7950GX2, 7900GTX, or X1900XTX to go with C2D E6700???

[Logicsequence]

ok, now that i have my C2D E6700, i have ordered my motherboard, an ASUS P5W DH Deluxe, and memory, 4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800.

Now my major delimma is what video card to put with it. I'd love nothing more than to put a 7950GX2 in there, but i have concerns since the P5W DH is not listed at nVidia as a compatible motherboard. IS IT COMPATIBLE? I know i can run dual monitors with the 7950GX2, but i will have to disable one in the nVidia control panel if i want to play games and use the card to it's full potential in SLI Mode, Correct? Is that a pain in the @rse to do? Is it worth having to go turn off a monitor to get the extra performance from the 7950GX2? Is there anyway i can make a game profile that will automatically disable the monitor when i click the game icon?

If i decide against the 7950GX2, my next option is the 7900GTX... now i'm weary about it as well, i've heard a lot of people have had major issues with the 7900's... like cards dieing after 2 days, artifacting, CTD's, BSoD's, etc... how much of that is hype and how much of that is real? is the 7900GTX a good and stable card? Does the 7950GX2 offer so much more performance that if warrants the price difference and the switching off of dual monitors and what not?

Finally the X1900XTX, i'm weary of this b/c of the AMD ATi merger... ATi and INTEL may not be supporting each other soon... is the X1900XTX that much better than the 7900GTX? How is it compared to the 7950GX2?

Which would you guys choose given my circumstances?

Prices:
GIGABYTE GeForce 7950GX2 $549.99
ASUS GeForce 7900GTX $469.99
SAPPHIRE Radeon X1900XTX $429.99




EDIT:
OK, i added a poll to get people's ideas...

Well all things considered:
A. This is a gaming rig
B. This is also an OpenGL workstation (i often work with VERY polygon heavy 3d models)
C. I use dual monitors all the time
D. We don't know for sure my mobo is compatible with the 7950gx2(but probably is)
E. Appearantly not all games can benefit from SLI, and i am not a FPS gamer, i'm more of a strategy gamer, Civ 4, GalCiv 2, HW2, etc... etc... not that those aren't graphics hogs themselves.

All things considered, what are your suggestions (answer poll please)?



P.S.
i know about the fireGL and quadro lines, i have a fireGL right now, it doesn't provide a boost in my OpenGL 3d program of choice, Lightwave, so there's no use in getting another Workstation card that's more expensive when a high end gaming card will do just as well, and have better gaming performance.

 

[Logicsequence]

wow, that fell down the list fast....

BUMP^

 

[turpit]

None of the above.


Buy this one


click to enlarge

 

[SidVicious]

Seems like you got more than enough money to find out on your own :lol:

Otherwise, you can spend some time reading reviews and benchmarks...

 

[badge]

ok, now that i have my C2D E6700, i have ordered my motherboard, an ASUS P5W DH Deluxe, and memory, 4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800.

Now my major delimma is what video card to put with it. I'd love nothing more than to put a 7950GX2 in there, but i have concerns since the P5W DH is not listed at nVidia as a compatible motherboard. IS IT COMPATIBLE? I know i can run dual monitors with the 7950GX2, but i will have to disable one in the nVidia control panel if i want to play games and use the card to it's full potential in SLI Mode, Correct? Is that a pain in the @rse to do? Is it worth having to go turn off a monitor to get the extra performance from the 7950GX2? Is there anyway i can make a game profile that will automatically disable the monitor when i click the game icon?

If i decide against the 7950GX2, my next option is the 7900GTX... now i'm weary about it as well, i've heard a lot of people have had major issues with the 7900's... like cards dieing after 2 days, artifacting, CTD's, BSoD's, etc... how much of that is hype and how much of that is real? is the 7900GTX a good and stable card? Does the 7950GX2 offer so much more performance that if warrants the price difference and the switching off of dual monitors and what not?

Finally the X1900XTX, i'm weary of this b/c of the AMD ATi merger... ATi and INTEL may not be supporting each other soon... is the X1900XTX that much better than the 7900GTX? How is it compared to the 7950GX2?

Which would you guys choose given my circumstances?

Prices:
GIGABYTE GeForce 7950GX2 $549.99
ASUS GeForce 7900GTX $469.99
SAPPHIRE Radeon X1900XTX $429.99

I'd get the GIGABYTE GeForce 7950GX2 $549.99 if I could afford it. I still have my ASUS 5950 Ultra AGP. It has 256 ddr, 256 bit the RAM is like 875 mhz. Bought it new for $380. My son said some games won't load up with it, but It still cranks out the streamin' videos and plays the hell out of youtube!

 

[ltcommander_data]

My advice is to get the X1900XTX. I'm usually an ATI fan although this AMD/ATI acquisition isn't helping things. Anyways, regardless of the partnership there will be no problems for ATI graphics cards on Intel platforms for the forseeable future. Any ATI-Intel friction would be on the ATI chipset side rather than graphics cards since Intel still needs ATI on that front.

Generally the X1900XTX and the 7900GTX are very comparable in performance with the 7900GTX pulling ahead in OpenGL games and the X1900XTX leading in pixel shader heavy games like Oblivion. Theroretically, the higher pixel shader power of the X1900XTX makes it more "future-proof" since that's the direction games are going. DirectX 10 is coming, but with graphics card makers, game developers, and Microsoft playing chicken and the egg games it'll be a while before that's really a concern.

The 7950GX2 is theoretically faster than both of them, but I'm against the idea of selling 2 graphics cards as one. I find the 7950GX2 to still be finicky since not all games support SLI mode, which will result you running only a single lower clocked chip (compared to the 7900GTX) resulting in poor performance. Not all games benefit fully from SLI mode either. I'm in favour of a single stronger card like the X1900XTX rather than 2 slower cards passed off as one faster one.

Your ASUS P5W DH Deluxe also uses the i975X chipset which supports Crossfire. This means that you can add a X1900XT Crossfire card later on to the X1900XTX in order to gain additional performance.

2 things you should note though in terms of timing. If you want to get a graphics card now, the X1900XTX is a good choice. (The X1900XT is also an option since it's cheaper, but only slightly slower. Crossfire downclocks to X1900XT speeds anyways.) However, ATI is set to release the new X1950XTX later in August which will run at 650MHz core and use 2GHz GDDR4. It won't be a lot faster since the core clock is the same (argh, I was hoping for at least 700MHz), but there should be a boost around 8% according to ATI I believe. The X1950XTX will also be aggressively priced in order to compete with the 7950GX2. Prices for the existing X1900XTX will also fall.

The other new release is nVidia's G80 which is DirectX 10 compatible. That is looking at a September/October timeframe.

Finally, you might want to consider the HIS X1900XTX IceQ3 edition.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161013

It's currently $469.99 at Newegg after mail-in rebates. The advantage is that this model has a custom designed cooler making it both quieter and cooler than the clunker on other X1900XTXs. The default cooler on the X1900XTX was originally designed with the X1800 series in mind and is going to be replaced by a new design (similar to HIS's IceQ3 actually) in the X1950 series. The HIS X1900XTX IceQ3 should also have better overclocking room if you are interested.

 

[Logicsequence]

My advice is to get the X1900XTX. I'm usually an ATI fan although this AMD/ATI acquisition isn't helping things. Anyways, regardless of the partnership there will be no problems for ATI graphics cards on Intel platforms for the forseeable future. Any ATI-Intel friction would be on the ATI chipset side rather than graphics cards since Intel still needs ATI on that front.

Generally the X1900XTX and the 7900GTX are very comparable in performance with the 7900GTX pulling ahead in OpenGL games and the X1900XTX leading in pixel shader heavy games like Oblivion. Theroretically, the higher pixel shader power of the X1900XTX makes it more "future-proof" since that's the direction games are going. DirectX 10 is coming, but with graphics card makers, game developers, and Microsoft playing chicken and the egg games it'll be a while before that's really a concern.

The 7950GX2 is theoretically faster than both of them, but I'm against the idea of selling 2 graphics cards as one. I find the 7950GX2 to still be finicky since not all games support SLI mode, which will result you running only a single lower clocked chip (compared to the 7900GTX) resulting in poor performance. Not all games benefit fully from SLI mode either. I'm in favour of a single stronger card like the X1900XTX rather than 2 slower cards passed off as one faster one.

Your ASUS P5W DH Deluxe also uses the i975X chipset which supports Crossfire. This means that you can add a X1900XT Crossfire card later on to the X1900XTX in order to gain additional performance.

2 things you should note though in terms of timing. If you want to get a graphics card now, the X1900XTX is a good choice. (The X1900XT is also an option since it's cheaper, but only slightly slower. Crossfire downclocks to X1900XT speeds anyways.) However, ATI is set to release the new X1950XTX later in August which will run at 650MHz core and use 2GHz GDDR4. It won't be a lot faster since the core clock is the same (argh, I was hoping for at least 700MHz), but there should be a boost around 8% according to ATI I believe. The X1950XTX will also be aggressively priced in order to compete with the 7950GX2. Prices for the existing X1900XTX will also fall.

The other new release is nVidia's G80 which is DirectX 10 compatible. That is looking at a September/October timeframe.

Finally, you might want to consider the HIS X1900XTX IceQ3 edition.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161013

It's currently $469.99 at Newegg after mail-in rebates. The advantage is that this model has a custom designed cooler making it both quieter and cooler than the clunker on other X1900XTXs. The default cooler on the X1900XTX was originally designed with the X1800 series in mind and is going to be replaced by a new design (similar to HIS's IceQ3 actually) in the X1950 series. The HIS X1900XTX IceQ3 should also have better overclocking room if you are interested.

All games can't benefit from SLI??? i thought SLI was simply using both GPU's to make calculations faster, why does the individual game matter?

A thing to keep in mind is this computer will also be a DCC workstation for me, i do 3d modeling, 3d animation, and graphic design, mostly with Lightwave 3D, which is all openGL based. But it's also my gaming PC, so it has to be good at both.

Still think the X1900XTX is best for me?

unfortunately, the HIS IceQ3 is out of stock at newegg (where i'll be ordering from tomorrow....) Is there another version with a better cooler?

 

[Logicsequence]

None of the above.


Buy this one


click to enlarge

cute.... got any real advice?

 

[Logicsequence]

Seems like you got more than enough money to find out on your own :lol:

Otherwise, you can spend some time reading reviews and benchmarks...

Some of the suff i want to know, reviews and benchmarks won't tell me...

 

[turpit]

I appologize.

Sometimes my humour just runs away with me.
Unfortunatley, I have no advice for you as I am only running a 9800Pro. No where near the generation you are looking at.


Peace

 

[Logicsequence]

I appologize.

Sometimes my humour just runs away with me.
Unfortunatley, I have no advice for you as I am only running a 9800Pro. No where near the generation you are looking at.


Peace

i had a 9800pro be4 my current card... don't feel so bad.

 

[dalepw]

The 7950GX2 is theoretically faster than both of them, but I'm against the idea of selling 2 graphics cards as one. I find the 7950GX2 to still be finicky since not all games support SLI mode, which will result you running only a single lower clocked chip (compared to the 7900GTX) resulting in poor performance. Not all games benefit fully from SLI mode either. I'm in favour of a single stronger card like the X1900XTX rather than 2 slower cards passed off as one faster one.

The 7950gx2 doesn't require SLI to run, that is why it plugs into one slot, so this shouldn't be an issue

 

[ltcommander_data]

All games can't benefit from SLI??? i thought SLI was simply using both GPU's to make calculations faster, why does the individual game matter?

The graphics card driver must support the game in SLI mode before the game can run on both cards. SLI has existed longer than Crossfire which means that the database of supported games is larger. Still not all games benefit the same from SLI, since some can't be divided up as easily, and newer games have to wait for the next driver update before it's supported in SLI mode. I just feel that a true single card solution is cleaner.

If you do a lot of OpenGL work, then maybe nVidia cards are a better choice. However, I'm not sure how much of a benefit you will really see. ATI's OpenGL performance has improved with the X1xxx series with the newer drivers and isn't much slower than nVidia. The thing is, that both nVidia and ATI have dedicated graphics card lines for workstation usage, Quadro and FireGL respectively. These cards are generally based on the standard GeForce and Radeon lines, but include special drivers with optimizations for workstation software. Without those special drivers, I'm not sure how much workstation software would rely on the GeForces or Radeons for acceleration.

Maybe someone else can better answer your questions. I would suggest you start a new thread in the Graphics Card section where they will be able to answer your questions better. You should also link this thread so they can see what has been said already.

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=3&sid=9d6cb964d7c1f92a41c2d16a733df4fd&fex=Graphics-Cards

(And no there isn't another version of the X1900XTX with a better cooler. Sapphire has a model using liquid cooling, but that's more expensive and requires a bit more experience.)

 

[exit2dos]

If your motherboard is not listed as compatible for the 7950GX2, it probably won't run it.

The one thing each board needs, is a correct implementation of the PCIe x16 slot for the card to work.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/7950GX2

I wouldn't chance it at this price range.

 

[BaronMatrix]

ok, now that i have my C2D E6700, i have ordered my motherboard, an ASUS P5W DH Deluxe, and memory, 4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800.

Now my major delimma is what video card to put with it. I'd love nothing more than to put a 7950GX2 in there, but i have concerns since the P5W DH is not listed at nVidia as a compatible motherboard. IS IT COMPATIBLE? I know i can run dual monitors with the 7950GX2, but i will have to disable one in the nVidia control panel if i want to play games and use the card to it's full potential in SLI Mode, Correct? Is that a pain in the @rse to do? Is it worth having to go turn off a monitor to get the extra performance from the 7950GX2? Is there anyway i can make a game profile that will automatically disable the monitor when i click the game icon?

If i decide against the 7950GX2, my next option is the 7900GTX... now i'm weary about it as well, i've heard a lot of people have had major issues with the 7900's... like cards dieing after 2 days, artifacting, CTD's, BSoD's, etc... how much of that is hype and how much of that is real? is the 7900GTX a good and stable card? Does the 7950GX2 offer so much more performance that if warrants the price difference and the switching off of dual monitors and what not?

Finally the X1900XTX, i'm weary of this b/c of the AMD ATi merger... ATi and INTEL may not be supporting each other soon... is the X1900XTX that much better than the 7900GTX? How is it compared to the 7950GX2?

Which would you guys choose given my circumstances?

Prices:
GIGABYTE GeForce 7950GX2 $549.99
ASUS GeForce 7900GTX $469.99
SAPPHIRE Radeon X1900XTX $429.99

Though the GX2 is a little more it is the fastest single SLOT solution available. It kills 7900GT SLI, and I think even CrossFire AND 7900GTX SLI. The key to the card is that it has an internal SLI chip that divides ANY (it should work if everyone follows the SLI spec) PCIe x16 slot. I would think that it will work with an ASUS board. I have yet to hear any issues with it working as one card.

 

[ltcommander_data]

The 7950gx2 doesn't require SLI to run, that is why it plugs into one slot, so this shouldn't be an issue

The 7950GX2 doesn't require 2 slots yes, but it is still an implementation of SLI. The 2 chips are connected to a PCIe Switch which converts it into 1 slot. Proper motherboard support is required because the motherboard must be able to communicate to the PCIe Switch instead of directly to the graphics card. Proper SLI driver support is also required.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/nvidia-gf7950gx2_20.html

This game is incompatible with multi-GPU technologies – turning on SLI or CrossFire leads to a considerable performance hit here.

The 7950GX2 is affected by the same SLI issues that affect regular SLi setups like 2 x 7900GTX.

 

[kais]

honestly, if you want a good recommendation, id get a 7600gt and hold up until some dx10 cards are out, that way youll still have something good, and i gotta tell you i love my 7600 its a great card, it doesnt give you what those x1900 and 7900's give you but for 140 you cant go wrong

 

[MagicPants]

The 7950GX2 is a single physical slot, yes but it's not really a single logical slot. You still need to open two 8x interfaces to the card, only motherboards that support PCI-E switching can do this. It's not a chipset limitation it's a bios thing.

Without the switching feature you can still use a 7950GX2 but only one GPU on one device at a time, so it's good for multi-monitor.

SLI and Crossfire need special motherboards, which basically amounts to an arbitrary lock out unless someone's paid them a licensing fee. I'm going to avoid SLI/Crossfire myself until Nvidia and ATI get over themselves and let mobo makers support SLI/Crossfire without charging them. I think selling two $500 cards is enough.

 

[Logicsequence]

OK, i added a poll to get people's ideas...

Well all things considered:
A. This is a gaming rig
B. This is also an OpenGL workstation (i often work with VERY polygon heavy 3d models)
C. I use dual monitors all the time
D. We don't know for sure my mobo is compatible with the 7950gx2 (but probably is)
E. Appearantly not all games can benefit from SLI, and i am not a FPS gamer, i'm more of a strategy gamer, Civ 4, GalCiv 2, HW2, etc... etc... not that those aren't graphics hogs themselves.

All things considered, what are your suggestions (answer poll please)?



P.S.
i know about the fireGL and quadro lines, i have a fireGL right now, it doesn't provide a boost in my OpenGL 3d program of choice, Lightwave, so there's no use in getting another Workstation card that's more expensive when a high end gaming card will do just as well, and have better gaming performance.

 

[Artmic]

For me there was only one choice, the 7950, SLI without 2 physical slots taken, plus good performance for price.

 

[Logicsequence]

For me there was only one choice, the 7950, SLI without 2 physical slots taken, plus good performance for price.

does the fact that my motherboard is not listed as compatible with the 7950gx2 by nvidia not put anyone off???

 

[Logicsequence]

If i decide against the 7950GX2, my next option is the 7900GTX... now i'm weary about it as well, i've heard a lot of people have had major issues with the 7900's... like cards dieing after 2 days, artifacting, CTD's, BSoD's, etc... how much of that is hype and how much of that is real? is the 7900GTX a good and stable card?

 

[waelt]

Wait till DX10 cards show up , i have 6600GT i decided to upgrade to 7600GT and wait to DX10 cards. If you bought the 7950GX2 you will regret that after 2 months....

 

[BaronMatrix]

If i decide against the 7950GX2, my next option is the 7900GTX... now i'm weary about it as well, i've heard a lot of people have had major issues with the 7900's... like cards dieing after 2 days, artifacting, CTD's, BSoD's, etc... how much of that is hype and how much of that is real? is the 7900GTX a good and stable card?

i haven't heard of any problems with 7900. If its worth it maybe you could get a mobo that is comaptible. I know pulling all that crap outis a pain but nothing can touch GX2 right now. R600 and G80 aren't due for a few months but they will have DX10 support.

 

[Logicsequence]

well waiting for DX10 isn't an option right now, and i can't stick in a mediocre card in the meantime b/c i won't be able to do my work properly. So maybe i should consider which card will resell the highest in 4-5 months time when DX10 is out.

The P5W DH is already ordered, so it's set in stone, i can't change the mobo at this time... so if the 7950GX2 really IS NOT compatible, then it's not an option... i wish someone knew for sure.