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Video Card Thread (Mostly Gecube x1950xt)
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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25. October 2007 @ 09:37 |
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What are you planning on getting? the Viper 2900?
I'd be interested to see your 3dmark with that!
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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25. October 2007 @ 09:49 |
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Naw just a rev1 X1900 GT. Higher core clock, and software adjustable voltage.
EDIT: You know what, scratch that. Too much work just for a little bit of voltage. The memory speed is clocked much lower on them anyway. Maybe I'll just do that hardmod later. By the way, what are mosfets?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. October 2007 @ 09:50
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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25. October 2007 @ 09:52 |
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Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors. (and no I didn't wiki or google that, I know it off by heart. Sad eh?)
They are essentially just versions of transistors, typically used in Voltage regulation, audio amplifiers and so on.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. October 2007 @ 09:53
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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25. October 2007 @ 10:03 |
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I'm afraid I don't get what you are saying? Are you saying that the rev1 cards have those? Also why do you know that by heart? lol
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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25. October 2007 @ 10:08 |
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A Level in Electronics, I'm afraid.
To my knowledge, all graphics cards have them, along with motherboards and various other components.
Take a look at this picture

Just beneath green capacitors, there are the old style Power regulators (the arches with copper wire wrapped around them), Inductors.
Underneath those, the black squares are MOSFETS which are what we use now.
Power regs are needed because the CPU is connected (indirectly) to the 12V rail. Since the CPU uses far less than 12V, it needs a power supply unit of its own to drop the voltage down to the correct level.
On your X1900GT it's the same thing. Your core doesnt use anywhere near 12V, but thats what powers the card, so VRegs are required.

Here's an X1900GT.
See the red heatsinks at the back? What's underneath them? :D
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. October 2007 @ 10:10
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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25. October 2007 @ 10:10 |
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Oh, I'm dumb!
I didn't realize you were defining Mosfets.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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25. October 2007 @ 10:11 |
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See above post for more info.
Now you realise why they're important for voltage control.
One of the other issues you have with MOSFETS on graphics cards is when you start taking the passive cooling route.
This is what my X1900XT looks like

See the red heatsinks again? Now you'll notice there's no fan pulling air round there, but yet the heatsinks are still the same tiny ones as before. Consequently, unless you have a large amount of airflow in your case, the temperature of your Vregs can easily exceed 100C in games.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. October 2007 @ 10:15
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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25. October 2007 @ 10:25 |
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This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. October 2007 @ 10:28
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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25. October 2007 @ 10:35 |
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I'm afraid my knowledge runs a little on the thin side here. I never pencil mod my stuff, so I don't have any personal experience. I understand what it is he's telling you to do, but I don't see how you can pencil half the resistance off a resistor like that. As long as you're careful, soldering a variable resistor sounds like a better idea.
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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25. October 2007 @ 10:45 |
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But what the hell is pencil modding?
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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25. October 2007 @ 10:48 |
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Ah well, I do know that much.
Pencil modding involves using a conductive pencil (i.e. a pencil that doesn't lay graphite, but an electrically-conductive material) to short two points on a PCB.
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Senior Member
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27. October 2007 @ 13:03 |
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Well the Crysis demo is released today, so I think I'll download it and see what happens. The demo is said to be more "stable" and I think I'll get better performance with it than with the beta. I might post some benches up later too.
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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27. October 2007 @ 21:14 |
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Senior Member
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27. October 2007 @ 23:11 |
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looks good abuzar. I wonder what frames you'll get in Crysis with that.
Anyway, I played the demo for about an hour and a half, and this is what I got:
http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=91791002ev0.jpg
I played on medium/high settings at 800x600, got around mid teens to 25fps, which wasn't bad actually. I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to the real thing.
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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27. October 2007 @ 23:13 |
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Tell me exactly what setting you played on so I can try the same.
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Senior Member
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27. October 2007 @ 23:27 |
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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27. October 2007 @ 23:33 |
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Considering I will ave a 512 MiB card I can probably turn up the textures higher...
Oh well I'll try this on my current card tomorrow. Till then, good night.
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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28. October 2007 @ 09:11 |
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Alright so I tried it at the exact same settings as you, except that I ran it at 1024*768. I got mid 30s to high 20s on average. I guess this game relies on the CPU a bit too!
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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28. October 2007 @ 23:15 |
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Well so I got rid of my card this morning for 125!
Now this one local guy is selling a perfectly working X1950XTX for 185. Should I go with that or the X1950 Pro I posted, which is only 130 and it's brand new with a aftermarket cooler.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. October 2007 @ 06:56 |
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The X1950XT-X will mince the X1950 Pro, as it will my card!
I find it funny to see that now the Crysis demo has come out, people who bought low RAM cards like the 8800GTS 320MB are finding themselves short on RAM. Some people don't listen!
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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29. October 2007 @ 09:38 |
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So do you think it is a good deal for 185?
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. October 2007 @ 10:07 |
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Indeed I do, it's not quite an 8800GTS, but it's not far off, it has a decent amount of RAM and it's much cheaper!
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Senior Member
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29. October 2007 @ 15:26 |
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Hey all, the 8800GT was released today, which is awsome.



At only $250, its a great buy, almost next to the GTX in benches, takes less power and is a 1 slot disign.
The downside - Its PCI-e 2.0, which not to many mobos support these days.
Which ones do? You cant use a PCI-e 16x with PCI-e 2.0 right?
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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29. October 2007 @ 15:33 |
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Damn it! My motherboard isn't PCI-E 2. Only the new X38 chipset supports that!
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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29. October 2007 @ 15:38 |
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Well change in plans. It does work on PCIE1!!! It just draws more power through the plug!
Guess what many peoples new upgrades is gonna be...
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