7900 GT std vs OC or X1900XT

[petachok]

Hey guys I have a few questions about video cards.

First, is buying the overclocked version of 7900 GT a good idea? I've seen several articles saying that this factory overclock gives a significant boost in performance, and the price difference between the two isn't huge. Now looking over some sites I found Sapphire Radeon X1900XT 512M DDR3 PCIe 2xDVI VIVO (LF) for $379. Would that be a better alternative seeing the price difference between the 7900 GT OC and this is only around $40.

Thanks

 

[prozac26]

Even an overclocked 7900GT can't beat a X1900XT.

 

[pauldh]

The X1900XT is clearly above any factory overclocked 7900GT. For many reasosn, I'd say for sure it's worth spending the extra $40 on. The X1900XT is compareable to a 7900GTX not a 7900GT.

SHoot, even the X1800XT keeps up with most of the factory overclocked 7900GT's. The extreme Super Clock would beat it, but again would still not touch the X1900XT.

By the way, not to alarm you, but have you heard of the burning up issues that have plagued the overclocked 7900GT's? Supposedly new batches of cards are fixed, but it's been quite a mess for many people.

 

[pauldh]

Ah, beat out by quick draw as usual. :tongue:

 

[petachok]

Thanks for the replies, however there is one thing still bothering me. Is Saphire a good manufacturer for X1900XT cards? I mean the native ATI cards are almost 100 bucks more expensive. :|

Here is the link where I'm looking to buy this card: Here

Here is the list available in that store: List

 

[prozac26]

Thanks for the replies, however there is one thing still bothering me. Is Saphire a good manufacturer for X1900XT cards? I mean the native ATI cards are almost 100 bucks more expensive. :|

Sapphire is probably best brand for ATI cards.

Ah, beat out by quick draw as usual. :tongue:

Maybe I got lucky this time?

 

[petachok]

K so I'm probably going to go with the X1900XT. I'm assuming also that If i go with a conroe system and an ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe mobo, it will allow me to put itself into crossfire when if i attampt to upgrade later on, right?

 

[pauldh]

Sapphire is just fine, I'd be surprised if they aren't the leading ATI board partner in sales. Did you know that at one time they made the Built By ATI cards for ATI? Even now, someone else is making ATI's BBA cards for them. Priced the same I'd buy the BBA card over the Sapphire, but I wouldn't spend more money on BBA. I bought the Sapphire X1800XT because it was the best priced X1800XT at the time I purchased. Anyway, I'd go for the Sapphire X1900XT if it's the cheapest.

 

[cliffro69]

I'm not sure if you're in the states or not but for the price that place wants for the XT and the 7900GT's newegg has a Sapphire X1900XTX for less

379 for the XT on the site you linked to
359 for the XTX on newegg

Linkage http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102037

So i would say the XTX is the better buy

EDIT: Just noticed the site is Canadian so i would venture to geuss you are Canadian as well so nevermind 379 cad isnt a bad price at all

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Thanks for the replies, however there is one thing still bothering me. Is Saphire a good manufacturer for X1900XT cards? I mean the native ATI cards are almost 100 bucks more expensive. :|

BuiltByATi cards are usually more expensive, until they're being cleared out (expect that maybe this time NEXT year).

That's a great price for the Sapphire, most of them in Canada are over $400.
CanadaComputers and NCIX are about $50 more expensive.

Only Tiger Direct is even close with their discounted BBA;
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1782279&CatId=0

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Yeah just wish we had access to NewEgg, $289US ($325CAD) for an XT would be nice.

 

[cliffro69]

upon pondering the issue some more. I found the difference in price is only
379.00 CAD = 336.883 USD which isnt much of a difference from the XTX...although im sure if Newegg shipped to Canada the shipping and any fees would negate the value of the XTX

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Newegg won't only not ship tp and address from Canada, they will not take a Canadian MC/Visa to pay for a product to go to a US address. When I did HAVE to order from them once, I used my Citibank card to ship it to our Vermont cottage.

Now I just get a friend who has a wife from the US to buy it with her dad's VISA/Address, easier.

But NewEgg don't sell to Canada, let alone ship. Which sucks.

 

[ninjaquick]

x1900xt

 

[petachok]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies!
Anyway I went to that place today and it turns out they don't have the X1900XT in stock... they have to order it (means I have to wait longer).
Now prices in the US look very attractive even after currency conversions, I wish I had someone there to buy stuff for me and mail after, oh well. Speaking of the US, are there any stores there that would ship to Canada?

 

[prozac26]

No testing, no HSF, no warranty. You think I can pull it off?

Of course, you're Wusy...

 

[angry_ducky]

X1900XT > any 7900GT

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

I'm going to try and attempt to get a card (most likely X1900XT) fresh off the production line while staying at Taiwan this Christmas.

No testing, no HSF, no warranty. You think I can pull it off?

Sure just be sure to distract the production line workers with something shiny! 8)

But if you're there at Xmas why not an R600 or at least an X1950XTX?

 

[raven_87]

But if you're there at Xmas why not an R600 or at least an X1950XTX?

Thats what I was gonna say!!!

Hell man, aim a little higher than that, have some respect for yourself.

Just walk at a light brisk pace down the production, make sure to engage in an act of subterfuge (spell check) just whislte quietly to yourself...and be like.
"Gee Bob; I see an inverse on the rotary gerter flux capacitor BEHIND you!!??" *snatch said R600 and run screaming like a mad man out of the production plant....b/c buy this time, I"m sure you'll have plenty of asian people after you. And being that they know karate and you dont....your so screwed :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

If you have the time (and stomach) grab an extra for ya brother over in the big double O....if you can pull that off, I'll hit you with some bones

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

That depends on whether I feel like adding another waterblock or not and how well R600 overclock compared to X1900XT. i.e. worth the $

Aha! See I was under the impression you were going for a 5 finger discount, what you seem to be talking about is a 'chose a very select card from the 10s put before you that day' , hand picked from the line. In which case,

If X1950XT goes below 1.0ns RAM I'll probably buy it, if not I'm sticking with X1900XT.

I think IMO you won't find X1900XTs anyways, they probably haven't been making them for over a month I would think (likely already have enough inventory).

As for the RAM all the early pics have 0.91ns memory on them as you can see here;

They'd have to be below 1.0ns, because the stock speed is 2GHZ (1GHZ DD) and thus 1.0ns would be the minimum requirement, and you'd want the specc to have some headroom for case heat concerns etc. but there's not "MUCH" headroom as the spec for thos is 1095mhz thus you'd likely get less than 10% OC without great cooling. Some people are saying those are XT shots we're seeing and the XTX will have faster memory still, but I doubt it. The next increment is 0.85ns which is 1250mhz, which IMO is way beyond 1ghz, and more than enough buffer to even allow you 1200mhz as a 'stock' target.

Both will support GDDR4 (not really that important to me as long as they equip them with low ns RAM)

I suspect GDDR5 support is in the R600 as well, but maybe not first round, maybe that's a refresh thing, GDDR4 is scheduled to run to 1.4GHZ, but they've been able to push it to beyond 1.6GHZ. GDDR5 is scheduled for late 2007 (they'll barely get a chance with GDDR4) so I suspect we'll see it in card early to mid 2008. So it'd be interesting to see if the R600 supports GDDR5 out of the box or not, because I could see them expecting that marchitecture to last longer than the G80 which is supposed to have a fast refresh to the G90, so why bother with GDDR5 support. But likely we'll see a GDDR5 support refresh for the R680 instead. Anywhoo, just thinking out loud.

I'm set on X1900XT for Christmas unless X1950XT comes with something crazy like 0.8ns RAM

Well 0.85 is one of the persistent rumours, but I doubt it based on the pics we've already seen of early boards.

I ain't letting those dirty GPU/VPU manufactures taking easy money from me, they gotta earn it!

Well you see I think Raven and I thought you were gonna take some back for the rest of us, fight the powers that be! :mrgreen: