7950GX2 and X1900XTX screenshot comparison

[nitromullet]

screenies

Pretty self-explanatory... Keys took my crappy HTML and pics and made a nice comparison site. Thanks! :beer:

original link, in case Keys' site doesn't work in your browser.

A few notes:

The shots were taken at 1024x768 res natively to make the images smaller. They are not reduced from a larger res.

All games are perfectly playable at the settings in the screenies up to 1680x1050, although with HDR 2xAA is a bit more enjoyable while traveling than the captured 4x. Either is doable though.

I might run out of bandwidth because I don't have a ton of webspace/bandwidth. So, if anyone wants to grab the images and re-host, please do. If someone knows enough html to where these could be compared with a mouse over, that would probably be pretty useful as well.

 

[fierydemise]

I see this in almost every IQ comparison the HDR and Bloom look much brighter on ATI cards, anyone know why that might be? Also the chain link fence and the other wires have less definition on the the XTX (look against the white building). Other then that I see very little difference between the shots.
Thanks for the IQ shots nitro.
EDIT: Upon closer inspection the textures are sharper on the XTX
EDIT2: Looking at the second set of HL2 pics both cards show some really strange shadows, the XTX with U shaped stripes on short white building and the GX2 with diagonal stripes on the far yellow building.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

The chainlink fence for the ATi card just dissapears after a few feet. The brighter look in Oblivion is also kind of ugly.

 

[fierydemise]

Originally posted by: HamburgerBoy
The chainlink fence for the ATi card just dissapears after a few feet. The brighter look in Oblivion is also kind of ugly.

The GX2 chainlink fence devolves into a bunch of black dots I prefer the blank look to dots. IMHO the brighter look in oblivion looks worse close up but far better as you get farther away.

 

[Polish3d]

IMO you can't get a full idea of the difference from screenshots.

Going from 7800GTX to XTX the most dramatic immediate difference (yes Im saying it again) is that the picture broadcast to my 2005fpw is much sharper on the XTX. I can see details in games I couldnt see before, much more... as far as actual AF filtering and all that, I like ATIs AF, not sure who has better AA though I did like nvidias SSAA

 

[Fadey]

I went from a 7800gtx to 7950gx2 and im pretty happy..

 

[Sable]

Check the GX2 review at Hardocp for some image quality comparisons.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTA4MywxMSwsaGVudGh1c2lhc3Q=

Bascially, for all you fannybois out there: ATI IS BETTER!!!!

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Frackal
IMO you can't get a full idea of the difference from screenshots.

Going from 7800GTX to XTX the most dramatic immediate difference (yes Im saying it again) is that the picture broadcast to my 2005fpw is much sharper on the XTX. I can see details in games I couldnt see before, much more... as far as actual AF filtering and all that, I like ATIs AF, not sure who has better AA though I did like nvidias SSAA

Do you still have your GTX? Honestly, I had agreed with you prior to making these screenshots, and I had somewhat expected the IQ and sharpness to be considerably better with the XTX. However. after running these two cards back-to-back in the exact same locations in the games, the difference really isn't noticable. The default color saturation on the XTX is generally more pleasing to the eyes though (it's warmer), and i think this actually has a lot to do with what you are experiencing.

There are a few things I did notice in each game though between the two:

HL2: the XTX just has better AF in this game, period. The overall IQ is better because of it. The big thing between these two are when you are in motion. If you look carefully at the second set of HL2 pictures, you will see a white horizontal line in in the left lane of the road in the GX2 pic, almost were it ends on the left side of the screen. When in motion this little line blinks (for lack of a better word), and is very noticable. There are similar occurences of this in the first set of HL2 screenies in the tunnel off to the distance. It simply isn't possible to capture this with a screenshot.

WoW: Basically, they look the same from a screenshot perspective, except that the color is warmer on the XTX - Camp Taurajo isn't the most vivid part of WoW, so it doesn't show this as well as some locations. Of course, the higher level of 8xAA on the GX2 simply looks better than the 6xAA on the XTX. As far as texture shimmering goes, it is slighly present on both cards, but much more noticable with the GX2.

Oblivion: Kind of surprised on this one myself. This is a matter of preference I guess, but I really kind of like the way the game looks better overall on the GX2, the XTX looks washed out IMO. Although, HDR does give the game a more "fantasy" feel. I won't play Obivion with HDR on the GX2 becasue IMO, it simply looks like crap without any AA.

I'm going to be honest with you guys... These screenies were partially done for AT forums, and partially for myself. These cards are both really nice cards, but one of them has to go to the auction house, and I was hoping that these screenies would help with that decision. That being said, I still haven't really been able to decide.

 

[Exsomnis]

ATi image quality is always killer, Nvidia really need to catch up in this department.

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

7950gx2 looks like crap compared to the xtx.. just look in WoW at the tree behind camp taurajo... i mean it looks all blurred and ****** and looks alot worse when compared to the xtx

 

[jim1976]

Nice job m8 thanx for taking the time to provide these pics...

 

[anandtechrocks]

Thanks for providing this comparison Nitromullet. I don't see that much of a difference, the back-ground textures on the ATI screens look a little crisper, but it's not that big of a deal. I think they both look really nice.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: AzNPinkTuv
7950gx2 looks like crap compared to the xtx.. just look in WoW at the tree behind camp taurajo... i mean it looks all blurred and ****** and looks alot worse when compared to the xtx

Well, overall the XTX image is more crisp. I have noticed that during gameplay, so I was surprised that it wasn't quite as apparent when I was doing the screenshots. WoW is a tough one for me really becasue even though the XTX has a more crisp picture, the 8xAA on the GX2 really is better than the XTX's 6xAA in WoW.

I'm actually quite surprised at how really different both cards render the same games. Honestly, I wish I could have the AA of NV and AF of ATI in a single gpu.

 

[blckgrffn]

I am considering moving to ATI just because I hate the AF from my 6800 in Guild Wars that much. Maybe a x1800xl or something would do the trick...

Thanks for the pics, I think I'll wait on playin EP1 until I get a card that can handle 1440*900 with AA & HDR.

Nat

 

[Fadey]

the xtx may look better but its performance is less , sure xtx in crossfire beats a 7950gx2 but u need a crossfire board and a really decent psu.. the 7950gx2 can be used as a single "slot" solution and used in non sli boards.

 

[beggerking]

for some odd reason 1900xtx chain fence seem to disappeared... but I like Ati's contrast better than NV. I actually like bloom better than HDR....??...

 

[Fadey]

I can remember when the 7800gtx came out and with supersampling aa thing on your fences in bf2 would go bye bye too.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: beggerking
for some odd reason 1900xtx chain fence seem to disappeared... but I like Ati's contrast better than NV. I actually like bloom better than HDR....??...

It makes me wonder if the disappearing fences is the reason that the Radeons don't take as big of a hit in AA as the NV cards.

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: beggerking
for some odd reason 1900xtx chain fence seem to disappeared... but I like Ati's contrast better than NV. I actually like bloom better than HDR....??...

It makes me wonder if the disappearing fences is the reason that the Radeons don't take as big of a hit in AA as the NV cards.

HL2 is forced to run at a lower detail level on ATI cards.
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showpost.php?p=1333964749&postcount=10

 

[hardwareking]

ati's HQ AF and HDR+AA support kills nvidia in image quality.
Otherwise adaptive AA offers no real improvement over trssaa and trmsaa.Other than the reduced performance hit.

 

[beggerking]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
It makes me wonder if the disappearing fences is the reason that the Radeons don't take as big of a hit in AA as the NV cards.

it is possible... theoratically AA is should be very GPU intensive.

perhaps they are using some sort of algorithm to speed it up, but only work 90% of the time. the other 10% being disappearing objects...?

 

[Todd33]

I love the black and white responses, "7950gx2 looks like crap compared to the xtx". They look 98% the same in SS and 99.5% the same in action. Pick whichever card performs the best in the games you play.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: beggerking
for some odd reason 1900xtx chain fence seem to disappeared... but I like Ati's contrast better than NV. I actually like bloom better than HDR....??...

It makes me wonder if the disappearing fences is the reason that the Radeons don't take as big of a hit in AA as the NV cards.

HL2 is forced to run at a lower detail level on ATI cards.
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showpost.php?p=1333964749&postcount=10

Interesting about the bushes... However, follow the link referenced in the link you posted:

http://rage3d.com/reviews/video/atix1800xt/afcomp.php

now, compare 16xHQAF for both... what the are all those white lines on the ground around the train car in the NV 16x"HQ"AF shot?

This whole IQ/performance trade off decision really isn't as easy or simple as many people make it out to be. If it was as simple as ATI has better IQ, I woudln't have ever picked up the 7950GX2, and if the 7950GX2 performed drastically better than the XTX, I wouldn't even consider selling it instead of the XTX.

 

[beggerking]

notice on 1800xt card, going from AF to High AF filter these lines out successfully. On the other hand, NV's HQ AF doesn't really do anything..

 

[Munky]

AA is actually mostly ROP and bandwidth intensive - it has nothing to do with shaders. That's where it helps to have a more efficient memory controller.