Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 2900 Pro $159.99 @ newegg

[Zhonginator]

great deal considering that this card cost around $250 when it first came out...plus it's faster than the HD 3850 which costs around the same and if u OC it u can get it to run at 3870 speeds!

Also there's a $15 rebate to get it to down to $144.99, AND free 3-day shipping!

if anyone else thinks this is a good (or not so good) deal...please post


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102717&Tpk=14-102-717

[toddm27]

that's the 256 bit version, you'd be much better off getting the one without the rebate as it's a 512 bit version for 159.99 as well ;)

[CptFalcon]

great deal considering that this card cost around $250 when it first came out...plus it's faster than the HD 3850 which costs around the same and if u OC it u can get it to run at 3870 speeds!

Also there's a $15 rebate to get it to down to $144.99, AND free 3-day shipping!

if anyone else thinks this is a good (or not so good) deal...please post


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102717&Tpk=14-102-717

Thing is though, this thing uses more than twice the energy of the 3800 series. I do like my 3850 better.

[pxc]

that's the 256 bit version, you'd be much better off getting the one without the rebate as it's a 512 bit version for 159.99 as well ;)link http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102706

Are these standard clocked 600MHz core/800MHz (1600MHz) memory cards?

[Oh4Sh0]

These are, and they are power hungry. But remember, they can oc well past stock 2900xt speeds. Mine's happily ran at 825/870 since I purchased it about 2 and a half months ago or so.
Granted mine cost $279 then =( The only reason I don't get another for xfire is power consumption (requirement obviously of 4 6pin connectors) and id need a new mobo

[Oh4Sh0]

nm someone already posted the 256-bit vers

[nirvana4all]

they are powerhungry, but also cant you flash the 2900 pro 512MB 512 bit version to be an XT?

[Ogilvy]

"The HD 2900 Pro is too power hungry"


Translation: I already dropped 200-250 bucks on my HD 3850 / 3870 and i'm trying to save face.



I just picked up the 512 MB 512-bit version for 160, it's the best video card I ever bought for that little cash. I've NEVER been this pleased with a video card before.

I got the memory running at 2200 MHZ and the core at 850. Can't tell the difference btw this card and the 8800 GT or the HD 3870, both of which I've owned and tested.

[CptFalcon]

Then give the averages for the Crysis benchmark on High and at 1024x768 for both the 3870 and the 2900pro.

[garry26]

Like my sig says... Im not very pc savvy so bare with me.

Question: When you say its 'power hungry' what do you mean exactly?

Do you mean my electric bill will suffer or what?

[Ogilvy]

Then give the averages for the Crysis benchmark on High and at 1024x768 for both the 3870 and the 2900pro.

As per the thread below, I don't have an HD 3870 anymore.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1251758

I just did a quick benchmark with my system specs below and I get 40 FPS. avg on all HIGH at 1024 x 768. When I had an 8800 GT, I got about 40 FPS on all HIGH at 1440 x900.

In actual game play, those benchmarks mean very little. I couldn't play Crysis comfortably on all HIGH anyway with an 8800 GT...at least not what I consider to be comfortable. Many seem to be satisfied with a 20-30 FPS avg. during firefights.


Having used both, I can say that there is NO difference btw the two (with the exception of artifacts w/3870), and I would say the that HD 2900 Pro is a bit faster when OC'd beyond XT specs, which it does quite easily...


On a side note, I was so pleased to finally settle on a video card that I liked, I bought Portal off Steam.


Man....what a great game. :)

It was like icing on the " cake " .....

[maverick212]

What PSU are you using with the 2900, Ogilvy?

[Ogilvy]

Like my sig says... Im not very pc savvy so bare with me.

Question: When you say its 'power hungry' what do you mean exactly?

Do you mean my electric bill will suffer or what?



I think the issue with power consumption is that everyone has multiple HDs and DVD-Rom and sound cards, etc. You might have stability issues if you have a weak power supply.

I just bought a highly-rated Corsair 550W and I only have one DVD drive, one HD & no PCI sound card, so an HD 2900 Pro does quite well in my system.


How much more electricity will you consume? I'd like to see someone put a dollar amount on the disparity...

[sonicwind]

If you talk about the 2900 overclocking then don't you have to talk about the 3870 overclocking as well? you can't just say one overclocks and not even mention the other. And what 8800 were you using? 256 or 512, it makes a difference.

[Ogilvy]

If you talk about the 2900 overclocking then don't you have to talk about the 3870 overclocking as well? you can't just say one overclocks and not even mention the other. And what 8800 were you using? 256 or 512, it makes a difference.



I wouldn't buy an 8800 GT 256.... especially with this puppy on sale for 160 at New Egg. I had 5 8800 GTs 512 MB and I didn't like any of them. ( I sold them all on ebay.) Sure they were tad better than this HD 2900, but I really don't like nVidia's drivers.

I OC'd the HD 3870 and you don't get too much out of it. There's not a lot of headroom regardless of the BIOS lock.

I know people have voltmodded and unlocked the BIOS on the 3870 and gotten crazy 3dMark scores. But those guys never give their crysis benchmarks because they know they don't get much of an improvement over stock speeds.

[dandragonrage]

piece of s*** card, I got a piece of s*** card~

[garry26]

I think the issue with power consumption is that everyone has multiple HDs and DVD-Rom and sound cards, etc. You might have stability issues if you have a weak power supply.

I just bought a highly-rated Corsair 550W and I only have one DVD drive, one HD & no PCI sound card, so an HD 2900 Pro does quite well in my system.


How much more electricity will you consume? I'd like to see someone put a dollar amount on the disparity...

I wanted to make sure they meant 'power consumption' and not some other computer lingo. I didnt think it really did use up a lot of electric.

I would probably have 2 HDs, a combo DVD, the integrated soundcard thats in the motherboard, MB sticks, and my CPU.... I heard I had to have a good powersupply so Id get one, plus fans I suppose.

[inotocracy]

Thinking about grabbing one... trying to find benchmarks that compare this to the 3850/80 or 8800GT, anyone have a link?

[inotocracy]

Wouldn't this one be better since its 512bit?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102706

[Zhonginator]

hmmm...thats weird...i thought all hd 2900 pro's were 512-bit...isnt the 2900 pro and xt 512 bit and the 2900 gt 256 bit?

[nirvana4all]

Sure they were tad better than this HD 2900, but I really don't like nVidia's drivers.

.

get the omega drivers. I just got them and they are so much nicer.

http://www.omegadrivers.net/about.php

[inotocracy]

Was reading the reviews on the 512bit version and came across this gem:


Pros: its red

Cons: first of all i cant even find holes to put this graphic card in and second when i finaly cut a peice of the thing off and fit it in,it blew up and cought of fine

[Oh4Sh0]

lmfao.

[DigitalXaos]

Was reading the reviews on the 512bit version and came across this gem:

I hate it when my computer used to catch on fine... that's why I d/led the nosmoke.exe patch! :D

[maverick212]

Haha newegg needs a system to get rid of truly retarded comments and the users subsequent bad rating that pull the overall egg rating down.

[Ogilvy]

get the omega drivers. I just got them and they are so much nicer.

http://www.omegadrivers.net/about.php

I tried the Omega Drivers right before I sold my last 8800 GT.

Didn't make a lick of difference in anything.


I think people assume they are better, so they obviously must be, right?

That guy built a reputation on circular logic alone. No omega driver I've ever tried in the last 4 years was any better than the regular driver....

In the search for that last pixel of power one can possibly squeeze out of one's system, people just think they're better.

[nirvana4all]

over on EOC board people are in the middle of benching their systems w/ the omega's and with the regular, and so far there is a small difference ( I think 4%), but for free, 4% is nice!
Let me see if I can find them and link ya to it.

[nirvana4all]

so far:
Razorback
Extreme Overclocker
Senior Member


Posts: 981
Last Seen: Today
Age: 25
From: Gahanna, OH, USA
iTrader: 0 / 0%
Omega Drivers Released - 169.21

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.omegadrivers.net/nvidia_winxp.php

His first NVidia release in quite some time. Already installed and was able to finally play through the ending of Crysis without a crash...
__________________
Asrock 939DUAL-SATA2
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Toledo @ 2.81GHz (Watercooled, voltage option limited)
Dual Channel - G.Skill 1GBx2 PC3200
Foxconn 8800 GTX/768MB
- Core: 575.00MHz
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and

reverandmaynard
reverse fanboy

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just ran 06 with these. performance is on par with the nvidia drivers, but I did notice that the image quality was improved...which is pretty much omega's philosophy when tweaking drivers anyway. Crysis, COD4 and HL2:E2 tests coming up.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=4426078
__________________
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Crucial Ballistix Tracer 8500
1080mhz 15/5/5/5 2.2v
Silverstone ST85ZF
Swiftech H20-220 Ulra Apex w/2x Scythe S-Flex 120's

[UltraVioletDream]

I'm wondering at what advantages does the 512 bit one have over the 256 bit one, what are bits on a videocard?

[inotocracy]

I'm curious as to the performance difference as well, anyone have any numbers on this?

[d50man]

sold out deal dead

[Arglebargle]

Sure glad I got my order in yesterday morning...;-} The 256-bit version is still available, with rebate, at least. My first time over to the ATI side of the fence in awhile. My main game doesn't like them as much, but it was too good a deal to pass up. The version of the 2900pro left is not bad either.

[Falling Anvil]

I'm wondering at what advantages does the 512 bit one have over the 256 bit one, what are bits on a videocard?

Uh, you can flash the BIOS to make it an XT? :P

[creamypie]

AAAAH I just bought one. Can anyone show their screen shot with stable settings when overlcoked ? Thanks

[Oh4Sh0]

http://www.tdalliance.org/kc/2900pro.JPG

[creamypie]

http://www.tdalliance.org/kc/2900pro.JPG

Stable? According to Neoseeker "Remember, if your planning to overclock, the HD 2900 Pro will require both a 8-pin and 6-pin power connector" :eek:

[Oh4Sh0]

yeah, i use two 6pins, it's fine. I play call of duty 4 all the time.

[inotocracy]

sold out deal dead

The 512bit for same price is still in stock.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102706

[Zhonginator]

I'm wondering at what advantages does the 512 bit one have over the 256 bit one, what are bits on a videocard?

the bits refer to how wide the path between the memory is to the core and therefore how much data can be simultaneously transferred. The 256 bit means that there are 4 x 64 bit paths, and the 512 bit has 8 x 64 bit paths. So having a 512 bit card will double the potential memory bandwidth of the video card and allow better performance on higher graphics settings, such as at high resolutions or with high amounts of AA. The HD 2900 Pro 256- bit has 1.6 GHz x 256 bit/8 = 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidh while the 512 bit has 1.6 GHz x 512 bit/8 = 102.4 GB/s. However, for high memory bandwidth to be really effective the core has to be equally fast, and unfortunately the core on the 2900 Pro (and XT) are too weak and bottleneck the memory transfer performance. This also explains why an 8800 GT with just 57.6 GB/s bandwidth runs faster than a HD 2900 XT 1 GB with 128 GB/sec memory bandwidh.

[d50man]

like i said "auto notify=SOLD OUT" on the 512bit version

[inotocracy]

like i said "auto notify=SOLD OUT" on the 512bit version

At the time I posted that the 512bit said "in stock".

[creamypie]

At the time I posted that the 512bit said "in stock".

Thats when I got one ;)

[GPUCommando]

Scary to know [H] is capable of clearing the stock @ Newegg... I was eyeing this card last week - guess I won't be anymore!

[pillagenburn]

crap, i was looking to get one of these... can't now :( lame.... oh well, i guess i'll just find me a used x1900xtx for $100 or somethin.

[r1t4l1n]

I just looked on Newegg and thought this card was back in stock w/ rebate but apparently it's a neutered version of the 512 bit card:(

[thejulex]

Yeah great card.... if you are not the one paying utility bill :(

[Kmical]

It's back in stock at newegg for $159 + shipping

[Ogilvy]

Yeah great card.... if you are not the one paying utility bill :(


How much more a month to run an HD 2900 vs an HD 3870 or 8800GT?


30 cents?

Do you even know how much more?



No....you don't. :rolleyes:

[GPUCommando]

How much more a month to run an HD 2900 vs an HD 3870 or 8800GT?


30 cents?

Do you even know how much more?



No....you don't. :rolleyes:

What are you talking about bro? Thats our most favorite nerd-ism on this board! Tried and true my friend - rain forests burn every time you fire up the competitors card which doesn't perform the best "performance per watt" - mean while, normal people are getting laid.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

/end thread

*By the way, i got a notification the 512-bit version was back in stock, but its gone again! You sneeky bastards bought it right up :D I bet the 256-bit is just as good of an OC'er...

[pillagenburn]

I am one of those sneaky bastards :)

the RAM on these things will do 2ghz... being 512-bit will more than make up for the lack of additional 400mhz memory (GDDR4 3870)

The 2900xt performs ~5-10fps better than a 3850 512mb and even more than a 256mb at higher resolution. Nevermind the fact that you can overclock the 2900pro/xt

Man, I love it when short-sighted geeks write good video cards off as shit because of premature drivers... It puts a big smile on my face when i can get near-8800gtx performance (within a decent margin) at *shock* half the price, or in this case... LESS than half the price.

~1/2 the price for 85-100% of the performance... do the math.

[Rattle]

I want to see 2 of the 2900pro 512 bit cards in SLI in a x38 go head to head with my 680i and 8800gts 512 SLI and see how close they get. The thing that sucks about these cards is they are loud if you wanna keep then cool with the stock cooler and the power needed is outragous for 2.

[MrMike]

There is no such thing as a 256-bit 2900Pro. It's been posted around here a few times now.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/productfiles/matrix-vga-1.xls

If it was 256-bit, it would just be a 2900GT.

[Ogilvy]

There is no such thing as a 256-bit 2900Pro. It's been posted around here a few times now.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/productfiles/matrix-vga-1.xls

If it was 256-bit, it would just be a 2900GT.


That's not necessarily true. I believe that the 2900GT has its stream processors cut to 220 from 320, also.

[Space_Coyote]

That's not necessarily true. I believe that the 2900GT has its stream processors cut to 220 from 320, also.

240 according to this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?ATT=14102712&CMP=AFC-SlickDeals&Item=N82E16814102712). Not too bad a deal if you ask me.

[MrMike]

That's not necessarily true. I believe that the 2900GT has its stream processors cut to 220 from 320, also.

240 according to this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?ATT=14102712&CMP=AFC-SlickDeals&Item=N82E16814102712). Not too bad a deal if you ask me.

Right, the link I posted shows the 2900GT has 240 stream processors as well.

[pillagenburn]

odd... why is it that some sites show the 2900pro/xt keeping up with 8800gt(x) and others show it getting stomped on.... very weird.

[inotocracy]

There is no such thing as a 256-bit 2900Pro. It's been posted around here a few times now.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/productfiles/matrix-vga-1.xls

If it was 256-bit, it would just be a 2900GT.

Then why was the original deal for the 256-bit version?

edit: Check out the 512bit version on newegg: "Deactivated Item" eh?

[Space_Coyote]

odd... why is it that some sites show the 2900pro/xt keeping up with 8800gt(x) and others show it getting stomped on.... very weird.

I'm guessing it has to do with the AA. The 2900's are competitive with no AA, as soon as you enable it though their performance goes to shit.

[MajorDomo]

Please don't turn this into a performance argument, it's the [H]ot Deal forum, remember? You post [H]ot Deals and members check out the deal. If you don't want it, fine....but if you wish to discuss the merits of other cards, please post in the appropriate forum.