x1900xt or 7900gt/x ? please read the details

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Viscero340

Limp Gawd
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Dec 14, 2002
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I have an aging agp system and am looking at upgrading in the near future to an amd 939 platform. I already have all the other components picked out except the vid card and motherboard. I have been an nvidia guy for a while and am a bit leary about going back over to the red team again. However I can get a very good deal on the 1900xt. So given the prices listed below which one would you go with? These will be used for gaming on a 60" hd dlp tv. I am transitioning from a 6800gt oc.

ati x1900xt for $259 + free shipping
a 7900gt is usually about $299 or so..

also if I went with an ati card would that mean that I needed to look for an ati200 or 3200 chipset motherboard or could I use it with an nforce4 board also?
 
get the 1900xt, better IQ and HDR+AA
the money you save can be used to buy a better heat sink for the cvard ( a quiter one)

i believe you can run ATI cards on nforce chipsets, just no crossfire

p.s. can you get me one of those 1900xt too :) ?
 
you probably weren't paying attention to the price at which he is getting it.....
:)
for price that low, he might as well...
 
Viscero340 said:
also if I went with an ati card would that mean that I needed to look for an ati200 or 3200 chipset motherboard or could I use it with an nforce4 board also?
Click to expand...

You can use X1900's on any PCI-e motherboard, regardless of chipset. Now if you want to go Crossfire in the future, you would want a Xpress3200 chipset motherboard just as if you wanted SLI, you need NF4.
 
thats the same price i got my x1900xt and you will not be disappointed. i came from a 7900GT superclocked to x1900xt and it was well worth it.
 
At that price, the X1900XT is a steal. Get it as quick as you can - deals like that don't last.
 
Viscero340 said:
I have an aging agp system and am looking at upgrading in the near future to an amd 939 platform. I already have all the other components picked out except the vid card and motherboard. I have been an nvidia guy for a while and am a bit leary about going back over to the red team again. However I can get a very good deal on the 1900xt. So given the prices listed below which one would you go with? These will be used for gaming on a 60" hd dlp tv. I am transitioning from a 6800gt oc.

ati x1900xt for $259 + free shipping
a 7900gt is usually about $299 or so..

also if I went with an ati card would that mean that I needed to look for an ati200 or 3200 chipset motherboard or could I use it with an nforce4 board also?
Click to expand...

If it is an X1900XT for that price (although I must say it sounds like the price for an X1800XT), get that. For that kind of money, it does not get any better. That is a deal of a lifetime. Used X1900XTs run around $350 still.
 
Yeah, it's is through an employee accomodation so its direct from ATI new in box. No refurbs or anything. I owned, and enjoyed, a 9700pro and 9800pro but they both fried out on me way back in the day and as a result I was a little hesitant to back to ati's side of the fence especially since their mfg warranty is only like 1-3 years I think now.

I will definitely say that I do not like the catalyst control center's drain on system resources. Are there ways around having to use it? How easy is it to adjust screen size, overscan/underscan, etc? I know on nvidia's control panel it was too simple to adjust to the size of my tv.
 
1900xt for that price you would be an IDIOT!! not too.

Don't forget to get an aftermarket cooler though. The stock cooling on the 1900XT ati is LOUD and proud.
 
Which aftermarket cooler would you guys recommend? Also, just to make sure here, I won't be taking any performance hits by not paring an ati card with a ati chipset?
 
you won't take a performance hit if you use a ATi chipset, there is but you'll won't even notice it.

as for aftermarket cooling for the x1900, i would suggest the Accelero X2, vf900 w/fan blowing at it, or watercooling. all the air cooling is good to a point but if you have poor case air flow then i don't suggest them. your best bet is to go water but its a investment of its own.
 
aiya said:
your best bet is to go water but its a investment of its own.
Click to expand...
If he wants to clock the sh*t out of it, that's the route to go, but the stock cooler's fairly adequate. I had issues with mine (which, for some reason, a remount has completely fixed), but it's a solid cooler.

A word of advice to the OP, and this one's on the house: don't be surprised if you have to go to great lengths to get the thing to work. A fair and unbiased warning to you, sir!

Good luck.
 
I say the xt. I was in the same situation as you and went with the xt over the 7900 (they get about same FPS, but ATI has better IQ IMO).
 
Thanks for all the replies everyone. It looks like an overwhelming yes to go after the x1900xt. I will also try out the stock cooler before picking up an aftermarket one. This will be going inside a sff htpc/gaming pc so the fact that the stock cooler vents outside the case is a plus. This will most definitely be a single card system as my wife would NEVER allow me to drop enough cash for a dual card setup(if she would I would probably not even think of leaving nvidia). Since I can't seem to find a ati3200 in mATX flavor I guess I will be looking after a nforce4 board.. but that's another topic for a different forum. Thanks again everyone and have a happy 4th!
 
Viscero340 said:
Thanks for all the replies everyone. It looks like an overwhelming yes to go after the x1900xt. I will also try out the stock cooler before picking up an aftermarket one. This will be going inside a sff htpc/gaming pc so the fact that the stock cooler vents outside the case is a plus. This will most definitely be a single card system as my wife would NEVER allow me to drop enough cash for a dual card setup(if she would I would probably not even think of leaving nvidia). Since I can't seem to find a ati3200 in mATX flavor I guess I will be looking after a nforce4 board.. but that's another topic for a different forum. Thanks again everyone and have a happy 4th!
Click to expand...

still not spilling the beans as to where you are getting this sweet deal? ;)
 
As much as I like Nvidia, i'd have to go with ATI on this one. the x1900 is simply amazing. HDR+AA rocks. I've been thinking about getting a x1900 for awhile.
 
Just for clarification, there's still only one game that allows for both fp16 HDR and multisampling on ATi X1K hardware, right? And it's not even officially supported, right?

If this is indeed the case, this "OMG HDR+AA" stuff is getting severely blown out of proportion.
 
thunderstruck! said:
Might as well get an x1900xtx if you will go ati. The x1900xt are poor clockers.
Click to expand...

Since when ? XT can hit XTX speeds easily from my readings.
 
still not spilling the beans as to where you are getting this sweet deal?
Click to expand...

I work for best buy and they have an employee accomodation program with ati among many other vendors as well.
 
Viscero340 said:
I work for best buy and they have an employee accomodation program with ati among many other vendors as well.
Click to expand...

lol.. I figured it would be something like that.. awesome price though!
 
thunderstruck! said:
Might as well get an x1900xtx if you will go ati. The x1900xt are poor clockers.
Click to expand...

Where did you hear that? My xt runs at over xtx speeds on stock cooling..
 
GORANKAR said:
Where did you hear that? My xt runs at over xtx speeds on stock cooling..
Click to expand...


Well...I can say the XTX's always clock over 700, usually closer to 750 and the XT's can barely get 700 if they are lucky.
 
BBA said:
Well...I can say the XTX's always clock over 700, usually closer to 750 and the XT's can barely get 700 if they are lucky.
Click to expand...
XTX runs at a higher voltage, though.
 
Gotta love those massive discounts for working at Best Buy? I use them all the time, but get the XT, I bought mine for $269 + free shipping the other week or so, but darn, you got yours $10 cheaper. Btw, you should go look at the discount on Creative for a nice sound card, then get some nice Altec Lansing or Logitech speakers on the accomodations page, you'll go nuts!

-Current BB Wireless Sup.
 
BBA said:
Well...I can say the XTX's always clock over 700, usually closer to 750 and the XT's can barely get 700 if they are lucky.
Click to expand...

I have an XT at 760/846, and when I first got it I thought it was a poor overclocker :D
But it is watercooled with 2 120mm noiseblockers blowing over it (replaced a vantec spectrum). I also replaced the vreg heatsink with 3 copper ramsinks (wasn't needed, just wanted lower temps). Nothing on the actual mem chips tho!
 
Can't you raise the voltage via detonator driver? I have heard testimonies about x1900xts occasionally oc'ing beyond x1900xtxs ocs.
 
Monkey_feces said:
Can't you raise the voltage via detonator driver? I have heard testimonies about x1900xts occasionally oc'ing beyond x1900xtxs ocs.
Click to expand...

ATiTool can adjust all four voltages on X1900 cards. Handy little util - if it had a few more options (such as control over adaptive AA) I would ditch CCC again.
 
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