Memory/Graphics Card Upgrade

Ok. I have finally decided to get this:

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1650 Pro 512MB AGP Graphics C1ard 12 Pixel Shader Processor TV-Out DVI-I Support AVIVO HDTV Ready Lite Retail - $97

and this:

Kingston ValueRAM PC3200 DDR400 512MB 184-pin DIMM - $33

or

Kingston ValueRAM PC3200 DDR400 1024MB 184-pin DIMM - $62

(will add to current PC2700 512 MB RAM) Which do you suggest? Is 1.5GB a noticable difference from 1GB? And will it be worth the extra $29?

Thanks.
 
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I would've gotten the 7600GS or the 2600 PRO for just 10 bucks more.....your choice I guess.
 
He's in Canada though, so the video card prices are probably higher.
 
He posted his available prices on page 1 though.

Actually the 2600 PRO was less than 10 bucks more.......what were you thinking???
 
Ok, If you guys say so, I might get the HD2600 Pro.

I found these:

ASUS EAH2600PRO/HTDI/256M (HDMI) ATI HD 2600 Pro Chipset (600Mhz) 256MB (1Ghz) DDR2 Dual DVI Display Graphics Card - $100

ASUS EAH2600PRO/HTDP/256M ATI HD 2600 Pro Chipset (600Mhz) 256MB (1Ghz) DDR2 Dual DVI Display Graphics Card - $99


What's the $1 difference between those two? And I was going towards the X1650 Pro because of it's 512MB RAM (will 256MB be enough to watch HD videos?) And what do you need 512MB for anyway (is it really an advantage over 256MB?)

Thanks.

Edit: Remember, my system can only take AGP cards and I cannot find an AGP HD2600 Pro.

And I also found these specs:

ATi Radeon X1650 Pro AGP

Manufacturer: ATi
Series: Radeon X1K
GPU: RV535 + Rialto
Release Date: 2006-09-15
Interface: AGP 8X
Core Clock: 600 MHz
Memory Clock: 700 MHz (1400 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 22.4 GB/sec
Shader Operations: 7200 Operations/sec
Pixel Fill Rate: 2400 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 2400 MTexels/sec
Vertex Operations: 750 MVertices/sec

ATi Radeon HD 2600 Pro AGP

Manufacturer: ATi
Series: Radeon HD 2k
GPU: RV630 + Rialto
Release Date: 2007-06-28
Interface: AGP 8X
Core Clock: 600 MHz
Shader Clock: 600 MHz
Memory Clock: 500 MHz (1000 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 16 GB/sec
Shader Operations: 72000 Operations/sec
Pixel Fill Rate: 2400 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 4800 MTexels/sec

And both the cards tested are 256MB and the X1650 Pro I wanna get is 512MB.
 
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Of course you should get it. It's a whole generation ahead of the X series of cards, and it's DX10 instead of DX9.

Like I said before: DON'T buy a card just because it has more video RAM. There are 256MB cards that will smoke 512MB cards. It's sort of a marketing gimmick and people automatically assume that the card with more video RAM is better, but you know what happens when you assume, don't you?

Yes, the amount of video RAM is important, but the actual performance of the GPU is much more important.

The $100 card you posted has HDMI output, the $99 card does not.

What about the one you posted on page 1?
Sapphire Radeon HD2600 Pro 512MB DDR2 AGP VGA DVI TV Out DIRECTX10 Video Card - $103.68 (Direct Canada)

I'd get that one if I were you. It's a 2600 PRO....and it has the 512MB RAM that you want.

But if you can't get that one, the other 2 that you just posted above would still be much better than the X1650. Even though they only have 256MB, they would still smoke the X1650.
 
In the US, you can get a 2600XT for $112, it's worth the money over the Pro (imo). If you can find similar prices in Canada, you might want to consider stepping up to the XT.
 
Ok another decision change. :?

I will probably get these:

Kingston ValueRAM PC2700 512MB DDR333 CL2.5 184PIN DIMM Memory - $28.47

Sapphire Radeon HD2600 Pro 512MB DDR2 AGP VGA DVI TV Out DIRECTX10 Video Card - $103.68


Is is a good deal? And the only HD2600XT cards I found were PCI-E and cost $130-$180.

And are you sure I should be getting the HD2600 now or should I wait till the 2650 comes out? And how does the HD2600 Pro compare to the X1800 or even the X800?

About the memory again; Should I get 512MB ($29) or 1024MB ($53) to add to the current 512MB?

BTW, I will be getting Kingston PC2700 DDR333 CL2.5 184-pin.

And according to my computer specs, will the new RAM and VGA fit in?

Thanks.
 
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The HD2600 Pro is definitely better than an X800. Now on the other hand, the X1800XT is a bit faster than the 2600 PRO or XT according to the fps benchmarks. Of course an X1950XT would be even better, but you already said that's out of your price range.

And yes that RAM will work fine with your motherboard.
 
Since this is a car-related forum, I have come up with a simply brilliant explanation to whoever is confused with the cards (I was.)

Let's say ATI=BMW. The current lineup (not complete) of cards go like this:

X1650 Pro/XT= BMW M3 (E46)
X1950 Pro/XT= BMW M5 (E60)
X2600 Pro/XT= BMW 335i (E92) - Faster than the E46 M3.
X2800/2900 Pro/XT= BMW M6 (E64) - Slightly faster than the E60 M5.

And the equivalent GeForce cards are like the Mercedes rivals for these cars.

7600GS/GT= Mercedes-Benz C55 AMG (W203) - Slightly faster than the E46 M3.
7900GS/GT= Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG (W211) - Very even with the E60 M5 (both have advantages/disadvantages)
8600GS/GT= Mercedes-Benz C350 (W204) - Pretty even with the 335i
8800 GT/GTS= Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG (C216) - Pretty even with the M6.

Isn't that brilliant??? :mrgreen:
 
except not

It's more like BMW and Porsche

X1650= Z4 2.5
x1950 pro=M3
x1950 XTX=Old M5
x2600 XT=Z4M
X2900 XT=M6

7600 GT= Boxster
7950 GT= 996 Carrera 4S
8600 GTS= 997 Carrera
8800 GTS 320= 997 Carrera S with sport chrono
8800 GT= GT3 RS
8800 GTX= GT2

By referring to ATI as BMW, you imply that it is inherently superior to Nvidia. As much as I like AMD, Nvidia is simply dominating the GPU market right now. Unless R790 is amazing, AMD's in trouble.
 
i know
 
As much as I like AMD, Nvidia is simply dominating the GPU market right now. Unless R790 is amazing, AMD's in trouble.

Yes. I know Nvidia makes better cards than ATI, but they are also more expensive. The only rival for the HD2600 Pro is the 8600 GTS. The 8600 is a better card, but it is more expensive. The only AGP Nvidia cards I found that were similar in price with the HD2600 Pro ($103) were:

ARCADE FX 5500 AGP NVIDIA DVI TV/S-VIDEO 256 MB - $93

NVIDIA GEFORCE 6200 AGP 256 MB DVI-I/VGA/S-VIDEO HDTV SUPPORT - $107

XFX GeForce 7600GT 580MHZ AGP 256MB DDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card - $130 (not really similar in price.)


I couldn't even find any AGP 8600's.

And do you think I should wait until the HD2650 comes out (how much to you reckon it will cost more than the 2600 Pro?).

About the RAM. What does the number of pins mean (the one I'm getting is 184-pin?).

Thanks.

Edit: I'm close to finalizing my decision.

Kingston ValueRAM PC2700 512MB DDR333 CL2.5 184PIN DIMM Memory - $28.47

and

Sapphire Radeon HD2600 Pro 512MB DDR2 AGP VGA DVI TV Out DIRECTX10 Video Card - $103.68


Total is $152.78 with shipping ($10), insurance ($1.98 ), and 6% tax.

If anyone can still give me some more suggestions, please do. I will probably be ordering at the end of next week.

Thanks.
 
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There are no 8000 series AGP cards yet. the bridge chip for the new chips hasn't been finalized yet. just go ahead and get the stuff
 
Your CPU is probably going to be the bottleneck after your video card upgrade. You might want to overclock your cpu a little bit, I'm not sure which model of CPU you P4 2.66ghz is, if it's a Prescott, you should be able to hit 3+ ghz easily, I overclocked a friend's 3.06ghz Prescott to 3.6ghz without much work. But you'll probably need to upgrade your heatsink though.
 
Since this is a car-related forum, I have come up with a simply brilliant explanation to whoever is confused with the cards (I was.)

Let's say ATI=BMW. The current lineup (not complete) of cards go like this:

X1650 Pro/XT= BMW M3 (E46)
X1950 Pro/XT= BMW M5 (E60)
X2600 Pro/XT= BMW 335i (E92) - Faster than the E46 M3.
X2800/2900 Pro/XT= BMW M6 (E64) - Slightly faster than the E60 M5.

And the equivalent GeForce cards are like the Mercedes rivals for these cars.

7600GS/GT= Mercedes-Benz C55 AMG (W203) - Slightly faster than the E46 M3.
7900GS/GT= Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG (W211) - Very even with the E60 M5 (both have advantages/disadvantages)
8600GS/GT= Mercedes-Benz C350 (W204) - Pretty even with the 335i
8800 GT/GTS= Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG (C216) - Pretty even with the M6.

Isn't that brilliant??? :mrgreen:

except not

It's more like BMW and Porsche

X1650= Z4 2.5
x1950 pro=M3
x1950 XTX=Old M5
x2600 XT=Z4M
X2900 XT=M6

7600 GT= Boxster
7950 GT= 996 Carrera 4S
8600 GTS= 997 Carrera
8800 GTS 320= 997 Carrera S with sport chrono
8800 GT= GT3 RS
8800 GTX= GT2

By referring to ATI as BMW, you imply that it is inherently superior to Nvidia. As much as I like AMD, Nvidia is simply dominating the GPU market right now. Unless R790 is amazing, AMD's in trouble.

LOL THAT (^) IS INGENIOUS! :lol:
 
Don't bother running your old stick in there. It'll just force your motherboard to clock down the rest of your RAM to a slower speed.

Sell it on eBay or stick it in another computer.
 
Don't bother running your old stick in there. It'll just force your motherboard to clock down the rest of your RAM to a slower speed.

Sell it on eBay or stick it in another computer.

As I mentioned earlier, his motherboard only supports running the RAM at 333 MHz anyway, so it's all going to run at that speed, regardless. He'd be getting rid of perfectly good RAM.
 
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