7900 vs 1900

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: SeybaNumberTwo

Originally posted by: SeybaNumberTwo
The biggest difference in my mind is the heat and noise, which nvidia has less of.

If I use a watercooling solution for the 1900XT will I have the best of both worlds?

Does anybody know or is nobody answering?

I'm currently using a watercooled X1900XT and yes, it is the best of both worlds (heat and noise).

 

[SeybaNumberTwo]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: SeybaNumberTwo

Originally posted by: SeybaNumberTwo
The biggest difference in my mind is the heat and noise, which nvidia has less of.

If I use a watercooling solution for the 1900XT will I have the best of both worlds?

Does anybody know or is nobody answering?

Define best of both worlds?

From the information I have gathered, would could be incorrect, the 1900XT/XTX has better performance in high resolution AA and some performance advantages concerning high levels of shaders. Yet the 1900's are noisier and hotter than the 7900's.

Would I be making a good choice water cooling the 1900, or should I save myself the trouble and get the 7900, the performance difference being negligable?

 

[Painman]

Originally posted by: Elfear

Originally posted by: SeybaNumberTwo

Originally posted by: SeybaNumberTwo
The biggest difference in my mind is the heat and noise, which nvidia has less of.

If I use a watercooling solution for the 1900XT will I have the best of both worlds?

Does anybody know or is nobody answering?

I'm currently using a watercooled X1900XT and yes, it is the best of both worlds (heat and noise).

So am I :thumbsup: Noise - minimal. Temps - I haven't seen my X1900 core pop 45º C yet, after hours of looping. I haven't even begun to tap the OC potential of the card w/water. Gotta take care of the voltage regulators/coils first, but the core is lovin' it.

Back to main topic - it's a great day for everyone on the high end. You can buy your green or buy your red w/o regrets, and the competition is bringing down those prices.

 

[moonboy403]

now we just gotta hope the trend will continue for the top end cards

bringing it back down to $400 a pop would be real nice!

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: SeybaNumberTwo

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: SeybaNumberTwo

Originally posted by: SeybaNumberTwo
The biggest difference in my mind is the heat and noise, which nvidia has less of.

If I use a watercooling solution for the 1900XT will I have the best of both worlds?

Does anybody know or is nobody answering?

Define best of both worlds?

From the information I have gathered, would could be incorrect, the 1900XT/XTX has better performance in high resolution AA and some performance advantages concerning high levels of shaders. Yet the 1900's are noisier and hotter than the 7900's.

Would I be making a good choice water cooling the 1900, or should I save myself the trouble and get the 7900, the performance difference being negligable?

Judging from anandtechs review, the XTX winning by 1fps at high resolution in F.E.A.R. isnt exactly a major "shader win".

 

[beggerking]

Originally posted by: SeybaNumberTwo

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: SeybaNumberTwo

Originally posted by: SeybaNumberTwo
The biggest difference in my mind is the heat and noise, which nvidia has less of.

If I use a watercooling solution for the 1900XT will I have the best of both worlds?

Does anybody know or is nobody answering?

Define best of both worlds?

From the information I have gathered, would could be incorrect, the 1900XT/XTX has better performance in high resolution AA and some performance advantages concerning high levels of shaders. Yet the 1900's are noisier and hotter than the 7900's.

Would I be making a good choice water cooling the 1900, or should I save myself the trouble and get the 7900, the performance difference being negligable?

IMHO, Yes, 1900xt IMO is the better performing card with better feature... not by much, but it is better. Yet it runs so hot and loud. If you replace the fan with a water cooling solution, you would get the best of both worlds.

The only thing is that it won't be good to your wallet.

 

[Painman]

WC is an expense that can be spread out over time, if you buy good-quality, generalized parts. Forget those pricey blocks designed just for x1xx or 7x00, simple blocks can often be retro-fitted to work with future cards/mount configurations by way of adapter kits. Initially you may shell out $250-300 for a good CPU/GPU loop setup, but it may last you through several hardware swaps.

 

[darXoul]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Judging from anandtechs review, the XTX winning by 1fps at high resolution in F.E.A.R. isnt exactly a major "shader win".

True, and I'm certainly glad that nVidia managed to catch up quite a bit in this game. I say "quite a bit" and not "fully" because reviews are very inconsistent here. 1 frame in the AT review, slightly better performance than ATi on HOCP but in most other reviews, the gap is clearly larger, like ca. 42 vs. 51 fps in 1600*1200 with AA/AF, w/o SS.

 

[nib95]

basically, here's how you guys should look at it now.

What games will you be playing with these cards?
Me personally...


Oblivian
Medieval Wars
Barbarian Wars
Battle for Middle Earth 2
Quake Wars
HL2: Aftermath
Prey
Spore
Rise of Nations (new one)
maybe even UT2K7
Maybe even the enw Splinter Cell
Ghost Recon

Question is, which card will run these better?
I'm pretty sure Prey and Quake Wars will run better on the G71 range, but as for the other games.
Who knows just yet.

 

[BATMAN3677]

Alright... i have a 1900XTX and i have to say that i have no regrets AT ALL! I have a friend who is a die hard Nvidia fan. He buys Nvidia no matter what they put out. So I've paid a lot of attention to the details in the reviews.

First off make sure you pay attention to the drivers a reviewer is using when they do their reviews. If you compare the benchmarks of the X1900XTX from HardOCP to the benchmarks of X1900XTX from Firingsquad, you'll see the results from the same card are very different because HardOCP used 6.2 Cat drivers and Firingsquad used 6.3 Cat drivers. I would have liked to see HardOCP use the 6.3 drivers cause i really like the way they do their benchmarks (not based on peak numbers).

Second, if you look at HARDOCP's review of the 7900GT, they compared it to an X1800XL instead of a 1900XT.... why? i don't know... would it be safe to say that the 1900XT would have out performed the 7900GT? Absolutely because the 7900GT beat the X1800XL by only a 4-10fps depending on the run.

If you notice the 7900GTX beats the X1900XTX only by a fps 4-10 depending on the game however, notice that the X1900XTX has clear gaming advangtages over the 7900GTX. What does that mean? It means if all you care about is fps, go with the 7900, but if you want the better quality picture at the cost of 4-10 fps, then go with the 1900. Now mind you, again i think the benchmarks would have been very different if they had used the 6.3 CAT drivers. I really believe the numbers would have been very damn close if not the same...at that point the X1900 would have had a clear advantage because it puts out a higher quality picture.

Now, to be fair to Nvidia, will new drivers make this card faster? Probably...how much faster? I don't know. Will it take care of the shimmering problems? I don't know...

For right now, ATI has WHQL drivers and is its obvious that they have very little of the shimmering problem that is noticed by Nvidia users.

As far as price, i think we are going to see the price of the 7900s go up today as the stock starts to run out. ATI X1900XTX on new egg is still in supply and under 600.00. A powercolor card comes with a lifetime warranty

Anyways, thats my take.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: BATMAN3677
Alright... i have a 1900XTX and i have to say that i have no regrets AT ALL! I have a friend who is a die hard Nvidia fan. He buys Nvidia no matter what they put out. So I've paid a lot of attention to the details in the reviews.

First off make sure you pay attention to the drivers a reviewer is using when they do their reviews. If you compare the benchmarks of the X1900XTX from HardOCP to the benchmarks of X1900XTX from Firingsquad, you'll see the results from the same card are very different because HardOCP used 6.2 Cat drivers and Firingsquad used 6.3 Cat drivers. I would have liked to see HardOCP use the 6.3 drivers cause i really like the way they do their benchmarks (not based on peak numbers).

Second, if you look at HARDOCP's review of the 7900GT, they compared it to an X1800XL instead of a 1900XT.... why? i don't know... would it be safe to say that the 1900XT would have out performed the 7900GT? Absolutely because the 7900GT beat the X1800XL by only a 4-10fps depending on the run.

If you notice the 7900GTX beats the X1900XTX only by a fps 4-10 depending on the game however, notice that the X1900XTX has clear gaming advangtages over the 7900GTX. What does that mean? It means if all you care about is fps, go with the 7900, but if you want the better quality picture at the cost of 4-10 fps, then go with the 1900. Now mind you, again i think the benchmarks would have been very different if they had used the 6.3 CAT drivers. I really believe the numbers would have been very damn close if not the same...at that point the X1900 would have had a clear advantage because it puts out a higher quality picture.

Now, to be fair to Nvidia, will new drivers make this card faster? Probably...how much faster? I don't know. Will it take care of the shimmering problems? I don't know...

For right now, ATI has WHQL drivers and is its obvious that they have very little of the shimmering problem that is noticed by Nvidia users.

As far as price, i think we are going to see the price of the 7900s go up today as the stock starts to run out. ATI X1900XTX on new egg is still in supply and under 600.00. A powercolor card comes with a lifetime warranty

Anyways, thats my take.

Drivers dont make significant differences like that under most cases. Look at reviews that show 6or 7 different driver revisions on the same card, very rarely does it deviate more than 1% either way.

 

[tony4704]

man I put in the request for a step to the 7900 GTX but after doing some of the reading...I would prefer to have better IQ for my games then 10-12 FPS. With my watercooled setup I don't care about heat and noise anyways. Only reason I like the 7900 gtx is because I have a sli motherboard and can down the road add a second card. So confused now, might consider canceling the step up and getting a 1900

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: tony4704
man I put in the request for a step to the 7900 GTX but after doing some of the reading...I would prefer to have better IQ for my games then 10-12 FPS. With my watercooled setup I don't care about heat and noise anyways. Only reason I like the 7900 gtx is because I have a sli motherboard and can down the road add a second card. So confused now, might consider canceling the step up and getting a 1900

If you aren't choosing to SLI your current 7800GT right now, why would you SLI a 7900GTX later on?

 

[SeybaNumberTwo]

I read a review on a certain website that described a problem they called "texture shimmering." While it was a problem on both cards they noticed it much more on the 7900. I read that part of the review twice and I still don't understand what texture shimmering is. Can anyone hepl me out?

 

[tony4704]

Originally posted by: Creig

Originally posted by: tony4704
man I put in the request for a step to the 7900 GTX but after doing some of the reading...I would prefer to have better IQ for my games then 10-12 FPS. With my watercooled setup I don't care about heat and noise anyways. Only reason I like the 7900 gtx is because I have a sli motherboard and can down the road add a second card. So confused now, might consider canceling the step up and getting a 1900

If you aren't choosing to SLI your current 7800GT right now, why would you SLI a 7900GTX later on?

I bought this card in for the sole reason as a filler card until the new cards came out.

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: BATMAN3677
Alright... i have a 1900XTX and i have to say that i have no regrets AT ALL! I have a friend who is a die hard Nvidia fan. He buys Nvidia no matter what they put out. So I've paid a lot of attention to the details in the reviews.

First off make sure you pay attention to the drivers a reviewer is using when they do their reviews. If you compare the benchmarks of the X1900XTX from HardOCP to the benchmarks of X1900XTX from Firingsquad, you'll see the results from the same card are very different because HardOCP used 6.2 Cat drivers and Firingsquad used 6.3 Cat drivers. I would have liked to see HardOCP use the 6.3 drivers cause i really like the way they do their benchmarks (not based on peak numbers).

Second, if you look at HARDOCP's review of the 7900GT, they compared it to an X1800XL instead of a 1900XT.... why? i don't know... would it be safe to say that the 1900XT would have out performed the 7900GT? Absolutely because the 7900GT beat the X1800XL by only a 4-10fps depending on the run.

If you notice the 7900GTX beats the X1900XTX only by a fps 4-10 depending on the game however, notice that the X1900XTX has clear gaming advangtages over the 7900GTX. What does that mean? It means if all you care about is fps, go with the 7900, but if you want the better quality picture at the cost of 4-10 fps, then go with the 1900. Now mind you, again i think the benchmarks would have been very different if they had used the 6.3 CAT drivers. I really believe the numbers would have been very damn close if not the same...at that point the X1900 would have had a clear advantage because it puts out a higher quality picture.

Now, to be fair to Nvidia, will new drivers make this card faster? Probably...how much faster? I don't know. Will it take care of the shimmering problems? I don't know...

For right now, ATI has WHQL drivers and is its obvious that they have very little of the shimmering problem that is noticed by Nvidia users.

As far as price, i think we are going to see the price of the 7900s go up today as the stock starts to run out. ATI X1900XTX on new egg is still in supply and under 600.00. A powercolor card comes with a lifetime warranty

Anyways, thats my take.

Drivers dont make significant differences like that under most cases. Look at reviews that show 6or 7 different driver revisions on the same card, very rarely does it deviate more than 1% either way.

True for the most part, but 3-4 months ago ATi's new drivers gave a HUGE increase in OGL performance, and the recent drivers supposedly give 5-10% better performance in CoD2.

 

[tony4704]

Ok, does anyone have any or no where I could look at side by side images that show ATI's dominance of IQ over nvidia...I just dont want to screw up my step up order for something that is so minimal it doesnt matter... thanks so much!

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: darXoul

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Judging from anandtechs review, the XTX winning by 1fps at high resolution in F.E.A.R. isnt exactly a major "shader win".

True, and I'm certainly glad that nVidia managed to catch up quite a bit in this game. I say "quite a bit" and not "fully" because reviews are very inconsistent here. 1 frame in the AT review, slightly better performance than ATi on HOCP but in most other reviews, the gap is clearly larger, like ca. 42 vs. 51 fps in 1600*1200 with AA/AF, w/o SS.

I'm definitely slightly skeptical of the AT results in this test, given that: they don't say which driver versions they're using, they don't say which in-game and driver settings they're using, and the X1900s actually scored lower in the FEAR benches than they did in the X1900 launch article (so they changed demos or settings, or screwed up somewhere).

THG had the X1900s with a slight lead without soft shadows at 1600x1200, and absolutely destroying the 7900s (>50% better) with soft shadows and AF enabled at 1600x1200. Not sure if they had the latest NVIDIA drivers with the FEAR performance fix, though. This seems more in line with the other numbers I've seen in this game (although a lot of places don't bench with soft shadows).

 

[harobikes333]

so ATI's brands that sell the cards ex: powercolor <--brand has life time on cards...? RIght? just like some companies that sell nvid don't have lifetime warranties..?

I hope the 7900GT gets back in stock. I'm planning on buying in 2 weeks. (spring break is this coming week I don't feel like puting together a computer and I'm going snowboarding ^ ^

 

[moonboy403]

ATI's superior in terms of image quality
1) ati has angle independent af
2) less shimmering (ex. playing far cry would demonstrate shimmering easily as you're looking into the horizon/ mountain)

other than that, i don't think there's much difference between the quality of nvidia and ati cards

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Ackmed
$400 XTX; http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant...=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=190552

$400? how does your math work?

and i would buy that in a second if it was $400... =/

Originally posted by: the Chase
Takes his X1800XT for $320 and throws it in the garbage..(And I haven't even gotten it yet!)

where can i get a $320 x1800?

 

[moonboy403]

it was $400 with rebate

i can attest that

it was only up for a little while before monarch caught the price mistake and changed it back

 

[Topweasel]

Well I hope everyone that ordered it got it at that price. Its a great price and if I was getting a a card this gen it deffinitely would have been that one at that price. Hopefully ATI is up for a price war with the XTX because I know Nvidia is, naybe people interested in a XTX will be able to get it at the price without it being a typo some day.

 

[tony4704]

Originally posted by: moonboy403
ATI's superior in terms of image quality
1) ati has angle independent af
2) less shimmering (ex. playing far cry would demonstrate shimmering easily as you're looking into the horizon/ mountain)

other than that, i don't think there's much difference between the quality of nvidia and ati cards

See this is what I am talking about...Is it really superior? Besides that shimmering crap is the IQ really that noticeably different?

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: v8envy
One last thing: ATI's Linux drivers are truly awful, and may not even support X1800/X1900 yet. I am a bit fuzzy on which cards are supported. I know the X8xx series in AGP are not.

If you're gonna go all Borg and climb aboard Vista, not a problem. But if you're one of the rapidly growing windows games on linux set, watch out.

No offense but I'm not going to base my $500+ graphics card purchase based on Linux drivers. Linux gaming is an oxymoron in itself. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy playing with Linux but in the big picture the % of games that run native is rather low and using WINE or Cedux (?) are weak workarounds. IMO, if you're buying a 7900 or 1900 base your decision on how well it runs in Windows, not Linux.