X800XL: Still best value card? How long life?

DUFFLover · 07-11-2005, 05:58 AM

I am very close to buying a GeCube X800XL and I'd just like to whether the X800XL is still has the best price/performance ratio?
I know all graphics cards go obselete but the GeForce 7800 and future ATI R520 (X900?) have been a bigger jump than I thought.
How long would an X800XL last for reasonable gaming?

New cards also cause a price drop (well, they *should* eventually) but it takes forever for the effects to reach Australia, and even then, the next card up from an X800XL is an X850 which is way out of my budget and would need a massive unrealistic price cut so right now I'm against waiting. Any advice to counter?

**UncleMacro** · 07-12-2005, 02:20 AM

Sometimes the best mid-range deal is the X800XL and other times it's the 6800GT. It depends on the pricing in your area. In the land of www.newegg.com (the US), for PCI-Express the X800XL is a slightly better deal. For AGP, the 6800GT is a somewhat better deal. It's certainly better to pay US$300 for a 16 pipe card like a 6800GT or X800XL than to pay US$600 for a 24 pipe card like the 7800GTX.

Quote:

How long would an X800XL last for reasonable gaming?

My two year old Radeon 9700 Pro still plods along properly in new games as long as I don't increase the resolution too much. If you have at least an 8 pixel pipe DirectX 9 card, then you can expect it to play games reasonably well as long as you drop the resolution a bit. I would expect the same sort of lifespan for 16 pipe cards. All they're adding to new cards at this point is more pipes. Ever since DirectX 9 the shaders have become fully programmable so it's just a matter of adding more capacity to newer cards rather than adding new functionality. It used to be that each new generation added features that the old cards couldn't run at all but that's not really the case anymore. Someday you'd probably have to drop the resolution some to keep up but that's not that big a problem. Ever since programmable shaders came along (DirectX 9), functional obsolescence isn't as much of a problem as long as you're willing to compromise on the number of pixels/vertices being displayed. And even if NVIDIA or ATI come up with some amazing new shader function which the older cards can't do, it doesn't really matter as much because the older SM2.0 shaders are still sufficiently functional that they can do just about anything if you go to the effort to write the code.

DUFFLover · 07-12-2005, 07:52 AM

Wow! Thanks for all the info, especially the stuff about newer graphics cards. It's given me real confidence that it'll last (assuming it doesn't break

). I have looked at the 6800GT but overall I have decided on the X800XL. SM3.0 would probably provide slightly more "future-proofing" but I can't afford that little bit extra and ever since the X800's came out I've had a short-term goal/dream (yeh I know, sounds cheesy) of running the ATI Ruby Doublecross demo.
Hmm, my money seems to be overdue in its arrival...

Thanks again

**keymaker** · 07-12-2005, 06:52 PM

the ATI X800XL is a really great videocard for the bang of the buck and i recommend you get it. its on par with the 6800GT and the x800XL is cheaper than the 6800GT.

even though the new geforce 7800 videocards are out, the X800XL will handle current games and even future ones for about hmmm.....1 1/2yrs or probably more.

fredchang · 07-13-2005, 10:05 AM

DUFFLover:

The X800XL definitely has the best value. In high-detail games like Doom 3, it has better performance than a 6800GT.

07-11-2005, 05:58 AM	#1 (permalink)
DUFFLover Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Australia Posts: 18 OS: Windows XP	X800XL: Still best value card? How long life? I am very close to buying a GeCube X800XL and I'd just like to whether the X800XL is still has the best price/performance ratio? I know all graphics cards go obselete but the GeForce 7800 and future ATI R520 (X900?) have been a bigger jump than I thought. How long would an X800XL last for reasonable gaming? New cards also cause a price drop (well, they should eventually) but it takes forever for the effects to reach Australia, and even then, the next card up from an X800XL is an X850 which is way out of my budget and would need a massive unrealistic price cut so right now I'm against waiting. Any advice to counter? __________________ "Duffman, could you bring in two bottles of smooth, untainted DUFF?" "Oh Yeah!"

07-12-2005, 07:52 AM	#3 (permalink)
DUFFLover Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Australia Posts: 18 OS: Windows XP	Wow! Thanks for all the info, especially the stuff about newer graphics cards. It's given me real confidence that it'll last (assuming it doesn't break ). I have looked at the 6800GT but overall I have decided on the X800XL. SM3.0 would probably provide slightly more "future-proofing" but I can't afford that little bit extra and ever since the X800's came out I've had a short-term goal/dream (yeh I know, sounds cheesy) of running the ATI Ruby Doublecross demo. Hmm, my money seems to be overdue in its arrival... Thanks again __________________ "Duffman, could you bring in two bottles of smooth, untainted DUFF?" "Oh Yeah!" Last edited by DUFFLover; 07-12-2005 at 07:55 AM.

07-12-2005, 06:52 PM	#4 (permalink)
keymaker Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 1,154 OS: windows xp	the ATI X800XL is a really great videocard for the bang of the buck and i recommend you get it. its on par with the 6800GT and the x800XL is cheaper than the 6800GT. even though the new geforce 7800 videocards are out, the X800XL will handle current games and even future ones for about hmmm.....1 1/2yrs or probably more.

07-13-2005, 10:05 AM	#5 (permalink)
fredchang Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Cleveland OH Posts: 13 OS: Win2000Pro	DUFFLover: The X800XL definitely has the best value. In high-detail games like Doom 3, it has better performance than a 6800GT.