Any hope for the 2900 xt?

[Ananan]

I was browsing newegg for a GPU-needy friend and I saw the bottom dropped out of the price on some 2900xt's. $279 for a card that was almost $400 such a short while ago. And $330 for the 1GB model.

Is the hope that the 2900xt will keep on maturing with driver releases dried up? Or is it just one card maker clearing out their stock?

Will this kind of a drop hit the old GTS's (and maybe even GTX's) soon?

 

[mactronix]

Well with the 8800gt coming out and being so good i would expect to see price drops on the GTS and maybe the GTX once the supply issues have been sorted out.
And would expect the same thing from ATI once the 3*** series hits the shelves.both cards are due higher spec models so it should be a case of as you say stock clearing once the newer cards are in th emarket place properly.

Mactronix

 

[justinmcg67]

As far as I'm concerned, it's a good thing the HD2900 series is clearing out. We need new cards from AMD. badly...

But $280 for an HD2900XT...hmmm...that's a good price point.

 

[pauldh]

It's a good price. And with almost no 8800GT's around, not too bad. They must be doing what NV didn't do with the 640MB GTS and are clearing out inventory for the HD3870 release. If the HD3870 beats the HD2900XT and is available for less, then it(3870) would be the better deal.

 

[crabdog]

There's no way I'd buy any of the ATI 2900 cards. Too much power, too much noise and very underwhelming performance regardless of price.

 

[randomizer]

Unless you bench in 3dmark.

 

[mactronix]

There's no way I'd buy any of the ATI 2900 cards. Too much power, too much noise and very underwhelming performance regardless of price.

Right on the money i recon, dont care what the price point is no way i would put one in my system,not when there are viable and taking into account power noise etc in most cases better cards available.
Mactronix

 

[oswold]

If I was spending £250 on a GPU (and ignoring the 8800gt), I still would choose the 8800GTS 640 over the 2900XT for the simple reason that it consumes less power. I never thought I would use that reason when I first got interested in computers, but I just feel guilty if I leave the PC on for any length of time when not using it.

 

[pauldh]

If I was spending £250 on a GPU (and ignoring the 8800gt), I still would choose the 8800GTS 640 over the 2900XT for the simple reason that it consumes less power. I never thought I would use that reason when I first got interested in computers, but I just feel guilty if I leave the PC on for any length of time when not using it.

Your kidding right? You really think there is any significan't difference? The reason's to pick an 8800GTS should be 1- you want better FSAA performance or performance in the games you like, or 2- noise levels. If you feel guilty, don't fold, game on integrated graphics, and use no more than 2 sheets of toilet paper when on the throne.

But feeling guilty over more power use? By that logic, we should have avoided the 8800GTS(X) altogether. Look at the link below at total system power useage at idle and you'll see you better not be buying the 8800GTS either and leaving the computer on. http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/12956/10

Anyone who claims power consumption is so important should hold off buying an 8800GT, and other 8800, HD2900, etc. The upcoming HD3800's are your only option. And if you have a GF8800, you will probably want to destroy and recycle it(so nobody else consumes all that power) and buy the upcoming RV670.

 

[trooper1947]

I was browsing newegg for a GPU-needy friend and I saw the bottom dropped out of the price on some 2900xt's. $279 for a card that was almost $400 such a short while ago. And $330 for the 1GB model.

Is the hope that the 2900xt will keep on maturing with driver releases dried up? Or is it just one card maker clearing out their stock?

Will this kind of a drop hit the old GTS's (and maybe even GTX's) soon?

No not much hope for it or the NVIDIA 8800 cards either . Both companies with their NOW generation of cards are not worth investing $10.00 in ! You think the bottom fell out now wait until the next Gen cards come out this month ... :lol: You better ignore all the current cards available now .

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

I was browsing newegg for a GPU-needy friend and I saw the bottom dropped out of the price on some 2900xt's. $279 for a card that was almost $400 such a short while ago. And $330 for the 1GB model.

Is the hope that the 2900xt will keep on maturing with driver releases dried up? Or is it just one card maker clearing out their stock?

Will this kind of a drop hit the old GTS's (and maybe even GTX's) soon?

2900xt was kind of a failure from the begginning. GTS might take a drop but not GTX

 

[oswold]

Well just having a card with the performance of a 8800gts with the power consumption of more than the 8800ultra makes me think of how wasteful the 2900 is. I still would want the perfromance, but I would always buy the most power efficiant if the cards have similar performance. Which is what most other people would do....

If I hadnt just got given an 8800GTS 320 (should be posted on tuesday), I would be considering the 55nm RV670 chips for my upgrade this Xmas, as they should be around £120 and are looking to be very efficiant.

 

[speedbird]

It's not a failure, but it's downfall was the late release with drivers being initially terrible.
ATI has a disadvantage in Direct X 10 because Games developers are optimising their software to run best on Nvidia hardware 'the way it's meant to be played' . If Game developers optimised their games fairly then the true power of the 2900 would shine I'm sure. I don't believe it will get any better for ATI with their next GFX series because of this unfairness.

 

[vaker5]

Well ATi needs to get out there and start working with game developers nVIDIA is being promoted on tons of games nowadays, the only games the 2900 won at were source games which were easily handled with a 7600gt so if all you wanted to play were source games that card was pointless.....

 

[mactronix]

A lot of people have started calling the 38** cards names already and we havent seen any reliable benchmarks yet,it may well be that it will underperforms our expectations in fact i would be surprised if it dosent but personally i will wait to see it proven first.
Mactronix

 

[Ironnads]

How come people are still praising the 8800GT when the new 8800 GTS??, with 112 pipes, clearly hammers it on all accounts (and incredibly so at 1600). I think we can all forget the old GTS..
Ryan Adds

 

[pauldh]

The new G80 112 SP GTS is $350+, and the 8800GT can be found in short supply for under $300.

 

[pauldh]

Well just having a card with the performance of a 8800gts with the power consumption of more than the 8800ultra makes me think of how wasteful the 2900 is.

If we look at that one review I posted, measured at the wall socket, the HD2900XT used less than the ultra and equal to the GTX under load, and under the 8800GTS at idle. What percentage of the time your PC is on do you have the gpu under load vs idle?

Speaking about power consumption....I just had to replace my APC backups because it was overloaded and would hum. 95% of the time it's fine, but would start to hum as soon as I entered a 3d game. It did it for a couple weeks and I replaced it with the 1300va LCD model. Sure enough, at idle, the load is 200-201 watts. When I enter a game, it would jump up. Just sitting in the Crysis menu, the UPS load is 289-291 watts. I'll have to check it during gameplay sometime. I have an 8800GTS 320MB. Protection and a fun toy: http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1300LCD

 

[spuddyt]

i wonder what price the 2900 pro's are going for now.... must be previous 8500 territory by now :lol:

 

[sdf]

i wonder what price the 2900 pro's are going for now.... must be previous 8500 territory by now :lol:

About $250 at newegg for the 512 version.

 

[spoonboy]

If I was spending £250 on a GPU (and ignoring the 8800gt), I still would choose the 8800GTS 640 over the 2900XT for the simple reason that it consumes less power. I never thought I would use that reason when I first got interested in computers, but I just feel guilty if I leave the PC on for any length of time when not using it.

If you leave your machine at idle, then your going to get low power draw from both the hd2900 and 640mbgts, probably within 5 watts of each other.

 

[spoonboy]

I was browsing newegg for a GPU-needy friend and I saw the bottom dropped out of the price on some 2900xt's. $279 for a card that was almost $400 such a short while ago. And $330 for the 1GB model.

Is the hope that the 2900xt will keep on maturing with driver releases dried up? Or is it just one card maker clearing out their stock?

Will this kind of a drop hit the old GTS's (and maybe even GTX's) soon?

If youve kept up with the its driver improvements since launch, then theres not much ground to think improvements will dry up anytime soon.

 

[Dahak]

I believe that yes we'll see further maturity for this card.It's ATIs first DX10 card,and although there are others bothe faster and more power efficient coming out soon,there is still room for improvment.I see the 2900XT becoming a mid-range card in ATI's line up,as newer and faster and more power efficient cards are brought to market.It is a good choice for the budget.However,I need to point out that NVIDIA's 8800GT out performs the 2900,and costs less.I recomend the 8800GT over the 2900XT.Unless of course,your friend is stuck on ATI,in which case,the 2900XT is a good choice.Goodluck.

Dahak

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[spoonboy]

Yeah if its a straight up which one should i get question, go with the 8800gt, but thats a bit bogus seeing as a major new launch is a few daysa away. If youve already got the 2900, hold onto it, its getting better with time, it'll probably go on getting appreciably better in dx10 for quite some time, and changing it for a 8800gt seems a bit premature. For an extra, what, 15% improvement in performance, your changing a competent card that still has more legs and a fair bit of useful life left in it. Holding onto it would give you a greater return for your investment in purchasing it in the first place. If you want to make the most of the money you already spent that is.

 

[oswold]

In my CustomPC magazine the 2900XT uses about 40w more than the 8800Ultra, and about 90w more than the 8800GTS 640 at load. This is where i'm basing my opinions from. If the 2900 had lower power consumption and slightly less performance than the 8800GTS (which is how the rumours about the HD 3870 vs the 8800GT are suggesting) then I would get the 2900.

But I suppose if power consumption is the main factor for choosing components then I should be browsing the internet on my DS then.

Happy now that I have admitted that?