7900GT: First thoughts

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buzzsaw13

Diamond Member
Apr 30, 2004
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Originally posted by: munky
I'm curious: do you run 3dmark while you sleep at night? Because in regular 2d mode the x1900xt fan is quiet, unless there was something seriously wrong with your particular card.

I left it at 100 percent, I could sleep through it but it bothered the roomate.
 

Ackmed

Diamond Member
Oct 1, 2003
8,499
560
126
Originally posted by: ST
Originally posted by: Ackmed
First off, he didnt say that. I prefer a none bias, real review, such as this; http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/powercolor_radeon_x1800_gto/page4.asp

lol, did it cite anywhere about image quality used or the quality thereof? does it go into length about other issues like noise, heat, overclocking, etc.? yup i'm biased with an ati card! o_O

Other reviews have. And other reviews have showed that they are both 50db, and loud. Other reviews also show the IQ advantage of the ATi card you tried to downplay. Your "review" was flawed on many accounts. Trying to use it as facts is not going to help your cause. You can be bias, no matter what card you have. Dont act as if you cant be. My last setup was NVx3, yet I still liked ATi better, and was bias towards them. Do I really need to link you to previous posts that you've made? Or recall what your sig used to be? No, I dont think so.

But lets not get too off topic, and just leave it at that your topic is far from being on the same level as a real, trusted review from such places as FS, Rage3D, etc.
 

5150Joker

Diamond Member
Feb 6, 2002
5,549
0
71
www.techinferno.com
Originally posted by: Ackmed
Originally posted by: ST
Originally posted by: Ackmed
First off, he didnt say that. I prefer a none bias, real review, such as this; http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/powercolor_radeon_x1800_gto/page4.asp

lol, did it cite anywhere about image quality used or the quality thereof? does it go into length about other issues like noise, heat, overclocking, etc.? yup i'm biased with an ati card! o_O

Other reviews have. And other reviews have showed that they are both 50db, and loud. Other reviews also show the IQ advantage of the ATi card you tried to downplay. Your "review" was flawed on many accounts. Trying to use it as facts is not going to help your cause. You can be bias, no matter what card you have. Dont act as if you cant be. My last setup was NVx3, yet I still liked ATi better, and was bias towards them. Do I really need to link you to previous posts that you've made? Or recall what your sig used to be? No, I dont think so.

But lets not get too off topic, and just leave it at that your topic is far from being on the same level as a real, trusted review from such places as FS, Rage3D, etc.



ST is an nV fanboi, doesn't matter if he has an X1900XT (which I bet he already returned for a refund after voiding it or will soon enough) or not. I just ordered a new laptop with a 7800 GTX in it and will be upgrading it ASAP to a 7900 GTX, guess that makes me impartial too. :roll: Maybe I'll do a "review" of it like ST did and then cite it as facts during arguments.
 

imported_ST

Senior member
Oct 10, 2004
733
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Originally posted by: 5150Joker ST is an nV fanboi, doesn't matter if he has an X1900XT (which I bet he already returned for a refund after voiding it or will soon enough) or not. I just ordered a new laptop with a 7800 GTX in it and will be upgrading it ASAP to a 7900 GTX, guess that makes me impartial too. :roll: Maybe I'll do a "review" of it like ST did and then cite it as facts during arguments.

lol at least you finally admit your "partialality" hahahaa...funny, you haven't even cited evidence to show my bias in the review besides my sarcasm thereof. even other owners have accepted it as being fairly unbiased..oh well! but hey, just because there's no other good mobile accelerator on the market besides nvidias, might make you fiinally wake up! ;)

 

5150Joker

Diamond Member
Feb 6, 2002
5,549
0
71
www.techinferno.com
Originally posted by: ST
Originally posted by: 5150Joker ST is an nV fanboi, doesn't matter if he has an X1900XT (which I bet he already returned for a refund after voiding it or will soon enough) or not. I just ordered a new laptop with a 7800 GTX in it and will be upgrading it ASAP to a 7900 GTX, guess that makes me impartial too. :roll: Maybe I'll do a "review" of it like ST did and then cite it as facts during arguments.

lol at least you finally admit your "partialality" hahahaa...funny, you haven't even cited evidence to show my bias in the review besides my sarcasm thereof. even other owners have accepted it as being fairly unbiased..oh well! but hey, just because there's no other good mobile accelerator on the market besides nvidias, might make you fiinally wake up! ;)


You talk as if I haven't owned nVidia products in the past. I've owned more nVidia cards than I have ATi cards. :roll: I'm still waiting for you to release your save files + methods used to test Oblivion with. Once I get the 7900 GTX I'll clock it up to desktop levels and do my own "review".
 

imported_ST

Senior member
Oct 10, 2004
733
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Originally posted by: 5150Joker You talk as if I haven't owned nVidia products in the past. I've owned more nVidia cards than I have ATi cards. :roll: I'm still waiting for you to release your save files + methods used to test Oblivion with. Once I get the 7900 GTX I'll clock it up to desktop levels and do my own "review".

hehe you act like i didn't own the one of the first mach 32 cards..

and yes, I'd be glad to (and have offered another AT X1900XT accordingly). It just won't be for for you. ;)

And for your "review", from an admitted biased fanATIc who has snapped at any and every opportunity to discredit / falsify information, sure I'd love to see it Heck I can even predict the outcome already: nVidia suxxx, ati wins....booohoo! ;)






 

5150Joker

Diamond Member
Feb 6, 2002
5,549
0
71
www.techinferno.com
Originally posted by: ST

And for your "review", from an admitted biased fanATIc who has snapped at any and every opportunity to discredit / falsify information, sure I'd love to see it Heck I can even predict the outcome already: nVidia suxxx, ati wins....booohoo! ;)


LMAO hello kettle I'm pot and you're black.
 

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
5,161
32
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This thread is getting a little out of hand.

When he says about how easy to OC the 7900GT compared to the X1900XT, im thinking that with the GT you dont have to worry about power/heat compared to the X1900XT which he says runs 90C at load. (It runs 50db but at load, the ATi stock cooler reaches 60dbs and frankly that is really loud.) Im sure theres that french site which tested the noise of the card. You can hear it switch from level to level. Future reviews should do that :)

Well congrats on your new card. I see your have saved 115 dollars, and that could bring in some more upgrades.



 

1Dark1Sharigan1

Golden Member
Oct 5, 2005
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My X1900XT runs at max load of 75C @ 725/1670 wth 1.5v on the core with my stock cooler at 100% so I don't get how the OP was getting 90C loads with the stock cooler at 100% on stock speeds/volts, unless case ventilation was horrible. Also the Stock cooler at 100% isn't ALL that loud and is about the same loudness as my 120mm 110CFM Silverstone fan at full blast (though higher pitched) though I suppose if I was running a quieter system, it would be more noticeable.
 
Jun 14, 2003
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Originally posted by: Exsomnis
Originally posted by: buzzsaw13
It wasn't simply because of the noise, I also wanted to play with Nvidia since the last 3 cards I had were from ATI. Ever thought of that?
Then why not get a 7900GTX, Nvidia going too expensive? You downgraded your card, for no reason at all no less. Like I said, there are X1800XTs kicking the crap out of that, not to mention that no Nvidia card can do HDR+AA in Oblivion or Far Cry, your X1900XT could. :roll: Compared to downgrading your card, spending a mere £25 on aftermarket cooling would've been a serious investment.

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13
I've seen reviews of the VF-900, it cools poorly according to those, and I'm not going to waste $50+tax on a cooler that potentially could cool better.
I think that we can officially conclude that someone has been slipping cocaine into your coffee. :confused: The VF900-Cu and Arctic Accelero X2 are the best coolers on the market (besides that other big, metal thing), they are utterly silent and will cool an X1900 much better than the stock cooler (since fanspeeds above 60% are going to burst your ear-drums.)



i dunno mate, there are some contradictory reviews out there for the VF900, all the ones ive seen show the VF900 being very good, but very few sites if any have actually tested on a X1900. another thing is that ive read some user reviews who HAVE bought a vf900 for their X1900's and the results havent been good

i read one guys where he got higher temps with the VF900 that the stock cooler. probabl defective yeah, but there are others saying that its hardly any better than the stock cooler....which is very good, just a little loud
 

hooflung

Golden Member
Dec 31, 2004
1,190
1
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Constructive? Your opening post read as follows: -

"OMGZ I bort a 7900GT it ov3rcl0x so much better than ATi hahaha and the driverz r t3h r0x. OMGZ the X1900 is so loud despite me bein' such a dumbass to run the fan at 100% because I dun hav a clue about heat tolerance and lololol did I mention its loud on 100% fan I am the master of the obvious! =D"

Don't talk to me about constructive. :roll:

If you want to turn this into a flame fest then let me enlighted you to what every post by you in this thread reads to me as

"OMG YOUR SUCH AN IDIOT! I FEEL COMPELLED TO ARGUE WHY I THINK I AM RIGHT. I THINK I WILL DO SO BY PROVIDING A SENSIBLE ARGUMENT WRAPPED IN STEAK KNIVES SHARPED TO THE POINT THEY WOULD CUT ROCK OUT OF A MOUNTAIN.

I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY EVEN TRY TO REBUTTLE ME! OMG I MUST MAINTAIN MY FLAME FOR I AM THE ONE WHO WILL MAKE EVERYONE IN THIS THREAD AGREE WITH ME OR FEEL LIKE AN IDIOT.

YES ... I KNOW I AM RIGHT AND I WILL NOT EVEN BEGIN TO SEE THAT THE POINT OF THIS THREAD IS SO SUBJECTIVE THAT SOMEONE ELSE COULD BE RIGHT TOO. I HATE YOU ALL AND I HOPE YOU ALL CHOKE. I WILL EVEN TAKE THE MOST LOGICAL ARGUMENT ABOUT EPEEN THAT COULD INFACT BE USED TO DESCRIBE EVERY POST I MAKE AND USE IT AS A SCUD MISSILE IN A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE TO DISCREDIT ANY RATIONAL THOUGHT SOMEONE MIGHT HAVE BY BELITTLING THEM IN THE INTERWEB. I HATE MYSELF... I REALLY DO... BUT SOMEONE HAS TO DO IT.
"

So before you reply to this post do yourself a favor and shut the **** up.



 

buzzsaw13

Diamond Member
Apr 30, 2004
3,814
0
76
Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
Originally posted by: Exsomnis
Originally posted by: buzzsaw13
It wasn't simply because of the noise, I also wanted to play with Nvidia since the last 3 cards I had were from ATI. Ever thought of that?
Then why not get a 7900GTX, Nvidia going too expensive? You downgraded your card, for no reason at all no less. Like I said, there are X1800XTs kicking the crap out of that, not to mention that no Nvidia card can do HDR+AA in Oblivion or Far Cry, your X1900XT could. :roll: Compared to downgrading your card, spending a mere £25 on aftermarket cooling would've been a serious investment.

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13
I've seen reviews of the VF-900, it cools poorly according to those, and I'm not going to waste $50+tax on a cooler that potentially could cool better.
I think that we can officially conclude that someone has been slipping cocaine into your coffee. :confused: The VF900-Cu and Arctic Accelero X2 are the best coolers on the market (besides that other big, metal thing), they are utterly silent and will cool an X1900 much better than the stock cooler (since fanspeeds above 60% are going to burst your ear-drums.)



i dunno mate, there are some contradictory reviews out there for the VF900, all the ones ive seen show the VF900 being very good, but very few sites if any have actually tested on a X1900. another thing is that ive read some user reviews who HAVE bought a vf900 for their X1900's and the results havent been good

i read one guys where he got higher temps with the VF900 that the stock cooler. probabl defective yeah, but there are others saying that its hardly any better than the stock cooler....which is very good, just a little loud

This is what I was thinking when I was considering getting an aftermarket cooler, there were tons of mixed reviews on the vf-900 and I wasn't going to blow $50+tax on a cooler that has a chance to lower temps.
 

hooflung

Golden Member
Dec 31, 2004
1,190
1
0
I think you did a good service to yourself. 115 bux can get you an MMO and 6 months subscription to it easy or a date with a pretty girl... maybe.
 

dug777

Lifer
Oct 13, 2004
24,778
4
0
I'm glad you're happy with your 7900GT, for whatever reasons. ATI's drivers certainly aren't 'garbage' however, and most people these days rate them on par with nvidia's drivers for gaming :roll:

You've either let that fly because you've heard people say it & you were somewhat angry when you posted that, or you've donned the gren tinted glasses very quickly ;)

FYI, i'm running a 6600GT myself, and i regularly play the same games on an ATI system as well.
 

Exsomnis

Banned
Nov 21, 2005
428
0
0
Originally posted by: ST
point 1 - you implied that a "stock" x1800xt can easily kill an overclocked 7900gt, although threw some guy on some forums overclocked x1800xt numbers to prove it. =/ care to link you futuremark scores? ;)
If you want to see stock X1800XT scores, that easily surpass 9000 3D Marks, then I direct you to http://www.futuremark.com/orb/, it's not difficult to find some. If you want some of mine at stock, you're going to have to wait, since I am using all four slots with test results as I OC my CPU.

About your point specifically, when are you going to stop lying right to my face? Please quote where I said that it can kill "an overclocked 7900GT", because I remember saying that it specifically kills his 7900GT with his 9500 3D Marks. I'll give it to you, I think you actually believe your own retarded straw man fallacy.

When I have a spare thirty minutes I will set my CPU and graphics card to stock just for you and link to the compare URL in my sig. If that's not a generous offer, I don't know what is, since I am actually going out of my way to do it when I could use that extra slot in '05 or '06 right now.

point 2 - 3dmark05 scores are not really something to be proud of and in no way really indicative of real world gaming performance regardless. one can cite 3dmark06 or other benches, or better yet real games, comparatively.
Tell that to the OP. :)

point 3 - i have both a 7900gt and a x1900xt. you can cite all the online reviews and stranger's scores you want, but i do have first hand experience with both.
I trust online reviews and benchmarks at reputable hardware sites much more than I trust your "first hand experience." The OP's first hand experience is that the X1900XT requires 100% fanspeed just so it doesn't artifact and hang the system, and this is why you'll excuse me if I have little faith in the "fist hand experience" of people I do not know, and take their opinion with a grain of salt.

point 4 - while i agree the stock X1900XT's cooling and noise are more than acceptable, overclocked and (soft) volt modded, while heatsoaked during gameplay, the "leafblower" complex can get extrememly irratating.
I agree that the X1*00 stock coolers are too loud and too hot, I actually never said otherwise, just that they were "acceptable." This is why I bought a VF900-Cu, but now I realise I should've entirely downgraded my graphics card instead.
 

Exsomnis

Banned
Nov 21, 2005
428
0
0
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
When he says about how easy to OC the 7900GT compared to the X1900XT, im thinking that with the GT you dont have to worry about power/heat compared to the X1900XT which he says runs 90C at load.
You don't have to worry about the X1900XT overheating during overclocking either, because the core is designed so that it can handle triple-digit temperatures. The fact is that his card was artifacting and hanging the system unless he put his fanspeed to 100%, and the very fact that he thinks this is normal makes this entire thread absurd.
 

Exsomnis

Banned
Nov 21, 2005
428
0
0
Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
i dunno mate, there are some contradictory reviews out there for the VF900, all the ones ive seen show the VF900 being very good, but very few sites if any have actually tested on a X1900. another thing is that ive read some user reviews who HAVE bought a vf900 for their X1900's and the results havent been good

i read one guys where he got higher temps with the VF900 that the stock cooler. probabl defective yeah, but there are others saying that its hardly any better than the stock cooler....which is very good, just a little loud
I've not tried it on an X1900 first-hand, but I am using one on an X1800XT and it drops temperatures like a stone. There's also a fantastic review here of the Zalman VF900-Cu running on an X1900XT-X. :) I'm going to have to make a sweeping generalisation and say that anyone running one of these and saying it doesn't work is out of their minds. ;)
 

Exsomnis

Banned
Nov 21, 2005
428
0
0
Originally posted by: hooflung
If you want to turn this into a flame fest then let me enlighted you to what every post by you in this thread reads to me as

"OMG YOUR SUCH AN IDIOT! I FEEL COMPELLED TO ARGUE WHY I THINK I AM RIGHT. I THINK I WILL DO SO BY PROVIDING A SENSIBLE ARGUMENT WRAPPED IN STEAK KNIVES SHARPED TO THE POINT THEY WOULD CUT ROCK OUT OF A MOUNTAIN.

I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY EVEN TRY TO REBUTTLE ME! OMG I MUST MAINTAIN MY FLAME FOR I AM THE ONE WHO WILL MAKE EVERYONE IN THIS THREAD AGREE WITH ME OR FEEL LIKE AN IDIOT.

YES ... I KNOW I AM RIGHT AND I WILL NOT EVEN BEGIN TO SEE THAT THE POINT OF THIS THREAD IS SO SUBJECTIVE THAT SOMEONE ELSE COULD BE RIGHT TOO. I HATE YOU ALL AND I HOPE YOU ALL CHOKE. I WILL EVEN TAKE THE MOST LOGICAL ARGUMENT ABOUT EPEEN THAT COULD INFACT BE USED TO DESCRIBE EVERY POST I MAKE AND USE IT AS A SCUD MISSILE IN A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE TO DISCREDIT ANY RATIONAL THOUGHT SOMEONE MIGHT HAVE BY BELITTLING THEM IN THE INTERWEB. I HATE MYSELF... I REALLY DO... BUT SOMEONE HAS TO DO IT.
"

So before you reply to this post do yourself a favor and shut the **** up.
Surprisingly accurate post. :) 8/10.
 

buzzsaw13

Diamond Member
Apr 30, 2004
3,814
0
76
When did I ever say 3dmark was important to me? Thanks for throwing out some more flamebait at the end of your reply.

Again, why would I spend more money for questionable aftermarket cooling, when I wanted to trade the damn thing in the first place to get money out of it.
 

Exsomnis

Banned
Nov 21, 2005
428
0
0
Originally posted by: dug777
You've either let that fly because you've heard people say it & you were somewhat angry when you posted that, or you've donned the gren tinted glasses very quickly ;)
The guy acts like an X1900 cannot run at less than 100% fanspeed without artifacting and crashing, I think he's thrown his decent glasses in the bin TBH.
 

Exsomnis

Banned
Nov 21, 2005
428
0
0
Originally posted by: buzzsaw13
When did I ever say 3dmark was important to me? Thanks for throwing out some more flamebait at the end of your reply.
You seemed awfully proud of your 3D Mark score of ~9500 (overclocked) when you wrote the opening post, and you Nvidia fanboys got awfully defensive when I pointed out that X1800XTs can easily do higher than 9500 at stock.

On the contrary, 3D Mark scores seem highly important to you two.

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13
Again, why would I spend more money for questionable aftermarket cooling, when I wanted to trade the damn thing in the first place to get money out of it.
a.) You had already spent the money and had the card, unfortunately it was completely defective and you somehow did not realise that.

b.) The Zalman VF900-Cu is not "questionable" cooling, it's easily on-par with the Arctic Accelero and Thermaltake coolers, and is cheap as dirt at £25. You decided to downgrade instead of making that investment, and that's your choice, but I don't agree with it.
 

buzzsaw13

Diamond Member
Apr 30, 2004
3,814
0
76
Originally posted by: Exsomnis
Originally posted by: buzzsaw13
When did I ever say 3dmark was important to me? Thanks for throwing out some more flamebait at the end of your reply.
You seemed awfully proud of your 3D Mark score of ~9500 (overclocked) when you wrote the opening post, and you Nvidia fanboys got awfully defensive when I pointed out that X1800XTs can easily do higher than 9500 at stock.

On the contrary, 3D Mark scores seem highly important to you two.

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13
Again, why would I spend more money for questionable aftermarket cooling, when I wanted to trade the damn thing in the first place to get money out of it.
a.) You had already spent the money and had the card, unfortunately it was completely defective and you somehow did not realise that.

b.) The Zalman VF900-Cu is not "questionable" cooling, it's easily on-par with the Arctic Accelero and Thermaltake coolers, and is cheap as dirt at £25. You decided to downgrade instead of making that investment, and that's your choice, but I don't agree with it.

I threw the 3dmark because it was the fastest thing I could throw out, couldn't do any extensive testing on the card to compare to the X1900. Nvidia fanboy? Right, if you've ever seen me post before in video a majority of it involves me recommending others to go towards ATI (X1800XT, X1800GTO). My last 3 cards have been ATI, the first being an C3D X800GTO which I was thrilled about, second being an X1800XT 512 the card that persuaded me not to get a 7800GT, and third being the X1900XT. From my experiences each one lowering in satisfaction each time I switched.

I'm a poor college student, $50 is a lot of money to me, I spent the $425 for the X1900 because it was a hell of a lot cheaper than buying 2 7800GT's at the time (which I was heavily considering) and the card had just been released and it was brand new, how could I pass up that good of a deal?
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
Originally posted by: ST
hehe you act like i didn't own the one of the first mach 32 cards..

OMG those were a PITA because you had to load software VESA drivers to play DOS games in VESA SVGA mode.

Regarding benchmark scores... who cares? I changed from an X850XT to a 7900GT and have been happy. Did my scores go up? Dunno. Could I have gotten an X1800?? for a similar price? Probably. Do I care? Nope. My gaming rig is a SFF with limited power and ventilation, and the X850XT (and probably any other "good" ATI card) was running way too hot and noisy (BTW fan wouldn't spin up on its own so it had artifacts, had to manually set it to 45% or so). The 7900GT runs cool - indeed temperatures inside the case dropped even though it doesn't exhaust out. Also, this high pitched noise went away - I think I was on the edge of what the PSU could output.