Sapphire X1950 Pro Ultimate

mattcoz · Post by **mattcoz** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 5:03 pm

I've been waiting for this to get back in stock at Newegg, but now it's not even listed on the site anymore. Does anyone know of a place that has it?

Lazarus · Post by **Lazarus** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:59 pm

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... ode=326859

In stock and free shipping.

mattcoz · Post by **mattcoz** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:12 pm

Just came back in stock at newegg.

Here's my dilemma though, do I get this card for $210 or do I get the X1900XT for $215(there's a $15 rebate, but I hate rebates)? I really like that the Ultimate already comes with the Zalman 900. The X1900XT uses a lot more power and I'll have to buy a new cooler to keep it quiet, which will push the price up. On top of this decision is the fact that I will probably want to upgrade to a DX10 card later this year.

Anodyne · Post by **Anodyne** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 4:18 pm

How about this Gigabyte one instead?

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6814125052

It also has a Zalman cooler pre-installed, but it's cheaper than the Sapphire.

Modmaven · Post by **Modmaven** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:32 am

Here is a nice article on the X1950Pro Ultimate...

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/15/ ... t-further/

It seems to trade blows with the 7950GT. 7950GT may be a better option, since you can get one completely passive.

mattcoz · Post by **mattcoz** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:45 am

I ordered the X1950 Pro Ultimate, thanks for the opinions. As for the 7950GT, it definitely is nice that I could get it passive, but at $300 it is out of my current price range.

SebRad · Post by **SebRad** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:06 am

Hi, I'm looking to upgrade soon and am looking at that X1950pro as video card of choice, possibly HIS IceQ3 model. I also looked hard at X1900XT 256MB as it's not that much more money, Â£170 vs Â£140 for basic 256MB cards. The performance may be significantly higher as has higher GPU clock, 48 vs 36 pixel something or others and 1800 vs 1400MHz RAM. I think mattcoz has made the right choice as, as far as I can tell, the 1950pro is built on 80nm process vs the 90nm of the 1950XT as well as having lower clocks and (presumably) less complicated chip. Xbit suggest 65w for the 1950pro vs ~100w for the X1900XT (I guess the higher clocked X1950XT is similar or worse!), that 50% more is pretty significant from a quiet cooling perspective! The Nvidia 7950GT has similar performance and (according to xbit) 60w power so it maybe better bet still. Overall I think it wouldn't make much difference either way so just go with your preferred chip/card maker.
Regards, Seb

mattcoz · Post by **mattcoz** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:11 am

SebRad wrote:I also looked hard at X1900XT 256MB as it's not that much more money, Â£170 vs Â£140 for basic 256MB cards. The performance may be significantly higher as has higher GPU clock, 48 vs 36 pixel something or others and 1800 vs 1400MHz RAM.

That's not right. The X1900XT has a memory clock of 1450MHz, the X1950Pro Ultimate has a memory clock of 1600MHz.

SebRad · Post by **SebRad** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 4:09 pm

Hi, sorry getting confused amongst all the ATI card numbers

I meant comparing the X1950pro with the X1950XT

According to the specs on Overclockers looks to me like the X1950pro has stock speeds of 580MHz core & 1400MHz RAM, with some being overclocked a bit and the highest at 680/1620. The Sapphire one does indeed have 1600MHz RAM and the only X1900XT (256MB) I found had, also as you correctly said, 625/1450 core/memory clocks
The X1950XT 256MB looks to heave specs of 625/1800 core/mem.
It looks like all the X1900s are being fazed out, there are few left in the big eTailors I looked at, and replaced by X1950s, which should make things simpler.
Again apologies for further confusing an already complicated situation

Regards, Seb

mattcoz · Post by **mattcoz** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:04 am

Hopefully they go with something a little less confusing for the R600 series. :p