2900XT Ain't That Bad...

[debello_64]

Blacklash, I've heard the 2900XT doesn't do so well in Oblivion, but you just said it does. I've seen your other posts about your experience with this card. What do you think is its largest weakness, as a gaming card?

The 7.5 June 1st drivers fixed most of the FPS issues in oblivion, the herky jerky feeling is gone and it performs perfectly fine at Max settings now. After playing around with the card the biggest down fall is my monitor doesnt go above 1680x1050, where the 2900 really starts to shine

 

[Sr7]

Well if you have any faith in the Call of juarez DX10 benchmark (TWIMTBP game) the 2900XT is sticking with the 8800GTX pretty well. I havent seen anyones GTS 640mb reasults yet, but the 320MB is getting hammered.

ATI has their hand in CoJ and is paying a lot of money to see to it that they win on DX10. Even though the game was originally TWIMTBP it's no longer really accurate as the DX10 side of things is all ATI.

 

[Pepsiennis]

The 7.5 June 1st drivers fixed most of the FPS issues in oblivion, the herky jerky feeling is gone and it performs perfectly fine at Max settings now. After playing around with the card the biggest down fall is my monitor doesnt go above 1680x1050, where the 2900 really starts to shine

Thanks debello_64. Oblivion just went on sale here (I know, the lag is terrible. But I like to buy the legit copy, it just runs better) but I haven't bought it yet because I'd heard of those niggles. Looks like the graphics are impressive.

 

[Pepsiennis]

ATI has their hand in CoJ and is paying a lot of money to see to it that they win on DX10. Even though the game was originally TWIMTBP it's no longer really accurate as the DX10 side of things is all ATI.

Yeah, I really wish both ATI and Nvidia would keep their hands off of that portion of game development: no matter which company is doing it, half of us lose. It's a bad practice. We'll just have to wait until there are enough decent DX10 titles before the picture comes into focus.

 

[Digital Viper-X-]

If you're going to compare it to a 1900 then of course it isn't that bad... It's the repalcement for the 1900 afterall, so it should be better... However, if you compare it to it's real competition, the 8800 series, it IS that bad.. When a brand new card performs significanly worse than a card that has been around for months, all the while consuming more power, that is bad, period.

seriously, at this point who cares HOW old the 8800 is and how late the 2900 is, its out now, it competes with the 8800gts and thats that

yea it didn't live up to its hype, and no it was not faster then an 8800gtx, and AFAIK the 2900XT does not perform SIGNIFICANTLY worse then an 8800, I dunno if that AA issue has been resolved or is permenant, but thats the only issue I see with the 2900xt currently,

 

[DrDoU]

enjoy

 

[Pepsiennis]

seriously, at this point who cares HOW old the 8800 is and how late the 2900 is, its out now, it competes with the 8800gts and thats that

yea it didn't live up to its hype, and no it was not faster then an 8800gtx, and AFAIK the 2900XT does not perform SIGNIFICANTLY worse then an 8800, I dunno if that AA issue has been resolved or is permenant, but thats the only issue I see with the 2900xt currently,

I've got a really hair-brained theory that ATI was trying to implement something quite different technically from the norm. Didn't Brent say something like AA was, in essence, always on? What happens when you turn the ignition on a running car? screek! Like I said, it was a hair-brained theory. Certainly was just immature drivers.

 

[Digital Viper-X-]

I've got a really hair-brained theory that ATI was trying to implement something quite different technically from the norm. Didn't Brent say something like AA was, in essence, always on? What happens when you turn the ignition on a running car? screek! Like I said, it was a hair-brained theory. Certainly was just immature drivers.

So the new drivers have fixed the problem with slow aa?

 

[Pepsiennis]

Actually, I haven't had much of a noticable performance drain when I turn on NTF-AAX4, though that's not very high. I haven't found any game where WTF seems to offer anything I'd need, Image Quality wise. I don't have every recent title. I'm mostly playing COD2, HL2, and Prey. I got hold of Stalker, but haven't had time to fire it up yet... too busy bothering people here. I'd heard of issues with HL2 as well, but it looks and runs great for me.

 

[RamonGTP]

seriously, at this point who cares HOW old the 8800 is and how late the 2900 is, its out now, it competes with the 8800gts and thats that

yea it didn't live up to its hype, and no it was not faster then an 8800gtx, and AFAIK the 2900XT does not perform SIGNIFICANTLY worse then an 8800, I dunno if that AA issue has been resolved or is permenant, but thats the only issue I see with the 2900xt currently,

It's not that you should or shouldn't care how old and how late a card came out, my point was to put his comparison into perspective. He was comparing it to a previous generation card which isn't even in the same class.

 

[Blackstone]

OK, I know every troll will come out from under his bridge packing a flamethrower when I tramp, tramp, tramp along saying this, but here we go anywho:

I've had my Sapphire HD 2900XT for a little over a week now and it ain't that bad. To hear people before talk, I was thinking my system and exhaust temps would be enough to bake bread, but neither have budged since adding this card. It's running along at a 58c average, never breaking 70 when gaming. Then the noise issue: there isn't one. Does the noise come with a voucher, as well? I can't hear the card except for a few seconds at boot, then it tones down. As for performance, it beats the snot out of the X1900XT's I was using before it, both in speed and image quality. I bought the card on May 31 and installed the 8.37.4.* driver, then uninstalled, and installed the 8.38 driver on June 1, and there was a noticable improvement.

To sum up, I hate to disappoint anyone, but I'm liking this card a damn lot. I'm reminded of a quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (and you'd best stop at this parenthetical if you don't care for MP. It's stupid, yes, but also entirely germaine to the issue because of that fact), when brave Brave Sir Robin says to... Tim, in reference to the evil beast that awaited them:

"You stupid sod! You got us all worked up for nothing. I soiled my armor, I was so scared!"

I just RMA'd the 2900XT because it sucked so bad. Go try and play Battlefield2 with 8xx antialiasing or Oblivion with 4xaa and then lets see what you have to say about it.

I got an 8800 card to replace it and my jaw dropped when I saw how much better it was.

The 2900XT does have the best stock cooler I've ever seen, much better than the 8800, but that doesn't make up for the horrific performance.

 

[Pepsiennis]

It's not that you should or shouldn't care how old and how late a card came out, my point was to put his comparison into perspective. He was comparing it to a previous generation card which isn't even in the same class.

Well, I couldn't compare it to an Nvidia card of the 8800 series, as I have no experience with them so wouldn't feel comfortable making an obviously flawed comparison. The X1900XT, which I own two of, was the second card in ATI's lineup, as the HD 2900XT was originaly designed and intended to be (XTX where art thee?), so it's really the best comparison that could accurately and fairly be made in this instance that wouldn't have me talking out of my arse and simply regurgitating what others say. Instead, I put in the effort of forming my own opinion based on my hands-on experience, as narrow as it might be considered. Short of comparing the 2900XT to a future card, I don't see any other reasonable option in this instance. I'll also mention that it was uninformed and exaggerated expectations that had led to so many holding such strong feelings to the 2900XT.

Dragon's Head was the development name, right? Well in Chinese dragon's head is Long Tou, which has a colloquial use: a spigot, faucet. When I heard that, I knew it leaked something. I thought it would be the memory bus had problems, but I guess the engineers meant the power inefficiency. We forget how much R&D is done in China either directly or through sub-contract. Regardless, my anticipation was a realistic one, so... I don't resent the card because it didn't disappoint me. ATI jockey's appear to feel disappointed they couldn't dethrone the king with a prince, and Nvidia jockeys appear to feel they have a scratch win marring their record. Those who feel those ways are wrong. They had exaggerated expectations, so are now disappointed, angry, whatever psychology is behind the unreasonable attacks that occur whenever this card is discussed. I listened to the rumors and realized there would be no clash of titans. That's why I avoided comparing outside of my experience.

 

[^eMpTy^]

Well, I couldn't compare it to an Nvidia card of the 8800 series, as I have no experience with them so wouldn't feel comfortable making an obviously flawed comparison. The X1900XT, which I own two of, was the second card in ATI's lineup, as the HD 2900XT was originaly designed and intended to be (XTX where art thee?), so it's really the best comparison that could accurately and fairly be made in this instance that wouldn't have me talking out of my arse and simply regurgitating what others say. Instead, I put in the effort of forming my own opinion based on my hands-on experience, as narrow as it might be considered. Short of comparing the 2900XT to a future card, I don't see any other reasonable option in this instance. I'll also mention that it was uninformed and exaggerated expectations that had led to so many holding such strong feelings to the 2900XT.

Dragon's Head was the development name, right? Well in Chinese dragon's head is Long Tou, which has a colloquial use: a spigot, faucet. When I heard that, I knew it leaked something. I thought it would be the memory bus had problems, but I guess the engineers meant the power inefficiency. We forget how much R&D is done in China either directly or through sub-contract. Regardless, my anticipation was a realistic one, so... I don't resent the card because it didn't disappoint me. ATI jockey's appear to feel disappointed they couldn't dethrone the king with a prince, and Nvidia jockeys appear to feel they have a scratch win marring their record. Those who feel those ways are wrong. They had exaggerated expectations, so are now disappointed, angry, whatever psychology is behind the unreasonable attacks that occur whenever this card is discussed. I listened to the rumors and realized there would be no clash of titans. That's why I avoided comparing outside of my experience.

So you're basically saying, that if you simply ignore the 8800 series (since you have no experience with it) then the 2900 XT isn't so bad? right?

You bought the wrong card man. The 8800 GTS is just as fast, if not faster, costs less, uses less power, produces less heat, and has noticeably better image quality.

If you bought the card and you're happy with it, then congrats. But don't come on the forums and ask people to agree with your obviously flawed logic. Especially considering the fact that the [H] gave the card a pretty terrible review.

Do you seriously think you're going to get people to disagree with Kyle and Brent based on your personal experience which, as you specifically stated, doesn't include the cards the 2900 xt is competing against?

 

[nicepun]

So you're basically saying, that if you simply ignore the 8800 series (since you have no experience with it) then the 2900 XT isn't so bad? right?

You bought the wrong card man. The 8800 GTS is just as fast, if not faster, costs less, uses less power, produces less heat, and has noticeably better image quality.

If you bought the card and you're happy with it, then congrats. But don't come on the forums and ask people to agree with your obviously flawed logic. Especially considering the fact that the [H] gave the card a pretty terrible review.

Do you seriously think you're going to get people to disagree with Kyle and Brent based on your personal experience which, as you specifically stated, doesn't include the cards the 2900 xt is competing against?

I guess I was a foold to think we were going to get pass this.....obviously you didn't read what he said on his original post. And finally, he's not trying to get people to agree with him.....So if some one says man this HD2900XT sucks then everyone would say "I told you so, didn't you read the reviews, blah blah blah", and then if some one says I think the HD2900XT is not that bad then you get "Why are you wasting your time, you should have gotten a 8800GTS didn't you read the reviews, blah, blah, blah". So either way people are going to bitch and complain and blah blah blah. And since when does a website review serves as the sole decission making for buying something?

 

[RamonGTP]

You don't need to own one to make a comparison... All you need is the internet and access to google's search engine. You have both, use them. The only thing flawed here is your comparison, not one to an 8800... I don't own a Ferrari 599, but I know it is faster than my car. I don't own a Core 2 Extreme, but I know it is faster than my X2... See how it works? It's quite simple really. This has gone past weather or not the 2900 is "not a bad card" and has evolved to the mentality that you can't compare something that you don't own which is absurd.

 

[Rebel44]

I have 2900 and all my games are smooth in 1920x1200 everything on max. 4xAA 4xAF (and higher) - I dont know FPS because Fraps doesnt work for me in Vista 64, but as lomg as everything is smooth I dont care if I have 60 or 250 FPS

 

[calebb]

Pepsiennis,

Congrats on your video card upgrade! I'm glad you are happy with it, and I hope it provides you with years of enjoyment!

 

[Eastcoasthandle]

I just RMA'd the 2900XT because it sucked so bad. Go try and play Battlefield2 with 8xx antialiasing or Oblivion with 4xaa and then lets see what you have to say about it.

I got an 8800 card to replace it and my jaw dropped when I saw how much better it was.

The 2900XT does have the best stock cooler I've ever seen, much better than the 8800, but that doesn't make up for the horrific performance.

That's odd, I tried the exact same thing and had no real problems, even made a post about it. I found nothing wrong with maxing out settings that was a game stopper. Sure the drivers need to be better but I found no game stopping issues. Everyone who plays BF2 knows how messed up the game is. However, it's odd that anyone would want to play BF2 using max settings when it places you at a disadvantage. For one, maxing dynamic lighting adds dark areas around corners, small alleys,etc to the games were people can hide and base rape at will. This graphic features alone is disabled (among those that know better) so that they can see where those noobs are hiding. Another issue is that the larger your screen the less you see. The game was optimized for 1280x1024, period. Anything higher results in a reduced field of view. Again, anyone who's played BF2 for a length of time should know that. The issues I've mentioned alone tells you there is something wrong with the game.

 

[Blacklash]

Blacklash, I've heard the 2900XT doesn't do so well in Oblivion, but you just said it does. I've seen your other posts about your experience with this card. What do you think is its largest weakness, as a gaming card?

Ask Xion over here:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=92461&page=29

Not me.

He's been testing "Oblivion" there and a bunch of other games.

"Oblivion", his test 1 result was later adjusted to 37FPS rather than 40 do to orientation differences from the GTS (@660|2000).

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=1278600&postcount=328

The XT usually easily passing up the GTS in "Oblivion", even in heavy grass, when both are overclocked.

He just put up some solid numbers from "DiRT" with all high, all on, 4xAA|16xAF, 1680x:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=1281189&postcount=412

I've seen solid results overclocked from folks here and @ XS as well.

I'd stand by my original statements. If you don't overclock buy the cheaper card. If you overclock, and in particular use water cooling, pick up a HD 2900XT. I'd qualify that by saying, if you haven't already bought a 8800GTS 640MB. Personally, I wouldn't move from a 8800GTS 640MB to a HD 2900XT, and would from an older card like a 7900GT.

Xion's results are consistent with what I have been seeing from other users @ XS, here, and OverclockersUK. Sure there are some users reporting bad experiences and you always have that. Currently positive user reports far outweigh the negative.

For example, If I listened to the folks that were trolling the 8800GTX, or simply giving bad reports, I would not have bought my card. I am glad I didn't and am currently loving it.

 

[marcusj3000]

Most seem to forget that the OP did his research and pick a card that is the best value to the OP not for the members here. His post was about the upgrade in performance relating to the previous card the Op had. But yet again I see that the fanboyism just comes out and people have to defend their brand purchase because they are unsecure about there purchase. Please quit defending companies that don't give a d*m about you. Be secure with what you buy because it's value is what you deem it to be because it's yours not mine. I applaud the OP for giving his opinion that the card was better than the one he had and not tring to say how it does against the competition because he doesn't care. The OP just wanted a card that was better than his previous one and is satisified with what he has, for all the fanboys stroking your e-penis are you?

Your not if you have to justify your purchase against the competitors offering, your just a benchmark and super pi tool.

 

[Dwight]

I'd stand by my original statements. If you don't overclock buy the cheaper card. If you overclock, and in particular use water cooling, pick up a HD 2900XT. I'd qualify that by saying, if you haven't already bought a 8800GTS 640MB. Personally, I wouldn't move from a 8800GTS 640MB to a HD 2900XT, and would from an older card like a 7900GT.

Yeah, that's a pretty good way to break it down. A really good deal on a 2900XT came my way and I went for it. I have a real adversion to MIR so the EVGA one (which did come out on the eve of the 2900XT release BTW, along with some instant rebate, just in time for them to be included in some reviews like [H]'s) really didn't tickle my fancy. Some time not too far in the future I'll get a 2900XT specific water block. I haven't seen any yet here in Canada but I guess I haven't looked in the past week or so. I know Danger Den has one coming out.

I haven't OCed yet, mostly because I haven't actually had an instance yet where I thought I really needed the extra processing. So I'm saving the wear and tear for later. In truth I'd rather not OC till I've gotten the water block on. I don't really trust factory heatsink mounting on OEM heatsinks.

P.S. The stock cooler certainly isn't whisper quiet but tucked into my Antec 182 I find it fine for sitting under the desk. Of course I myself am much more sensitive to high frequency than low frequency so that might be why it doesn't bother me much, it doesn't really have tha high pitch sound that a lot of crappy fans do. Right now I have my machine in at an office I'm doing work for and I only wish the damn HVAC in this building was as quiet as my box. I've got the case on the desktop and I can't hear it.

EDIT: Oh, and though I don't personally own an 8800 I do have access to one. I'm still happy with the 2900XT. Of course the real test is going to be in the future to see how the programmable AA is used. But that's all speculation since that's going to rely on the software developers.

 

[^eMpTy^]

I guess I was a foold to think we were going to get pass this.....obviously you didn't read what he said on his original post. And finally, he's not trying to get people to agree with him.....So if some one says man this HD2900XT sucks then everyone would say "I told you so, didn't you read the reviews, blah blah blah", and then if some one says I think the HD2900XT is not that bad then you get "Why are you wasting your time, you should have gotten a 8800GTS didn't you read the reviews, blah, blah, blah". So either way people are going to bitch and complain and blah blah blah. And since when does a website review serves as the sole decission making for buying something?

Of course I read his original posts. And it's the same as a lot of posts about cards that are clearly worse value's than the competition. The OP wants to create a perspective where the HD 2900 XT was a good buy and he clearly must want other people to agree with him, otherwise he wouldn't be posting on a public forum.

The problem is, everyone knows the 2900 XT is *not* a good buy. So when you show up on a forum and try to claim otherwise, you should expect everyone to tell you you're an idiot. That's not fanboyism, that's just reality.

 

[Eastcoasthandle]

Of course I read his original posts. And it's the same as a lot of posts about cards that are clearly worse value's than the competition.

Do you plan on buying him a 8800TS 640? If not, this comment is moot and has no merit to the OP.

The OP wants to create a perspective where the HD 2900 XT was a good buy and he clearly must want other people to agree with him, otherwise he wouldn't be posting on a public forum.

Incorrect, he is posting his experience about a ATI video card in the ATI Flavor forum. This alone makes your statement incorrect. Also, you are not a ATI user there is no need for you to be here because there is nothing here that will help you. You are very bias towards the video card therefore, no need to continue to post in a forum that has no interest for you.

The problem is, everyone knows the 2900 XT is *not* a good buy. So when you show up on a forum and try to claim otherwise, you should expect everyone to tell you you're an idiot. That's not fanboyism, that's just reality.

Everyone?? I seriously question your statement here. Not only is this inaccurate (again) it's just plain bias. Also, "he showed" up in the ATI flavor forum, not just any forum. Anytime you cannot comprehend that he is posting his comments about a ATI video card in the ATI flavor forums only shows that you don't know what you are talking about. Because you have no clue where you are posting it only discredits your opinions.

 

[marcusj3000]

Of course I read his original posts. And it's the same as a lot of posts about cards that are clearly worse value's than the competition. The OP wants to create a perspective where the HD 2900 XT was a good buy and he clearly must want other people to agree with him, otherwise he wouldn't be posting on a public forum.

The problem is, everyone knows the 2900 XT is *not* a good buy. So when you show up on a forum and try to claim otherwise, you should expect everyone to tell you you're an idiot. That's not fanboyism, that's just reality.

Nope wrong anwser, every opinon counts because everyone doesn't go out and buy the best available are what the majority thinks is best. People on hardforum show their ignorance when they display the "we no whats best for you atitude." The OP didn't try and encourage others to buy, he just stating it was a good buy for him and that he's satisfed. People make their own decisions and if they think a product is good who are we to argue that it is wrong because as I see it's not your money being spent. Just like if he had money for a Bentley but brought a Honda accord because he thought it was a good value who are we to question that. The card he brought was for his system and covers his needs and it's time that this crap stops and we repect others people's decision. If it was the wrong choice the OP will figure it out on his own, but if the OP is content with the purchase leave it be.

ehhhhh, people are such a bother

 

[DrDoU]

amen

 

[^eMpTy^]

Do you plan on buying him a 8800TS 640? If not, this comment is moot and has no merit to the OP.


Incorrect, he is posting his experience about a ATI video card in the ATI Flavor forum. This alone makes your statement incorrect. Also, you are not a ATI user there is no need for you to be here because there is nothing here that will help you. You are very bias towards the video card therefore, no need to continue to post in a forum that has no interest for you.


Everyone?? I seriously question your statement here. Not only is this inaccurate (again) it's just plain bias. Also, "he showed" up in the ATI flavor forum, not just any forum. Anytime you cannot comprehend that he is posting his comments about a ATI video card in the ATI flavor forums only shows that you don't know what you are talking about. Because you have no clue where you are posting it only discredits your opinions.

It's not him posting about his experience that I take issue with. It's the 20 posts after the first one where he wildly and illogically tries to make an argument for the HD 2900 XT because he owns it and he wants to believe it wasn't a bad decision.

People read these forums looking for information, whenever someone goes out of there way to provide dis-information on a particular topic, I take serious issue with it.

The HD 2900 XT is just plain inferior to the 8800 GTS. Don't take my word for it, certainly don't take the word of people stupid enough to have actually purchased the card, just read the [H] review. And then come back and look at this thread again and tell me if the OPs comments don't seem highly illogical.

 

[debello_64]

review. And then come back and look at this thread again and tell me if the OPs comments don't seem highly illogical.

So the people that use the card everyday and have seen the improvements from the drivers are stupid? The same people that play the exact games in the [H] review and dont have those issues with the newer drivers.

The [H] review is what it is, AMD supplied the reviewers (all sites) with pretty bad drivers. If the [H] was to do a re-review after the next driver release, I am sure we would see much different results.

Aye it would still use more power, cost more and run hotter but the performance is there. Also the 2900XT does seem to do pretty well in these DX9/DX10 hybrid games so far CoH and CoJ. But if Nvidia isnt winning by a large margin then those tests are just not accurate.

What I take offense to is being called stupid for buying a card that many and myself included really like. So please take your own advice when posting, while you might have made valid point to begin with, attacking people calling them stupid canceled out any point you might have made.

 

[Eastcoasthandle]

It's not him posting about his experience that I take issue with. It's the 20 posts after the first one where he wildly and illogically tries to make an argument for the HD 2900 XT because he owns it and he wants to believe it wasn't a bad decision.

People read these forums looking for information, whenever someone goes out of there way to provide dis-information on a particular topic, I take serious issue with it.

The HD 2900 XT is just plain inferior to the 8800 GTS. Don't take my word for it, certainly don't take the word of people stupid enough to have actually purchased the card, just read the [H] review. And then come back and look at this thread again and tell me if the OPs comments don't seem highly illogical.

If you keep telling yourself that you will eventually believe it. In all honesty you really twist what people are saying when you realize how wrong you are. You are either lying or lack the ability to comprehend the post made in this thread in a ATI Flavor forum. In either case your posts are trolling by nature.

 

[Jinto]

I have to agree with the OP that all the negative stuff generated by Nividia fanboys paint a much more severe picture of the HD2900XT than it really is. I have read things like it runs uber hot, is as loud as a leaf blower and performs wose than the 8800GTS while sucking in an insane about of juice. I have the 320MB, 640MB GTSes and a HD2900XT and to me the HD2900XT is faster. I think people who doesnt have anything good to say about the HD2900XT should just stay out of this thread. There are enough posts about how shitty the HD2900XT is so go whine there. Lets keep this for people who have the HD2900XT and like the card. Lets call this a "more balanced view" for potential buyers.

 

[calebb]

Lets keep this for people who have the HD2900XT and like the card. Lets call this a "more balanced view" for potential buyers.

While I do disagree with the baseless bashing going on in this thread, how would you rationalize calling it a "balanced view" if you are excluding comments from certain people?

 

[Jinto]

I meant a more balanced view as in stating what the HD2900XT is good at (and yes there are some games where the HD2900XT is faster) and also what is is bad at. I play alot of games without AA and the HD2900XT gives me significantly better frames than the 8800GTS. Now before someone going on a rampage about "OMG no AA wtf you smoking" this is how I prefer it. I cant stand low frames and I got a huge ass monitor. Anyway all in all the amount of exaggeration going on is silly. Now I dont understand what you meant about excluding comments so please clarify...

 

[debello_64]

While I do disagree with the baseless bashing going on in this thread, how would you rationalize calling it a "balanced view" if you are excluding comments from certain people?

Well from all the post I have read that people have made about owning the HD2900XT, they all pretty much tell the whole story about the card. No one has made wild ass comments about its performance (ie Iz b a haxor my HD2900 scored 32000 in 3dmark).
So far everyone has been very forth coming with its limitation and good points.

It is the constant mine is cheaper, mine is cooler, mine is <insert>, and AMD is going to die comments that are put in to any thread about the HD2900XT. All I have to say about those post are no shit sherlock , every review stated those facts and every post since then has stated those facts. Beating that dead horse wont get you to the next town any faster.

And please forgive me I thought that this was the ATI Flavor sub forum, so we dont really need to be that objective anyways.

We like our cards, your not going to change our minds, now please go back to the nVidia Flavor sub forum

 

[ryandamartini]

why pay more for less performance? nvidia > ati in this gen.

 

[Dan_D]

I've had my Sapphire HD 2900XT for a little over a week now and it ain't that bad. To hear people before talk, I was thinking my system and exhaust temps would be enough to bake bread, but neither have budged since adding this card. It's running along at a 58c average, never breaking 70 when gaming. Then the noise issue: there isn't one. Does the noise come with a voucher, as well? I can't hear the card except for a few seconds at boot, then it tones down. As for performance, it beats the snot out of the X1900XT's I was using before it, both in speed and image quality. I bought the card on May 31 and installed the 8.37.4.* driver, then uninstalled, and installed the 8.38 driver on June 1, and there was a noticable improvement.

The card isn't that bad, but it's no better than the 7 month old third best card in NVIDIA's lineup.

 

[LostInRehab]

The card isn't that bad, but it's no better than the 7 month old third best card in NVIDIA's lineup.

I find that irrelevant. I can't believe anyone who use any logic would think that the ati card would be able to be redone to outperform the 8800 in 7 months time. Its not like 7 months is enough time to change you chips design when you've been working on the architecture for years. Now if it was a refresh thats possible but still given ati's track record unlikely.

Now to the people that are angry that they waited for months only to find out its no better than the 8800 gts thats their fault. I don't know about you but if something is out now and does everything you need it to do why wait for something else. That was the reason I went ahead and bought the 8800 gtx in november I felt no need to wait and in my mind it was highly unlikely that ati's card would outperform the 8800 gtx anymore than 10% (no matter how much I had hoped -.-. I am an amd/ati fan).

 

[Eastcoasthandle]

The card isn't that bad, but it's no better than the 7 month old third best card in NVIDIA's lineup.

There are many people who were either:
-not in the position to buy a video card
-not interested in what nvidia had to offer
7 months ago. Therefore, this is moot at best.

 

[Dan_D]

I find that irrelevant. I can't believe anyone who use any logic would think that the ati card would be able to be redone to outperform the 8800 in 7 months time. Its not like 7 months is enough time to change you chips design when you've been working on the architecture for years. Now if it was a refresh thats possible but still given ati's track record unlikely.

This may be the case, but it doesn't matter. All the excuses in the world do not make a product better. The fact is ATI isn't very competitive right now in the high end market segment. The card barely competes with the 8800GTS 320MB/640MB and even though it trades blows with them, the card is 7 months late. There are two NVIDIA cards that are higher end and alot more powerful than the HD 2900XT. That's pretty sad. No one seemed to feel bad for NVIDIA when they released the Geforce FX series. NVIDIA didn't even do that bad of a job necessarily, it was just that ATI's product was that much better at the time. I don't remember people being as kind or as loyal to NVIDIA back in the day for their mistakes.

Now to the people that are angry that they waited for months only to find out its no better than the 8800 gts thats their fault. I don't know about you but if something is out now and does everything you need it to do why wait for something else. That was the reason I went ahead and bought the 8800 gtx in november I felt no need to wait and in my mind it was highly unlikely that ati's card would outperform the 8800 gtx anymore than 10% (no matter how much I had hoped -.-. I am an amd/ati fan).

I agree. It's one thing if we are talking about a few weeks and your waiting to see which product is better and you want the opportunity to do some research and read the reviews on both products and make an informed decision on which product to buy as a consumer. It's another thing to know that a product is 3+ months off and waiting for that. I always say buy what you need when you need it. Granted it's not always that cut and dry, but usually it is.

 

[Dan_D]

There are many people who were either:
-not in the position to buy a video card
-not interested in what nvidia had to offer
7 months ago. Therefore, this is moot at best.

I think it's just sad that in 7 months the ATI HD 2900XT si the best they could come up with. It doesn't really matter as you said. What does matter is that for the consumer today, the HD 2900XT isn't that great a buy and it's not that impressive. It's not a bad card, it does it's job well and that's fine. I think it's generally a poor decision to buy the card given that the 8800GTS is just as good and much cheaper. Hell the 8800GTS can even be argued as being better and certainly with better image quality that's an fairly easy argument.

That's what matters today.

 

[FIDDYOWNZ]

I would like to know who ATI thought they could sell this card to? I mean, c'mon, it doesn't even keep up withe the GTS 640MB which can be had for $380.

It's slower, consumes more power, costs more. I sure wouldn't pay $420 for a card that can barely roll with the GTS 640. And for $40 more.

Wheres that extra $$$ go to? A good paint job? (Obviously not, the 2900XT looks like a happy meal toy LOL!)

-----------------------------------

You asked to get flamed by starting this thread, and you got it.

gg

 

[Chaoticon]

Wait for a year or two when games use dx10 and tessellation engine(which the 8800 doesn't have). The 8800 will pretty much be chugging, while the 2900xt is still kicking strong.