I just got my 2900XT and have had a chance to play around with it a little today.
Since I felt the need to upgrade my video card first, I find myself running this card with a slow setup by today's standards. This system specs are:
Opteron 170 @ 2.6GHZ
DFI CFX3200 Crossfire motherboard
2GB OCZ GamerXtreme PC4000
Silverstone ST56 560w 36a PSU.
Vista 32-bit
1920x1200
Setting up my card was easy enough. Installed Cat 7.6s and got rolling immediately. Drivers are just as stable as my X1900XTX in Vista.
I want to make one comment about the cooler before I say anything else. This thing is very quiet with the fan set to auto. Couldnt even hear it. I changed the fan setting to 100%, just to hear it. Wow, this cooler is louder than my X1900XTX stock cooler at 100%. it doesnt give off the same high pitch whine that the X1900XTX cooler did, but as far as noise level, I think this cooler is louder. Since 100% was unbearable, I set it back to 50% and while I can still hear it, it is no louder than anything else and much quiter than the X1900XTX. At 50% I have yet to break 80*C in any game, so i guess it's good right there.
Tried 3DMark06 first. I scored 8355. uh-oh. Definitely has to be a CPU limitation.
CS:S with everything maxed @ 1920x1200 4x/16x AA/AF came in at 122 fps.
Lost Coast with everything maxed @ 1920x1200 4x/16x AA/AF scored 77 fps. With same settings, but no AA or AF, I scored 103 fps.
FEAR v1.08 @ 1920x1200, everything maxed, SS off, 0x/16x AA/AF scored 91 fps avg. With 4x AA enabled, I scored 52 fps average.
I played about 2 minutes of STALKER at the very beginning and I was pleasantly surprised that at 1920x1200, everything to medium, Full Dynamic Lighting, the FPS stayed inbetween 30-60 fps the entire time. Very little time under 30 fps. This was more than I expected and am quite happy with these scores.
These are preliminary numbers run in one pass. I plan to do more extensive testing along with more games during the course of the week. I want to get as many games benched at 1920x1200 because that is the only resolution that hasnt been benched by one of our board members. If the need arises, I am prepared to upgrade my entire system after the July Intel price cuts.
One thing that really has me worried is that I think my PSU is just on the verge of not being able to handle this card. I'm running my CPU at 2.6GHZ, but normally I can run at 2.8GHZ just fine. When I tried to raise the OC on my CPU tp 2.8GHZ, 3Dmark06 started making my computer shutdown in the middle of the test. it's pretty apparent that this 560w PSU with 36a on the 12v rails is about as low as you can go with this card and an overclocked CPU.
If you have specific games or settings you want benched, let me know.
Since I felt the need to upgrade my video card first, I find myself running this card with a slow setup by today's standards. This system specs are:
Opteron 170 @ 2.6GHZ
DFI CFX3200 Crossfire motherboard
2GB OCZ GamerXtreme PC4000
Silverstone ST56 560w 36a PSU.
Vista 32-bit
1920x1200
Setting up my card was easy enough. Installed Cat 7.6s and got rolling immediately. Drivers are just as stable as my X1900XTX in Vista.
I want to make one comment about the cooler before I say anything else. This thing is very quiet with the fan set to auto. Couldnt even hear it. I changed the fan setting to 100%, just to hear it. Wow, this cooler is louder than my X1900XTX stock cooler at 100%. it doesnt give off the same high pitch whine that the X1900XTX cooler did, but as far as noise level, I think this cooler is louder. Since 100% was unbearable, I set it back to 50% and while I can still hear it, it is no louder than anything else and much quiter than the X1900XTX. At 50% I have yet to break 80*C in any game, so i guess it's good right there.
Tried 3DMark06 first. I scored 8355. uh-oh. Definitely has to be a CPU limitation.
CS:S with everything maxed @ 1920x1200 4x/16x AA/AF came in at 122 fps.
Lost Coast with everything maxed @ 1920x1200 4x/16x AA/AF scored 77 fps. With same settings, but no AA or AF, I scored 103 fps.
FEAR v1.08 @ 1920x1200, everything maxed, SS off, 0x/16x AA/AF scored 91 fps avg. With 4x AA enabled, I scored 52 fps average.
I played about 2 minutes of STALKER at the very beginning and I was pleasantly surprised that at 1920x1200, everything to medium, Full Dynamic Lighting, the FPS stayed inbetween 30-60 fps the entire time. Very little time under 30 fps. This was more than I expected and am quite happy with these scores.
These are preliminary numbers run in one pass. I plan to do more extensive testing along with more games during the course of the week. I want to get as many games benched at 1920x1200 because that is the only resolution that hasnt been benched by one of our board members. If the need arises, I am prepared to upgrade my entire system after the July Intel price cuts.
One thing that really has me worried is that I think my PSU is just on the verge of not being able to handle this card. I'm running my CPU at 2.6GHZ, but normally I can run at 2.8GHZ just fine. When I tried to raise the OC on my CPU tp 2.8GHZ, 3Dmark06 started making my computer shutdown in the middle of the test. it's pretty apparent that this 560w PSU with 36a on the 12v rails is about as low as you can go with this card and an overclocked CPU.
If you have specific games or settings you want benched, let me know.