7950 or X1900XTX or X1900 CR or X1950XTX

V8VENOM

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Going in a P5W DH Deluxe

I would like to get a X1900XTX crossfire, but it seems those boards are either extremely hard to find -- ATI says they are discontinued (called them)? The standard X1900XTX is everyone but NONE say Crossfire Edition (some say Crossfire Ready -- but not sure what that means).

Is the 7950 treated like a SLI setup? Meaning will I need to disable Multi-GPU rendering for those games that don't work with SLI (i.e. Microsoft's Flight Sim 2004 and a host of other games). If this is the case then the X1900XTX would seem to be the better choice based?

The word from ATI Pre-Sales is:

"Buy X1900 Crossfire, pair it with an X1900XTX, overclock the X1900 Crossfire to match the speed of the X1900XTX." No joke, this is exactly how ATI pre-sales presented a solution.

I also asked about the X1950XTX and he indicated sometime October but can't provide a specific date? I thought I heard mid-Sept release?

Opinions.

I'll have two 7800GTX 512MB for sale soon $175 each, any takers?
 

albanian

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how about wait till october when G80 or ati R600 well thats just my opinion cause those cards will probably put a crossfire in the dust as they claim.
 

microgiant

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After the NVidia 7900Gt fiasco I wont be an early adopter of DX10! I prefer NVidia products because I have been using them forever but if you get a better price/performance ratio who cares. maybe someone else can help you with your choice but I hear ATI has the best price/performance as of now.
 

sailer

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For the moment, I'd get a X1900 XTX. If the X1950 XTX was out, I'd go for it, but it might not be available until October and that's pretty late for the developement cycle.

Then there's the G80, R600 stuff. If the latest I've heard is true, that Vista will really come out in January, then the G80, R600 will appear just in time to not be needed or wanted. Of course, if Vista is delayed, then those cards may have some real value. Otherwise, Nvidia and ATI will have lots of developement costs and nothing to show for it.

Isn't predicting the future fun? Just buy a X1900 XTX and be happy for now.
 

V8VENOM

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I got an ATI X1900XTX (one), no crossfire. I run at 1920 x 1200 on 24" LCD. Besides the game/sim I enjoy the most (FS 2004) does NOT support SLI nor crossfire.

Went with X1900XTX and will wait and see what happens. It will have it's own water cooling loop 1/2" (Swiftech) so I plan to overclock it considerably.

Vista is Q1 2007 and from what I hear and see (RC1 is just out) it might just make Q1 (late Q1, like March).

SLI and/or crossfire seems very game/sim dependant and some games/sims actually result in worse performance. I think I still prefer nVidia and ATI doing single card solutions (7950 for example) -- if they want multiple GPUs, the put them on the same card.

My prediction is that 4 core and 8 core GPU/CPU on a single waifer will be the near future.

Rob
 

V8VENOM

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Practical, definitely NOT -- but neither is auto racing and I do that too.

More of a challenge/hobby to see what I can do -- I've built water cooling rigs before, but never really started from scratch (just wasn't much available when I first got into water cooling, pre Koolance days).

My 2 goals

1. never drop below 20 fps in FS2004 no matter what is tossed at it.
2. 3DMark05 > 14000 on a single GPU.

Rob.
 

racerboywonder

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Practical, definitely NOT -- but neither is auto racing and I do that too.

More of a challenge/hobby to see what I can do -- I've built water cooling rigs before, but never really started from scratch (just wasn't much available when I first got into water cooling, pre Koolance days).

My 2 goals

1. never drop below 20 fps in FS2004 no matter what is tossed at it.
2. 3DMark05 > 14000 on a single GPU.

Rob.

lol...you're just like me, V8Venom...we both like sims (FS2004, probably GTR I'm guessing, too?) and we both race. In what kind of racing do you participate?
 

V8VENOM

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I race anything -- I used to race with these folks www.nasaproracing.com in their American Iron series (400-600HP or so converted new or late model Mustangs/Cameros) over CA and NV. I ran out of money to keep activitly going in that series (V8 are expensive to race) so now I race 125cc Stock Moto 6 speed shifter Karts (on sprint tracks and big tracks, Infineon, Thunderhill, Willow Springs) -- it is a rush doing 105-110 mph 1 inch off the ground at the big tracks pulling 3+Gs in turns and braking.

I've won some races just as I've DNF'd some, I'm currently in 3rd place in the championship for one of the Kart Bridgestone series I regular -- top 3 are separated by 20 points (very close).

I've pre-order GTR2, have GTR, do some online GTL. Big F1 fan but don't really like NASCAR at all -- I just find oval racing boring. I'm more into "driver series" (aka road racing) over "fan series" (aka oval racing). Dont' get me wrong, both have their merits, but I'm just more into road racing.

As far as the PC build, so far so good:

3DMark05 is already up to 13253 with CPU at 3.3 Ghz (97f under load, Prime95) and GPU still stock default. I'm gonna push the CPU up some more then take on the overclocking the GPU. I think getting to 14000 will be easy. Sandra 2007 is showing some good RAM bandwidth and latency results also over baseline. Since this is already better than what my AMD FX57 (overclocked to 3Ghz) with two 7800GTX 512MB in SLI, I'm very impressed at how well Core 2 and single X1900XTX is working.

Rob.
 

racerboywonder

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I race anything -- I used to race with these folks www.nasaproracing.com in their American Iron series (400-600HP or so converted new or late model Mustangs/Cameros) over CA and NV. I ran out of money to keep activitly going in that series (V8 are expensive to race) so now I race 125cc Stock Moto 6 speed shifter Karts (on sprint tracks and big tracks, Infineon, Thunderhill, Willow Springs) -- it is a rush doing 105-110 mph 1 inch off the ground at the big tracks pulling 3+Gs in turns and braking.

I've won some races just as I've DNF'd some, I'm currently in 3rd place in the championship for one of the Kart Bridgestone series I regular -- top 3 are separated by 20 points (very close).

I've pre-order GTR2, have GTR, do some online GTL. Big F1 fan but don't really like NASCAR at all -- I just find oval racing boring. I'm more into "driver series" (aka road racing) over "fan series" (aka oval racing). Dont' get me wrong, both have their merits, but I'm just more into road racing.

Nice...I was just out that way for MotoGP weeekend at Laguna. Have you raced your kart at Moran? I never got a chance to go during my trip. I'm in the market for one too...what chassis are you running?

I've driven Formula SAE during my entire college career, autocrosses (just finished Rev It Up a couple weeks ago...ranked 52nd out of 6044 nationally :x ), and some track events. School has been constantly sidetracking me, even now (in grad school)...I was planning on racing in Barber Dodge next season on a path towards becoming pro, but don't know it that's possible anymore with school finishing up through the summer. There's a new motorsports park called Autobahn Country Club very close to my home (Chicago) where I have a couple events going on in the next couple weeks...maybe something will pan out there. And my view on NASCAR is word-for-word exactly the same as yours...Tifosi for life, baby.

GTR2 and FSX are on the top of my list right now...looking forward to running them on my new build soon.
 

V8VENOM

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Heard of Moran, but not raced there. NV has some good sprint tracks. Funny thing is my 125cc Shifter Kart laps faster (at Infineon) than my old 400+ HP race car.

If you're looking to go Pro, Karting is a good place to start -- but if you're already in college then you might be too old already ;) Not sure what your financial backing is, but that helps get the equipment needed to get noticed. I know AJ (Almindinger) had his folks scrap up the $30K or so to run a full Russell series, he never looked back since -- it can be done, but his story is pretty rare (most start Pro racing with money).

My Kart is from these guys www.klsracing.com - 125cc Stock Moto (basically a CRG but they like to tell you otherwise -- they all come from Italy), got about $10K in the Kart and costs me about $500/mo to race it in competitive trim. To race my old AI V8, the cost was closer to $5000/mo -- pretty significant difference is scale -- new V8 motor $30000 (minimum two motors a season), 125cc Stock Honda motor $2500 (at least 2 seasons).

I've done Laguna seca many times, but over the years the sound restrictions have prevent my recent return.

What is "Rev It Up"? Barber Dodge is a good series -- look for something that has a proven path up the racing food chain.

Looking forward to GTR2 and FSX (Vista version).

Rob.
 

racerboywonder

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Yeah, my age plays a big factor...didn't get the serious racing bug until my last year of high school. The reason I wanted to get a kart was to keep my skills sharp, as I often don't have enough "official" events to keep in practice. Sure, I'd love to do open wheel (maybe ChampCar more than F1), but I think I'd have a better chance in sports cars/prototypes, as a lot of older drivers get into that field. The market is a little better, and it's easier to make money in closed top racecars.

Part of the reason I'm even in grad school is to make money to support my racing...it's kind of a Catch 22. Hopefully I can tap into the emerging "famous African-American" sponsorhip market (i.e. M Jordan, Carmello Anthony, Cedric the Entertainer, etc.)...I have an event in a couple weeks that may help with that, but we'll see... :)