Sapphire X800 512MB

I got this custom computer built from ibuypower.com sometime in July. I ordered it with the Sapphire ATI X800 512MB PCI-E video card and I'm curious to hear someone else's opinion about the card itself. So far it has preformed decently on 1280x1024 game resolutions with high/ultra detail. Considering the price and how close it is to the high-end X850's, was this purchase worth the money? I also read in 2006, 512mb of RAM will be needed often. Should I keep the card or find something else? Not to mention.. the fan on the card is extremely aggravating from it's loudness

 

what did you pay for it? 512mb is overkill on an x800, because no matter how much ram you put on it, the x800's core isnt able to produce "uber" grahpics (to par with 7800 series and x1800 series). This is the same as putting 256mb on a 6200, useless.

 

On the website I ordered the PC from, it didn't give exact prices. Each componet would show how much more the device was then the device already listed (ex: Device 1 = $200, Device 2 = +$50 and so on). On most websites I've seen it from $350-$400, I'm supposing it was around $400... But besides that, I'm not sure how much I could sell this card for. Have a estimate?

 

Well unlike cars, pc parts maintain their stability and value alot longer, so you may want to try ebay or of sorts, but rest assured that the videocard wont be "junk" for a while, maybe 1year +. Its just that 512mb is Overkill on that core .

 

Well the computer was shipped built and ready to use... So none of the hardware came with the boxes you'd find in the stores. I'm sure one of the computer stores around here could have the static protected sleeves the cards come in, but I have the manual, driver cd, all cables, and the two games it came with. Also, If I do end up selling this card, what card would you suggest? I play first-person shooters such as Battlefield 2 and Half-Life 2 engine games.

 

7800GT 256mb is pretty much the "best" bang for buck, runs about 400$

 

"the fan on the card is extremely aggravating from it's loudness"

If you don't want to buy a new video card you might want to get one of these

Personally I think that card is more than enough for now, I would wait untill the next crop of video cards before upgrading.

 

Just out of curiousity, how well does the card perform with Battlefield 2?
I play regularly using a Geforce 6600GT all on medium settings and it runs ok, what is your card like?

 

Well the card is a great card, I may just be getting to picky. I actually checked one of those Silencer Fans out last night over the internet. I'm probably just gonna' keep this card 'till I get the money for somethin else at a later time.

 

The card actually plays pretty good on Battlefield 2. With the details and resolution maxed on the game, it plays around in the 60-80 FPS range. Here's my settings listed from the 3D settings in the monitor properties -

(Same for OpenGL and Direct3D):
SMOOTHVISION HD
Max. Resolution - 2048x1536
Anti-Aliasing - 4x
Anisotropic - 4x
Texture Preference - Performance
Mipmap Detail Level - High Quality
TRUFORM - App. Pref.

I've checked benchmarks on this card vs. 6800 GT's and the 256MB ATI X800.
The RAM on this card dosen't give any extra preformance over the regular x800 but in high resolutions like 1600x1200 it has a big gap difference in FPS in most games, but I can't figure out how to get any of my games to go past 1280x1024 Anyone got any suggestions?

 

Unless you have a higher resolution monitor, I wouldn't do it, that resolution is fine.

 

If those are in the dispay properties(right click desktop>settings>advanced) I think you could be tweaking your computer better. I would set them like so:

Anti-Aliasing - app pref
Anisotropic - app pref
Texture Preference - high Performance
Mipmap Detail Level - high performance
TRUFORM - App. Pref.
vsynv - default off
smartshader - no effect
AI - normal

Reason being that the games you play will override these settings because you set it at app pref. So setting AA @ 4x in the display properties is just wasting precious video card resources that could be devoted elsewhere.

 

Ah, thanks for that advice, I'll try that and see how it works. I'm not to experienced in tweakin' PC's lol