7800GT SLI vs. X1800XT

[Elfear]

Which would you guys get to game at 1920x1200? I don't play many OpenGL games, mostly Source games, FarCry, BF2, FEAR, UT2004, etc.

I am aware that the X1800XT isn't out yet, but in theory, it should be out pretty soon.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

According to AT's benches:

BF2
1600x1200 0xAA
7800GT SLI..........101
x1800XT...............98

1600x1200 4xAA
7800GT SLI...........88
x1800XT...............82

2048x1536 0xAA
7800GT SLI...........94
x1800XT...............68

2048x1536 4xAA
7800GT SLI...........71
x1800XT...............56

1900x1200 0xAA *no GT comparison
x1800XT..............78

1900x1200 4xAA *no GT comparison
x1800XT..............63

They stay very close at 16x12, but SLI starts to stretch its legs a bit once you get higher than that. I didn't see any benches of the GT SLI on Anandtech at 19x12, but since the GT SLI only loses 7% when going from 16x12 to 20x15 noAA (compared to the XT which loses 30% going from 16x12 to 20x15 noAA), I would assume the drop going to 19x12 would be equally as small. If I were to guess the GT SLI performance at 19x12, I would guess 96fps for noAA and 75fps 4xAA.

I have no idea what price the XT will be once it arrives. Right now, you can grab a pair of GTs for $600. Kinda steep (but hell, that's a few dollars less than I paid for my 2 6800GTs 10 months ago). But for 15-20% better performance, it may be worth it to you. And with FEAR and COD2 appearing to be very graphically demanding, I would imagine any single card having a hard time running them at a native 19x12 resolution.

 

[Unkno]

i would say get either the X1800XT or a SINGLE GTX, no point in purposely buying two cards at one time.

 

[Elfear]

Thanks for the results deadseasquirrel. Looks like performance for the SLI'd 7800GTs is pretty good.

Originally posted by: Unkno
i would say get either the X1800XT or a SINGLE GTX, no point in purposely buying two cards at one time.

Well I have a single 7800GTX right now but after seeing the performance of the X1800XT in the games I play and coupled with the image quality improvements, I think it would be worth the extra $100 or so. Thing is for almost the same amount of money I can get SLI'd 7800GTs which should offer better performance than the X1800XT. The only downside is that since I'm watercooling my chip and gpu I'd have to get another block for the second card and probably another pump since my current one wouldn't keep up with three blocks. Decisions, decisions.

 

[Cheesetogo]

Originally posted by: Elfear
Thanks for the results deadseasquirrel. Looks like performance for the SLI'd 7800GTs is pretty good.

Originally posted by: Unkno
i would say get either the X1800XT or a SINGLE GTX, no point in purposely buying two cards at one time.

Well I have a single 7800GTX right now but after seeing the performance of the X1800XT in the games I play and coupled with the image quality improvements, I think it would be worth the extra $100 or so. Thing is for almost the same amount of money I can get SLI'd 7800GTs which should offer better performance than the X1800XT. The only downside is that since I'm watercooling my chip and gpu I'd have to get another block for the second card and probably another pump since my current one wouldn't keep up with three blocks. Decisions, decisions.

Although the X1800XT runs many of the current games better, that doesn't really matter very much because for the most part your comparing frame rates such as 50fps vs 65fps. But in some the newer games like FEAR, the 7800 beats the X1800XT, and this time your comparing 30fps to 20 fps. I would suggest a single GTX.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: Cheesetogo

Originally posted by: Elfear
Thanks for the results deadseasquirrel. Looks like performance for the SLI'd 7800GTs is pretty good.

Originally posted by: Unkno
i would say get either the X1800XT or a SINGLE GTX, no point in purposely buying two cards at one time.

Well I have a single 7800GTX right now but after seeing the performance of the X1800XT in the games I play and coupled with the image quality improvements, I think it would be worth the extra $100 or so. Thing is for almost the same amount of money I can get SLI'd 7800GTs which should offer better performance than the X1800XT. The only downside is that since I'm watercooling my chip and gpu I'd have to get another block for the second card and probably another pump since my current one wouldn't keep up with three blocks. Decisions, decisions.

Although the X1800XT runs many of the current games better, that doesn't really matter very much because for the most part your comparing frame rates such as 50fps vs 65fps. But in some the newer games like FEAR, the 7800 beats the X1800XT, and this time your comparing 30fps to 20 fps. I would suggest a single GTX.

30 fps is almost as bad as 20. If your latest and greates video card can only do 30 fps in a game, then it's time to turn down some settings. Performance wise, dual 7800gt's seem better than a single x1800xt for the same price, but that will change once a game tries to use more than 256mb of video mem.

 

[Nextman916]

i personally prefer the x1800xt when available because first ATi cards have better image quality w/no shimmering. The price of 2 7800gt's would run at least $600 with shipping included just like the x1800xt. But the advantage comes if you purchase a crossfire board, you would have the option later to upgrade to another x1800xt while with the 7800gt's you would have to wait out their lifespan and upgrade both together. What im trying to say is that since one x1800xt already performs on par with dual 7800gt's, that when they both reach the end of their lifespans(which would be relatively the same time) you could simply bump up and add another x1800xt and catch up with the latest gen graphics. But with 7800's you would have to get rid of both cards and buy 2 new ones. Also i believe if the x1800xt was overclocked slightly(unlike the results above) it would perform equal if not better framerates than 2x7800gt's. The card has proved itself to be lighting fast, especially with only 16pipes and would seem like a more reasonable upgrade to me.

 

[Elfear]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I found a couple 7800GTs for ~$500 is the reason I'm actually interested. Tough choice since the 7800GT's will generally be faster than one X1800XT and cost less now than the X1800XT will be at launch. I can probably sell my current BFG 7800GTX for $400-450 so the 7800GT's wouldn't be much more.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: Elfear
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I found a couple 7800GTs for ~$500 is the reason I'm actually interested. Tough choice since the 7800GT's will generally be faster than one X1800XT and cost less now than the X1800XT will be at launch. I can probably sell my current BFG 7800GTX for $400-450 so the 7800GT's wouldn't be much more.

In that situation, I would do it in a heartbeat.

I'm still wondering what to do myself. I have 2 6800GTs. I could probably get $400 for them just like you, but I don't see where I can get 2 7800GTs for $500. So, I'd havta fork over $200 more outta pocket. Not something I wanna do atm. I'll probably just wait and see what the XT and 7800U do to the market in a few weeks.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Elfear
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I found a couple 7800GTs for ~$500 is the reason I'm actually interested. Tough choice since the 7800GT's will generally be faster than one X1800XT and cost less now than the X1800XT will be at launch. I can probably sell my current BFG 7800GTX for $400-450 so the 7800GT's wouldn't be much more.

Dude that is not a choice at all- that is a "Do it now before the deal goes away!"

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: Elfear
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I found a couple 7800GTs for ~$500 is the reason I'm actually interested. Tough choice since the 7800GT's will generally be faster than one X1800XT and cost less now than the X1800XT will be at launch. I can probably sell my current BFG 7800GTX for $400-450 so the 7800GT's wouldn't be much more.

Dude that is not a choice at all- that is a "Do it now before the deal goes away!"

That's the way I'm leaning and I guess the only thing holding me back is the curiosity factor with the X1800XT. If it proves to be a monster overclocker, like some of the results I've seen, than I think it would give a couple 7800GTs a run for their money. Of course, I could always oc the 7800GTs but I haven't seen any results for those yet.

 

[Cheesetogo]

Originally posted by: Elfear

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: Elfear
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I found a couple 7800GTs for ~$500 is the reason I'm actually interested. Tough choice since the 7800GT's will generally be faster than one X1800XT and cost less now than the X1800XT will be at launch. I can probably sell my current BFG 7800GTX for $400-450 so the 7800GT's wouldn't be much more.

Dude that is not a choice at all- that is a "Do it now before the deal goes away!"

That's the way I'm leaning and I guess the only thing holding me back is the curiosity factor with the X1800XT. If it proves to be a monster overclocker, like some of the results I've seen, than I think it would give a couple 7800GTs a run for their money. Of course, I could always oc the 7800GTs but I haven't seen any results for those yet.

Most of the results we've seen have been using phase-change cooling, and when the 7800 is put on phase change and compared to the X1800XT, it performs very similarly. Seeing as the X1800XT only has 16 pipes, I would imagine ATi is trying to squeeze all the performance out of it that they can get, which would mean with standard cooling you probably wouldn't be able to overclock very much.

 

[tekkitan]

can you run two gtx's in sli mode?

 

[JPB]

Originally posted by: tekkitan
can you run two gtx's in sli mode?

Yup......

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=315&card2=324

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: tekkitan
can you run two gtx's in sli mode?

I am doing it.

 

[tekkitan]

then why doesnt Elfear just buy another gtx

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: tekkitan
then why doesnt Elfear just buy another gtx

Because that's ~$450 out of pocket, whereas with the 7800GTs or the X1800XT, I can sell my current 7800GTX and I'm only out ~$50-100. I wish I could pony up the dough for another 7800GTX but unfortunately my wife would kill me.

 

[tekkitan]

why not just wait til you can afford another one? hopefully you arent that desperate to squeeze out a few more frames?

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: tekkitan
why not just wait til you can afford another one? hopefully you arent that desperate to squeeze out a few more frames?

Who wouldn't rather have a few more frames for minimal expenditure? If the difference between SLI'd 7800GTs and a single 7800GTX is really only a few frames than I'll save my money but I imagine the difference is greater than that.

What I'm really curious about is the advantage the extra 256MB of ram and higher memory bandwidth of the X1800XT has over 7800GTs at 1920x1200 4AA/16AF. I'll have to see if I can scare up some benchmarks comparing the two at that res or higher.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: Elfear
What I'm really curious about is the advantage the extra 256MB of ram and higher memory bandwidth of the X1800XT has over 7800GTs at 1920x1200 4AA/16AF. I'll have to see if I can scare up some benchmarks comparing the two at that res or higher.

From what I can see, while it does handle itself well against a single GTX, it doesn't stand a chance against an SLI configuration.

FiringSquad has some interesting numbers:

Yes, it's all Quake4, but, seriously, ATI is really holding their own on this one. So, I don't consider this an nV-slanted game anymore since ATI released their update that truly does give 30% in some settings.

2048x1536 4xAA 8xAF
x1800XT............47.9
single GTX.........35.1
single GT...........28.4
SLI GTs............70.0
and for those of us still on SLI 6800gt/u, we're holding on ok
SLI 6800u..........44.0

If I were you, I'd grab the GTs. They're out now and at a great price from what you say (and might even be cheaper than the XT when it arrives), and it looks like your system is ready for SLI already, so it should be very simple. And, at 1900x1200 and higher, they look to outperform the single XT quite well.

If you don't jump all over it, how about letting me know where to grab 'em so I can

 

[Regs]

700-800 dollars for 7800 GT's...hmmm. Not bad considering ATI's top offering is 600+ ?

 

[JPB]

Originally posted by: Regs
700-800 dollars for 7800 GT's...hmmm. Not bad considering ATI's top offering is 600+ ?

Id be willing to bet it will be a margin lower that $600

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: deadseasquirrel
From what I can see, while it does handle itself well against a single GTX, it doesn't stand a chance against an SLI configuration.

FiringSquad has some interesting numbers:

Yes, it's all Quake4, but, seriously, ATI is really holding their own on this one. So, I don't consider this an nV-slanted game anymore since ATI released their update that truly does give 30% in some settings.

2048x1536 4xAA 8xAF
x1800XT............47.9
single GTX.........35.1
single GT...........28.4
SLI GTs............70.0
and for those of us still on SLI 6800gt/u, we're holding on ok
SLI 6800u..........44.0

If I were you, I'd grab the GTs. They're out now and at a great price from what you say (and might even be cheaper than the XT when it arrives), and it looks like your system is ready for SLI already, so it should be very simple. And, at 1900x1200 and higher, they look to outperform the single XT quite well.

If you don't jump all over it, how about letting me know where to grab 'em so I can

Wow, that is a pretty big difference. Here are the results I gleaned off of Anandtech's reviews. Data in paranthesis are different results from two different test, probably attributable to different drivers.

1600x1200 4AA/8Af
...................FarCry... BF2... HL2... UT2004... Doom3..... DOD
X1800XT..... 80.1....... 82............................. 42.1.......... 59.5
7800GTX..... 74.1....... 66.7... 119.... 73.9..... 54.2(60.7).. 61.5
SLI 7800GT................ 88.7... 121.4..71.2..... 68.5

2048x1536 4AA
...................FarCry... BF2... HL2... UT2004... Doom3..... DOD
X1800XT..... 53.9....... 56............................. 27.6......... 39.9
7800GTX..... 50.6...... 42.5.... 89.3................ 34.9......... 36.1
SLI 7800GT............... 71.5.... 82.3................ 46.2


2048x1536
...................FarCry... BF2... HL2... UT2004... Doom3..... DOD
X1800XT..... 68.4......................................... 55.......... 49.4
7800GTX..... 68.2........................................ 75.6........ 62.8
SLI 7800GT


1920x1200 4AA/8AF
...................FarCry... BF2... HL2... UT2004... Doom3..... DOD
X1800XT..... 69.7...... 63.8............................. 36.7....... 51.7
7800GTX..... 63.8..... 46.4............................... 51......... 46.4
SLI 7800GT

Looks like the 7800GTs are doing very well against the other cards except in CPu-limited situations.

By the way: How the heck do you make a spreadsheet format look good when you're posting. Any tricks I don't know about?

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: deadseasquirrel
From what I can see, while it does handle itself well against a single GTX, it doesn't stand a chance against an SLI configuration.

Yep, quoting myself here. It looks like I've made a mistake. FS's article pages are mislabeled and I didn't correlate the page title to the chart title. The page title here says "Q4 SLI Ultra Performance", but the charts are labeled in "High Quality", with the Ultra being on the previous page (which is out of order since they listed from High to Ultra in the previous pages).

So, my numbers are likely off from what I posted earlier. It appears that when comparing High Quality SLI GTs to High Quality XT, the GTs win every single time (by as much as 22% at 2048x1536).

Yet, when you compare Ultra Quality SLI GTs to Ultra Quality XT:

1024x768 Ultra Q 4xAA 8xAF
XT...........104
SLI GTs....98

1280x1024 Ultra Q 4xAA 8xAF
XT..............82
SLI GTs.....92

1600x1200 Ultra Q 4xAA 8xAF
XT..............65
SLI GTs.....72

2048x1536 Ultra Q 4xAA 8xAF
XT............47
SLI GTs.....43

Can't quite figure out why there is such a flip-flop at Ultra.

 

[Elfear]

Ya, I noticed that too. Maybe something to do with the 512MB of ram??