upgrade: 7800 gt SLI or x1900xt?

[MarkK79]

Hi:

I am interested in upgrading my video card. Currently I run a system with an Asus SLI motherboard, AMD FX-53, one eVGA 7800 gt, Seasonic S12 600W power supply, 1 GB Ram and monitor with native resolution of 1280X1024. I would like to upgrade so that I get great performance out of all the latest games with most eye candy turned on.

Would you recommend I purchase another 7800 gt and set up an SLI system or purchase a single ATI x1900xt card?

Looks like the x1900xt card will cost me @ $500 and the 7800 gt @ $300.

 

[996GT2]

If you look around on the web, the general opinion is that 2 7800GTs in SLi will outperform a single X1900XT. And to get another eVGA 7800GT will only run you $260 or so on newegg (factory OC'd too). Also, if you get the X1900 and want to add another in Crossfire later, you'll have to buy a new mobo.

So I say stick with the 7800GTs

 

[Bobthelost]

The 7800GT if i were you, and get more RAM you want 2gb for high end gaming.

SLI 7800GT and a single 1900XT are pretty damned close performance wise, but it'll be a cheaper upgrade to get the 7800GT and it means you can get 2gb RAM too.

(You can't wait for 7900 to come out presumably?)

 

[beggerking]

you can't go wrong with either.

 

[Elfear]

That is a very popular question lately. Personally, I sold my 7800GTs to get an X1900XT. The 7800GTs are fast but the X1900XT had more advantages in my opinion:

1) Easier to work with as it's only one card
2) No profiles (they work fairly well but can get annoying sometimes when they don't)
3) The games I really needed help in (FEAR and COD2) get better performance with the X1900XT
4) Better IQ by way of angle-independant AF and 6xAA
5) Overclocking is much easier on the X1900XT. My 7800GTs managed a paltry 5% oc on the core and a 14% oc on the mem. I needed expensive/tricky voltmods to get any higher than that. My X1900XT on the other hand, got a 16% oc on the core and a 14% oc on the mem using the stock cooler (22% and 21% using watercooling).
6) HDR + AA (some people consider this insignificant but I personally like the ability to run both together)
7) Myself and others got tearing while using SLI and an LCD monitor. This is extremely annoying and really detracted from the gaming experience (this usually happens in D3D games that you can't enable triple buffering for, OpenGL seemed to be fine)

You can sell your current 7800GT for $200-250 so you'd either break even with the two setups or it would be cheaper for the X1900XT.

In the end it's up to you of course, but those are the reasons I switched.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

What games are causing you to feel you need to upgrade? Don't get me wrong-- I love upgrading just for the hell of it too, but stupid things like food, shelter, clothing for the kids, etc. keep getting in the way. The LCD, for the most part, confines you to that 1280x1024 resolution, so I could see games like FEAR and COD2 causing some slowdowns with a single GT. So if there's a particular game that's not giving you the performance at the settings you need, then definitely check some review sites that show comparisons at your resolution.

If it's just a case of "upgrade-itis", then you'd definitely do better to at least wait until nV releases their new cards in 2 weeks or so... or, even better, wait until you can't maintain good frames in the games you play now at your chosen settings.

 

[Matt2]

I've had to fend myself off of getting an X1900XT many times since they came out.

Since you are stuck at 1280x1024 just like me, I recommend going with the 7800GT SLI. The X1900XT only really shines at the higher resolutions. IN FEAR at 1280x1024 all settings to max, 4x/16x AA/AF, soft shadows on, I get an average 71fps. That's ~3fps faster than an X1900XTX.

 

[TheRyuu]

I think you would get a higher minimum framerate with the SLIed 7800GT's. And since 7800GT's are actually "cheap" now, you really can't loose.

 

[Twsmit]

I think the better card would be the x1900XT, but to save money and take advantage of your current card, SLI might be a better choice. I think you really need to determine if you need the upgrade, 1280x1024 is a medium resolution and if you look at benchmarks at this res, SLI offers VERY little in the way of extra FPS at such a low resolution.

However if you choose the SLI option, wait a few weeks, once the 7900's are out the price of 7800's should drop, or you can pick up an even cheaper card off the FS/T forums.

 

[Bull Dog]

Single cards RULE. Get the X1900XT

 

[Xenon14]

It might acutally be cheaper to upgrade to x1900xt if you sell your current 7800gt (which I assume you would do if you were to get the x1900xt). The x1900xt is def a better solution for shader intensive games like F.E.A.R. I vote for the x1900xt, plus it has AVIVO.

 

[LW07]

Get the X1900XT. It's better than 2 7800GTs in SLI and will offer more performance down the road.

 

[itsrunninghot]

I would go with the 1900. I dont like the idea of 2 card setups. The ability to run 6x antialiasing would definitely help image quality compared to 4x at 1280x1024. But like others have said if you dont really need the extra power now, why not wait for the new cards, or better yet new games to come out and then decide.

 

[VERTIGGO]

I had the choice too, I'm all set up for SLI, but the X1900XT is better than the GTs. COD2 and FEAR are amazing. (Yes I use 1920x1200, but I can still enable 6xADAA and 16HQAF which is money. At 1280x1024 it'll smoke anything right now.