7900gtx vs x1900xt

[madgravity34]

Image quality not so different and temps are much better with the 7900gtx's. Also, if you guys thing ATI's cooler is bad I have seen plenty of posts over at Xtremesystems and Ocforums where guys have installed the new VF9 zalman cooler and they get higher load temps than the stock cooler! The only aftermarket HSF that can really lower the heat are the accelero x2's but those fill your case with hot air. I am going with the 7900gtx because it clocks higher with lower temps so I can still keep pushing my dual-core CPU to its limits.

[cmay119]

I'm indecisive at the moment about which card to go with, I think I'm just going to go with ATi because of the availability of it right now. Although, 7900GTX's seem to come in and out of newegg all the time, when it comes time to buy, I might be lucky enough to snag one of those instead. Decisions, decisions....

[red930]

I'm indecisive at the moment about which card to go with, I think I'm just going to go with ATi because of the availability of it right now. Although, 7900GTX's seem to come in and out of newegg all the time, when it comes time to buy, I might be lucky enough to snag one of those instead. Decisions, decisions....

 

As long as you just look for the standard version of it, it shouldn't be too hard to find. Apparently some overclock VERY well, I didn't know mine wasn't standard until I got a couple PM's in the last few days inquiring.

 

Either way though, you should be able to overclock it fairly well.

[PhoetuS]

Something else to consider is Power consumption & noise. Check out this review It looks like the ATi cards are way more power hungry than the nvidia cards. Hotter & louder too....

[red930]

Thing twice....

 

C/P: Moving up to the highest end of the market, ATI’s Radeon X1900 XTX takes the performance crown in our testing with Oblivion in single-card configurations. Regardless of the test with threw at the X1900 XTX it came out on top, with the Radeon X1900 XT typically finishing a close second.

 

UPDATE 4/6/06: In dual-card testing, we initially reported that NVIDIA's GeForce SLI solution delivered better performance than CrossFire, however ATI's Terry Makedon informed us that Oblvivion can be forced to run the X1900 XTX and X1800 XT cards in CrossFire mode by renaming the oblivion.exe executable to "AFR-FriendlyD3D.exe". After making this change, we saw a dramatic boost in performance and now the Radeon cards scale appropriately, with the X1900 XTX CrossFire outrunning the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI in all tests except our indoors area. All isn't perfect with this workarond however, as occasionally we'd notice flashing textures on the screen regardless of which area of the game we were testing. The textures would flash randomly: during one run in the foliage section everything may go perfectly, and then the next may be filled with flashing textures, so we'd still definitely give NVIDIA the nod when it comes to multi-GPU compatibility with Oblivion. We sent ATI a video demonstrating the problem and other info on the issue, so hopefully it can be resolved in a future Catalyst release.

 

FiringSquad

http://firingsquad.com/hardware/oblivion_h...nce/default.asp

 

 

 

System Setup

 

AMD Athlon 64 FX-57

 

ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe (CrossFire Xpress 3200)

MSI K8N Diamond (nForce4 SLI X16)

 

2GB OCZ DDR400 SDRAM

 

ATI Radeon X1900 XTX

ATI Radeon X1900 XT

ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB

All-In-Wonder X1900

Catalyst 6.3

 

NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX

NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT

NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB

NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT

NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256MB

Driver version ForceWare 84.25

 

250GB Maxtor Hard Drive Maxline III SATA Hard Drive w/16MB Cache

 

Windows XP Professional SP1

 

DirectX 9.0c

 

Benchmarks

 

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[cmay119]

Well, just to recap. I've now made my decision. And wen't and purchased a 7900GT from a local shop (really good deal, $300 + tax). So far I've played a little Doom 3 with it and it's an extrodinary card for the money. I'm very happy with my purchase, and also the fact that I saved about $200+ over getting an X1900XTX or a 7900GTX. If I feel like it, I might in the near future buy a second one and do the SLI mod to my Ultra-D... So far I'm very happy with the decision however.

[red930]

like since the x1900 has a sh*tty resale value i cant sell the x1900xt i can get for 325 bucks on ebay for more than say 430 dollars.. im on a tight budget

 

paying 325 for the card, selling on ebay for 430, and then having to shell out another 100 is way over my budget..

 

do any of u think that in time xfire will match or exceed sli performance? 7900gtx imo isnt worth it rite now.. just wait till they dump out the 8000 series cards in like the next 3 months...

 

im still confused. ati is known for better image quality, but nv has higher performance rate...

 

im leaning on a crossfire x1900 card for 350, then waiting till x1900xt prices drop to xfire them. ok? would any of u still recommend selling them on fleabay?

[wevsspot]

A little follow up on the X1900XT. I had a chance to play around with mine over the weekend. It's clocked at 650/1500 with a slight bump in gpu and memory voltages. Idling in 2D mode at 43C and runs 75C after three hours of FEAR (using the Accelero X2). But even at 75C card is rock stable at current clocks and voltages. Using a CAT 6.3 driver pack borrowed from the European market that includes the old style control panel. Using ATI Tool v14 beta for overclocking.

 

Inside case temperature increased 2 degrees, NF4 chipset temperature increased 1 degree, no effect on cpu temperatures. I've got a mod in mind for the Accelero. I've just ordered one of the Vantec Cool Blue 2 Fan Card Slot coolers. I'm going to remove the stock fan and plastic casing from the Accelero exposing the the cooling fins and heat pipes. Then I'm gonna use the Vantec to handle the air flow duties. I'll keep everyone posted. In my mind this accomplishes a few things;

 

1. air flow would be directed down through the cooling fins instead of sideways and across them.

 

2. the Vantec slot cooler pushes more air than the stock Accelero fan.

 

3. The Vantec slot cooler should be just about long enough to blow air across the entire card surface.

 

4. Instead of hot air directly back down onto the board, it will be dispersed in many different directions giving other intake and exhaust fans the opportunity to pick the air up into their streams.

[wevsspot]

Just an update after a weekend's worth of work. Pulled the X1900XT and AcceleroX2 from the case. Removed the AcceleroX2 and proceeded to pull the stock plastic shroud and stock fan from the X2. Reinstalled just the heatsink. Placed Vantec Spectrum PCI slot cooler directly below the XT. Set my fan speed at medium (sucker is loud at full speed). Idle temps down to 41-43C. Load temps down to 73C after a couple of hours of FEAR.

 

So the mod. is slightly effective, but I don't think it's worth all the trouble.

 

One benefit though is my NF4 chipset temp is back down to 39-40C at idle and 44C at load. Case temps. also decreased 1 degree. Still no change on CPU temp.

 

I haven't tried new o/c settings yet, waiting for AS5 to cure, plus still getting random corruption on graphics occasionally, mostly during boot. But I'm pretty sure that's a driver issue.

[Digital-Ghost1]

Great performance and bang for the buck...but this monster sucks power..so make sure your PSU is up to it.