Should I go for a X1950XTX?

[dukdukgoos]

Looking to upgrade my aging X800XL and I'm thinking X1950XTX, basically because of the lower noise and power usage of the X1950XTX over the X1900 generation cards. I have a 1920x1200 native resolution monitor, so I'm thinking I need top of the line horsepower. I really want HDR + AA, so nVidia isn't really an option at this time.

Can we expect a price drop on these in the near future? They came out more expensive than the initial reports ($450 instead of $400), and I'm wondering if they'll drop a bit in the next couple of weeks.

Also, is anyone running one of these cards in Linux yet? I know nVidia's drivers are superior in Linux, but is the card at least usable in Linux with the ATI drivers? My X800 has a bug with the ATI drivers that causes the fan to spin at full speed all the time, which is annoying to say the least. I'd like to run XGL with it at least, and maybe play around with some gaming, but I'll continue to use Windows for the majority of my gaming (for the time being at least).

Any thoughts/opinions appreciated...

 

[JPB]

Well, if your thinking about purchasing it...then you can afford it. I would go for it myself. If you play your games at the native res, you should reap the benefit's of it. Hard to tell about price drop, some say the X1950's will replace the X1900's and if so, they may not drop much if at all till R600

 

[Pabster]

Yep, 19x12+ resolutions, go with the big guns. X1950XTX or 7950GX2.

 

[dukdukgoos]

I really wish I could get an nVidia card, as I'd prefer to have better Linux support. But I have to have AA in games, which basically means I can't use HDR with an nV card. I don't want to wait til the next generation for nV to have HDR + AA, so ATI wins this round...

My choice basically comes down to a X1950XTX or X1900XTX with an after-market cooler (and that wouldn't resolve the excessive power draw issues with 1900).

 

[tvdang7]

i say wait a few weeks . no harm in waiting...............unless they jack up the price which would be F*** up. but ppl arnt thowing money at these as much as the 7800gtx512 or the x800gto2 so im sure they wont go up in price.

 

[akshayt]

with 1GB and single core AMD Athlon @ 2.25GHz you can't get all that. Get the CPU to 2.4-2.8GHz and yet games like Oblivion will get hudge benefits from a dual core specially core 2 duo. With this CPU at that res you will get severe lagging/stuttering.

You will need to restain to 12X10 or 16X10.

Get a 1900XT 512mb with a X2 3800. That would be the best option.

 

[tvdang7]

Originally posted by: akshayt
with 1GB and single core AMD Athlon @ 2.25GHz you can't get all that. Get the CPU to 2.4-2.8GHz and yet games like Oblivion will get hudge benefits from a dual core specially core 2 duo. With this CPU at that res you will get severe lagging/stuttering.

You will need to restain to 12X10 or 16X10.

Get a 1900XT 512mb with a X2 3800. That would be the best option.

oblivion isnt even multithreaded. and cpu doesnt matter when ur res goes high.

 

[dukdukgoos]

Originally posted by: tvdang7

Originally posted by: akshayt
with 1GB and single core AMD Athlon @ 2.25GHz you can't get all that. Get the CPU to 2.4-2.8GHz and yet games like Oblivion will get hudge benefits from a dual core specially core 2 duo. With this CPU at that res you will get severe lagging/stuttering.

You will need to restain to 12X10 or 16X10.

Get a 1900XT 512mb with a X2 3800. That would be the best option.

oblivion isnt even multithreaded. and cpu doesnt matter when ur res goes high.

It was my understanding as well that @ high res the CPU wouldn't matter much, it'd be GPU limited. I plan on getting an X2 in the near future, and if need be I can overclock the 3000+ more... I'm not pushing it at all right now, it can run much faster.

 

[josh6079]

Originally posted by: akshayt
with 1GB and single core AMD Athlon @ 2.25GHz you can't get all that. Get the CPU to 2.4-2.8GHz and yet games like Oblivion will get hudge benefits from a dual core specially core 2 duo. With this CPU at that res you will get severe lagging/stuttering.

You will need to restain to 12X10 or 16X10.

Get a 1900XT 512mb with a X2 3800. That would be the best option.

Stop posting. Your advice is always to get the card you have.

 

[akshayt]

Let me put it like this:
If he upgraded to a Core 2 Duo, will he notice a performance boost if he games at 1920 or up.

 

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: akshayt
Let me put it like this:
If he upgraded to a Core 2 Duo, will he notice a performance boost if he games at 1920 or up.

How much of an idiot are you? If he got a Core 2 Duo, he'd be getting maybe a couple frames more. Where are you getting severe lagging and stuttering? I was running Oblivion max everything with a X1900XT/Opteron 146@stock and I was getting smooth framerates.

Do everyone a favor and stop posting this garbage

 

[akshayt]

Do AT a favour. Please check AT CPU scaling with Oblivion before speaking.

Also, from what I have heard, Core 2 Duo made Oblivion perfect.

Forget about frame rates, just tell one thing, did Oblivion run perfectly smooth and butter like on your system or was it a bit jerky or not that great feeling almost all the time or even 25% of the time.

 

[dukdukgoos]

Originally posted by: akshayt
Do AT a favour. Please check AT CPU scaling with Oblivion before speaking.

I just read it, and if I was playing @ 12x10 you'd have a point, but I think @ 19x12 it'll be GPU limited.

Can anyone with a high end card who plays @ 19x12 confirm or deny this?

 

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: akshayt
Do AT a favour. Please check AT CPU scaling with Oblivion before speaking.

Also, from what I have heard, Core 2 Duo made Oblivion perfect.

Forget about frame rates, just tell one thing, did Oblivion run perfectly smooth and butter like on your system or was it a bit jerky or not that great feeling almost all the time or even 25% of the time.

Firing Squad Review

Tech Report Review

H Enthusiast Review

3 random articles using google shows that conroe does indeed have an advantage, but a negligible one. With all the details turned up (obviously what the OP wants at a high resolution) the GPU matters the most, and CPU doesn't play a big part.

And about my X1900XT from a while back, after the chuck patch it ran smooth at all times with all the details turned up.

 

[dukdukgoos]

Cool, this just gives me more reason to see how far I can push the CPU. If performance is still climbing when I run out of CPU headroom, I guess I'll look at a CPU upgrade.

 

[akshayt]

HardOCP says that FX62 plays the game with shadows 3 nothch whereas E6700 plays it with shadows 5nothch.

Also keep in mind one thing, if Rig 1 plays a game at 10X7 with 45FPS, and Rig 2 plays the same thing at 60FPS, if they take it to 16X12, Rig 1 and 2 maybe both getting around 30FPS.

Bottomline
Any CPU + Any GPU will get more FPS at lower settings than at higher settings. But the difference between the extra performance given by a faster CPU will decline a lot, most of the times that is.

If you want, please confirm by playing at diff res.

 

[akshayt]

Techreport only tested dual cores. How do you compare a single core with that.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: akshayt
Techreport only tested dual cores. How do you compare a single core with that.

Most games are single threaded. I havent seen a multi threaded game. Just because its dual core doesnt mean some sort of a performance boost.

The only way i see Core2 Duo's having a performance boost would be due to the massive architectural efficeny of the Conroe architecture compared to the Athlon A64 X2.

But as i understand, Higher the res with AA/AF, it becomes GPU limited, not CPU limited.

Why not wait til the G80 hit around novmeber/december? If not, the X1950XTX is great as it has lower power draw and quiet cooler. Not to mention the upcoming games might not run HDR plus AA at playable fps. (Crysis etc)

 

[akshayt]

There are many games which benefit from dual core. Eg: Oblivion, Quake 4 etc. Please prove otherwise by benchies.

 

[josh6079]

Originally posted by: akshayt
There are many games which benefit from dual core. Eg: Oblivion, Quake 4 etc. Please prove otherwise by benchies.

Please prove that they do. I haven't ever seen you offer any proof for...anything. Even when it comes to your own problems.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

I'd maybe get a x1900xt instead.. I mean from the benchmarks I saw, the x1950xtx didn't do that much better of a job then the x1900xt, and the x1950 drawed more power as well. What I suggest is get in on one of those rebate deals and get a x1900xt, maybe get an X2 on it, so it comes out a good amount cheaper and you can always OC it too.

If you didn't know, the x1900xt clocks are 625/1450 and the 1950 clocks are 650/2000. The fact that the memory boost didn't provide much performance gain shows how the card is pretty much "core" or "fillrate" limited. So if you get a x1900xt and OC to 700+/1600+ you would probably have a faster card on your hands then the 1950, while being a lot cheaper. Again a X2 would be pretty much crucial if you choose a x1900xt for Oc'ing reasons and noise reasons.

Anyway, let me know what you think.

-SZ

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster

Originally posted by: akshayt
Techreport only tested dual cores. How do you compare a single core with that.

Most games are single threaded. I havent seen a multi threaded game. Just because its dual core doesnt mean some sort of a performance boost.

The only way i see Core2 Duo's having a performance boost would be due to the massive architectural efficeny of the Conroe architecture compared to the Athlon A64 X2.

But as i understand, Higher the res with AA/AF, it becomes GPU limited, not CPU limited.

Why not wait til the G80 hit around novmeber/december? If not, the X1950XTX is great as it has lower power draw and quiet cooler. Not to mention the upcoming games might not run HDR plus AA at playable fps. (Crysis etc)

Q4 is multithreaded. Not exactly common tho, multithreaded games...

 

[akshayt]

with better drivers, 1950XTX will become a lot better.

 

[Nightmare225]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster

Originally posted by: akshayt
Techreport only tested dual cores. How do you compare a single core with that.

Most games are single threaded. I havent seen a multi threaded game. Just because its dual core doesnt mean some sort of a performance boost.

The only way i see Core2 Duo's having a performance boost would be due to the massive architectural efficeny of the Conroe architecture compared to the Athlon A64 X2.

But as i understand, Higher the res with AA/AF, it becomes GPU limited, not CPU limited.

Why not wait til the G80 hit around novmeber/december? If not, the X1950XTX is great as it has lower power draw and quiet cooler. Not to mention the upcoming games might not run HDR plus AA at playable fps. (Crysis etc)

Q4 is multithreaded. Not exactly common tho, multithreaded games...

Call of Duty 2 is also multi-threaded after patch.

 

[dukdukgoos]

I don't play Q4 or CoD2, but I'm considering getting an X2 3800 for general usage multitasking. I'm interested where you saw a 1900xt drawing less power than a 1950... the power draw and noise issue is my main reason for getting a 1950 over a 1900.