512mb x1950pro or 256mb x1950xt?

[Spoelie]

I can get the first one for ?235 and the second one for ?253, so the xt is ?20 more expensive and has 256mb less ram, and a noisier cooler (the 512mb comes with the Arctic Accelero X2). But the faster core and memory.

What i'd like to use it for is gaming on my 20" widescreen, so would like it to run everything in 1680x1050 high details with preferably AA on. Oblivion being one of those games but of course the AA bit won't be possible in there with this resolution.

Do the 512mb, better cooler and ?20 outweigh the grunt of the x1950xt for what i'm gonna use it?
BTW, native crossfire is not an issue, i'm a one gpu man, but the lower power consumption is an extra boon

I would also like to express my disappointment in the entire hardware review scene for not being able to produce ANY review of the x1950xt, or a comparison between the 256mb/512mb cards currently available.

 

[Munky]

Click!

The x1900xt 256mb already beats the x1950pro across the board, and the x1950xt would be even faster still. A faster core matters more than extra memory.

 

[Spoelie]

yeah but still, the message out there is very inconsistent, if you look at http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2858&p=7 you see that in oblivion the jump from xt 256mb to xt 512mb is quite significant, if this holds true for the pro as well, performance might even come close.

 

[tuteja1986]

Battlefield 2 1600x1200x32 4xAA 8xAF
$250 X1900XT 256MB : 80.1
$250 7900GTO : 77.3
$200 X1950PRO : 64.2
$250 7900GT : 59.7

Halflife 2 Lost Coast 1600x1200x32 4xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 57.2
7900GTO : 51.9
X1950PRO : 43.5
7900GT : 40.9

Fear 1600x1200 0xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 47
7900GTO : 41
X1950PRO : 35
7900GT : 34

Call of Duty 2 1600x1200 4xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 40.5
7900GTO : 34.9
X1950PRO : 32
7900GT : 30.7

Farcry HDR 1600x1200 0xAA 8xAF

X1900XT 256MB : 54.1
7900GTO : 50
X1950PRO : 44.1
7900GT : 39.5


Oblivion HDR Mountain Area 1600x1200 0xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 39.1
7900GTO : 32.5
X1950PRO : 31.3
7900GT : 24.1

Oblivion HDR Foliage Area 1600x1200 0xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 26.8
7900GTO : 16.9
X1950PRO : 21.3
7900GT : 12

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/ati_radeon_x1950_pro/

 

[Paradox999]

I myself am in somewhat of a quandary too.

I bought and received a HIS x1900XT 256MB with it's great HSF.

Before I bought it the x1950 pro had just come out and after seeing the benchmarks I felt that the slight premium in price was worth moving to the 256mb XT. Just after I got the card I found online that the x1950XT was coming out ... DOH !!!

While the core is not significantly different the ram is clocked at 1800MHz vs the 1450MHz of the x1900 xt ! Even if I overclocked the x1900 there is no way that ram is going to 1800MHz.... AND.... the x1950xt's ram starts at 1800MHz, so it might be posible to push it even higher, maybe to 2000MHz.

So....
the unopened box of my x1900xt 256 just sits there while I decide whether to return it and seek out the HIS x1950xt (damn hard to find in Canada), get a Sapphire x1950xt and slap on an Arctic Cooling HSF (doesn't evacuate the hot air out of the case) or even go the extra mile and get a Sapphire x1900XTX 512 and AC HSF for an extra $70.00 (+-).

One thing I'd really like to point out is that the biggest 'problem' in my decision making process is the performance of ALL these cards in Oblivion.

The Firing Squad site seems to get much higher scores with Oblivion. Why?

Anand in the x1950 Pro article gets:
(Oblivion 0AA -1280x1024 - Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800)
x1950xtx (512): 29.1
x1900xtx (512): 28.5
x1900xt (512): 27.9
x1900xt (256): 22.5
x1950Pro (256): 21.9

(Oblivion 0AA -1600x1200)
x1950xtx (512): 23.9
x1900xtx (512): 23.8
x1900xt (512): 22.8
x1900xt (256): 17.7
x1950Pro (256): 17.6

FiringSquad
0AA 8xAF - Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800
1280x1024 - foliage
x1900xt (256): 32.9
x1950pro(256): 25.4

1600x1200 - foliage
x1900xt (256): 26.8
x1950pro(256): 21.3

The Anand article shows a real drop off between the 512mb and 256mb x19xx cards.
In addition the 256mb x1900 looks even too weak to play Oblivion at 1280x1024, my current screen size. All the other games look very playable but the Oblivion scores Anand shows makes me want to return my card for either the x1950xt 256mb for it's faster memory... or the x1900xtx 512.

WHAT DO I DO ??????

...(help?)

My System to be:
E6400 (will overclock to 3+GHz) - Big Typhoon
2Gb Team DDR2 800 4-4-4-10
ASUS P5B Dlx Wi-Fi
OCZ GameStream 700W
Audigy 4
several hard drives
WinXP Pro sp2

 

[JPB]

XT ftw

 

[Paradox999]

Wha ???

 

[Xdreamer]

x1950xt all the way

 

[mikek753]

if you don't mind noise and power usage then x1950xt (you already have 400+ PSU, and don't play in headphones, where other in sleep)