# ATI X550, X600pro or X1300?



## P4-630 (Jan 26, 2006)

Hello , I'm planning to upgrade from my X300 to another ATI card, a X550, X600pro or a X1300.
I would like to know your opinion.

Which of the 3 would you choose?
And why would you choose that model?

Thanks in advance


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## HisSvt2 (Jan 26, 2006)

id say the x1300 but if you can spend some extra get a x1600.

x1300 give you newer features and about the same speed and the other cards maybe a bit faster


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## wazzledoozle (Jan 26, 2006)

X1300

A cheap 6600GT would be best.


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## Pheonix_789 (Jan 26, 2006)

Well actually the Sapphire X1600xt 256MB card is a few dollars more than the X1600 Pro ($210 Canadian) and is a pretty good card considering its specs can match a higher end card.Iam sure it will out perform an 6600 GT. I would go with a mainstream card since the X550 X600 and X1300 cards wont perform as a nice as the Sapphire X1600 xt on newer games such as FEAR or Quake 4. The 6800 GS is also a nice card but is a little more expensive than X1600 xt.

Sapphire X1600xt specs
590 Mhz Core
1.38Ghz Memory
12 Pixel Pipelines
256MB DDR3

For the Price this card is a really good deal!!!!


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## HisSvt2 (Jan 26, 2006)

Yep for the money the X1600Xt is a great deal i bought stuff from ewiz.com and they have the card for $159.00US


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## P4-630 (Jan 27, 2006)

Thanks guys, yesterday I've been to the local pc hardware shop and they had an Spark X700 





(as http://www.unlimitpc.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=414) but then the memory speed at 825MHz for a price of 122usd.

And then there was a Powercolor X1300




http://www.powercolor.com/global/main_product_detail.asp?id=87
Price 114usd.

Now if I compare the specs of those 2 cards above, then the Spark X700 would be the most attractive.

And yes, an X1600 is ofcourse a nice card, so is the price tag..
I want to buy a card under 128usd.

About nvidia, I never had an nvidia before, and what are the biggest differences/advantages between comparable ati and nvidia cards?


Your thoughts?
Thanks again.


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## P4-630 (Jan 27, 2006)

*X550xt...*

And what about the Spark ATI 550XT?





Chipset :ATI Radeon X550XT
Core Clock : 400 MHz
Memory Clock : 900 MHz
Memory Type : 128 MB GDDR3
Memory Interface : 128 bit
RAMDAC : 400 MHz
Bus Type: PCI-Express 16x

http://www.microware.co.th/detail.php?gp_code=2&id=83

Price tag 106usd

If I compare the specs, the Spark X550XT should outperform the X700 and the X1300!?


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## HisSvt2 (Jan 27, 2006)

P4-630 said:
			
		

> And what about the Spark ATI 550XT?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



are you high? the x550 wouldnt be netter than a x700 or the x1300  man i would just get the x1300 newer tech not a bad card if not just spend the extra few buck and at least get a x1600pro


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## wazzledoozle (Jan 27, 2006)

P4-630 said:
			
		

> And what about the Spark ATI 550XT?
> 
> 
> Chipset :ATI Radeon X550XT
> ...


Dude, the X550 (Just a 9600 chip with a PCI-E adapter) is ancient technology. It also costs more than a X1300Pro.

Look up any review of the X1300Pro, its more comparable to the 6600/X700.
X1300 Pro 256 MB GDDR2- 104 $US
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102640


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## Pheonix_789 (Jan 27, 2006)

wazzledoozle said:
			
		

> Dude, the X550 (Just a 9600 chip with a PCI-E adapter) is ancient technology. It also costs more than a X1300Pro.
> 
> Look up any review of the X1300Pro, its more comparable to the 6600/X700.
> X1300 Pro 256 MB GDDR2- 104 $US
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102640




ahhhhh look at specs X700 and X1300 are way slower! The (x550xt) is way faster!the 9600 never had 900mhz memory and never had GDDR3 memory


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## P4-630 (Jan 27, 2006)

Spark ATI Radeon X550XT 128MB. GDDR3 TV-OUT/DVI 








http://www.microware.co.th/detail.php?gp_code=12&id=100
Chipset :ATI Radeon X550XT
Core Clock : 400 MHz
Memory Clock : 900 MHz
Memory Type : 128 MB GDDR3
Memory Interface : 128 bit
RAMDAC : 400 MHz
Bus Type: PCI-Express 16x

Benchmark results:
http://www.overclockzone.com/Adel/10-05/Spark%20X550/index3.htm
 

Also see the:
Spark ATI Radeon X550XT 256MB. GDDR2 TV-OUT/DVI 




http://www.microware.co.th/detail.php?gp_code=12&id=101
Chipset :ATI Radeon X550XT
Core Clock : 400 MHz
Memory Clock : 600 MHz
Memory Type : 256 MB GDDR2
Memory Interface : 64 bit
RAMDAC : 400 MHz
Bus Type: PCI-Express 16x

Benchmark results:
http://www.overclockzone.com/spin9/review/vga/spark/x550/index3.html


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## KlaasH (Jan 27, 2006)

Before we all start yelling we need to know what the topicstarter wants to do with his computer.

The Core&Memory speeds aren't the only important thing. Also look at the number of pixel&vertex pipelines. And at the memorybandwith (64bits, 128bits, 256bits).

If you want a card for some gaming I suggest you take a card with minimal;
-8 pixel pipes
-128MB (128-bit) memory
-400MHz core 400MHz mem

(like the ATI x700 or nVidia 6600)


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## P4-630 (Jan 27, 2006)

The X550XT I'm talking about has 4 pipelines and 6 vertex shaders + it has superfast samsung DDR3 memory.

Core Clock : 400 MHz
Memory Clock : 900 MHz
Memory Type : 128 MB GDDR3

Can you find a better card for under the 90usd?


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## HisSvt2 (Jan 27, 2006)

P4-630 said:
			
		

> The X550XT I'm talking about has 4 pipelines and 6 vertex shaders + it has superfast samsung DDR3 memory.
> 
> Core Clock : 400 MHz
> Memory Clock : 900 MHz
> ...


 spend the extra 20 bucks and get this at least what's 20 bucks its barely over 100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102667#DetailSpecs


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## Pheonix_789 (Jan 27, 2006)

KlaasH said:
			
		

> Before we all start yelling we need to know what the topicstarter wants to do with his computer.
> 
> The Core&Memory speeds aren't the only important thing. Also look at the number of pixel&vertex pipelines. And at the memorybandwith (64bits, 128bits, 256bits).
> 
> ...




ah.......those specs will even lag in new game such as FEAR maybe these are a bit better to game with! 


-12 to 24 pixel pipelines
-256mb to 512mb (256-bit)
-450 to 600 mhz core
-500to 700hz mem(1Ghz to 1.4Ghz)


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## wazzledoozle (Jan 28, 2006)

P4-630 said:
			
		

> The X550XT I'm talking about has 4 pipelines and 6 vertex shaders + it has superfast samsung DDR3 memory.
> 
> Core Clock : 400 MHz
> Memory Clock : 900 MHz
> ...


A 6600 PCI-E

The X550 is just a 9600 ported to PCI-E.


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## Pheonix_789 (Jan 28, 2006)

wazzledoozle said:
			
		

> A 6600 PCI-E
> 
> The X550 is just a 9600 ported to PCI-E.




ahhh 9600 never had GDDR3?


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## KennyT772 (Jan 28, 2006)

no no no its ddr. hecka slow.


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## KlaasH (Jan 30, 2006)

Pheonix_789 said:
			
		

> ah.......those specs will even lag in new game such as FEAR maybe these are a bit better to game with!
> 
> 
> -12 to 24 pixel pipelines
> ...



I agree but those specs won't fit in his budget.
My specs do fit and will allow quite some gaming performance.
And that X550 would be a very bad choice.

See the last 2 or 3 pages of this test.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005.html


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## P4-630 (Feb 3, 2006)

*X1600pro*

I just bought a new videocard today, I had to choose between a sapphire X1600 256mb ddr2 or a spark X1600 pro 128mb ddr3, I bought the spark, core 575mhz and memory 1ghz, 12 pipelines.http://www.mwthai.com/index.php?lay=show&ac=article&Id=260285&Ntype=1
I could not find the mem and core speed specs for the sapphire and I bought the Spark because of the ddr3 memory.. Ok, I've installed the spark(upgraded from X300 256mb) and the first thing I've noticed was that the fan is quite noisy, and spinning at full speed all the time, actually pretty anoyinjg, since my pc was always incredibly quiet, with only a foxconn fan on the P4 630 cpu which is incredibly quiet.Now I wanted to check the specs with Everest home edition and the fields under GPU is empty!! No information at all  Only under "windows video" I can see:


Field	Value
Video Adapter Properties	
Device Description	Radeon X1600 Series Secondary
Adapter String	Radeon X1600 Series
BIOS String	X1600P-500-575.73P
Chip Type	ATI display adapter Secondary (0x71E2)
DAC Type	Internal DAC(400MHz)
Installed Drivers	ati2dvag (6.14.10.6583)
Memory Size	128 MB

Video Adapter Manufacturer	
Company Name	ATI Technologies Inc.
Product Information	http://www.ati.com/products/gamer.html
Driver Download	http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html


And under PCI/VGA it says:
Device Description	Device Type
ATI RV530 Pro	Video Adapter
ATI RV530 Pro	3D Accelerator

I cannot read any information about the bandwitdh, pipelines, shaders and other info.


FarCry test, I expected to play farcry at 1280 x 1024 at "very high" video settings, but I'm a little dissapointed  Because it still has a too low frame rate.

Could this be the 128mb gddr3 memory?

Would the Sapphire X1600 256mb ddr2 perform better?
http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/products/graphics_specifications.php?gpid=133
Who can find the mem and core speed from this card?
How noisy is an Sapphire x1600 ?

Should I keep the spark? Or should I trade for a sapphire X1600?



Atitool says under default profile 0.00/0.00  , no core and memory speeds


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## KlaasH (Feb 3, 2006)

Hi,

I'd go for the Sapphire, Spark looks like a very, very El Cheapo brand to me.
For this card 256MB is better I think.

And the Sapphire will probably be more quiet due to better cooling, compare the pics: 
Spark:
http://www.microware.co.th/x1600pro/x1600pro_b.jpg
Sapphire:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/productfiles/133image3.jpg


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## P4-630 (Feb 4, 2006)

*satisfied*

Today I had my last dilemma, 

I got my money back from returning the Spark X1600pro.. 

But now..
I had to choose between...

Powercolor X800gto 128mb gddr1 *256-bit* (mem 700 core 400)..

XFX Geforce 6600GT 128mb ddr3, 128-bit (mem 1100, core 510).

Sapphire Radeon X1600 256mb ddr2, 128-bit (mem 400, core 500).


Well....I have chosen for the Sapphire Radeon X1600 

But I tought it would have 800mhz memory but I see that the mem is 400mhz.. 

Anyway, It works great, it is VERY quiet, do'n hear the fan(yet) and I'm very satisfied with it.
Sapphire  

This card performs much better then the Spark X1600 pro with 128mb ddr3 (core 575 ,mem 1000) 

So the 128mb extra video memory does the trick?
And the brand/chips used perhaps?

All you guys,

 
on Sapphire


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## Clocked (Feb 4, 2006)

The X1600 would be th way to go.


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