7900GT vs. X1800XT

M

melomania

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 16, 2005
Messages
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My eVGA 7900GT KO comes in today and I've read a lot of people debating between the 7900GT and the X1800XT. I know the X1800XT has the 512mb memory on the card and costs about the same as the 7900GT but the 7900GT has the 24 pipes. Someone want to explain which is better and why? What is going to last longer?
 
Well it deppends where and how are You going to use it.

If You are using high resolution monitor 512 MB of a X1800XT will be simply faster. Though X1800XT will make more noise has dual slot cooling soulution and uses more power (means makes more hot air)

So in a SFF PC 7900GT would be better choise IMO.

Then there is a fact that some people are addicted to a some brands hence some will allways gett Nvidia and others Ati grafic cards.

I went for a 7900GT in my SFF and paired it with a Zalman VF900. Cool and quiet. Works good with my 20" widescreeen (1680x1050).
It wouldn't be enough for 24"screens and with to much od a aa and af.

7900GT early models have suffered from bad voltage module and many went back. Newer cards use different part and work good. Voltage mods bring insaine OC but shorthen a life of a grafic card.

Stock 7900GT work on 450 MHz core and 660MHz memory (double data transfer wich is equal to 1320 MHz). Even without voltage mod (voltage mod is pretty simle if You have stady hands though) all 7900GT will hit 530 MHz and 775 MHz.

There are OC-ed versions from BFG, XFX , Asus, EVGA and others and those have BIOS with OC-ed settings. Pretty simple more preformance with low risc. Specialy with good warrenty.

X1800XT can be OC-ed to though 7900GT profits more from OC due it's architecture.

Considering a 7900GTX uses same G71 GPU and stock works at 650 MHz there is a high potential for 7900GT. Only GTX models have 512 MB RAM, better cooling solution and biffy power regulator.

Asus TOP card has bit different cooler cooling a memory modules to. Stock nvidia cooler used by most of a 7900GT cards ain't that good and doesn't cool memory modules. Well one more reason aftermarket coolers work well with GT cards.


Doo not gett me wrong X1800XT is faster in most of a applications in high resolutions and is a good card to. only 7900GT uses last GPU of a Nvidia and X1900XTX is slightly different from X1800XT.

Most probobly for full size system I would have used X1800XT if price would be same. Though for SFF my choice was simple.




MD
 
MD said:
Well it deppends where and how are You going to use it.

If You are using high resolution monitor 512 MB of a X1800XT will be simply faster. Though X1800XT will make more noise has dual slot cooling soulution and uses more power (means makes more hot air)

So in a SFF PC 7900GT would be better choise IMO.

Then there is a fact that some people are addicted to a some brands hence some will allways gett Nvidia and others Ati grafic cards.

I went for a 7900GT in my SFF and paired it with a Zalman VF900. Cool and quiet. Works good with my 20" widescreeen (1680x1050).
It wouldn't be enough for 24"screens and with to much od a aa and af.

7900GT early models have suffered from bad voltage module and many went back. Newer cards use different part and work good. Voltage mods bring insaine OC but shorthen a life of a grafic card.

Stock 7900GT work on 450 MHz core and 660MHz memory (double data transfer wich is equal to 1320 MHz). Even without voltage mod (voltage mod is pretty simle if You have stady hands though) all 7900GT will hit 530 MHz and 775 MHz.

There are OC-ed versions from BFG, XFX , Asus, EVGA and others and those have BIOS with OC-ed settings. Pretty simple more preformance with low risc. Specialy with good warrenty.

X1800XT can be OC-ed to though 7900GT profits more from OC due it's architecture.

Considering a 7900GTX uses same G71 GPU and stock works at 650 MHz there is a high potential for 7900GT. Only GTX models have 512 MB RAM, better cooling solution and biffy power regulator.

Asus TOP card has bit different cooler cooling a memory modules to. Stock nvidia cooler used by most of a 7900GT cards ain't that good and doesn't cool memory modules. Well one more reason aftermarket coolers work well with GT cards.


Doo not gett me wrong X1800XT is faster in most of a applications in high resolutions and is a good card to. only 7900GT uses last GPU of a Nvidia and X1900XTX is slightly different from X1800XT.

Most probobly for full size system I would have used X1800XT if price would be same. Though for SFF my choice was simple.




MD
Click to expand...


Seconded and QFT.
 
I had a 7900gt (very early model) - volt modded it to 1.55v on the GPU - It ran amazingly fast but lived a very short life - I should/could have backed off on the volts for the longer life.

I just received its' replacement, a Sapphire x1900xt. I can't say that I'm instantly happy. At stock speeds it's actually a little slower in 3d06. OC'ing is more difficult but not impossible. At XTX speeds I'm getting about the same scores as I got with the OC'ed 7900gt which I guess is ok but doesn't feel as good. :rolleyes: .

That would be ok but I've noticed some bugs when playing games (GRAW is giving me some weird artifacts).

To do it over again I think I'd stick with the 7900gt. (just not push it quite so hard :rolleyes: )
 
Avman said:
I just received its' replacement, a Sapphire x1900xt. I can't say that I'm instantly happy. At stock speeds it's actually a little slower in 3d06.
Click to expand...

Ya totally ruins the fun of playing 3d06, being slower and all :rolleyes: .
 
Avman, use driver cleaner and reinstall your videodrivers. If the X1900Xt overclocked to XTX speeds does NOT spank around your old 7900GT in almost any instance, then you're doing something wrong or every review i have read is wrong...

Seriously, after re-reading your post i am convinced something isn't kosher with your setup. The X1900XTX should play a round of good'ol spanky McBangBang with your old 7900GT.
 
That's what I thought, but I didn't have much time to play around with it yet. Received it from trusty UPS at 7.30pm last night. Just as I installed it and started a few basic benches, my wife decided it was time to go into the early stages of labor so I had to spend most of the evening timing contractions :eek: - Things subsided eventually but I think I'm going to be spending most of my time this week in a hospital rather than in front of my PC :D
 
Good luck with that and all the best to your wife then! Real life graphics sure beat the snot out of rendered baby pics! :)
 
I had a chance to compare the two cards and my results are posted in this thread at rage3d.com. For the lazy the run down was (you may have to read a few of earlier posts to get the jist of it):

KickAssCop said:
Ok final report and then I am done. The comparison between X1800XT and 7900GT and the dirty lowdown about them both.

System setup posted here again:

A64 3000+ @ 2.7 Ghz (Yes I changed CPUs and re-ran tests on both cards)
1 GB DDR 400 Ram
X1800XT @ Stock
X1800XT @ 675/760 (would artifact like crazy @ 690/800)
7900GT @ Stock
7900GT @ 550/800 Overclock

Cat 6.3 for X1800XT
91.28 for 7900GT

Before I post final impressions let me state that this is my opinion, you can take it as you like. I am by no means passing them as facts except the benchmarks themselves. Also I did not re-install windows for both cards and my windows is as old as it gets yet performs very competitively with all the benches I've seen over the internet. My windows has had an X800XL, 6800GT, 7800GTX, 7900GT, X1800XT and now I am back to 7900GT. The last set of results including above from FEAR were done on 91.28 drivers AFTER removing the X1800XT from my system. Whenever I mention AA was used its 4x setting w/ respective AA types between the two vendors.

Any other information is provided as is..

Aesthetics

X1800XT is a beast. Its huge and requires dual slot cooling. Its very hot over here in my part of the world (Pakistan) and I get about 42 C ambient temps during the day and 38 C during the night. Luckily all tests ran were in a room with air conditioning w/ ambient varying from 22 C to 30 C. My PC is on the table about 3-4 feet away from me and side panel is open due to heat. With the X1800XT my experience was not good because it was noisy, I can still hear it spin up during Oblivion and FEAR w/ headphones on and volume set to medium via headphone (max in windows). It was annoying to say the least. The heat generated by this card is insane. It does bug me and on max load it is noisy. For me it was an issue due to which I returned the card before the 10 day period that I agreed with my friend.

Coming back to the 7900GT my only complaint is the noisy cooler during windows (not audible during games due to headphones using same volume settings). I must say X1800XT was quieter in those times but since I use PC primarily for gaming 7900GT bugs me less. Heat.. what heat? This card runs cool and heat is not an issue with it.

Benchmarks

If benchmarks mean anything to you then 7900GT wins at overclock settings vs. an overclocked X1800XT. I do not have compare links nor screenshots since I am not a fan of one. X1800XT OC scores were

03 -- 16324
05 -- 8937
06 -- 4108

7900GT scores are:

03 -- 18008
05 -- 9237
06 -- 4710 (570/900 Stable OC)

I think they speak for themselves.

AA Quality

Call me whatever, but nVidia AA quality is better this time round. I did an AA comparison between an X800XL and 6800GT and X800XL came out on top back in 2005 and this time round, nVidia does better. Even using Adaptive AA nVidia has the lead. I did not try 6xAA or 8xS modes since I never use those. Between 4xAA on the two cards, nVidia has better quality albiet slightly, and when using 4xAAA vs. 4xTRSSAA and Gamm AA on, w/ similar performance in all games that support AA on both cards, nVidia clearly had the IQ advantage. It was noticeable especially in FEAR and NFSMW. Cars seem a hell lot more smoother on nVidia.

AF Quality, HQ Graphics and Shimmering

With games with huge draw distances, there is no doubts that HQ AF on ATi is excellent. There is simply nothing to compare here since nVidia does not have a similar offering. Its absolutely stunning to look at in Oblivion. No words can describe how Oblivion looks with X1800XT running 4xAA and 16xHQAF. Using adaptive AA I noticed slowdowns in outside areas in the teens (1280*1024 resolution, other options mentioned in previous posts), so it was unusable for me.

7900GT on the other hand also looks beautiful except in one place where it moves from excellent to annoying and that is Imperial City. I notice texture shimmering no matter what option I use for Oblivion (AF and HQ gfx). Its the ground texture tiles that shimmer and it only happens in Imperial City. Its good that most of my time is not spent there or else I would've been pissed to no end. That is the only game that I play has noticeable texture shimmering and its only in texture used for Imperial City stone ground.

Raw performance comparing usable settings

NFS MW:
Between the two cards while using 84.56 driver set for the games I mentioned I noticed slowdowns with the 7900GT even on overclocked settings in NFSMW @ 1600*1200 SSAA, 16xAF and Oblivion @ 1280*1024 16xAF and HDR. Thankfully, during my testing last night w/ the 91.28 driver set I am happy to report that using same resolution etc settings 4xSSAA w/ Gamma AA is now usable. So last night I re-ran NFSMW @ 1600*1200 w/ 4xTRSSAA Gamma AA and 16xAF and it did not give me a spike in the same places it used to w/ these drivers. On X1800XT the 1600*1200 setting was not usable either way. The above bench of NFSMW @ 1280*1024 and 7900GT OC has considerably improved also with average moving from 38.Xfps to 43.5 fps.

So all in all, NFSMW looks and performs better on 7900GT than X1800XT (which also has texture flickering bugs).

Oblivion:

I know I've talked about this game alot but here is the rundown for this section. It looks absolutely stunning on X1800XT and performs on par with 7900GT albiet with an additional 4xAA and HQAF and simply put, the IQ and performance provided with that IQ is unmatchable by nVidia. Using apples to apples comparison (putting X1800XT to 0xAA and only 16xAF), X1800XT beats the 7900GT and is equal to a 7900GT OC. Also note that 91.28 drivers also removed stuttering from Oblivion while loading new levels.

Quake 4:

nVidia wins this one hands down w/ same IQ on both cards. AA looks better on 7900GT and I can run 1600*1200 w/ SSAA and its playable. Dips to the teens on the X1800XT.

FEAR:

Again nVidia pretty much owns this benchmark. Never dipping below 30 fps is a FEAT w/ 4x SSAA, Gamma AA, 16xAF, HQ, Max everything in game (minus soft shadows). X1800XT dips in the 20s and in the Escalation Interval courtyard area (shot above), I got 20s w/ X1800XT. W/ nVidia and 91.28 it never went below 32 fps. Excellent. IQ is more or less the same and specular aliasing was also noticeable on X1800XT albiet a little less pronounced. AA in all other areas was better on 7900GT.

Tomb Raider: Legend

Used to be same performance with same IQ but with the new nVidia drivers I can now enable SSAA and still get same performance as 4xAA on 84.56. X1800XT has some graphical glitches in this game, but overall, both perform on par w/ X1800XT performing better in some areas and 7900GT in others. IQ is comparable since HQ AF on X1800XT did not present w/ any advantages since game has an inherent blur in the distance.

Well that's about it. I know its not much in terms of a review etc but its a user experience and I am glad to be w/ a 7900GT. Except for Oblivion I do not miss the card and my sitting space is now less warm. Overall, both cards are excellent but for me 7900GT is plug and play and enjoy kindof card with less game issues as opposed to X1800XT. Even the new CP of nVidia is not a resource hog like CCC and overall, I must say when games w/ larger draw distances are out, X1k series will always have IQ advantage using HQ AF. Needless to say HDR+AA is another bonus, but I would rather an X1900XT than an X1800XT since it provided me w/ benefits in only one game that I play.

I am still attempting to grab an X1900XT and will make another thread comparing it w/ a 7900GTX hopefully.
Click to expand...

Hope this helps.
 
X1800XT's will OC a lot further if you bother to flash them to the PE bios. A lot easier and safer than volt modding.
 
ScYcS said:
Avman, use driver cleaner and reinstall your videodrivers. If the X1900Xt overclocked to XTX speeds does NOT spank around your old 7900GT in almost any instance, then you're doing something wrong or every review i have read is wrong...

Seriously, after re-reading your post i am convinced something isn't kosher with your setup. The X1900XTX should play a round of good'ol spanky McBangBang with your old 7900GT.
Click to expand...


Um no. My 7900gt voltmodded with a simple conductive pen and a pencil (took 5 minutes and literally impossible to screw up if you put a strip of tape down first), at the same voltage as his, overclocks to 720mhz/1920mhz. I'd love to see a x1900xtx take that without vmods, which are a hell of a lot harder.

Then, we come around to the fact that at launch week I paid $290 for a card that destroys the $500 flagship cards from both companies when mated with a $10 conductive pen. Simply the best bang for the buck card I've ever had.
 
So I received my 7900GT, and yes I am impressed. I ran quake4 at 1440x9000 with everything on high and 8x AA but and things ran decent, but not the best. I wonder what my bottleneck is. My Athlon64 3200+?
 
melomania said:
So I received my 7900GT, and yes I am impressed. I ran quake4 at 1440x9000 with everything on high and 8x AA but and things ran decent, but not the best. I wonder what my bottleneck is. My Athlon64 3200+?
Click to expand...

Thats your "bottleneck". Try 4x instead. 8x is just far too demanding for any new'ish game, at any high'ish res.
 
Update:

RMA'ed the x1900xt last night. Used driver cleaner, re-installed and then even with everything at stock, it was still crashing games HL2, GRAW, COD2 and artifacting in GRAW. I'll try agian with another x1900xt. I'm just nervous about getting another 7900GT. The last one didn't last very long, and they do need the vmod to perform. Computerpro3, what card did you have?

And KickAssCop is right about the AA quality on Nvidia. Jaggies were very noticeable on the 1900.
 
Quake 4 looked amazing but my frames like to drop down into to the 20's when I get into a firefight.

So far no artifacting or anything wrong. The only thing that had happened was the FEAR demo crashed somewhere in the menu when I was setting client settings but that was it. I think I'm going to go pick up FEAR tonight. It looked so awesome and the gameplay was great!
 
computerpro3 said:
Um no. My 7900gt voltmodded with a simple conductive pen and a pencil (took 5 minutes and literally impossible to screw up if you put a strip of tape down first), at the same voltage as his, overclocks to 720mhz/1920mhz. I'd love to see a x1900xtx take that without vmods, which are a hell of a lot harder.

Then, we come around to the fact that at launch week I paid $290 for a card that destroys the $500 flagship cards from both companies when mated with a $10 conductive pen. Simply the best bang for the buck card I've ever had.
Click to expand...
You know, normally I wouldn't say anything, but this is blatantly wrong.

It was a good effort to bash ATi, but it is asinine. There is no such thing as voltmodding an X1900XT or any of ATi's newer cards, because you do it all in SOFTWARE! So, in reality, it's even easier than the voltmodding on the nVidia cards.

I'm not saying either card is better, just pointing out that you are wrong :)
 
Yep - Noticed that AtiTool will control the voltages just fine. But I don't think he was trying to bash ATI, he just confirmed my observation that my (now dead :mad: ) OC'ed 7900GT was faster than I could easily get out of my (now RMA'ed) 1900xt.
 
Avman said:
Yep - Noticed that AtiTool will control the voltages just fine. But I don't think he was trying to bash ATI, he just confirmed my observation that my (now dead :mad: ) OC'ed 7900GT was faster than I could easily get out of my (now RMA'ed) 1900xt.
Click to expand...

You got some bad luck going on... damn!
 
Alex41290 said:
You know, normally I wouldn't say anything, but this is blatantly wrong.

It was a good effort to bash ATi, but it is asinine. There is no such thing as voltmodding an X1900XT or any of ATi's newer cards, because you do it all in SOFTWARE! So, in reality, it's even easier than the voltmodding on the nVidia cards.

I'm not saying either card is better, just pointing out that you are wrong :)
Click to expand...

I thought you could only get a couple of steps above stock; not the type of voltage that you would need for heavy duty water or TEC/phase change?
 
well, 3dmark 06 says the 7900GT is better, but from some hard numbers i can gather up, the X1800XT should have a slight edge. but like i said 3dmark says diferantly.

i would go with the 7900GT, quieter, and much more overclockable.
 
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