getting 7900 or 7950

Im going to get one or the other (7900 or 7950) and was just wondering what I need for power supply, motherboard reccomendations, cooling demands or whatever else there is to consider. Is this the right forum for this? Thanks.

Ummmmm I would go for really big like 550 Watt Power Supply ? I like Antec they are good!

Have you read all the articles on the 7950 and stuff ? If you get that definetly have to play in the higher Video modes .

I've been trying to decide if I need to get myself a 7950 as well. It seems like the price difference between the two is significant, but down the road, the difference between 256 & 512 may be as well. I don't see myself getting any of the first generation direct x10 cards, so I might be using it a while longer than many of you. More comments folks?

You're over looking the obvious here my friend, why would you want to get a video card this late into the year? You have to remember that with the new version of windows coming out later next year, Direct X 10 is also going to be available. All of these video cards that are currently out on the market are not going to be fully compatitable with Vista. If they say they are, then they're only allow you to use it with the basic version of Vista. Save up more money for when Vista launches and get a DX10 video card.

easy choice about vista.
Lets say dx 10 cards come out dec 1st. and vista jan 1st. Seeing that EA, Ubisoft, etc. all teh big guys want to release new games.
1. Unless the DX kit was avaliable to them, 6 months ago, we wont see any new HOT games till june- aug next year.
2. DX 10 is vista only, meaning that it will be 2-3 years before 50-60% penetration is there.

As a software company, why would you make a game for 5-10% of the userbase? it reminds me when win95 was released, there was a 4-6 month space before any true win32 games came out. AND it took uptold generations to get it right. Same theory goes with multi core cpu's, just now, we are getting patches to games to allow for multi cpu / core support. and multi cpu has been out, for YEARS mainstream.

to the user, Get the card you feel comfortable with. if someone says that a new os+video dx10 is out in 8-12 months, that is cool, but it wont let you play your game today,, and today is the most importnat day in your life.. HERE and NOW..

PS. 1st Gen cards are definetly not a good idea to wait on.
Your 7950 card will run the same games at decent frame rates. i wouldnt worry. By this time next year, there will be a whole different class of , CPU+RAM+Video CARDS. we are in a never ending climb for performance.
Just buy for what you need now. I bought a 7950gx2 card 2 weeks ago, and i tell you, i am a happy camper on the performance. Vista and dx10 are close, YET BF 2142, crysus, ut2007 are being built on dx9 not 10. It takes a good year or 2 to make a good game. Once again no software vendor is gonna make anything that only a small % of people can effectively run,.

There's a significant difference in power consumption between the 7900GT and the 7950GX2.

Nonetheless, if you're considering a 7950GT, you should get the 256MB X1900XT for $70 less.

As I said, I was looking at 80nm ATI products, and they have yet to come down price. I don't want to upgrade my PSU to install a 1900xt. My entire system runs on 120-150 watts (idle-load) at this point, just the video card you suggest would tax the PSU more than EVERYTHING else combined. I was never considering the 7950gx2, only the 7950gt. I am a fan of ATI and am interested in playing Oblivion, so I WOULD PREFER an ATI GPU if the heat/wattage issues were not so big. I have also considered the posted saphire card and even the 1900AIW many, MANY times.

Another thing I'm keeping in mind is the fact I don't need a card right away. If the 7900GS and 7950GT come down in price as expected, both would be re-considered.

I am throwing out something else to consider. The x1900xt 256mb card trades blows with the 7950GT. Where I get cards, the x1900xt is ~$25 cheaper, so it would get the nod from me. If the extra money is worth it to you for lower power consumption, then grab the 7950GT. I'm just having a problem with you implying that the 7950GT is the best way to go. As you said yourself, Oblivion would be better on the ATI card so I'd try to get that.

For the record, what PSU and video card do you have already? I relise the x1900xt is more powerhungry, but the 7950GT as an overclocked 7900GT is no slouch either.

I second that!

Ahhh, sorry about that. This is why I tell people to not thread hijack.

Before you rule out the x1900xt, find some numbers for power and heat output. The 7950GT is a new card, so it might be hard to find. If the 7950GT is an overclocked 7900GT, there might not be a lot of difference between it and the x1900XT.

Thats one way to think of it. I prefer to think of it the other way. There isn't a difference between the 7900GT and the GTX. One is simply clocked higher. Nvidia hasn't made any serious changes to their hardware since the 7800 came out. A die shrink here, faster clocks there, nothing really new.

wow, every point you made is totally wrong. It takes reall skill to be that wrong.

>> Unless the DX kit was avaliable to them, 6 months ago,

Yes. Its been available to developers under the MSDN longer than that. How do you think EA write and test the games before DX10 comes out to the public otherwise?

>> As a software company, why would you make a game for 5-10% of the userbase?

Because thats where the whole market is going, and you want your product to still be good when DX10 comes out. Also its the same top 10 or 20% with all the disposable income that buy top-end hardware that buy the $50 games. Anyway, DX10 games will also run under DX9, just like DX9 games worked on DX8 etc. just not with maximum eye-candy.

>> to the user, Get the card you feel comfortable with. if someone says that a new os+video dx10 is out in 8-12 months, that is cool, but it wont let you play your game today,

nVidias DX10 card is expected in 6 weeks. Vista is out with full DX10 already if you wanna download the RC1 candidate. If you pay $550 for a top-end card now, in 6 weeks time it will be on sale for about $200, be previous generation tech. and suck performance-wise to what will then be available for the same price.

> PS. 1st Gen cards are definetly not a good idea to wait on.

Baloney. nVidia always release the big GTX (top-end) version first, then spend the next year making cut-down GS/GT etc. versions.

Only just before the end of the line do they then release a single card using sli GTs or whatever that can out-perform a single GTX,but still won't beat 2 SLi'd GTX's.

Heres another question...Are the 7900 or 7950 been around long enough to work out any "issues,bugs,conflicts"? I'm running XP Pro. and going to have to upgrade the mobo and processor because of a lighting strike. So are there any "issues" with these newer cards or should I be looking at a 7800 series? Thanks.