- May 30, 2004
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Just thought I'd make it easier for people who are wondering how the two high-end video cards compare against one another. I included a wide variety of games but I didn't include them all, so if you want flight sim or racing game results, than you'll have to go dig them up yourselves.
Consolidated Results.
See the notes at the bottom of the sheet.
These are the concluding thoughts specifically about the 7900GTX vs. the X1900XTX from each of the review sites (except the French site of course).
Anandtech:
Even though we didn't test as many games as we usually do, there is quite a bit of data to digest. On the high end, the 7900 GTX generally performs around the X1900 XT and X1900 XTX. This isn't a blow out victory for either NVIDIA or ATI as far as performance goes, and it looks like we have some very good competition here.
The bottom line here is that it all comes down to price. With the close competition at the high end, we still really don't recommend the X1900 XTX which generally comes in between $580 and $650. In order for the 7900 GTX to really look good compared to the X1900 XT, we will have to push below the $500 mark. NVIDIA has positioned the 7900 GTX as a $500 part, but we can already find X1900 XT cards for about $475; with the tight competition, we would really like to see NVIDIA take advantage of their cost saving die sizes and bring prices down.
The NVIDIA solutions use less power, generate less heat, and are cheaper to produce. But what matters in the end is the performance the end user gets for the price he or she pays. Yes, the 7900 GTX performs on par with the X1900 XT and XTX. But with ATI's additional features, will NVIDIA's street prices be low enough to entice gamers? We'll have to wait and see.
Tech Report:
The performance race between NVIDIA and ATI is very tight overall, especially at the very high end, when the GeForce 7900 GTX squares off against the Radeon X1900 XTX?close enough that I couldn't declare a clear overall winner. Both cards are incredible performers, and neither of them has shown any great weaknesses in our tests.
NVIDIA has made much of the fact that they have a more efficient GPU architecture than ATI right now, and it's true that NVIDIA's GeForce 7-series desktop GPUs generally achieve higher performance per watt and more performance per die area than ATI's current desktop graphics processors. That's undeniable. Whether and how much this fact matters to you is something you'll have to decide.
Obviously, someone working to build a super-quiet gaming rig or the like will want to take these things into account. GeForce 7600 GT and 7900 series cards will consume less power and throw off less heat inside your PC than their Radeon counterparts. ATI has addressed this problem to some degree by using a dual-slot cooler on its high-end cards that funnels most out air directly out of the back of the case, but at the end of the day, there are few true substitutes for a cooler-running chip.
Hexus:
NVIDIA's trouble is image quality, and IQ performance. ATI's latest Radeon parts - X1800 and X1900 - have better overall image quality available, and with better looking pixels always desirable when performance is the same, you'd have to really like 7900 GTX for other reasons to want to select it.
So, to sum up (finally), 7900 GTX replaces 7800 GTX 512 in terms of better price and availability for the same performance, but ATI offer better products in that space
Guru3D:
It's again the fastest flagship graphics card available (marginally here and there with the X1900 XTX from ATI) yet it's price... yeah that's what I like the most. You want to know why? For the past two years I have been complaining that high-end graphics card were getting more and more expensive and that only the rich are able to buy these cards. The (and I stated this in my articles) graphics industry would be killing off its own business as people don't have the money left to buy the actual games. Where's the fun if you need to chip in 650 USD to be able to play games? Now performance wise this product is lined up against the Radeon X1900 XTX and at the moment of writing this article (Monday the 6th of March) I started receiving emails from ATI. As stated they are and have been counter-reacting and the X1900 XTX for example just dropped around thar 500 USD pricetag also. That's how fierce this business is, both are extremely excellent and impressive products.
Firing Squad:
In the case of the GeForce 7900 GTX, NVIDIA cranks up the clock speeds significantly to deliver a part that outruns the so-called ?GeForce 7800 Ultra? of yesteryear, the GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB. This is a pretty nice achievement, especially considering the GeForce 7900 GTX?s $500 price tag, but it doesn?t have the clear cut victory that the GeForce 7900 GT currently enjoys. ATI?s Radeon X1900 XT boards are currently selling for as low as $509 online, and based on our benchmarks, deliver very competitive performance in games like F.E.A.R., Call of Duty 2, Battlefield 2, and Far Cry with HDR. (NVIDIA continues to dominate for those of you who are into flight sims though.) Thanks to its quad-heat pipe cooling solution, the GeForce 7900 GTX runs cooler and quieter than the X1900 XT/XTX boards while NVIDIA?s SLI is clearly more robust than CrossFire but ATI?s got a very competitive part in this segment of the market. Right now there really is no decisive winner here, your final decision will most likely boil down to what types of games you play on your PC.
Consolidated Results.
See the notes at the bottom of the sheet.
These are the concluding thoughts specifically about the 7900GTX vs. the X1900XTX from each of the review sites (except the French site of course).
Anandtech:
Even though we didn't test as many games as we usually do, there is quite a bit of data to digest. On the high end, the 7900 GTX generally performs around the X1900 XT and X1900 XTX. This isn't a blow out victory for either NVIDIA or ATI as far as performance goes, and it looks like we have some very good competition here.
The bottom line here is that it all comes down to price. With the close competition at the high end, we still really don't recommend the X1900 XTX which generally comes in between $580 and $650. In order for the 7900 GTX to really look good compared to the X1900 XT, we will have to push below the $500 mark. NVIDIA has positioned the 7900 GTX as a $500 part, but we can already find X1900 XT cards for about $475; with the tight competition, we would really like to see NVIDIA take advantage of their cost saving die sizes and bring prices down.
The NVIDIA solutions use less power, generate less heat, and are cheaper to produce. But what matters in the end is the performance the end user gets for the price he or she pays. Yes, the 7900 GTX performs on par with the X1900 XT and XTX. But with ATI's additional features, will NVIDIA's street prices be low enough to entice gamers? We'll have to wait and see.
Tech Report:
The performance race between NVIDIA and ATI is very tight overall, especially at the very high end, when the GeForce 7900 GTX squares off against the Radeon X1900 XTX?close enough that I couldn't declare a clear overall winner. Both cards are incredible performers, and neither of them has shown any great weaknesses in our tests.
NVIDIA has made much of the fact that they have a more efficient GPU architecture than ATI right now, and it's true that NVIDIA's GeForce 7-series desktop GPUs generally achieve higher performance per watt and more performance per die area than ATI's current desktop graphics processors. That's undeniable. Whether and how much this fact matters to you is something you'll have to decide.
Obviously, someone working to build a super-quiet gaming rig or the like will want to take these things into account. GeForce 7600 GT and 7900 series cards will consume less power and throw off less heat inside your PC than their Radeon counterparts. ATI has addressed this problem to some degree by using a dual-slot cooler on its high-end cards that funnels most out air directly out of the back of the case, but at the end of the day, there are few true substitutes for a cooler-running chip.
Hexus:
NVIDIA's trouble is image quality, and IQ performance. ATI's latest Radeon parts - X1800 and X1900 - have better overall image quality available, and with better looking pixels always desirable when performance is the same, you'd have to really like 7900 GTX for other reasons to want to select it.
So, to sum up (finally), 7900 GTX replaces 7800 GTX 512 in terms of better price and availability for the same performance, but ATI offer better products in that space
Guru3D:
It's again the fastest flagship graphics card available (marginally here and there with the X1900 XTX from ATI) yet it's price... yeah that's what I like the most. You want to know why? For the past two years I have been complaining that high-end graphics card were getting more and more expensive and that only the rich are able to buy these cards. The (and I stated this in my articles) graphics industry would be killing off its own business as people don't have the money left to buy the actual games. Where's the fun if you need to chip in 650 USD to be able to play games? Now performance wise this product is lined up against the Radeon X1900 XTX and at the moment of writing this article (Monday the 6th of March) I started receiving emails from ATI. As stated they are and have been counter-reacting and the X1900 XTX for example just dropped around thar 500 USD pricetag also. That's how fierce this business is, both are extremely excellent and impressive products.
Firing Squad:
In the case of the GeForce 7900 GTX, NVIDIA cranks up the clock speeds significantly to deliver a part that outruns the so-called ?GeForce 7800 Ultra? of yesteryear, the GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB. This is a pretty nice achievement, especially considering the GeForce 7900 GTX?s $500 price tag, but it doesn?t have the clear cut victory that the GeForce 7900 GT currently enjoys. ATI?s Radeon X1900 XT boards are currently selling for as low as $509 online, and based on our benchmarks, deliver very competitive performance in games like F.E.A.R., Call of Duty 2, Battlefield 2, and Far Cry with HDR. (NVIDIA continues to dominate for those of you who are into flight sims though.) Thanks to its quad-heat pipe cooling solution, the GeForce 7900 GTX runs cooler and quieter than the X1900 XT/XTX boards while NVIDIA?s SLI is clearly more robust than CrossFire but ATI?s got a very competitive part in this segment of the market. Right now there really is no decisive winner here, your final decision will most likely boil down to what types of games you play on your PC.
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