ATI X800 XT or another 2GB of RAM

[Walter Biscardi]

one more word of warning, my monitors went to sleep last night during a long render and the monitors would not wake back up this morning. That’s never happened on this system in the year that I’ve had it running with the old ATI card and then the nVidia 6800 card. Luckily I was able to at least his Apple S and then restart the machine by forcing the power down.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Steve To]

ok, looks like it’s the Dell 2405 (i’m in the Uk so got a keen price of 790pounds (apples 23″ cinema HD is 1049 pounds!) so that one’s sorted….

but still not sure if i should go for an upgraded video card? should i go for the Nvidia 6800 or X800XT over the installed card in a Dual 2.7? Will they offer me better performace in:

FCP5 RT performance?
Compressor MPEG2 encoding?
FCP5 rendering?

I;ve settled on 4GB ram but will spending upwards of 300pounds on one of these two gfx cards be money well spent in terms of performance in the above?

thanks again

Steve

[Steve To]

also…..(so many questions, sorry!)…..

if the cards DO give me increased performance (?)

which one?? X800XT or 6800 for MY uses (FCP5, compressor, occasional motion2 etc)

i know the 6800 has 2xDVI, X800 only 1, 6800 takes 2 pci slots, X800 one…..

my brain is about to explode! It’s taken me a month to decide to switch to Mac from PC and here i go again 🙂

Steve

[Mitchji]

[Steve DSV] “if the cards DO give me increased performance (?)

which one?? X800XT or 6800 for MY uses (FCP5, compressor, etc)
Compressor MPEG2 encoding?
FCP5 RT performance?
FCP5 rendering?
occasional motion2
i know the 6800 has 2xDVI, X800 only 1, 6800 takes 2 pci slots, X800 one…..
“

Hi,

Compressor – No
FCP RT and render – I don’t think so
Motion – yes

If you decide to do it I would get the X800. More info here:
https://www.barefeats.com/rad9650.html
“The GeForce 6800 Ultra is a full length, double wide monster. It was faster running some 3D games but slower running the Motion 2 and iMaginator. Unless you have two 30″ Cinema displays and don’t mind giving up one of your PCI-X slots, you should consider the Radeon X800 XT instead.”

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Samuel Frazier]

Right, so unless I’m missing something, the x800 has 1 dual link DVI and 1 single link DVI. So, the only need for the 6800 would be if you needed 2 30″ displays. I wouldn’t hink that would be an option for many people. So, I’d go with the x800.
I have the dell 2405 and am very satisfied. Someday I might buy a second one. But, unless I’m missing something, I’d be fine to do so with either the x800 or the 9800 (which is where I’m leaning to save some money if I do pull the trigger some day soon).