From X850XT to 7800GT to X1800XT to 7900GT?

[imported_Airjarhead]

Well, I just said "Screw it" and bought an EVGA CO from Newegg. I'm going to take leave after around the Easter holiday, and I'll test Both cards (X1800XT and 7900GT CO) as much as possible and get back to you guys.
Someone really needs to do more extensive review between these cards.

 

[imported_Airjarhead]

Well, I have some results that I'll post if anyone wants them, but I have to say I'm pissed at EVGA and Nvidia. I got one of the factory OCd EVGAs that work well the first day, but then go to hell the second (it artifacts and "looses" all OC potential).
In the mean time here is a good discussion about the 7900GT VS X1800XT with links to surprising articles:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33853268

 

[imported_Airjarhead]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
while i respect your opinion, i guess you do value other things in IQ....beauty is always in the eye of the beholder and what looks good to one person may look like a dogs ass to someone else...so all the people saying "You think the IQ is better which is proven to be wrong." should really shut the hell up

i mean granted Nv have made some great steps in AA speed and quality and Transparency AA is an awesome feature to use too, but traditionally Ati is where its at when it comes to faster AA....i think ATI and NV's AA quality is on a par, but ATi got the slight lead in speed.

also, have you tried your X1800's HQ AF setting? im not joking when i say the difference is night and day between that and Nvidias filtering quality....it really is a nice feature.

adaptive AA on ATI is very much the same deal as transparency AA..... http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/0...nsparency_adaptive_aa_explained/1.html

read that it might clear some things up


but i think the crux of your problem was buying an X1800. for me the card just wasnt anything special at all and i dont think theres much longevity in it. it was late, just as fast as the competition, very hot, noisey and was in short supply.....just when things picked up it got super seeded by x1900

what you should of bought was the x1900.....that was the card that ATI should of released when it came to the x1800

In my experience with both cards this is what I found:
In BF2:
the AA quality is even (now that I learned how to enable it with ATT vice in game)
AF quality goes to ATI
Overall though there is something about the Nvidia IQ that I like better. I notice a LOT more detail than I do with the ATI cards I've used.

In NHL06:
AA quality is much better with ATI on near vertical things (like goal posts), but better with nvidia in other places (on the sticks and around the arena in the background)
Overall the game looks a little better with the ATI card, BUT it hitches at ALL resolutions and settings with the ATI cards (because you must have V-synch enabled) even with Triple buffering enabled.
With the Nvidia cards, enabling triple buffering with DXTweaker eliminated the stuttering

In LOMAC:
I have a LOVE/HATE relationship with this game because I'm about 4 generations of upgrades past it's "recommended system" and it still stutters/hitches in the A-10 campaign.
Anyway...
AA goes to ATI
AF goes to ATI
I actually played an almost stutter free game on each of the cards once, but then the next time I played it (with the same settings), the stuttering came back! ARRRGGG!
THEN...I tried it on my Sony 42" LCD....DROOOOOOLLLL! It looked and played incredibly on the 7900GT! I can't even get it to work right on the X1800XT (and SONY LCD).

Futuremark:
03 & 05: X1800XT owned - especially with AA & AF on
06: 7900GT CO won even against the X1800XT OCd to 700/800

I'll post the bench numbers tomorrow...

 

[TheRyuu]

I'd just keep the 7900GT for easy of overclockablilty. You can easily get it to near or at X1900XT speeds with a simple conductive pen and pencil mod and get it to GTX speeds. Thats why I would keep the 7900GT, not because of the IQ, but because it's simply FASTER. Because it's kinda no contest between the 24 Pixel Pipeline 7900GT and the 16 Pixel Pipeline X1800XT running at practicaly the same speed.

Now a 7900GT vs. X1900 would be completly different story.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally Posted by: wizboy 11

I'd just keep the 7900GT for easy of overclockablilty. You can easily get it to near or at X1900XT speeds with a simple conductive pen and pencil mod and get it to GTX speeds. Thats why I would keep the 7900GT, not because of the IQ, but because it's simply FASTER. Because it's kinda no contest between the 24 Pixel Pipeline 7900GT and the 16 Pixel Pipeline X1800XT running at practicaly the same speed.

Now a 7900GT vs. X1900 would be completly different story.

Is quite interesting how close are the Core clocks and pixel fillrate between the 7900GTX and the X1900XTX, even that the latter one has a 8 pixel pipeline deficit compared to the first one. Is about efficiency.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally Posted by: wizboy 11

I'd just keep the 7900GT for easy of overclockablilty. You can easily get it to near or at X1900XT speeds with a simple conductive pen and pencil mod and get it to GTX speeds. Thats why I would keep the 7900GT, not because of the IQ, but because it's simply FASTER. Because it's kinda no contest between the 24 Pixel Pipeline 7900GT and the 16 Pixel Pipeline X1800XT running at practicaly the same speed.

Now a 7900GT vs. X1900 would be completly different story.

Is quite interesting how close are the Core clocks and pixel fillrate between the 7900GTX and the X1900XTX, even that the latter one has a 8 pixel pipeline deficit compared to the first one. Is about efficiency.

 

[imported_Airjarhead]

Ya, but the 7900GT doesn't work anymore!

 

[imported_Airjarhead]

Here are my benchmarks as promised:
Fraps was used in all game benchmarks, and I used one benchmark, that represented the average out of 3 or more
Opteron 144 @ 2700 Stock Voltage
Thermalright XP-120
DFI NF4 Ultra-D & 6-23 BIOS
2x1GB OCZ Platinum PC3200 2-5-3-2-1T
Sapphire X1800XT 512MB / EVGA 7900GT CO
Creative Audigy
2x Hitachi 80GB SATA2 in Raid0
Maxtor 200GB ATA133
NEC 2500A DVD Burner
Sunbeam NUUO 550W
Windows XP Pro SP2

BF2 1280x960 4xAA16xAF Med Strike at Karkand Single Player
X1800XT
Frames: 57565 - Time: 525397ms - Avg: 109.564 - Min: 74 - Max: 199
7900GT
2006-04-13 22:57:27 - BF2
Frames: 23100 - Time: 221230ms - Avg: 104.416 - Min: 69 - Max: 153

NHL2006 12x10 Hi V-Synch on (85Hz)
X1800XT 6xAA 16xAF(HQ)
Frames: 5704 - Time: 67099ms - Avg: 85.008 - Min: 84 - Max: 86
7900GT 4xAA 16xAF
Frames: 6188 - Time: 72792ms - Avg: 85.009 - Min: 84 - Max: 86
I know the benchmarks don't show it, but there is a definate stutterin this game.

LOMAC 1280x960 HI (med water) 4xAA 8xAF
X1800XT
Frames: 48403 - Time: 969005ms - Avg: 49.951 - Min: 18 - Max: 168
7900GT
Frames: 16097 - Time: 337438ms - Avg: 47.703 - Min: 26 - Max: 181
This game also stutters in places

3dMark03 Hi Quality set for both cards
1024x768 4xAA 16xAF Both Cards at Max OC
X1800XT (700/800)
13243
7900GT (527/810)
11493

3dMark05
1280x1024 4xAA 16xAF Max OC
X1800XT (700/800)
7153
7900GT (527/810)
5986


3dMArk06
1280x1024 MaxOC
X1800XT (700/800)
4496
7900GT (527/810)
4573

That's it. Hope it helps some people.

 

[imported_Airjarhead]

Heres a few more for those that don't care about AA&AF in 3dMark

3dMark03
3dMark03 Hi Quality set for both cards
1024x768 Both Cards at Max OC
X1800XT (700/800)
18818
7900GT (527/810)
didn't try

3dMark05
1024x768 Max OC
X1800XT (700/800)
10340
7900GT (527/810)
9164

 

[CaiNaM]

dang.. i just use the driver and CCC, move the sliders to MAX in Overdrive, and play everything pretty much w/o adjusting anything. the only reason i see i would need to use atitool is if i want more than a 700mHz/1600mHz overclock, but playing on my widescreen @ 1440 I just don't feel a need for it (except outdoors in oblvion with everything max'd and HDR/4xaa/16xHQaf - but i just deal with it cause it's real purdy and not that bad)...