Which 3D card is better

[Vanguard3000]

I'm looking at buying a semi-new computer for myself.  My girlfriend's is crappy, so I'll be giving her my current computer so she can play Diablo 2 and bejeweled.  ;)

Anyway, I'm trying to compare the 3D card of the new computer with my own (I would swap them is my current one is better), but I'm having some trouble figuring out which is better.

My current card is a [sapphire] Radeon x1800 GTO, and the 'new' one would be an ATI Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition.  At first glance, the x850 is better, having a faster clock and stuff, but I also see that my x1800 can support a higher resolution (not that I'd have a resolution quite that high).  So what gives?  Wouldn't a faster card support a higher resolution?  Also, my x1800 seems newer (and has a higher number associated with it), but still, the x850 seems faster.

Please shed some light on my problem.  Thanks in advance.

[Edit] I'm almost certain I can't but would crossfiring them be a possibility?

[eid]

Keep the x1800gto for yourself, as it has Pixel Shader 3.0 (better graphics)

and the x850xtpe only has 2.x...

the 850 is also kinda old even though its fast, id look at the x1950pro or nvidia 79xx series first..

that is unless the x850 is dirt cheap..(half priced x1950,maybe)

the clock speeds cannot really be compared across a different vpu series.. the x1800 uses a r5xx chip and uses lower latencies and lower frequencies than the r4xx..  although the memory speeds can be compared the same way..

and a 200mhz loss isnt that bad really..  if you absolutely need it you can always overclock some :P

you can only CrossFire 2 of the same cards afaik..

[Vanguard3000]

I'm buying a second computer (which will be my primary PC), which happens to have the x850 XT PE, so I'm not buying a new graphics card alone.  But thanks for the info.  When I get my new PC, I'll take the X1800 GTO out of my old one and put it in.

[Vanguard3000]

Hmm... I'm looking at another system, which has a Asus EN8600GT Silent, which uses a nvidia chipset.  I've always liked nvidia better for some reason, even though I've had ATI for a while now.  But how does this compare to my x1800 GTO?  It doesn't say anything about pixel pipelines in the spec sheet.

Thanks again for any help.

[eid]

well its a good idea to try googling a few benchmarks on that card,

and compare their result to what your current systen can give you..

like 3dmark and other in game tests

although i do believe the nvidia 8xxx series have Pixel Shader 4.0

and has direct-x 10 support..whereas the x1800 can only do PS 3.0 as i mentioned

the only way is to run a few tests on your machine, get an average result with your prefered settings...

and look around for a similar setup using the card of your choice and find out what suits you..

heres  a link that you can use as a reference, bare in mind the compy theyre using is probly a lot better trhan what  you may have, or maybe you have one better :P http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=733&model2=855&chart=277

look around for others as its some sites like this tend to be a bit biased ;)

[Cyborg]

Not trying to offend you, Vanguard, but the topic title should've been "Which graphics card sucks the least?"

[Vanguard3000]

Well I must say I am offended.  ;)

I do actually have a budget, and can't spend $700 on a graphics card.  Especially when it'll be $200 in a year.  But I think for my money, I've ended up with a pretty decent system.

And thanks all for the help.  I've ended up switching yet again to a geforce 8600 GTS, which is a better than the gt, for only a little bit more money.  And it comes with a copy of Stalker!

Eid, thank you very much for that link.  it's basically exactly what I was looking for to compare cards.

Thanks again, everyone.  Except Cyborg.  Er... I guess it's just eid I'm thanking here.  Cheers!