AT's X1900 review

[emtownsend]

Are the latest Catalyst drivers working for the X1900 series yet? I got my card today and want to get it rolling when I get home! Last I heard ( a couple days ago ) the 6.1 drivers did not detect the X1900. Thanks!

 

[Gstanfor]

Originally posted by: 5150Joker
You'd have to be a complete ****** moron to buy a 512 MB GTX at this point. Either that or a paid AEG member that thinks the 512 GTX is somehow relevant in the video card market given it's very very very limited supply and high price.

Actually you wouldn't have to be either IMO. You would have to be a fanATic, pissed off at seeing nVidia's product perform so well vs your favored product to suggest such a thing however...

In my link above, the card cost $1015AU ($764.564US) Text

Of course, a straight conversion from $AU to SUS ignores the australian GST builtin to the price, which is 10% making the cost of the card $913.5AU ($687.714US) Text

That leaves us with a $37.88 difference between the price of the 7800GTX 512 and the X1900XTX - that $37 difference is likely the dealers profit.

I suggest to you that (IMO) in the wake of X1900's launch nVidia will adjust pricing on the 7800GTX 512 to match that of X1900XT.

 

[moonlightcheese]

you have got to be kidding me... are you all just a bunch of fanboys with no real knowledge of hardware? all i see are a bunch of people bickering about two companies and when i ask a REAL question everyone completely ignores it. what a waste of time...

 

[RobertR1]

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2680&p=2

Wonder how this game will do on a x1900xt? The x1800xt and 7800GTX 512 are even with AA/AF applied.

 

[Gstanfor]

Originally posted by: moonlightcheese

The real feature of interest is the ability to load and filter 4 texture addresses from a single channel texture map.

would someone mind explaining this to me? it doesn't seem quite clear. what exactly is meant by a "single channel" texture map? what is the alternative to a "single channel" texture map? and what exactly is meant by "texture address"? is that just a texel?

Textures which describe color generally have four components at every location in the texture, and normally the hardware will load an address from a texture map, split the 4 channels and filter them independently.

by four components in a location, is he refering to "RGBA" (red, green, blue, alpha) channels on each pixel? and again... what does he mean by "address" from a "texture map".

In cases where single channel textures are used (ATI likes to use the example of a shadow map), the R520 will look up the appropriate address and will filter the single channel (letting the hardware's ability to filter 3 other components go to waste).

i thought R520 didn't have the quad pixel shader...? if R520 can also filter 4 "components" (whatever that's supposed to be) then what's the big deal? what's so new about it?

In what ATI calls it's Fetch4 feature, the R580 is capable of loading 3 other adjacent single channel values from the texture and filtering these at the same time.

this sentence isn't even proper english... ("filtering" should be "filter"). so by adjacent does he mean loading adjacent texels for whatever filtering scheme is used? (eg. anisotropic, bicubic, etc.)

This effectively loads 4 and filters four times the texture data when working with single channel formats. Traditional color textures, or textures describing vector fields (which make use of more than one channel per position in the texture) will not see any performance improvement, but for some soft shadowing algorithms performance increases could be significant.

again... don't know what is meant by "single channel" formats. and what is the difference between a traditional texture and one that describes vector fields? and what is meant by "uses" in that sentence? does he mean "read"? and what is "one channel per position in the texture"? is that one color channel per texel?

i mean no disrespect to the author in anyway and this is in no way a criticism. i'm just trying to show where i am having trouble understanding the wording and terms in this article. it just seems very vague to me and i am incredibly confused by this paragraph. i'd really like to understand the article much more but this piece of information just seems to elude my understanding of the R580 architecture. can anyone explain all of the parts in question there?

Try reading this page.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
I dont mind having the 7800GTX 512mb in the benchmark. Its NVs flagship card and MANY people have them across various forums/or even own two of those monsters regradless of price.

According xbilabs: (16x12 4xAA 16xAF)
7800GTX 512mb X1900XTX
BF2: 86.4 103.1
TCOR: 62.4 54.2
COD2: 40.6 53.3
Doom3: 60.4 56.8
FC pier: 79.2 83.8
FC Research: 97.3 104.8
FC HDR: 64.3 56.1
F.E.A.R: 35 48
HL2: 84.3 87.3
HL2 LC: 53.8 58
Project SB: 91.2 71.2
Quake4: 106.3 97.1
SS2: 59.8 46
UT2004: 129.5 101.7
Prince of Persia: 169.8 153.2 (Only 16x12 no AA)
SC:CT 53.1 64.2
Coline McRae: 94.4 100.3
Pacific fighters: 70.2 48.7
AOE3: 45.9 40.9
Dwn Of war: 62.1 46.3

7800GTX 512mb: 11
X1900XTX: 9

The 7800GTX holds it own against the X1900XTX through various titles. People who still have a7800GTX 512mb or two should really not be considering any upgrade til G80/R600.

And if you average Farcry and HL benchmarks (Both ATI strong suits) instead of counting them as 5 different scores GTX 512 comes out on top. 9 to 8

I only have a GTX vanilla and see no reason to upgrade yet either.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: moonlightcheese
you have got to be kidding me... are you all just a bunch of fanboys with no real knowledge of hardware? all i see are a bunch of people bickering about two companies and when i ask a REAL question everyone completely ignores it. what a waste of time...

moonlightcheese, meet Video forum. Video forum, moonlightcheese. I'll wait over here while you two get to know each other better... Seriously, though, there are some good people here that will often take the time to answer serious questions. It helps to start your own thread though... especially if you ask your question in the middle of a flamefest.

On topic... well, I guess it's not even on topic... on the topic that the latest flaming is about, I'm of the opinion that in order for a review to be considered "good" by me, it needs to test the FULL range of cards-- I want ultra high-end, I want SLI, I want Crossfire, I want low-end, I want high-end LAST gen.

And, they should test more than 4 games. Old games too. Some people still play UT2k4. Some people might want to know if these new-fangled graphics cards would do anything for that game since they play it most.

And, the review should test across a large range of resolutions. Some people are stuck at 1024x768, some have the 30" displays now.

And, I'd like it if they would include some different configurations, such as 1GB vs 2GB ram, and lower-clocked CPUs vs the FX60.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: RobertR1
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2680&p=2

Wonder how this game will do on a x1900xt? The x1800xt and 7800GTX 512 are even with AA/AF applied.

What's more interesting is that the 12PS, 4TMU x1600xt is dead even with the full-fledged 12 pipes 6800gs, with or without AA. I have a hunch the x1900 will rape any other card in this game.

 

[RobertR1]

Originally posted by: munky

Originally posted by: RobertR1
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2680&p=2

Wonder how this game will do on a x1900xt? The x1800xt and 7800GTX 512 are even with AA/AF applied.

What's more interesting is that the 12PS, 4TMU x1600xt is dead even with the full-fledged 12 pipes 6800gs, with or without AA. I have a hunch the x1900 will rape any other card in this game.

It should, considering the x1800xt is even with the 7800GTX 512 with AA/AF turned up.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

i think a lot of people are looking at the benchmarks that are out there and considering the X1900's a failure since they aren't obliterating the competition. these cards are designed for future games, and when games become even more shader intensive that is when they will shine.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: moonlightcheese
you have got to be kidding me... are you all just a bunch of fanboys with no real knowledge of hardware? all i see are a bunch of people bickering about two companies and when i ask a REAL question everyone completely ignores it. what a waste of time...

Sad to say, that is the majority of what we have here. Worse yet, most of the people arguing never even buy the hardware! LOL

On the other hand, if it were all discussions of the mechanics of "Fetch4", etc., it would be deadly dull.

We buy cards to game with, not study their interaction with software. When I fire up Quake 4, the end result matters more to me than the circuitry and software used to obtain it.

In short, each has it's place, you should have a little more tolerance.

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: Gstanfor

Originally posted by: Ackmed
How much more is the 512MB GTX than the XT, or XTX? A lot I assume. You have links to stores that have them in stock right now? No offense, but I dont put much stock into "posters from various parts of europe" reporting availability. I like to stick to facts. But yes there is a world outside the US, Ive spent many a year outside the US.

The simple fact is, the 512MB GTX is "hardly available", and prices well over the XTX, or even the XT. So its not really even a consideration for someone looking to buy a new highend card.

I'm sure you are capable of using this sites search function and operating Google.

Here's a starter... link image

Happy trolling.

Sorry, that item was never in stock. Here is a reply from them via email.

Hello,

This is currently not in stock; we are having a few problems with our stocking system on the website.

2 Weeks will be our next estimated shipment of GeForce 7800GTX. Our general delivery time in 2 ? 3 days (to the eastern states) when products are in stock

Regards,

Ryan Bown

T3 Computers

I asked him about the 512MB version, but he didnt specify in his reply. In any case, its not, and wasnt in stock.

 

[Compuzen]

Originally posted by: apoppin

:roll:

i KNOW the GTX will be replaced . . . but what is nVidia gonna do in the next few weeks while it readies their new series . . . i EXPECT to see at least some 512 GTX availiility [and possible discounting . . .it just ain't a $650 card anymore] 😉

I have a two part question then. How soon can we expect to see the 7800512 prices drop, and can you run a 512 card and a 256 card in SLI?

Horray for compitition. 😀

 

[SparkyJJO]

hooray for the x1900xt 😀 that is the vid card I'm getting in my next build for sure 😀

 

[OvErHeAtInG]

Originally posted by: Compuzen

Originally posted by: apoppin

:roll:

i KNOW the GTX will be replaced . . . but what is nVidia gonna do in the next few weeks while it readies their new series . . . i EXPECT to see at least some 512 GTX availiility [and possible discounting . . .it just ain't a $650 card anymore] 😉

I have a two part question then. How soon can we expect to see the 7800512 prices drop, and can you run a 512 card and a 256 card in SLI?

Horray for compitition. 😀

No, SLI cards have to be identical.

 

[Compuzen]

I did a little digging and found out that you can mix memory sizes with Coolbits, but it wouldn't use half of the memory on the larger card. So theres really no point. 2 x 256 cards should be able to handle any game out in the next few months anyway.