They cancelled my order! Need new video card advise

[okstatefan]

I had hoped to order the HIS iceQ3 1900xt, but my order got cancelled.

Background: I bought an eVGA 7900gt KO at Fry's and it was bad. eVGA advised I return it, because that would be faster than RMA. So I returned it....and turned my the onboard video YUCK!

I thought my new video card was going to be here today, but now it looks like it won't be coming at all.

So now I need another. CompUSA has the ATI brand x1900xtx for $399, in store and available.

MicroCenter has the replacement for the 7900gt KO for $264 and there is a $30 rebate on that one, so it would be a final cost of $234.

So now I have to decide if the 1900xtx is worth the ~$160 premium over the 7900gt.

BTW, I play Oblivion, AOE3, BF2, HL2, and a few older racing games.

 

[GherkinPekul]

I love my x1900xt, and it will clock to xtx speeds.

 

[Dr_asik]

Good thing you mention those games because Oblivion and HL2 prefer the X1** architecture over NVidia's 7900 series.

That 7900GT is a good choice but you might want to consider the X1800XT (230$ after rebate) as the better performer in Oblivion and HL2.

I really don't think the X1900XTX, even at 400$, gives you as much bang for the buck than the X1800XT. If you need the absolute best there is, then it's an awesome card.

 

[Flopmouth_Fish]

MSI X1900XT: $295 after rebate Faster than a 7900GT. IMO, newegg is the best place to shop online.

 

[Anoobis]

I had hoped to order the HIS iceQ3 9700xt, but my order got cancelled.

Background: I bought an eVGA 7900gt KO at Fry's and it was bad. eVGA advised I return it, because that would be faster than RMA. So I returned it....and turned my the onboard video YUCK!

I thought my new video card was going to be here today, but now it looks like it won't be coming at all.

So now I need another. CompUSA has the ATI brand x1900xtx for $399, in store and available.

MicroCenter has the replacement for the 7900gt KO for $264 and there is a $30 rebate on that one, so it would be a final cost of $234.

So now I have to decide if the 1900xtx is worth the ~$160 premium over the 7900gt.

BTW, I play Oblivion, AOE3, BF2, HL2, and a few older racing games.

First off, IIRC there was no such thing as a 9700XT (let alone a HIS iceQ3 one) and if there was it would've been an AGP card and not a PCI-E. Or were you talking about an X1900XT?

 

[okstatefan]

First off, IIRC there was no such thing as a 9700XT (let alone a HIS iceQ3 one) and if there was it would've been an AGP card and not a PCI-E. Or were you talking about an X1900XT?

Edited to hide my stupidity!

I guess I could save the money and just get another 7900gt, but as was mentioned above.... the ATI does better with the games I like to play.

I also wanted to buy locally. This is my last weekend off before football season starts, and I'm a full-time high school coach. I intend to game all weekend and then probably only get to play once a week at best.

About buying local.... the 1900xt and the 1900xtx are the exact same price. So that is a no brainer.

I have ordered from NewEgg, and have always been satisfied, but they show the same price for the 1900xtx that I can get locally. BTW, mail-in rebates suck for me. I never get them mailed in.

 

[kamel5547]

MSI X1900XT: $295 after rebate Faster than a 7900GT. IMO, newegg is the best place to shop online.

They price higher and charge more for shipping in many cases. *Shrug* I really used ot like them but lately I can't justify the premium they want. Love the interface though (I go there find what I want and price it elsewhere )

 

[Nyago123]

MSI's base price is jacked up anyway. ATI must've recently cut the X1900 series pricing this week anyway as they are all adjusting down from as high as $550 to the $300-$350 range.

As always, use your favorite pricing engine and shop around. I ordered a ATI X1900XT from CompUPlus. Since I'm in So.CA, NewEgg charges me sales tax (7.75%) though when I do order from them, it does get here fast since they're not far.

I'm generally ATI-nVidia agnostic... but I might have gone with the 7900GT if it hadn't been for all the complaints about various compatibility and early chipset issues. OTOH, I did want to try out the Avivo stuff but I'm not looking forward to any heat & noise the ATI card produces.

I will probably eBay my BFG 6800 Ultra AGP soon.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

OTOH, I did want to try out the Avivo stuff but I'm not looking forward to any heat & noise the ATI card produces.

GF7900GT is louder (but they're both close @ 1m);
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/power-noise_4.html

Also heat from XTs leave the case, heat from GTs stays in your case.

 

[raven_87]

That depends too grape. Most who complain about noise manually adjust the fan speed, and I wont lie, an X1800XT @ 100% fan speed is something very noticable. Then again so is a 7900GT. However when I let my fan speed to be driver controlled (temperature dependent) I hardly (if ever) noticed it. Same for the 7900GT, my close friend greg has one, and it wasnt audible over a couple 80mm case fans.

However the dual slot exhaust solution is something I definetly considered.
I didnt need the PCI slot directly below my PCI-E slot, so I didnt mind.
But if your the person who has a sound card, video capture card etc....its always something to put in perspective with a single slot solution.

 

[okstatefan]

Well folks,

I couldn't decide, so I bought both. Since I was getting them locally anyway, I found the eVGA 7900gt ($300) and the ATI x1900xt ($350) both at Fry's. I thought about getting the 7900gt and being done with it, but then I found that they had the 1900xt for about the same price I could get it for online.

I first tried the 7900gt, man that thing rocks. I was able to turn the graphics way up on Oblivion and barely a stutter when outside. So I used it all last night and got in about four hours of playing time. I like that thing.

Then I tried out the 1900xt. I won't go into too much detail on the ATI, but the 7900gt is going back tomorrow.

Thanks for all the help though. Y'all really gave me some good insight and some things to look for. I haven't noticed the fan too often on the ATI. It is definately a keeper.