x1950pro or 7900gs

S

Simpson5774

2[H]4U
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Feb 1, 2005
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Well my 6800GT is dead (or as far as I can tell) so I need to get a new pciE video card. $449 for a 8800GTS is out of the question, and theres no way in hell im going to wait 3-5 months for mainstream DX10 so I need something in the 200 dollar range. As far as I can tell, the x1950pro is a faster card, but ive never had any experience with ATI in the past.

Also, how are the two for overclocking, since I plan on doing that almost out of the box, and whatever thoughts you may have are welcomed.
 
At stock, the 7900GS will be slower than the X1950 Pro, but there is much more overclocking headroom on the 7900GS to roughly match and possibly exceed the performance of the X1950. However, the X1950 Pro is better, as you have better performance at stock. If you plan on going with multi cpu, like I am, then you want a 7900GS. If not, X1950 Pro is the way to go. Keep in mind that the X1950 Pro uses more power and is hotter, but has VIVO and such extras.

If you are getting a 7900GS, I recommend eVGA. Their 7900 GS are HDCP equipped, and the step up program lets you get a newer card in 90 days and pay only the difference in price.

I asked this question a few days ago, here is the link:

Link
 
The 7900GS is a lot cheaper depending on where you get it but the X1950Pro is better out of the box. The 7900GS is ~ 7800GT.
 
No meant to as spam. But i've noticed that their have been at least 2 of these threads per day. All with the same question, mostly upgrading froma 6800 card. Anyone want to make a stickey because it's getting pathetic answering the same question again and again.
 
kirbyrj said:
The 7900GS is a lot cheaper depending on where you get it but the X1950Pro is better out of the box. The 7900GS is ~ 7800GT.
Click to expand...

Where I'm getting my comp, the X1950 Pro is 10 less, but the return period goes from 30 to 3 days on the computer it comes in. But, I like EVGA, SLi, and I've been a NVIDIA user back to the GeForce 2.
 
Night Black said:
Where I'm getting my comp, the X1950 Pro is 10 less, but the return period goes from 30 to 3 days on the computer it comes in. But, I like EVGA, SLi, and I've been a NVIDIA user back to the GeForce 2.
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Personally, I'd get the X1950 Pro if it's cheaper, but I can understand the Nvidia thing. I like their drivers and SLI a lot better than the Catalyst/Crossfire stuff I'm using now.

Depending on what board you're getting, you can always go single 7900GS now and get another one for SLI later if you feel so inclined.
 
Well I got one or two more questions, How much of an overclock is an un voltmodded 7900gs going to yield me, I was also thinking about a sapphire ultimate x1950pro, mem comes 200 mhz faster and has a vf900cu and ramsinks installed but no vivo (yeah im surprised), any idea on how those are for overclocking?.

Another question, ive been reading up on 7900gs volt mods all night, I keep hearing of a quick pencil mod which gives you more vcore, but have yet to see pictures of it.
 
I used to run ATI, lately I switched to Nvidia and am sorry I did. I have used 7600GS in SLI, 7600GTs in SLI and 7950GT and have had nothing but problems. My last X800GTO was modded 10 times and put in a BUNCH of comps and I never had a problem with it..

Go with the X1950...
 
markkleb said:
I used to run ATI, lately I switched to Nvidia and am sorry I did. I have used 7600GS in SLI, 7600GTs in SLI and 7950GT and have had nothing but problems. My last X800GTO was modded 10 times and put in a BUNCH of comps and I never had a problem with it..

Go with the X1950...
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I reject that simply because its bias, My 6800GT ran for 11 months 24/7 overclocked and voltmodded and had been repeadly pulled out of its socket, and this is from leadtek which were one of the worst brands for the 6800GT in terms of relyabilty.
 
Leadtek 6800GT @ 425/1140 1.4v with NV5 rev2 (no video but im assuming its dead)
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Well, that explains a lot... anyways;

After the problems with the Samsung RAM on the 7900GT's, and numerous problems with BFG and XFX producing sub-par cards, I'd have to stick with ATi. The 7950GT was a waste of resources on Nvidia's part, not being able to perform better than the 7900GT/GS counterparts. In all, crappy manufactured cards as of late is currently keeping me away, though I was tempted to get a 7900GS from eVGA. Too bad it would be considered a bad investment at this time of the year.
 
In the long run, the x1950pro should get better b/c of its higher pixel shader count. I usually buy nVidia, mostly because of price and availability but ATI has been improving in this area so.... x1950pro :).
 
One last question which was asked above, Does anyone know the difference between the regular sapphire x1950pro and the ultimate version, which has an VF900cu installed but no vivo, the memory comes 200 mhz faster stock, but is that from superior chips or just the same chips running at there spec?
 
The Sapphire Ultimate one runs a lot cooler, and would give you a slight boost in performance, and I noticed you had a NV Silencer on your old graphics card, the VF900 would be dead silent you're a noise freak. You could also pick up a Powercolor X1950Pro, they're good.

The Ultimate one is simply overclocked (almost 1.5ghz memory I think?) and would help you out a lot in most games.
 
Reading up some more,

The x1950 is obviously faster at stock, but there is almost zero overclocking headroom, the fastest ive seen was 641/1400 (580?/1400 is reference), which is nothing compared to what a 7900gs can oc too. The x1950pro cant be voltmodded (or cant be easly) due to the digital PWM, making w/e exotic cooling solutions useless.

Being able to run folding@home on it is enticing but not the kicker for me.

ATI would be a new experience for me, but nvidia drivers are more refined.

This is becoming a harder decision than I first thought, as of this post, my pick would be the 7900gs due to overclocking. With that said its hard to dismiss the x1950pro with its better overall stock performance.

w/e my decision, im buying a video card in the morning.
 
I don't think you could go wrong either way. But the X1950 would have a better endurance. It would help you more in future games, I'd say...

EDIT: I know they may not be great overclockers, but their architecture is simply better. Always good to see a fellow old Runescape player here :)
 
So what was your name in runescape n e ways?, Still haven't gotten a video card yet since I forgot to set my alarm, ill just order it at school.

The 7900gs is looking good to me because of the overclocking headroom, SLi ability, and in my mind, nvidia > ATI. The x1950pro looks good because of the HDR + AA, possible VIVO, and stock performance.

In the end this card doesn't need to last any longer than 6 months.
 
Simpson5774 said:
I reject that simply because its bias, My 6800GT ran for 11 months 24/7 overclocked and voltmodded and had been repeadly pulled out of its socket, and this is from leadtek which were one of the worst brands for the 6800GT in terms of relyabilty.
Click to expand...
Bias? I have 2 7600GTs(old) that beat the crap out of a XFX 7950GT Extreme(new) and the drivers sucked for them both.

One thing that I like about the 7600GTs in SLI is they do kick the 7950s butt and dont need any extra power connections.

Everyone has heard of all the problems of the early 7900 series, its not bias its fact...

I wish I had got a X1900 series instead..
 
I was faced with the same decision 2 weeks ago. I had a 6800 Vanilla and needed something under $200. All of the "cheap" X1950 Pros seem to have dried up. (Atleast where I was looking) and most were about $200. Found a 7900GS-OC from BGF on the egg ofr $144 and Bit.

I installed it and was pleasantly surprised that it was clocked at 561mhz out of the box, stable. Quite a boost over stock and even on-par or better than some 7900GTs.

Performance over the 6800 vanilla was un-freekin-beleivable. I highly reccomend an 7900GS with factory OC from one of the top tier makers.
 
Simpson5774 said:
So what was your name in runescape n e ways?, Still haven't gotten a video card yet since I forgot to set my alarm, ill just order it at school.

The 7900gs is looking good to me because of the overclocking headroom, SLi ability, and in my mind, nvidia > ATI. The x1950pro looks good because of the HDR + AA, possible VIVO, and stock performance.

In the end this card doesn't need to last any longer than 6 months.
Click to expand...

Sarge D./T B :)

Like I said, you can't go wrong either way. The 7900 GS is fast.

EDIT: Oooh snap, be bad if you missed that deal. $210 for that killer factory overclock and a nice heatsink. 1600mhz memory! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102070
 
I didn't buy a video card yet at the time of this post due to waking up late, but I am almost postivie that im going with the 7900gs, I cant justify spending 30 (50 after MIR) for a video card which cant overclock worth a shit (digital PWM limited) and gets kicked in the face by almost every overclocked 7900gs, voltmodded or not. Plus i still cant figure out what the sapphire ultimate card brings to the table that the regular one doesn't. (weather its using faster mem chips or if there simply the stock 1.4ns chips overclocked.
 
Mr. Stryker said:
The X1950 Pro is better than the 7900GS. It has more shader processors, and has higher IQ. Not to mention better image quality too. You could overclock it and it would be so much stronger.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/ati_radeon_x1950_pro/page5.asp
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IQ stands for image quality lol

And I have a 7900gs. stock volts, it gets to 580/800. with 1.4v to the core (from 1.2v stock), it gets to 650 core. 3dm2k6 scores topped out nonvoltmodded 7900gt's :)
 
Well I bought the x1950pro, I flipped a coin, 220 dollars (with rush processing) later im getting the sapphire ultimate one. Newegg better be shipping it from new jersey so I can have it tomorrow.
 
Sweet, please post some 3DMark results here once you get it if you don't mind. I'd love to know what you get. Because I'll be getting a X1950 Pro as well, mostly so I can GPU fold. [H]ard|Fold, damn it!
 
Simpson5774 said:
Well I bought the x1950pro, I flipped a coin, 220 dollars (with rush processing) later im getting the sapphire ultimate one. Newegg better be shipping it from new jersey so I can have it tomorrow.
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$220 with Rush Shipping and all seems resonable. You should be happy with it.
 
Well, its 10:45, still not at my place, i got work from 3-10. When i do get the card I got to dial down my stable stock settings, save them, do a baseline with the x1950pro, then OC my opty back up (i really need a new heatsink so i can hit 3 ghz), then "attempt" to oc the x1950pro and see where were at.


so nothing atm.
 
Damn, got it at 12:20 just as I was coming home. as i said before, need to dial down my computer aigain, updates later.


update.

Yeah, I got catalyst 6.11 installed (nvidia drivers look way better), I think theres a 6.12 out but not on AMD's site.

for some reason it sees my card at stock 580/700 instead of 580/800 (ultimate edition).

I think I can get my stock settings dialed in a bit better but w/e.

So heres my first 3d05 run (downloading 3d06 as we speak)

3d05x1950lp4.jpg


I don't know if thats good for stock 148 and x1950pro or what, but my highest run with my 6800GT was 6030.

edit. Yeah I got to get ready for work but ill try to get some 3d06 and FEAR benchmarks as well as well as O/C'd

edit2. You may or may not want to disregard that, I just realized they updated 3d05, and that 1.2.0 not 1.3.0
 
Thats close to my 7600GTs in SLI (lol, I have the same CPU too). To me benchmarks are less important than real life.

What are games like?
I used to love my X800GTO..and it never had any of the driver probs of my Nvidia stuff.
 
TheBluePill said:
That big of a difference?
Click to expand...

It's bigger than I thought it would be. Probably a few thousand "marks". I don't think it's debated that the x1950 Pro is a faster card than the 7900GS, so I'd say it'll probably come in around 5500 or so on 3dmark06.

You should see what you get in 05. I bet it would be closer to 8 or 9 thousand. I get around 12-13 with my X1900 CF setup.
 
Save your money and get the cheaper of the two, new video cards will release soon for the DX10 games....
 
wonton1017 said:
Save your money and get the cheaper of the two, new video cards will
release soon for the DX10 games....
Click to expand...


I give this guy the winner of the day award, 5 days since I made a decision, also stated very clearly that 3-5 months with no gaming machine is too long to wait for a 200 dollar DX10 card, but obviously you already knew that.

I got 2 days off on thursday and friday, So thats prob when I open this cpu and vid card up and go all balls.

I cant remeber what I got on my 3d06 score, ither 43xx or 4030, They low too me for some reason, dunno why, also do the cpu tests effect your 3dmark score?

Should I turn these benches into a new topic or keep them here?
 
U da boss...it will be fun to see cause my comp is close to yours and im using 7600s in SLI.
I suck at OCing so It will be fun to see how high you can get it.

But I would really like to know how it works in games..

Also I have a New XFX7950 extreme laying around if you dont like the 1950.
 
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