someone offers me this, sould i take it?

For the record, I have an X1800XT. From the reading I've done, its about as powerful as the x1950pro/2600XT/3650. (I admit the later two cards are more powerful in newer games then the x1950pro.) Seeing as the 2600XT/3650 are down to ~$60, i wouldn't pay more then $50 for a used x1800xt.

The iceq3 might be overclocked/more powerful, but it won't overcome the difference in newer games from the cheaper cards.

I'm a former X1800XT owner myself. It was a great card about equal to the X1950 pro. Some newer shader heavy games the X1950 pro should be able beat it. Fine card, but not worth $100 used. (in the USA anyway) You can get a brand 8800GS for $110 AR, and this card can match/surpass the X1950XTX.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130332

If you like ATI, then the HD3850 can compete with the 8800GS pretty well and it has dropped to almost as low a price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161211

Check out 256MB HD3850 vs the former X1950XTX champ.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] i=3151&p=9

If you are out of the states, it just depends on the prices of other cards.

No this card is a better option. ati1800 for 100 is overpriced its a weak card these days.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130332

thanks, its because more likely i'd stick to xp , its the image quality are superior to my 1600pro? or they just render the same?

thanks

+ they dont have 8800gs in here just, gt & gts and price drop are due weeks later

Stick to XP? What are you talking about? You can use the newer cards from Nvidia and AMD on XP machines, you just can't run DX10 code. The new cards are very capable of running DX9.

What cards are available? (for around $100) If cards in your area are expensive, then it might be worth it.

i know, i just cant justifed the loss of performace in vista, thats it,

well the local pawn shop flash update now offers me 1950XTX for 140 us what do you guys think about it?, over hauling my pc requires me to buy a new mb & ddr2 ; iam aiming for p35 + ddr2 4 gb kit, so its the more powerful card renders image quality superior to my 1600 pro?

It was an awesome card, but its just too old now to be worth it.

Um loss in performance? Did you not read the article about Cat 8.3? It actually improved gaming and everything across the board in Vista much more than in XP. In fact Crysis got a 10-15FPS boost in Vista(DX10) but not in XP. Plus SP1 made a bit of a difference. Vista doesn't have a loss of performance like people say.

Either way $100 bucks is a bit too much. I would say $60 is more reasonable.

The X1950XTX is many times the gaming card the X1600 pro is; you simply can't even compare them.
http://www.digit-life.com/articles [...] -pcie.html
Take a look at fear for example. Even without FSAA, you can see the X1950XTX leaves the 1600 pro in the dust. Actually, don't look at the GDDR3 X1650 pro, but the X1300XT is the one to look at as it is a rebranded X1600 pro. (basically X1300XT = X1600 pro). BTW, the top cards are not being stressed in Fear without FSAA. So don't assume X1950XTX > 8800GTX in Fear. You would need to crank the resolution higher or enable FSAA to stress these cards and show the 8800GTX pull ahead. I just wanted you to see an example X1950XTX >>>>>>>>>> X1600 pro (X1300XT).

Now, we don't know where you are from or more importantly what your pricing is. Both the X1800XT and X1950XTX are bad for that price here, but may be very good for you depending what you can get new for $100-150 USD. The X1950XTX is better than any GF7900 like the GTX or GT. I don't suggest you buy those now. And the X1950XTX is a little below the HD3850, 8800GS, or 8800GTS 320MB. If these cards are all $200+, then the X1950XTX is great for $140. If these cards are $170ish, then $140 is too expensive for a used X1950XTX. If the best you can do new for $140 is an HD2600XT/8600GTS, then by all means the X1950XTX is much, much better.