Is it worth upgrading from a 7800GTX?

[kman79]

Current rig is almost a year old. I've been wanting to upgrade something but not sure what is the best bang for the buck upgrade. Definately into games. The only game I can't play at 1600X1200 is GRAW. GRAW has the nasty jaggies at anything below 1600X1200 and I can't use AA because of HDR. Would a 7900GTX be a worthy upgrade? Is there anything coming out in the next 3-4 months that would be significantly better? I considered upgrading the CPU to a 4400X2, simply because I find myself doing video encoding more than I initialy thought I would. I'm mostly an AMD user but the new Conroe looks nice. The only thing holding me back from getting a new CPU is the fact that I don't know what to do with my current one. It OCs to 2.75 with no problem at all.

OR! I could just wait a few month and save up to build a whole new rig. Brother is hogging this one most of the time anyways. If that's the case and what I end up doing, is OCing an Intel board much different that OCing an AMD board?

It's not that I want to spend money. I just have the upgrade bug. Any input or opinions is appreciated

 

[Cookie Monster]

What drivers are you using? 91.28 beta gives some performance boost for GRAW.

 

[the Chase]

I would wait. G80 (8800gt and 8800gtx) may be coming VERY soon. (No proof, no good leads, just rumors).

 

[Captante]

You'll see a noticable performance boost going to either an X1900XTX or a 7900GTX, but wether its worth it or not is your call ... I personally only upgrade when somthing I want to do on my PC won't work well anymore, however you can very likely still get around $230 for your current 7800GTX on FS/FT which will soften the blow considerably.

Check out this thread for comments about somone doing the same kind of thing... he's comparing a 7800GTX to a borrowed X1900XTX, but I'd say the performance gain would be comparable:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=31&threadid=1870967&enterthread=y

 

[kman79]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
What drivers are you using? 91.28 beta gives some performance boost for GRAW.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm on 84.56 Extreme G drivers at the moment. I'll give the new drivers a try when I get home.

Reading up on the X1900XTX Thread you posted. He states theres a good boost in image quality with XTX card. Gonna look into that more. I've heard that about ATI cards for a long time now, the image quality being better.

Trying to dig up some info on the G80.

ATI cards work on nForce boards?

 

[Polish3d]

I wish we had some definitive G80 info too.

For my own experience (check AT's benches) an x1900xtx roughly doubles the performance of my 7800gtx which is worth it to me. Plus better image quality

 

[hans030390]

Originally posted by: kman79

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
What drivers are you using? 91.28 beta gives some performance boost for GRAW.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm on 84.56 Extreme G drivers at the moment. I'll give the new drivers a try when I get home.

Reading up on the X1900XTX Thread you posted. He states theres a good boost in image quality with XTX card. Gonna look into that more. I've heard that about ATI cards for a long time now, the image quality being better.

Trying to dig up some info on the G80.

ATI cards work on nForce boards?

Don't fall for the ATI having better IQ. Most of that is a mental thing. I've seen both ATI and Nvidia cards in action, and I notice no difference.

MAYBE if you want to use AA/AF to the extreme, then you might notice the difference in the way they handle things, but beyond that...it's pretty much the same.

Then again, I never use AA/AF, and I'm content playing games at 10x7 (sometimes less if it helps framerate).

So don't fall for the IQ thing.

BUT, the x1900xtx is definitely a very nice card, and if you have the cash, I would think about it over the 7900gtx just due to performance.

 

[Cookie Monster]

I agree about the whole IQ thing. Ive seen both in real life. They are far to similiar. (Although they got their cons and pros, like NV's AA and ATis HQ AF.)

However, i STILL havent actually noticed shimmering yet.. arent i the lucky one

 

[Ackmed]

No I dont think its a waste. With the 7900GTX, you will be able to enable higher AA/AF, and in-game settings, resulting in better IQ. Although I would get a X1900XT. Cheaper, better IQ, and almost as fast.

Originally posted by: hans030390
Don't fall for the ATI having better IQ. Most of that is a mental thing. I've seen both ATI and Nvidia cards in action, and I notice no difference.

MAYBE if you want to use AA/AF to the extreme, then you might notice the difference in the way they handle things, but beyond that...it's pretty much the same.

Then again, I never use AA/AF, and I'm content playing games at 10x7 (sometimes less if it helps framerate).

So don't fall for the IQ thing.

BUT, the x1900xtx is definitely a very nice card, and if you have the cash, I would think about it over the 7900gtx just due to performance.

So basically we shouldnt listen to anything you say. You say you never use AA/AF, so how you can say dont "fall for the IQ thing"? HQ AF is real, and its really better than any AF NV has to offer. You have not seen it, so why should you try to make someone believe its not real? A X1900XT would allow him to use 6xAA, while NV doesnt have that option. NV does have 8xAA, but there is very little chance of getting playable frames with it, in any sort of newer game.

 

[bdww00]

id wait for the g9013's they are suppose to be out in a while dont complain about not running every game at highest frame rates if u have the money buy it dont complain to people still using 9600se's
pfft

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: Ackmed
No I dont think its a waste. With the 7900GTX, you will be able to enable higher AA/AF, and in-game settings, resulting in better IQ. Although I would get a X1900XT. Cheaper, better IQ, and almost as fast.

Originally posted by: hans030390
Don't fall for the ATI having better IQ. Most of that is a mental thing. I've seen both ATI and Nvidia cards in action, and I notice no difference.

MAYBE if you want to use AA/AF to the extreme, then you might notice the difference in the way they handle things, but beyond that...it's pretty much the same.

Then again, I never use AA/AF, and I'm content playing games at 10x7 (sometimes less if it helps framerate).

So don't fall for the IQ thing.

BUT, the x1900xtx is definitely a very nice card, and if you have the cash, I would think about it over the 7900gtx just due to performance.

So basically we shouldnt listen to anything you say. You say you never use AA/AF, so how you can say dont "fall for the IQ thing"? HQ AF is real, and its really better than any AF NV has to offer. You have not seen it, so why should you try to make someone believe its not real? A X1900XT would allow him to use 6xAA, while NV doesnt have that option. NV does have 8xAA, but there is very little chance of getting playable frames with it, in any sort of newer game.

NVs AA is much better to me (shows more detail for some reason). 4x TR SSAA is just too awesome . (Adaptive takes more of a performance hit and blurs out images for some reason). Performance hit isnt too big either.

Not only this but, he could use 8xAA or 16xAA on older games unlike ATi. (as BFG10K says).

AF goes to ATi with high quality AF. The textures look much better/crisper than NV's AF. (HDR plus AA could also come into consideration here).

He should just save his money for next gen cards (G80/R600). Especially when prey and quake wars is around the corner (CANT WAIT!!! rool; ). By the way, these are openGL titles, and we all know what that mean.

Save your money, build a whole new rig with intel conroe setup(even the 2.13ghz give FX-60 a run for its money). Ocing intel is pretty easy.

 

[TheRyuu]

Your fine. Just OC it to the max untill G80/R600 come out and get whichever you want.

Also try out the XTreme-G 91.28.v2. But just make sure to use Rivatuner to disable all the optimizations and the way to high LOD (was set to 3+ :Q jeez...) just set it to 0. (which might degrade image quality)

NV doesn't do a good job of turning off optimizations even though you did it in the driver. I find the options are still checked in Riva Tuner when I go in there after I turned them off!? The LOD being set too high was also weird. It can degrade the image quality, but luckly I caught that and turned it to 0. Especally look out for the Open GL optimizations. Those really don't like to be turned off in NV control Panel

 

[kman79]

Thanks for the imput guys.

I most likely will be building a new rig built around a Concroe Chip, unless AMD pulls something out before then. Going all out with this one and doing water cooling. I've done the fan cooling and it did manage a decent OC, but it sounds like a small vacume cleaner.

Oh, I did try the new drivers this morning when I got home. I did see a small increase in performance, but FPS still dropped below 30 at heavy times of GRAW at 1280X1024. I'm not a pro with RivaTuner, so I'll have to search for LOD within it.

 

[skooma]

kman, you're facing the same question I've been debating.

I'm holding off from upgrading my 7800gtx. I've considered the 1900xt (many times) but I'm also going to build a new rig around the conroe so I've decided to wait for a while.

Maybe some news on G80 will come out by then

 

[redbox]

Originally posted by: kman79
GRAW has the nasty jaggies at anything below 1600X1200 and I can't use AA because of HDR. Would a 7900GTX be a worthy upgrade?

Get an ATI card now, the 1800xt or 1900xt/xtx or wait for G80/R600. If you want AA and HDR don't waste money on a speed bumped 7800gtx. It does the same thing yours does only faster. The ATI does HQAF and HDR+AA.

 

[Dkcode]

Id say wait for conroe and hold out for a DX10 card unless you dont mind spending money on 2 video cards a year. As for GRAW my friend owns a X1900XT and doesnt get more than 40fps @ 1680 x 1050. I dont get much more than 30 on a X1800XT @ 1600 x 1200 with the demo so i stayed away from the retail. The engine is awfull.

 

[redbox]

Originally posted by: Dkcode
As for GRAW my friend owns a X1900XT and doesnt get more than 40fps @ 1680 x 1050. I dont get much more than 30 on a X1800XT @ 1600 x 1200 with the demo so i stayed away from the retail. The engine is awfull.

That's the same thing people where saying about FEAR. I just think we are getting lower returns on our video card stress. To the point that yse the game looks better but it is alot harder to run. It's exponential.

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster


NVs AA is much better to me (shows more detail for some reason). 4x TR SSAA is just too awesome . (Adaptive takes more of a performance hit and blurs out images for some reason). Performance hit isnt too big either.

Not only this but, he could use 8xAA or 16xAA on older games unlike ATi. (as BFG10K says).

AF goes to ATi with high quality AF. The textures look much better/crisper than NV's AF. (HDR plus AA could also come into consideration here).

He should just save his money for next gen cards (G80/R600). Especially when prey and quake wars is around the corner (CANT WAIT!!! rool; ). By the way, these are openGL titles, and we all know what that mean.

Save your money, build a whole new rig with intel conroe setup(even the 2.13ghz give FX-60 a run for its money). Ocing intel is pretty easy.

To you. Not in reviews, or what I have seen in person. Both 2x and 4xAA look pretty identical to me for NV and ATi. Yes he could "use" 8xAA, I doubt it would be anything close to playable.

I replied to him because he said it was an "IQ trap", when he admits to playing at 1024x768 or lower, and no AA/AF. That is not someone I would want advice from about IQ.

 

[akshayt]

if you have 256mb 7800gtx= performance of 7900gt

upgrading to 1900xt will give performance increase in high res/or with aa and af

1900XT will be better for future games for current games if you enable aa and af, 1900XT in most cases will clearly beat the 7900GTX and at times maybe even the extreme version of 7900GTX
Go with 1900XT, you can get it around 380-400$ after rebate.
tomshardware.com, ati cards compared in video
xbitlabs.com/articles/video

 

[FelixDeCat]

Thats pretty powerful already. Id wait for DX10.

 

[Captante]

Bottom line on this is exactly what many have already said here, keep in mind that I upgraded from a nearly 3-year old 6800GT to my X1900XTX and it was Oblivion that finally pushed me over the edge... FEAR, Quake 4, COD2 etc all played well enough to satisfy my on the old GPU. (Ok ... FEAR was borderline!) but
really the question "is it worth it" is one only you can answer... no question you'll gain quite a bit of speed with a new cutting-edge GPU, but even if you sell your 7800GTX it'll still set you back at least $200... if that amount of cash seems worth it then go to it, otherwise sit tight.

As for which card is better... obviously I chose ATI this time around, but it was very close call & also keep in mind that when I made my choice about 6 weeks ago, the 7900GTX was rare & commanding a price premium of around $100. Either one of the two top of the line cards will do just fine & regardless of what some biased folks will say, there is no "wrong" choice between the two... pick the card that benchmarks higher in the games you play the most if you decide to go ahead.

 

[akshayt]

especially for future purposes or loads of aa and af, 1900XT all the way.
in some games 1900XT has lower fps than 512mb 7800GTX, check xbitlabs.com/articles/video
1900XT review

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: hans030390

Originally posted by: kman79

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
What drivers are you using? 91.28 beta gives some performance boost for GRAW.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm on 84.56 Extreme G drivers at the moment. I'll give the new drivers a try when I get home.

Reading up on the X1900XTX Thread you posted. He states theres a good boost in image quality with XTX card. Gonna look into that more. I've heard that about ATI cards for a long time now, the image quality being better.

Trying to dig up some info on the G80.

ATI cards work on nForce boards?

Don't fall for the ATI having better IQ. Most of that is a mental thing. I've seen both ATI and Nvidia cards in action, and I notice no difference.

MAYBE if you want to use AA/AF to the extreme, then you might notice the difference in the way they handle things, but beyond that...it's pretty much the same.

Then again, I never use AA/AF, and I'm content playing games at 10x7 (sometimes less if it helps framerate).

So don't fall for the IQ thing.

BUT, the x1900xtx is definitely a very nice card, and if you have the cash, I would think about it over the 7900gtx just due to performance.

Maybe you saw it on a poor monitor because the better/sharper picture is absolutely unmistakeable on mine, there is no question about it period.


Anyway to the OP q, I would wait if you're thinking of waiting 3-4 months.

Wait and get a Conroe/G80 system, OR get X1900XTX now and add Conroe later

 

[kman79]

It was four years before I upgraded to the current rig I'm on. You should have seen my face when I first played Half Life/Counter-Strike source on this thing. If I remember correctly, the last card I had on my old computer was a MX440, so that was a huge upgrade.

I'll give it till September or October, hopefull the next big thing from nVidia is out by then. If not, I'll consider getting an ATI card. Thanks guys.