2900xt Reviews - compilation

[MadBoris]

Here they are:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_2900_XT/1
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTM0MSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA
http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/431/2/
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=8687
http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/ATI...5F2900%5FXT%5F%5FR600%5FHas%5FArrived/
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/449
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1100/...aited_r600_dx10_gpu_arrives/index.html
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=715&num=1
http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/index....com_content&task=view&id=388&Itemid=31
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/r600reviewz/index.php
http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q2/radeon-hd-2900xt/index.x?pg=1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1101
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2128867,00.asp
More Additions...not as late as the 2900xt but worth the wait...
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2988
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05/14/r600_finally_dx10_hardware_from_ati/
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd...radeon_hd_2900_xt_performance_preview/

 

[sisq0kidd]

Let's try to consolidate the 2900XT reviews. We can start using this thread

 

[fierydemise]

The reviews seem very conflicted over the verdict, we have HardOCP saying the 2900 is DOA then we have Guru3D and Techpower up saying its great price to performance wise and feature rich. The only thing they seem to agree on is the noisy fan and higher power consumption, although how much higher is also disputed.

 

[Kromis]

So...

How much does the extra power draw from the 2900XT add to my electricity bill? I live in SoCal if that matters.

 

[soybeast]

Not to flame, but I've heard many complaints on the bias of Hard OCP reviews. Also if you read some of the articles, many aren't very well written and seem to lack the technological know-how of an Anandtech review (although Anandtech reviews are definitely a very high standard to shoot for).

 

[n7]

Hard OCP is retarded for video card reviews, nevermind the obvious bias...

But i will say it certainly does seem all the "fake leaked" reviews were pretty much right on, as i expected.

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: Kromis
So...

How much does the extra power draw from the 2900XT add to my electricity bill? I live in SoCal if that matters.

Depends on if you're getting your power from the nuclear power plant that looks like a pair of giant..

...Melons, fresh melons.

 

[TraumaRN]

Originally posted by: fierydemise
The reviews seem very conflicted over the verdict, we have HardOCP saying the 2900 is DOA then we have Guru3D and Techpower up saying its great price to performance wise and feature rich. The only thing they seem to agree on is the noisy fan and higher power consumption, although how much higher is also disputed.

That depends on how the market settles out as well...If I can get a 8800GTS 640 for less than a 2900 and get equal perf....then easy choice...and if the GTX drops to say consistently under 500 bucks...then I'd spend the extra at this point.

It's nice that the price and features is nice(despite certain things not being working feature sets yet such as the tesselator) But the fact that it runs hotter, noiser and whatnot then even a GTX....well thats sucky.

I suppose it depends on how much brand loyalty you have, because bottom line if all you want is BEST perf not looking at price then the GTX lays the smack down...

 

[swtethan]

Originally posted by: Matt2

Originally posted by: Kromis
So...

How much does the extra power draw from the 2900XT add to my electricity bill? I live in SoCal if that matters.

Depends on if you're getting your power from the nuclear power plant that looks like a pair of giant..

...Melons, fresh melons.

you could power it with one of these
http://www.wabashpower.com/emergency.ht...SUTx7MMRbNVj6k0ENQqbgZHdfePSFHllQJQ5CM******=google

better get two for CF

 

[fierydemise]

I'm waiting for Anandtech's review before I make a final decision but I don't get why people are so negative towards the HD2900XT, no it doesn't win the high end but it does exactly what its price point seems to reflect it was intended to do. It is very competitive with the 8800GTS 640MB with similar IQ and it offers a lot of very nice features that are superior to the GTS. Assuming the price drops to current GTS 640MB levels, and I have no reason to expect it not to (since this is a hard launch) I see it being very successful with the media features and similar performance.

 

[soybeast]

err my bad. Just saw the thread on Hard OCP's review. Maybe should have posted there.....

Anyways, ya I'm pretty concerned about those power draw requirements and heat output. After watching the Inconvenient Truth (plus taking a class that covers Global Warming heavily, and yes it is real) I'm worried I'll just feel guilty every time I game on this thing...

But need to upgrade 9600 pro...soon........god AMD, you're killing me here........:-(

 

[soybeast]

Ya same here fiery. Performance-wise it seems to be quite promising at its price point and future potential on pixel heavy dx10 games. Also I read in some of the reviews they mentioned the current drivers are alpha? Although that seems a bit suspect that drivers aren't even beta yet. Oh well, have to wait for Anand's review......

 

[Kromis]

Originally posted by: swtethan

Originally posted by: Matt2

Originally posted by: Kromis
So...

How much does the extra power draw from the 2900XT add to my electricity bill? I live in SoCal if that matters.

Depends on if you're getting your power from the nuclear power plant that looks like a pair of giant..

...Melons, fresh melons.

you could power it with one of these
http://www.wabashpower.com/emergency.ht...SUTx7MMRbNVj6k0ENQqbgZHdfePSFHllQJQ5CM******=google

better get two for CF

Aww, don't be so mean!

 

[lopri]

Does the card comes with an 8-pin power adapter? Something like 2 x molex to 1 x 6-pin for current PCI-E standard. Maybe 3 x molex to 1 x 8-pin or something like that?

 

[the Chase]

Originally posted by: lopri
Does the card comes with an 8-pin power adapter? Something like 2 x molex to 1 x 6-pin for current PCI-E standard. Maybe 3 x molex to 1 x 8-pin or something like that?

That's what I want to know as well. Haven't seen it mentioned yet in any of these reviews.

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: the Chase

Originally posted by: lopri
Does the card comes with an 8-pin power adapter? Something like 2 x molex to 1 x 6-pin for current PCI-E standard. Maybe 3 x molex to 1 x 8-pin or something like that?

That's what I want to know as well. Haven't seen it mentioned yet in any of these reviews.

According to the guy over at Rage3D, the card does not come with an 8-pin adapter.

 

[coldpower27]

Probably not as you only need 2x6 Pin PCi-E to run it, 8 Pin is only required if OCing and if you want to OC you need to purchase a new PS with those * Pin Connectors.

 

[swtethan]

Originally posted by: coldpower27
Probably not as you only need 2x6 Pin PCi-E to run it, 8 Pin is only required if OCing and if you want to OC you need to purchase a new PS with those * Pin Connectors.

my ps only came with 1x8 pin...... used for the motherboard!!! ARRRGHHH

 

[MadBoris]

FYI:
Hothardware does some crossfire and SLI comparison in all their game tests(1920 & 2560 res), first I saw.
Also have alot image and AA pics for analysis. They also mentioned it is a bit washed out with the new AA method but that will be one of those personal opinion things.
Link at top.

Overall, after looking at several reviews, at the price point I think it is a good product. Down the road a die shrink and better drivers may give us something to look forward to. The GTX smashes the card, so if you want performance, it's not even close to a GTX in most cases.

 

[gunblade]

Originally posted by: fierydemise
I'm waiting for Anandtech's review before I make a final decision but I don't get why people are so negative towards the HD2900XT, no it doesn't win the high end but it does exactly what its price point seems to reflect it was intended to do. It is very competitive with the 8800GTS 640MB with similar IQ and it offers a lot of very nice features that are superior to the GTS. Assuming the price drops to current GTS 640MB levels, and I have no reason to expect it not to (since this is a hard launch) I see it being very successful with the media features and similar performance.

Well, there are many reasons to be negative about it.

First of all, this is the previous ATI that we are talking here. If it is SIS or S3 or XGI, a competitive parts for mid-high end would earn them a lot of praise and a competitive mid-end would suffice too. But not for a company who is to compete on the highest end. It is a let-down regardless of people try to spin it. Yes, putting a product and price accordingly is encouraging, but obviously they are forced to do so.

Secondly, the part is more than six month late. In other words, that is a whole product cycle late. With promise of good performance and high quality driver for months, AMD certainly disappointed all the users that looks forward to their flagship. The obviously lackluster driver and ASIC are definitely less than exceptional.

The huge disparity in the power usage of the ASIC chips suggests that they have severe chip characterization problem. To save all the savage chip, they had to put them in production and spec the board to the wide range of power usage. This is definitely a design-for-manufacturing issue. Either they didn't get a clear current leakage profile of the target process from TSMC or they went really aggressive at it.

Driver development should not really be affected by the chip problem. Since the development could started as soon as the architecture modeling, and through simulation through first silicon back. The chip respin simply would not affect how the driver works unless the performance profiling of the respin chips differ very much that they had to compensate it through better tuning, or that certain nasty bugs in the hardware that render some functionality useless and the software have to code around it.

Hopefully, they will do better next time.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

What a POS

I want some answers from AMD, the card barely competes with the X1950XTX... :thumbsdown:

 

[MadBoris]

We have two big boys left that come to mind that have not put up there reviews. Anand and Toms.
Hope the wait has something new and fresh.

 

[MadBoris]

Elitebastards joins the fray.
http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/index....com_content&task=view&id=388&Itemid=31

Unfortunately they don't have cards to test.

 

[sisq0kidd]

Thanks for all the links and effort tonight MadBoris!

 

[MadBoris]

Originally posted by: sisq0kidd
Thanks for all the links and effort tonight MadBoris!

No problem. Figured while i was here and looking them up.