So...my 7900GT died, and I got a refund...now what?

OK, I know everbody's sick of the "what should I buy?" threads, but this one is more important than all the others.

A few days ago, my 7900GT died, so I RMA'd it and the same model was out of stock, so newegg gave me a full refund for that card. I think it died due to user error, because while I was rumaging around inside the case trying to plug in a hard drive, I believe I bumped it. But that's another story...

At first, I thought I wanted another 7900GT, this time a Gigabyte with a Zalman cooler preinstalled and factory-overclocked. It got really good reviews from HardwareZone. But...the urge to see what else I could get started looming.

Just for giggles, I looked at some other cards, mainly ATI. I'm planning to upgrade to DX10 next year anyway, so SLI is pretty much out of the question (even though I have an SLI motherboard). I've found no definitive answer that says the next incarnation will let you use two GF cards from different generations in SLI mode with the bridge, not even different GPUs from the same generation.

When I built the computer last month, I only seriously looked at nVidia cards because I wanted to leave my upgrade path to SLI potentially open, but I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

I've got three different cards in mind:

This 7900GT
This X1800GTO2
Or this X1900XT

Now, performance-wise, I know the X1900XT would be the best option. I'm aware of the benchmarks - heavily in favor of the X1900XT. But, there are a few caveats.

It's a power hog. I'm not entirely convinced that my Hiper Type-R 580W can supply enough amperage on either of its +12V rails. Upgrading my PSU is not an option. Keep in mind that this is also my work machine, so I can't afford to have any power fluctuations - at all.

Also, since it's so big, I want to make sure it can fit in my case (a Lian Li PC-60 plus II). I have a feeling it won't fit because the card may be too long and it will conflict with the hard drive cage. If you want to know what I'm talking about, find a picture of the case online. My 7900GT fit with maybe two or three inches to spare.

Also, I'm going on vacation this weekend, and I won't be back until the following week, then I go off to school. So I don't have time to buy a card, find that it won't work, RMA it, and purchase another one. It has to work first time, or else I can't take it with me.

I'm into some mild overclocking if it nets a significant enough performance gain, but flashing the card's bios sounds chancy, no matter how many people have successfully done it. So, if the X1800GTO2 is slower than the 7900GT, and the only way to make it faster is to flash it, then forget it. I haven't seen any benchmarks for it, so the only thing that looks good about it now is the two-slot cooler and the 512MB of texture memory.

I don't really want to spend that much on a video card, but I wouldn't mind a little extra video memory and horsepower to drive my 1680 x 1050 display with all the goodness turned on. The 7900GT did very well, but if I can find a better deal (from newegg, mind you - I want to buy from a place I trust so close to the deadline), I'll take it.

My specs:

Lian Li PC-60 plus II
Hiper Type-R 580W
Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe
Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Raptor 74GB + 2 x WD 250GB
X-Fi XM
2 x Lightscribe DVD burners
4 case fans
2 x green CCFLs + light controller

Oh, and I might play Oblivion later, but for now the only games I play with regularity are BF2, FEAR, WoW, UT2007 when released, and maybe CellFactor.

Thanks in advance.

Buy the HIS X1900XT. The best for ATI.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127206

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127206

I suggest PROSTITUTES.

Money well spent, and less likely to Die on you, although if they do that's when you find out who's a TRUE friend.

Unless u buy those Nvidia prostitutes.. they die all the time. The ATI ones last longer.

Another 7900 bites the dust. How long did you have it? How high were you overclocking?

My vote is the X1900XT or a $199 (oem) or $202 (retail) X1800XT like I have.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102007
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102698

Ah, that's the advantage of Nevada. No problems with them, whether they die or not, and they don't nag you later.

The X1800XT is better than the X1900GT, and it's $199 no rebates.

Look a the high res eye candy benchies here:
http://www.legionhardware.com/docu [...] id=550&p=0

I had it for about a month. I did some experimenting with overclocking, nothing too extreme, and I had the OC set itself to normal on restart.

Well, if the price of an HIS card with Ice-Q drops below $300, then I'd prefer to get that. And I won't need the power of an X1950, considering that the 7900GT handled pretty well.

So, you're sure that my PSU is beefy enough and that my case can fit it? I'll take some measurements later tonight, just to be sure.

Edit: I have about 250mm of distance between the back panel and the hard drives sticking out in front of the case. The card is about 230mm long, so I'm all set as far as space goes.