Upgrading Video Card!! READ ME

[Superman1027]

Sup guys,

Im in search of buying a new video card. I bascally would like to get the best card i can as cheap as i can. This leaves me with the idea of getting a x850 pro with vivo and flashing it to x850 xt pe.

My questions are:

has anyone had any problems unlocking to 16pipes?(search hasnt helped a whole lot)

and

Is this the best way to go?

thanks John

[newmodder]

less than 200 bucks you can get a 6600 gt oc pci-e and it is a nice card, plays all new gen games easily.525mem/1050 core clock 128mb ddr3.

[D_o_S]

The 6800 GS is nice too...

[Superman1027]

Sorry forgot to tell you that i will never buy a nvidia card and im still using agp.

Ive used ATI since my very first computer and havent had any problems with any of my cards. Im a loyal customer.

[newmodder]

how much are you willing to spend on a video card?here is one that would do you fine for a while.
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10061356&catid=

[Superman1027]

I hear the new ATI x800pro's and x850pros can no longer be unlocked and flashed. Has anyone come up with a fix for the newer releases?

[Aevum]

your best bet would be the sapphire GTO^2 if you want to unlock pipes,
the 6800GS are also quite a good buy,
another bargin is the Powercolor (TUL) X850XT, its cheap compared to other X850XT´s,
power color also released a X800GTO that comes with the whole 16 pipes in use (no flash or mod necesary), but then again, in my country thats called a X800XL, which can also be found for a decent price now a days,

you could also check for X1600XT and pro, their price has just been reduced, and its quite a decent card, with the new ati drivers, you dont even need a master card to crossfire them,
but then again, you need a ATI motherboard to do that. and the 6800GS is better price/performance

[DR.Death]

how much are you willing to spend on a video card?here is one that would do you fine for a while.
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10061356&catid=
your link is not working

[infrared]

no way... not the x850 pro... get the Sapphire x800 GTO2!! You can mod that into the x850xt pe not problems. The best things about this card are:

1.It's relativly cheap
2.It has a quaranteed R480 core w/ 16 physical pipes (same as x850xt pe)
3.The clocks that card is capable of are INSANE!
4.It as a 100% success rate in unlocking the extra pipes.

I think this card comes with 12 pipes as default, but there is no lazer cut and it's a simple job to flash the bios to get the last quad! Piece of cake!

... which leaves me thinking.... why the hell did i buy the x800xl?!?! :(

[AMDCam]

The X800GTO2 (about $200) and the Leadtek 6800GT (about $230) are great cards. The 6800GT can be overclocked to 6800 Ultra Extreme Edition speeds with cold air blowing into it. UEE is the XT PE's competitor. The best part about it is that you don't have to do any major modding, just overclocking because the GT already has everything unlocked. and the X800GTO2, like infrared said, is just as good although it takes a little more modding, but hey, we're (almost) all modders here.

[Aevum]

take in to account that ¨can be overclocked¨ depends on luck,
my GTO^2 dosnt get to XT PE memory specs, it does reach core mhz spec, but not memory (some are 2.0, some are 1.6ns, i guess i gut the 2.0), so take in to account that milage will vary,