7900GTX or X1950XT

[oswold]

Ok I'm deciding between a XFX 7900GTX 512MB for £105 or a Sapphire X1950XT 256MB for £111. Which do you think would be better considering the smalll price difference. I play games at 1280x1024.

I dont want a £200 8800GTS 320MB yet as I'm waiting for the next crop of DX10 cards to choose a card that plays Crysis the best, and I dont have Vista yet either.

I'm selling my 7600GT to my friend for about £35, so thats off the cost.

If I get the 7900, I shouldnt have to change my drivers, but then I cant enable HDR+AA. I've heard they perform quite the same in most situations.

 

[badge]

Ok I'm deciding between a XFX 7900GTX 512MB for £105 or a Sapphire X1950XT 256MB for £111. Which do you think would be better considering the smalll price difference. I play games at 1280x1024.

I dont want a £200 8800GTS 320MB yet as I'm waiting for the next crop of DX10 cards to choose a card that plays Crysis the best, and I dont have Vista yet either.

I'm selling my 7600GT to my friend for about £35, so thats off the cost.

If I get the 7900, I shouldnt have to change my drivers, but then I cant enable HDR+AA. I've heard they perform quite the same in most situations.

Compared:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_20 07.html?modelx=33&model1=724&model2=709&chart=275

http://www23.to mshardware.com/graphics.html

 

[oswold]

Well I know they perform nearly the same, but just asking for an opinion.

I think I might go for the 7900GTX, as there will be no driver problems, less power consumption and a longer warrenty. Not sure OCs better either, although I googled it and apparently the 7900 is a poor overclocker.

 

[badge]

Try Tom's Home Page. Halfway down on the home page, on the right, open VGA charts. I use the 7900GTO 512 and the 1900 GT 256. The 7900 GTO is much the best. Not the same cards, but that is my experience.

 

[lostandwandering]

If you look at the Tom's charts, specifically the Overall FPS chart, the GTX comes out on top. I think the only game it really loses in is Oblivion. The 7900GTX would be my choice since it is cheaper and since NVidia cards tend to be a little less power hungry. I'm not sure how much power the GTX needs though. I know th 1950XT needs around 30 amps on the +12v rail, but I think the GTX needs less than that.

 

[oswold]

I also found a XFX 7900GT for only £73.
Those charts can show the 7900GTX against a X1950XT 256MB, and it comfirms that they perform similarly, which I thought anyway.

 

[Craxbax]

Both GTX and XT will beat the 7900 GT with all the eye candy turned up but if it is a holdover card the 7900GT will OC well and may serve your needs for less money depending on the games you play. I have the GT and a 8800GTS 640mb (both OC'd) for reference and I don't find I have a problem when playing on the 7900 GT.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

They'll be close to similar in performance, but depends alot on the games played.

In general over more games the X1900XT witll edge out the GF7900GTX, but the difference is small. So it's a toss -up IMO, and go with the one you feel you have reasons to buy.

But IMO clean out your drivers regardless of which one you pick, even when going nV to nV or ATi to AMD, it's good to have fresh drivers that set themselves up for the card that's actually in your rig.

 

[Onus]

When I went from a 7600GT to a 7900GS I had to clean out and re-install my drivers also.

 

[oswold]

I've decided that I get pretty playable framerates in most games (exceptoin of oblivion and a couple of others) with just my 7600GT, so getting another card just to make it a little smoother for £100 (possibly minus £35) is a little excessive. Its just this money is burning, but common sense is telling me to wait untill christmas for new DX10 cards (hopefully) and untill the 7600GT literaly cant hack it at all.

How do people stomach the cost of upgrading unless they have a truly terrible card that can barely play a thing.

jtt283 - did you find it was worth the money going from 7600GT to 7900GS? I'm just asking becasue I dont want to regret not getting a new card.

 

[badge]

I've decided that I get pretty playable framerates in most games (exceptoin of oblivion and a couple of others) with just my 7600GT, so getting another card just to make it a little smoother for £100 (possibly minus £35) is a little excessive. Its just this money is burning, but common sense is telling me to wait untill christmas for new DX10 cards (hopefully) and untill the 7600GT literaly cant hack it at all.

How do people stomach the cost of upgrading unless they have a truly terrible card that can barely play a thing.

jtt283 - did you find it was worth the money going from 7600GT to 7900GS? I'm just asking becasue I dont want to regret not getting a new card.

What monitor do you have? A 512 Mb card adds a lot to 22-28" widescreen monitors. SLI adds even more. A 7900 series takes you to a 256 bit card as well as doubles the pipeline output form 12 to 24. That all makes for quite a difference as you start running more resolution and monitor space. 7600GT (if it does what you need) to a dx 10 card later makes sense to me. I won't upgrade from my 7900GTO to and 88000. I'll wait a while.

 

[oswold]

I have a 1280x1024, as stated in first post, which most modern card should handle regardless of memory. I'm only wooried because it looks as if the 7900GTX might go out of stock soon as it seems like a clearence sale as noboby bought them when they where £250+ for obvious reasons. Who fells as if this upgrade would be worthwile?!

 

[enforcerfx]

Like grape said, its a tossup. It really all depends on what games your playing. Games like Oblivion and F.E.A.R. might do better on the X1950XT because of the HDR effects (don't know much about ATi, correct me if I am wrong). If your more of a FPS player (COD2, CS:S, etc.) then the 7900GTX might take the forefront there

In my opinion, I'd go for whatever is cheaper, and whatever your current powersupply can take. The GTX is better on power and expelling heat than the X1950XT.

In my opinion, I'd go for whatever is cheaper, and whatever your current powersupply can take. The GTX is better on power and expelling heat than the X1950XT.

Good Luck!

 

[blade85]

drive wise, personally i think the ATI x1000 cards had an edge in image quality in game as compared with the nvidia 7000 series cards.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Sorry man, hit edit, instead of reply (buttons are right beside each other. I think that's back to what you wrote (I think it may be missing something in between the body and the good luck) the body is back to what it was. Sorry.

Like grape said, its a tossup. It really all depends on what games your playing. Games like Oblivion and F.E.A.R. might do better on the X1950XT because of the HDR effects (don't know much about ATi, correct me if I am wrong). If your more of a FPS player (COD2, CS:S, etc.) then the 7900GTX might take the forefront there.

Depends on the FPS though, CS:S is still pretty Ati-favourable, BF2142 is very Favourable to the X1Ks. COD2 favours the GF79 series unless you go beyond plain 4X AA;
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gf8800-games_4.html#sect0

So even talking about FPS (which Oblivion is as well) there's no clear single card that does RTS beter, FPS better, etc.

In my opinion, I'd go for whatever is cheaper, and whatever your current powersupply can take. The GTX is better on power and expelling heat than the X1950XT.

The GTX is better on power, but I have to correct the error for 'expelling heat'; the XT is the hands down winner no contest. The XT expells all the waste air outside of the case, the GF7900GTX only expels 50% since the fan is in the middle of the card forcing it across the heatsink blades in both directions meaning some of the waste air returns into the PC, unlike the XT.

 

[rammedstein]

i'd say go for the 1950xtx, it may cost more but you don't ahve to pay for its avivo?

 

[SteelZ]

Get A 7900GTO Which is cheaper than both and just softmod it to a 7900GTX.
It is exactly the same! They both use the same core and cooler so running it at gtx speeds are sweet. Btw GTO is slower because it is a lower clocked version of the GTX
Example : Ati X800Pro can be softmodded to a X800XT PE.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Get A 7900GTO Which is cheaper than both and just softmod it to a 7900GTX.
It is exactly the same! They both use the same core and cooler so running it at gtx speeds are sweet. Btw GTO is slower because it is a lower clocked version of the GTX
Example : Ati X800Pro can be softmodded to a X800XT PE.

You mind explaining to me WTF you're softmoding?

The GF7900GTO is NOT like the X800Pro, there's nothing more on offer, and even when there was like the GF7800GT or GF7900GS, it wasn't unlockable, even to folks like Unwinder (maker of Rivatuner).