The Diamond X1500 only requires a little bit of PSU power. So yea that will be fine.

Btw, does anyone know if the Diamond version of the 2400 card is faster then the Visiontek one:

http://www.diamondmm.com/2400PCI256.php

They're both 64 bit, so the answer is no, they are about the same in speed. The Diamond Stealth x1550 has listed PSU requirements of 420 watts. It may not actually use that much, but I wouldn't chance it if I were you. I would get a Diamond x1550 if your heart is set on PCI and you want the best in America. You may be able to find one around $100 dollars, not sure what you paid for your Visiontek 2400.

Considering a Liberty 400W PSU has no issues running an overclocked Q6600 + 8800GT 512Mb, I highly doubt a 400W PSU of any kind will not be able to run the X1550, unless it is a 10$ PSU that will collapse under any real load.

I ran a generic, four-year old, 520W PSU with an overclocked E2160 @ 3.0Ghz + an overclocked HD3850 256Mb with no issues. A 400W or so PSU will run a X1550 just fine, unless it is a really old PSU, or a very poorly constructed one.

Wanted to state that the 8500 GT is the best card for PCI bus but you can get a ATi Radeon HD 3870 for that price as well on the PCI-e bus type, which is far and away more powerful. I got this card to play games that were released up until HL2 - Oblivion and not past that. I will be completely happy if I can get these games to run at 60 fps on full settings. Check gpureview.com for comparison. Can't wait to build my own PC with all PCI-e slots and save appreciable amounts of money over manufacturer's models.

I may try to dabble with jives11's tips on increasing the framerate. I don't have A+ certification, at least not yet but squeezing the most out of my system definitely appeals to me.

How is the Diamond Stealth X1550 better then the 2400 HD Pro?

I understand the inferface is faster, 128bit really does make a difference, but how does it compare to the specs to the 2400 PRO?

The specifications of the 2400 Pro's core is superior to the Diamond Stealth x1550, but you have to factor the 64-bit interface bottlenecking the superior statistic. Besides, the only thing that is superior about the 2400 is price and core clock speed, but because of the 64-bit bus interface, you can divide that in half for a relative assessment of accurate ability. This link will show you what I am talking about.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....=561&card2=506


The PCI bus is horribly slow compared to PCI-e or AGP, so the last thing you need is 64-bit bus making that even worse. I am not berating your card, but for me personally, I don't want anything less than 128-bit interface in my GPU.

Now that I've been researching the HD 3870, it really makes me want to build a PC with PCI-e slots, but for now I am content to max my 8500 GT PCI since I am not really die hard serious about gaming right now anywho.

BTW, General. Gpureview states the requirements of the 8500 GT are 40W, so you might could get away with installing that in your Gateway, just be real careful about overclocking. I recommend nothing less for PCI gamers, but I know a lot of folks don't want to pay $150 dollars like I did for a PCI video card. To each his own.

Yea the 128bit really does make a big, well huge difference in gaming. I seen that with my 5500 card, which was faster then the 6200 cards, not more powerful but faster.

Now 4 things here:

#1 The 8500 GT card will be the best choice for my computer, but i lived in the united states and its kinda impossible to find. Unless newegg adds the card to its lineup.

#2 I do have another option, there is a place, a computer show that i could go to soon and ask many of the people there to order it for me and get it in for me. Many of the people at this computer place fly from japan etc. So i will check with them soon.

#3 I will try to find the diamond stealth and what i could do is, test the card out with half my games or the important ones and see how does it compare to my 2400 pro.
Its hard to find the diamond stealth card , but i will check around.

#4 Its not hard to find the Visiontek 1550 version, but that card has a 64bit inferface right?

#5 And btw, i'm buying a secondary computer soon, for the newer games, a gateway computer with Vista, and PCI-E slots. So i will have 2 computers, this one to enjoy games that i can play good and my new computer are only for the more powerful games

#1 It is impossible to find this card in the United States, but I ordered mine off eBay and I order all my electronics off the internet anyways, so it made little difference to me that it came from England.

#2 You could ask your Japanese friends about this card, but the manufacturer is Taiwanese, so they may not know much about this.

#3 You'll most likely find the comparison between the Diamond Stealth x1550 and the 2400 Pro is very similar to the one between the FX5500 and the 6200.

#4 Visiontek is 64-bit interface according to my research.

#5 Best of luck with your new PC, PCI-e slots are the only way to go today for a new PC, so make sure you check the specs of your new rig that it has PCI-e slots and don't get fooled with a Dell or something similar. Building your own PC is cheaper and you can make a more powerful one than what you can buy in-store, but you need to research how to do that properly first, or else you could have an expensive mess on your hands.

If i come across the Diamond Stealth 1550 card or even the 8500 gt card i will buy them and just do some testing to see how much more powerful and faster it is towards
my 2400 HD Pro card.

My games does work better with the 2400 HD pro card tho, i can play games which i couldn't even play using the 6200 or the 5500 which is a plus. So thats pretty good, but as i said if i come across any one of those cards, i will make sure to grab one

peace

After thinking about this more. I am just going to keep the 2400 Pro, because even tho not the best PCI card, it gets the job done with my games. But i have decided to try to get the 8500 GT. If i cant get it, i won't worry about it and whatever games which i cant play good on this computer , i will just look forward to playing on my new computer, my secondary computer. Because this computer is my main computer.

Peace

Well I managed 142 FPS averaged over 5 minutes with ATI tool on my dell dimension P4 2.6Ghz + 1Gb + 8500GT, so your mileage may vary

I'm still in the debate for a PCI Card!!!

These are my computer specs

HP Pavillion a1224n
Intel P4 519K [521] 3.06 Ghz LGA775
1024MB DDR2 Dual Channel Memory
200GB HDD SATA II
ATi Radeon 9250 256MB PCI / Intel 910GL Chipset
PCI Slot Only, PCI-e not soldered on this board, soldered on sister board though =(

This is what i've toned the list down to.

- Diamond Stealth X1550 PRO 256MB PCI [I can get one at NCIX since i'm in Canada]
- Diamond Stealth HD2400 PRO 256MB PCI [NCIX also]
- Visiontek HD2400 PRO 256MB PCI [Tigerdirect Canada]

Which one?!?!?!

Also, people with the HD2400 PRO or the X1550 PRO, please post what you get in ATiTool [FPS - non OC vs OC if you have it OC'd, take screenshtos so i can actually believe it and show it to my friend who doesn't believe PCI has the power]

Also will these run Test Drive Unlimited on Low-Medium Settings decently or at least playable frames? [it Runs Crysis okay on Medium from a Youtube Video, averages 20-25 FPS with it all medium except Textures High and Shadows Low]

Well i'll still fetch either of these PCI Cards so i can at least run some fun games =D

Thanks in advance,
Tim

Time, welcome

The Visiontek 2400 version has a fan on it, which is a plus to me. I have one and its pretty good and powerful. But keep in mind, i am using a intel 810, PIII 600MHZ.
Your computer is more powerful, so you buying a 2400 HD pro might run games better.

Some of the newer games which i can run are crysis, but at pretty terrible speed. I get like 9-15fps. Which is fine, but as soon as i fight the enemies, i get 6fps. Timeshift i can play with ease, i get around 19-29fps on my computer. If i was you, i will buy the 2400 card, which version between the diamond or Visiontek, well i will go with the diamond version, despite not having a fan, diamond products are always the best in my opinion.

About Test Drive, i just bought the game a couple days ago, and i will let you know how it runs in a few days on this computer.

Yay!

Finally, someone with experience with a PCI card and Test Drive Unlimited!!!!

Tha General, when you try Test Drive, take a vid of it.

Also what FPS do you get in ATI Tool?

Thanks

Hi TL93,
I think the X1550pro (128 bits version) is the best one (2400pro is a only 64 bits bandwitch) made by ATI.
But the best of all is the 8500Gt, so why not the Nvidia?

I'm in Canada,

They don't sell the 8500 GT or 7300 GT here in Canada [Just like the US]

Of course i'd get the 8500 GT out of all of them but i just don't wanna dump all my cash just to wait for the thing to ship and arrive!

The Diamond X1550 PRO i can purchase just with a 10-15 minute drive!

Do you know the frames that the X1550 PRO or the HD 2400 PRO will get in ATI Tool?

I really need to know which one to buy before it comes back into stock because once it does, its usualy sold out within 5 days =/

Thanks,
Tim

These people are a mail order business I found with Google shopping and they are located in Canada, so the turnaround time for your order may be less.

http://www.printsavings.com/Item.asp...16d315d319d318

They are currently sold out, but I think it would be worth the wait if they did have this in stock, because with the limitations of the PCI bus interface, anything less is severely limiting with today's games. Diamond Stealth x1550 is what I would get if you can't see yourself getting the 8500 GT.

I got my 8500 GT from a link in this thread from a seller on eBay named Advanced Data Systems in the UK. Took two weeks to arrive, but it was well worth the wait and if the x1550 is sold out were you live regardless, you might look into the UK eBay seller.

I get similar FPS ratings in ATi Tool as what jives11 is and my system isn't quite as tweaked as his is. Best of luck in your video card quest.

My system is very similar to yours jives11. I'm basically trying to squeeze all I can out of this one until I build my own PC, I'm picking out the parts I want for that now. OC'ing the CPU, Mem, & 8500 GT will make a difference and stretch this system a little farther, but I won't do that until I upgrade my PSU and internal cooling methods.

Teklord - but your processor is a Intel Celeron compared to Jives11's Pentium 4.

Anyways i'm still puzzled between the X1550 PRO and the HD 2400 PRO.

Tha General, you play Test Drive Unlimited on your PC yet? How did it run with your specs?

BTW, should i get a new Power Supply Unit?

Mine is currently a HP type brand 200 Watt Power Supply Unit =(

Curse you HP!