7900GTX vs. X1900XTX -- a true trade-off

[Bona Fide]

Well, my roommate has decided that his 6800GT just isn't cutting it anymore. He managed to get ~$600 somewhere, and I'm not exactly sure where . Regardless, he's buying a 250gb hard drive for about $100, which leaves him $500 to spend on a video card. Here's the current tradeoff [in his eyes] between the two cards:

X1900XTX

Pros: More pixel shaders, performs better than the 7900GTX in almost all games
Cons: Loud and hot

7900GTX

Pros: Much quieter than the X1900, runs cooler, looks "nicer"
Cons: Not as powerful as the X1900, especially in shader-intensive games

So, which is the one for him? For the record, he has an Abit AN8 Ultra, so SLI/CF are out of the question anyway.

 

[m3ta1head]

If he must choose between those two, then the 7900gtx.

But I'd reccomend that he save his money and get something more midrange like a 7900gt. In my opinion, it's never wise to splooge on a brand new expensive graphics card, especially with dx10 and vista right around the corner.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[InorganicMatter]

The performance difference is not something you will notice. Both cards shimmer. Both have decent drivers (although nVidia has the edge over ATI). I say go with whatever brand you want (or support your country, if you're Canadian buy ATI, if you're American buy nVidia).

 

[krameriffic]

I would vote for a cheaper X1900XT. You can probably find one for about $380ish nowadays with a rebate.

 

[oldmanwinter]

Both have decent drivers (although nVidia has the edge over ATI)

Not to pick on you specifically, but I can't believe people are still perpetuating that myth.

To the OP... if your buddy wants to play Oblivion, I'd have to strongly recommend an X1900. If he's concerned about noise, he can get one of the HIS IceQ3 cooled models.

Other than Oblivion, I'm not sure you'll find many current games where there is a noticeably large difference in performance between the two cards. Differences in AF quality are of debatable significance, but they do exist, so that's something to bear in mind. The 7900 does run cooler and use less power than the X1900, but unless your friends computer is on the very threshold of being overwhelmed by heat or power consumption, it's not really going to matter.

 

[InorganicMatter]

I vote for the cheaper 7900GT. You can get the eVGA KO model for $280 no rebate

Not to pick on you specifically, but I can't believe people are still perpetuating that myth.

I've used both, recently. I am basing this on actual experience, unlike most people here. (I'm tempted to say "including you")

 

[thecoldanddarkone]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814241006&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=14-241-006 399 after mir.

or get an 1800xt 512 or a 7900 gt.

 

[oldmanwinter]

I've used both, recently. I am basing this on actual experience, unlike most people here. (I'm tempted to say "including you")

I have been and still am using both, so don't go making assumptions. If anything, ATI has the better drivers right now. The thing that most people get hung up on is the CCC, which has nothing to do with the drivers. You can install the bare driver and control all the driver options via a third-party tool such as ATITool without ever installing .NET or the CCC.

To sum, what you meant to say is that nvidia has a slightly better driver CP, in which case I would agree, as ATI's CCC is bloated and confusing by comparison.

Nice camo-insult, btw. I'm betting you didn't realize that would show up in a quote

 

[Mazgazine1]

if he has a PCI-E board already, hmmm.. if he's looking to upgrade in the far future, I'd recommend the 7900GTX or a GT because he can buy a board with SLI and use it right away.. And its alot more common then X-fire..

However if he's just looking for the most power, I'd say go with the 1900XTX, for a single card, its really powerful.. and you can probably find quieter and cooler cooling solutions for it.

 

[InorganicMatter]

Nice camo-insult, btw. I'm betting you didn't realize that would show up in a quote

It wasn't at you, I said I was tempted to

And maybe we are disagreeing because I don't use 3rd-party drivers. I use only official drivers, so the CCC is a very real problem for me.

 

[iJeff]

if he has a PCI-E board already, hmmm.. if he's looking to upgrade in the far future, I'd recommend the 7900GTX or a GT because he can buy a board with SLI and use it right away.. And its alot more common then X-fire..

Yes, mobos with SLI support are more common than Crossfire mobos, and that means he should go with SLI over Crossfire.

 

[oldmanwinter]

It wasn't at you, I said I was tempted to

And maybe we are disagreeing because I don't use 3rd-party drivers. I use only official drivers, so the CCC is a very real problem for me.

Actually I'm using the CCC as well. I personally don't find it to be that big of a deal. I already had .NET installed for my HTPC software anyway. Yes CCC is ugly and slow, but who cares? How often do you really change your driver settings?

And again I'd like to point out that the CCC is just a driver CP, it is *not* the driver itself. Using the ATI display driver along with a 3rd party *tool* like ATITool or ATI Tray Tools is no different than using the nVidia display driver with RivaTuner. If you hate the CCC so much, then just uninstall it and change your driver settings through the registry (if you're unwilling to use third-party tools).

 

[Obi_Kwiet]

SLIing high end cards like that is really dumb with DX 10 right around the corner.

 

[InorganicMatter]

Actually I'm using the CCC as well. I personally don't find it to be that big of a deal. I already had .NET installed for my HTPC software anyway. Yes CCC is ugly and slow, but who cares? How often do you really change your driver settings?

I control all my AA/AF through the driver, so I change it very often. Driver CP is a big deal to me.

 

[dnottis]

Its a no brainer - buy a X1900XTX for less than the GTX and slap a $30 after market cooler on it - done deal, faster card and most will run 690/800 with no problems.

 

[LGabrielPhoto]

Well, my roommate has decided that his 6800GT just isn't cutting it anymore. He managed to get ~$600 somewhere, and I'm not exactly sure where . Regardless, he's buying a 250gb hard drive for about $100, which leaves him $500 to spend on a video card. Here's the current tradeoff [in his eyes] between the two cards:

X1900XTX

Pros: More pixel shaders, performs better than the 7900GTX in almost all games

Thats non sense. Every review outthere shows both cards performing almost equal as one will beat the other in some games and lose in others. Please lets not be blinded fanatics and separate fact from fiction. "almost all games".... when will this stop?
Fact is, you cant go wrong either way. They both have IQ pros and cons, they are basically equal performance wise so dont waste too much time deciding and pick one so you can start enjoying higher end gaming.
Regards

PS One nice thing about nvidia is that for people with 854x480 front projectors it allows you to use that resolution for a perfect 1:1 pixel map which makes the image much sharper. ATI cant use that res so you must use 848x480 or 856x480. Not a big deal but I like been able to match my FP perfectly.

 

[rincewind]

Another for the XTX. It's cheaper and more powerful. And...
I spend a bit of time in the nV sub-forum, and last time I checked the 'has your 7900 crapped out' thread, the poll was showing a total of around 25% answering with 'yes'. Considering this includes GT users, most of whom don't seem to be having problems, it's an indication that the chances of a 7900GTX going *bang* are pretty darn high.

 

[texuspete00]

I've used both, recently. I am basing this on actual experience, unlike most people here. (I'm tempted to say "including you")

Too true. I also have had very recent versions of cards from both camps, and like Nv drivers better. But with your experience then, uhm...

Both cards shimmer

Survey says............ [X] Sure YOU had both? I'm sure you did. I don't what your intent was with that though. ATi = totally different AF league. It's not even close. This is opts versus opts, and HQAF vrs. as pure as Nv can go - "High" Quality. In short, ATi is less aggressive with AF opts. Hence the low drop going to HQ in the first place. Barely shimmers with opts on, opts off brings angle independent aniso, something Nv can't do at all. Huge thumbs down to this misrepresentation of facts.

As we know, the situation shown below hasn't changed. x1800 same AF as x1900 just as 7900 = 7800 in this regard. Look at the wall in the distance. Shimmering never bothered me on my 7800GTX 256 but once I got used to the ATi, I mean, look.

 

[apcor]

I would vote for a cheaper X1900XT. You can probably find one for about $380ish nowadays with a rebate.

God this kind of thing floors me! 7 months ago I paid $500 for 7800GTX (256).
I think he should out that money in a CD and wait for DX10.

 

[AltTabbins]

Too true. I also have had very recent versions of cards from both camps, and like Nv drivers better. But with your experience then, uhm...



Survey says............ [X] Sure YOU had both? I'm sure you did. I don't what your intent was with that though. ATi = totally different AF league. It's not even close. This is opts versus opts, and HQAF vrs. as pure as Nv can go - "High" Quality. In short, ATi is less aggressive with AF opts. Hence the low drop going to HQ in the first place. Barely shimmers with opts on, opts off brings angle independent aniso, something Nv can't do at all. Huge thumbs down to this misrepresentation of facts.

As we know, the situation shown below hasn't changed. x1800 same AF as x1900 just as 7900 = 7800 in this regard. Look at the wall in the distance. Shimmering never bothered me on my 7800GTX 256 but once I got used to the ATi, I mean, look.

Look at the fence on the right side too.. the CLEAR winner is ATi..

 

[rincewind]

There are only a few reasons for anyone buying a GTX over an XTX

1.They are an nVidiot.
2.They want a quiet PC without resorting to aftermarket cooling.
3.The colour red causes a serious reaction of some sort (normally caused by reason 1)
4.They are afraid of the .NET monster and are unaware that the drivers don't even need it.
[Edit] 5. SLi.

It's that simple. All these reviews that apparently show them as equals agree with me (at least on point 2). They recommend the X1900, and this is with the 7900 getting a better showing by having optimizations on.

'Quality' mode - must be a typo

 

[annaconda]

Too true. I also have had very recent versions of cards from both camps, and like Nv drivers better. But with your experience then, uhm...



Survey says............ [X] Sure YOU had both? I'm sure you did. I don't what your intent was with that though. ATi = totally different AF league. It's not even close. This is opts versus opts, and HQAF vrs. as pure as Nv can go - "High" Quality. In short, ATi is less aggressive with AF opts. Hence the low drop going to HQ in the first place. Barely shimmers with opts on, opts off brings angle independent aniso, something Nv can't do at all. Huge thumbs down to this misrepresentation of facts.

As we know, the situation shown below hasn't changed. x1800 same AF as x1900 just as 7900 = 7800 in this regard. Look at the wall in the distance. Shimmering never bothered me on my 7800GTX 256 but once I got used to the ATi, I mean, look.

I don;t see any difference.

 

[Budwise]

I don;t see any difference.

i hope you are joking or arent wearing your glasses

 

[AltTabbins]

I don;t see any difference.

Please tell me that you're joking.. either you are blind or a TRUE nvidia fannboy..

 

[PRIME1]

I vote for the cheaper 7900GT. You can get the eVGA KO model for $280 no rebate

I agree. Overclock it and spend the rest of the money on hookers and booze.

 

[CompMage]

Even with my glasses off I can see the difference.

But when it comes down to it. Would you notice that in game, the answer is NO. At 80FPS and your running around as fast as you can scanning the screen for something to shoot with your eyes your attention is not on the slightly blurry wall in the distance but the monster or bad guy shooting at out.

We all yap about how nice this card is and how bad that cards is over fractions of a percent of performance.

Right now, my vote is for him to get a X1900XT simply over price. Face it it's cheaper then the 7900GTX. That's the only reason to get one over the other right now.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[AltTabbins]

K.. lets do this little activity..

A-

1) Open your eyes... Try not to blink too much.
2) look at your computer screen at the lovely picture.. colorful isnt it? wow, technology is neeto!
3) find that blue lighting spot on it, its on the wall on the left.
4) look down the wall (away from you in 3d perspective).
5) See how it blurs? Thats not a smudge on your monitor.. that from the card.

B-

1) blink a few times.. you might want to moisten your eyes from straining them on the last activity.
2) look at your monitor again.
3) see the chain link fence on the right? Go back and forth between the 2 pictures..

If you cant see the difference.. then you truely ARE blind. If you are worried about saving money, just invesnt in a tnt card and look at the lovely artifacts, because you are obviously too blind to know whats going on in the game.

 

[MrGuvernment]

What monitors does he have

 

[oldmanwinter]

I control all my AA/AF through the driver, so I change it very often. Driver CP is a big deal to me.

And as I've already pointed out repeatedly, you don't need .NET or the CCC to change AA/AF settings.

better CP != better drivers.

 

[^eMpTy^]

And as I've already pointed out repeatedly, you don't need .NET or the CCC to change AA/AF settings.

better CP != better drivers.

well it goes a little further than the CP.

nvidia has better multi-monitor support (which for me is a must)
nvidia has better linux support
nvidia has better opengl support/performance

When it comes to just straight d3d gaming, ATi's drivers equal nvidias with the exception of CrossFire still lagging behind SLi in terms of game support.

Once you leave the realm of d3d ATi starts to faulter in nearly every area...so I think it's quite fair indeed to say that nvidia has better drivers...especially considering the recent bitching about broken opengl features in ATi drivers and their blatant dismissal of OpenGL and Linux performance.

nVidia just has all-around better drivers.

That being said, if all you want to do is play games and you don't care about the noise and the heat, the X1900XTX has some very nice features the GTX doesn't have and all-around better performance in d3d games.

 

[InorganicMatter]

Once you leave the realm of d3d ATi starts to faulter in nearly every area...so I think it's quite fair indeed to say that nvidia has better drivers...especially considering the recent bitching about broken opengl features in ATi drivers and their blatant dismissal of OpenGL and Linux performance.

Exactly. Wasn't it rumored a while ago that Vista/DX10 would make it virtually impossible for ATI to be the D3D whore they've been? Something like the new way DX10's API works will effectively nullify all of ATI's D3D optimizations they've worked so hard on. Correct me if that's wrong, but I forsee a bumpy road for ATI if that's true.

On a side note, glad to see I'm not the only one upset at ATI's blatant disregaurd for Linux drivers.

 

[oldmanwinter]

nvidia has better multi-monitor support (which for me is a must)
nvidia has better linux support
nvidia has better opengl support/performance

When it comes to just straight d3d gaming, ATi's drivers equal nvidias with the exception of CrossFire still lagging behind SLi in terms of game support.

^^^^These are all excellent points, and excellent reasons to choose nVidia over ATI, but these things....

nVidia just has all-around better drivers.

^^^do not equal this.

What you are referring to is better support for alternative platforms and APIs, and I am completely with you on that point. The multi-monitor statement, if true, is also an excellent point. If you use or even think you might use Linux or dual monitors, nVidia is the way to go. I must politely disagree with you about OpenGL games in Windows, but that's another matter entirely.

Regardless, this doesn't make nVidia's drivers "better." It makes ATI's drivers more specialized. ATI offers better options and arguably better performance for the API used in 90+% of major games on the OS used for 90+% percent of gaming. (please don't argue with me about those numbers, they are just rough guesstimates used to illustrate a point.) I'll take that any day over sub-standard AF that works on any system and marginally better performance in the increasingly small segment of major OpenGL titles.

Just so we're clear, I define "better drivers" as equal or better performance with equal or better IQ and equal or better stability. In my experience, NV and ATI are equal on stability. IQ and performance go back and forth depending on whose hardware is currently "winning" the eternal graphics pissing contest. As of right now, ATI drivers have better IQ and at least equal performance.

That being said, if all you want to do is play games and you don't care about the noise and the heat, the X1900XTX has some very nice features the GTX doesn't have and all-around better performance in d3d games.

On this point I agree with you, which is exactly why I didn't purchase an X1900 until the HIS IceQ3 models became available.

Exactly. Wasn't it rumored a while ago that Vista/DX10 would make it virtually impossible for ATI to be the D3D whore they've been? Something like the new way DX10's API works will effectively nullify all of ATI's D3D optimizations they've worked so hard on. Correct me if that's wrong, but I forsee a bumpy road for ATI if that's true.

Rumors about an unreleased OS and an unreleased API. Sounds concrete to me

 

[Bona Fide]

Looks like a solid lead for the X1900...after sorting through the mindless drivel about better drivers and the speculations about DX10, it would seem that the big factor here is:

- X1900 supports HDR+AA
- X1900 supports HQAF
- X1900 has better IQ in general

I'll forward this to him. He has a P150, so I don't know why he's getting all worked up about noise anyway

 

[oldmanwinter]

Looks like a solid lead for the X1900...after sorting through the mindless drivel about better drivers and the speculations about DX10, it would seem that the big factor here is:

- X1900 supports HDR+AA
- X1900 supports HQAF
- X1900 has better IQ in general

I'll forward this to him. He has a P150, so I don't know why he's getting all worked up about noise anyway

Sorry we cluttered up your thread I have that same case (the P150) and so far no increase in HDD or CPU temps from the X1900 over the 7900GTX I was using before. I am using the IceQ version though, so that probably has something to do with it. If your friend is concerned about noise and temps, tell him to get one of those.

 

[Bona Fide]

Sorry we cluttered up your thread I have that same case (the P150) and so far no increase in HDD or CPU temps from the X1900 over the 7900GTX I was using before. I am using the IceQ version though, so that probably has something to do with it. If your friend is concerned about noise and temps, tell him to get one of those.

Yeah, I am definitely gonna tell him to get the HiS IceQ version. Seems to run a tad cooler and far quieter.

Thanks for all your help everyone

 

[Sydek]

it's never wise to splooge on a brand new expensive graphics card...
Just my 2 cents.

It's never wise to splurge on one either.

 

[Apple740]

- X1900 supports HDR+AA
- X1900 supports HQAF

New logo of the green side:

HDR+AA? HQAF?

 

[sleepeeg3]

...

 

[R1ckCa1n]

I agree. Overclock it and spend the rest of the money on hookers and booze.

And lackluster shader performance without any chance of HDR+AA. yeah that sounds good.

 

[R1ckCa1n]

nVidia just has all-around better drivers.

Yes, just take a look at that nice AF in the images on the first page of this thread! Very special.