATX 2.0. Am I right?

Sorry for the late reply.

From what I know ATX V2.0 replaces the 20 pin connector with a 24 pin connector to help supply power to PCI-E graphics cards. It also includes two independent 12v rails to help provide stable power to the CPU and other components. If you have a 20 pin motherboard, an adapter (usually packaged with the PSU) can be used to convert from 24 pin to 20 pin. However, for a 24 pin motherboard, I doubt you can get an adapter to convert from 20 pin to 24 pin, so a new PSU *may* be required.

I don't know if anyone else has any more info on this...

 

[Pulsar]

Hi,

Having looked at my Tagen, it has a 24 pin connector as standard, and I am using an adaptor for my 20 pin motherboard so I should be fine. I am not so sure about the separate 12v rails though. I do know that the Tagen is a quality PSu, and has never let me down yet.

I shall confirm compatability once the motherboard, CPU and graphics card arrives.

Cheers

Rob

 

[pragmatic]

I have a mobo with a 24pin power connector and also a seperate 4 pin connector too, my power supply comes with a 20pin and a 4 pin connectors. I have to connect the 20 pin into the 24 pin connectors, and the 4 pin into the 4pin on the motherboard. This works, i tried to connect the 20+4pins into the 24pin and leave the 4pin empty but the motherboard was having non of it.