1800XT 512MB vs. 1900XT

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ScYcS

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Is the difference noticable? I'm running widescreen 1680x1050 and play mostly DoD:S and Oblivion as well as EQ2.

I wonder if I'll see a big advantage if i opt to buy the 1900XT instead of the 1800XT. Also, is the advantage big enough to pay $90 more for the 1900XT?

Also, does the 1900XT require more power than the X1800XT 512MB? I have an Enermax 485W PSU here. I had a 1900XTX running from a friend with it but only for a couple hours without stressing the system much back then....
 
thanks guys.....still undecided but I'm tempted to go 1900 and not 1800.
 
I replaced my x1800 xt with a x1900 xtx -- same resolution (1680x1050) -- For me, I have experienced a noticeable improvement in game play -- not just in fps but in overall smoothness in all scenes and game play (Oblivion, GRAW, Sin, CoD2).
 
ScYcS said:
Is the difference noticable? I'm running widescreen 1680x1050 and play mostly DoD:S and Oblivion as well as EQ2.

I wonder if I'll see a big advantage if i opt to buy the 1900XT instead of the 1800XT. Also, is the advantage big enough to pay $90 more for the 1900XT?

Also, does the 1900XT require more power than the X1800XT 512MB? I have an Enermax 485W PSU here. I had a 1900XTX running from a friend with it but only for a couple hours without stressing the system much back then....
Click to expand...

Get the 1900. ;)

I'm running a Crossfire setup on an Enermax 535w, your 485w is PLENTY for a single card...and the 1900XT uses just a bit more power than the 1800XT 512.

Those extra shader pipes make a big difference, and you're runnning right at the threshold resolution to take advantage of them.

It's worth $90 for a number of reasons, besides the above. The X1800 is no longer in production, so value is going to be dropping quickly on them (if you intend to resell about the time the R600 or newer cards come out). The X1900 is also going to play nicer with DX10 titles down the road than the X1800, once again thanks to those extra shader pipes.

Then there's the whole "use a GPU as a PPU" thing...once again, more pipes means more horsepower, so you can retask your X1900 as a very good PPU in the future, if you feel the need.

That said, you won't see much improvement in EQ2 with a X1900 compared to a X1800, EQ is old old tech (much of EQ2's engine is built on a DX7 and DX8 code base) that can not take advantage of the extra shader pipes, so it all comes down to clock speeds and RAM sizes...and the X1800XT is neck and neck with the X1900XT in that regard.

However, Oblivion at your resolution will run a good deal faster, and smoother overall.
 
Croak said:
Get the 1900. ;)

I'm running a Crossfire setup on an Enermax 535w, your 485w is PLENTY for a single card...and the 1900XT uses just a bit more power than the 1800XT 512.

Those extra shader pipes make a big difference, and you're runnning right at the threshold resolution to take advantage of them.

It's worth $90 for a number of reasons, besides the above. The X1800 is no longer in production, so value is going to be dropping quickly on them (if you intend to resell about the time the R600 or newer cards come out). The X1900 is also going to play nicer with DX10 titles down the road than the X1800, once again thanks to those extra shader pipes.

Then there's the whole "use a GPU as a PPU" thing...once again, more pipes means more horsepower, so you can retask your X1900 as a very good PPU in the future, if you feel the need.

That said, you won't see much improvement in EQ2 with a X1900 compared to a X1800, EQ is old old tech (much of EQ2's engine is built on a DX7 and DX8 code base) that can not take advantage of the extra shader pipes, so it all comes down to clock speeds and RAM sizes...and the X1800XT is neck and neck with the X1900XT in that regard.

However, Oblivion at your resolution will run a good deal faster, and smoother overall.
Click to expand...

^^

Thanks a lot. I think this convinced me to get a 1900XT. Not sure which brand, but i guess they're all similiar or even identical anyways, so I'll just stick to the cheapest i can find. Saw a Sapphire for $389 without rebate or a MSI for $399 ($369 After rebate). Prolly get the sapphire because i hate rebates.
 
Freemason115 said:
I play EQ2 so im hoping it will help a little going from a 7800gt @ 1680 x 1050, plus with Vanguard coming out this winter, I don't want to be in a rush to do any changes after this.
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention Vanguard...that was my old gig, and it works very well with ATI cards.

Of course, it didn't hurt that ATI had DX9 parts (9700) on the market right as we got our first code drop from Epic and started modding the Unreal 2 engine, along with creating our early SM 2.0 assets. At that time Nvidia did not have a DX9 card, and Nvidia's first DX9 part months later used SM 1.1, not 2.0.

Not saying Nvidia won't get good Vanguard support, because it will, it's just that during the dev cycle, the game was built using primarily ATI-powered boxes, from coders to artists to designers. You can trace that all back to the timely 9700 release (which helped us decide on our min-spec, btw), and the subsequent Nvidia 5800 problems.

That also meant ATI-related issues were usually spotted faster, fixed quicker, etc, while the common solution to Nvidia-related problems (if it couldn't be quickly fixed in the next build or latest Nvidia driver) was to slap in an ATI card so that the person(s) in question could get back to work, with the intent to deal with Nvidia issues later.

This was all pre-beta, of course...now that the game is in beta, I'm sure much more attention is being paid to Nvidia issues and performance, so that the beta testers with problems can get back to work.

And before anyone freaks out, let me make it clear that there's no anti-Nvidia bias at Sigil, just a case timing back in the early days, and inertia. And I need to make it clear that I'm a former Sigil employee/founder, so this is not some sort of editorial, just my personal viewpoint.

On the flip side, the game was developed with a good mix of AMD and Intel boxes, and a wide range of CPU's and chipsets, sound cards, etc.
 
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