2008 XS Cheapazchips 3D challenge

[SpikeP]

Sounds like fun. I just purchased a HD 2900 Gt for £60, but guess grabbing another cheapo card for a overclocking round would be fun!

Think the cooling is a issue though. surely wouldn;t we be better using seperate tables for seperate ways of cooling?

Like the forum. Air / Water / TEC / Phase

Reason i am saying that us because all of them are going to have there own leagues. For example, i TEC on one of these with a air cooler is going to produce some good temps, orthats what i think.

for choice of card, i think the 8400gs sounds like a good choice. other option i think would be the hd 2400, or i personally would be more inclined to see what the hd 3850 is capable off. Should be getting them in stock over here soon. Be interesting to see what we can get out of something new.

- Paul

[RAW-Raptor22]

I say we should use teh 8500GT since it still is the same core as teh 8400GS but with a 128bit bus so that bandwidth wont be an issue. Ive seen 8500GTs hit the price levels of the 8400GS so that should be good.

[GOESA]

I say we should use teh 8500GT since it still is the same core as teh 8400GS but with a 128bit bus so that bandwidth wont be an issue. Ive seen 8500GTs hit the price levels of the 8400GS so that should be good.

Yeah the 8500GT is very cheap here also, im in with that one to, but if its 8400GS im in also, but the 8500GT just seem better pricewise?


/Grau

[Ugly n Grey]

I don't care what it is to be truly and totally honest. I just wanna do it Sooner is better, let's get ti rollllllllllllling.

If you need organizing help I'll help.

[GOESA]

I don't care what it is to be truly and totally honest. I just wanna do it Sooner is better, let's get ti rollllllllllllling.

If you need organizing help I'll help.

Let's get it started someone make a vote to which card to use?

/Grau

[[XC] gomeler]

So far it seems it's a close call between the 8400GS, the 8500GT, and the 2400Pro. I personally would prefer either the 8400GS or the 8500GT, the clock holes on the 2400Pro are a pain.
Two classes also seem to be in order, Andy more kindly reworded my suggestion

Top fuel class = Any cooling at all on all components.
Pro Stock Class = Air cooled only.

I suggest we all submit atleast 4 results. 3D01 w/o LoD, 3D01 w/ LoD(limited to slider in rivatuner... no +15 runs etc), 3D03 w/o LoD, and 3D03 w/ LoD. Distribute points evenly for all 4 runs and then we can crown an overall top fuel, overall Pro Stock, and then 8 sub-rankings. Simple and it'd give us a chance to all claim awesome titles.

Competition will run a month from Feb 15th(day after Valentines day) to March 14th(Steak and BJ Day) which should include enough time to order a card and bench/blow it up.

I also suggest letting individuals submit in both categories however we will only rank the best overall of the two. Submissions would entail 4 3DMark project compare URLs(should be possible, right?) and must be submitted by midnight on 3/14/2008 within the Greenwhich time-zone.

How does all that sound? Too many rules? Now we just need to settle this GFX card debate. Take a poll over a weeks time?

[GOESA]

So far it seems it's a close call between the 8400GS, the 8500GT, and the 2400Pro. I personally would prefer either the 8400GS or the 8500GT, the clock holes on the 2400Pro are a pain.
Two classes also seem to be in order, Andy more kindly reworded my suggestion


I suggest we all submit atleast 4 results. 3D01 w/o LoD, 3D01 w/ LoD(limited to slider in rivatuner... no +15 runs etc), 3D03 w/o LoD, and 3D03 w/ LoD. Distribute points evenly for all 4 runs and then we can crown an overall top fuel, overall Pro Stock, and then 8 sub-rankings. Simple and it'd give us a chance to all claim awesome titles.

Competition will run a month from Feb 15th(day after Valentines day) to March 14th(Steak and BJ Day) which should include enough time to order a card and bench/blow it up.

I also suggest letting individuals submit in both categories however we will only rank the best overall of the two. Submissions would entail 4 3DMark project compare URLs(should be possible, right?) and must be submitted by midnight on 3/14/2008 within the Greenwhich time-zone.

How does all that sound? Too many rules? Now we just need to settle this GFX card debate. Take a poll over a weeks time?

Great plan, I second that! Perhabs we could say screenshots instead of compare urls? or mix?

/Grau

[[XC] gomeler]

How about both? It shouldn't be any sort of issue, I'd just like to see the orb flooded with cheap GFX benchies I'm guessing we'd need another thread to create a poll? Never made a poll before.

[GOESA]

Heh try

/Grau

[G.Foyle]

8500GT is too expensive, let's stick to <50$ cards. 8400GS is fine for me.

[T_M]

3D'03 compare links will be an issue, many people do not have a pro license and can only publish one.
Screenshots is the only workaround, but for 3D'01 no problem!

[[XC] gomeler]

Ahh yeah, good point. Screenshots it is. Need Andy to come in and make a definitive decision as this is his contest.

[Ugly n Grey]

Yeah sub fifty dollar cards, I don't expect whatever I use to live through this and while I'm very open to destroying hardware let's make it cheap as possible so everyone can play.

[RAW-Raptor22]

Yeah sub fifty dollar cards, I don't expect whatever I use to live through this and while I'm very open to destroying hardware let's make it cheap as possible so everyone can play.

8500Gt still counts:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814122023

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814500002

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130287

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127295

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143104


All of those are under $50

2400XT: under $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125076

Even 2600XT comes to $54.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161179

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

And besides, why does it have to be one card? Couldn't is be the person who gets the most &#37; performance increase on 3dmark (I prefer 2k5) or the biggest oc? :p

[Achill3uS]

66-69 usd i don't call under 50, and that's Newegg in US, many countrys are this cards more expensive so i think hd2400 / 8400gs are still the best...

[RAW-Raptor22]

Too bad the 2400pro has clock frequency issues and the 8400GS is bottlenecked at stock so it wont be fun, and look at the rebates.... if I tried hard enough and went to bizrate or any other price search site i wouldve found one under $50..... thats my opinion.

[GOESA]

How about the ATI HD 3650 ? what price range would that one be sold at?

/Grau

[hixie]

I'll bring my X1300 Hyper memory 512MB card
That 512MB is bound to give me some good scores

[RAW-Raptor22]

I'll bring my X1300 Hyper memory 512MB card
That 512MB is bound to give me some good scores

with a 64bit bus? and besides, the 512MB is system RAM....

[hixie]

with a 64bit bus? and besides, the 512MB is system RAM....

i'm sorry, maybe i didn't make my sarcasm obvious enough

Wasn't this competition for a good laugh?

[RAW-Raptor22]

i'm sorry, maybe i didn't make my sarcasm obvious enough

Wasn't this competition for a good laugh?

lol... i thought you were completely serious....

May bad man..... im gonna be benchin' a 6200LE....

[[XC] gomeler]

i'm sorry, maybe i didn't make my sarcasm obvious enough

Wasn't this competition for a good laugh?

Yes, it is which confuses me as to why people keep asking for a better benchmarking card Need Andy to get back to make something official

[RAW-Raptor22]

Yes, it is which confuses me as to why people keep asking for a better benchmarking card Need Andy to get back to make something official

Well if it is for fun... and benching a card that is bandwidth limited or has clocking issues isnt fun, then therefore we need to use the next best thing which is an 8500GT.

And i say lets get rid of the card restrictions and make it based on improvement percentage instead, but only budget cards are allowed meaning:

Nvidia

8 Series: 8500GT and lower
7 Series: 7300GT and lower
6 Series: 6600 Vanilla or lower
5 Series: 5500 or lower
4 Series and lower: Anything goes

ATi

HD 2X00 series: 2400XT and lower
X1k series: 1550 and lower
X series: X700 and lower
9X00 series: 9500 and lower
Radeon 8 Series and lower: anything goes

[[XC] gomeler]

Problem with allowing a broad swath of cards to compete would be the enormous differences between various cards. The 7300GT has been shown to be a monstrous clocker and I believe there is a DDR3 variant out there. The 2400XT has a DDR4 variant out there so it'd have crazy bandwidth and scale incredibly well with volts. Sticking to a single card gives everyone the same relative starting point and would make judging much simpler. Benching the 8400GS is indeed fun as you don't have to be worried about blowing the $30 card to bits with volts, tweaking the volts can yield incredible results, and while it is memory limited, those who focus on increasing core bandwidth will be rewarded greatly. It is also a cheapazchip

[zakelwe]

Sorry for the delay in updating, my car just lunched it's gearbox, torque converter and radiator for a total cost of &#163;3300 / Euro 4500 / $ 6500 so I was a bit busy sobbing into my pint of beer

Getting back to the competition, it seems nvidia are the prefered choice and an early start date. A lot of benches on the 8400GS have been done recently by the Netherlands guys so I think the 8500GT is the best bet.

So, having said that lets get started.

1) GPU will be the 8500GT
2) Competition will run from 1st Feb till 28th Feb and on the 1st March we will have the winners

3) The two ORB classes will be 2001 and 03

4) Our XS classes for the above will be
a) Air cooled gpu with either water/air cooled cpu.
b) Anything goes.

5) LOD adjustment by trial and error is allowed as long as they fall within expected results (see below for point 6)

6) The judges decision will be final.

Right, who us up for it, please sign below and then I will start a new thread!

Regards

Andy