Is two Nvidia 7900gs in SLI faster than one x1900XTX

Polish3d

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Jul 6, 2005
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Depends upon the game, overclock of the cards, and the quality settings. Also, minimum frames are important.

On HQ in BOTH control panels in many games, the XTX will often tie or beat the GTs. I know there's no way 2x7800gtx OCs would tie my scores with my XTX in BF2, unless I got a 100% boost in performance from going single to double.
 

tvdang7

Platinum Member
Jun 4, 2005
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they are around the same price tho so not bad. either way. overclocked im sure it beats it.
 

SpeedZealot369

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Feb 5, 2006
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Originally posted by: Wreckage
looks like SLI 7900GS beats a X1950XTX and it's out now for under $400
http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/geforce-7900gs/index.x?pg=1

Something is terribly wrong with those benchmarks, the gs's beat the gt's (quake 4 last benchmark) and that should never happen, gs's are basically like superclocked 7800gt's...

The more I view benchmarks, the more I'm starting to believe I've been fooled many times over the past years.. it's sad really.. :(
 

allies

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Jun 18, 2002
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Originally posted by: SpeedZealot369
Originally posted by: Wreckage
looks like SLI 7900GS beats a X1950XTX and it's out now for under $400
http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/geforce-7900gs/index.x?pg=1

Something is terribly wrong with those benchmarks, the gs's beat the gt's (quake 4 last benchmark) and that should never happen, gs's are basically like superclocked 7800gt's...

The more I view benchmarks, the more I'm starting to believe I've been fooled many times over the past years.. it's sad really.. :(


I think they screwed up the GT SLi and GS SLi... I don't think they're purposefully trying to trick you.
 

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
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Only if your OC these cards.
Most benchmark sites are reaching 600~ up on core and 1600~ on memory. Add in WCing or better coolers plus volt mod, and i bet these cards will be faster than the X1900XTX.

The cheapest goes for 189 which is an XFX. But the leadtek or EVGA 7900GS looks more promising with their custom coolers.
 

Cookie Monster

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May 7, 2005
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Originally posted by: josh6079
Why did Nvidia discontinue the 7800's again? This card is just like them.

Because its cheaper to make due to smaller die size (G70 had a die size of 334m^2, and the G71 has a die size of 196mm^2) and less transistors (302 million for the G70 and 278 for the G71).

Simply, NV can make 300~ G71 chips per waffer due to the small size compared to 150~ of the R580 chips.
 

dug777

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Oct 13, 2004
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More importantly, why would you want the relative hassle of SLI and paying more for a SLI mobo, for possibly marginally better performance if you overclock?

Cheapest 7900GS are ~200 each, i see a MSI X1900XTX for 283 after rebate on the RTPE ;)
 

ForumMaster

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Feb 24, 2005
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does anyone know whether you can mod the 7900GS with RivaTuner or the likes to bring back the disabled pipes?
 

Cookie Monster

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May 7, 2005
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Originally posted by: dug777
More importantly, why would you want the relative hassle of SLI and paying more for a SLI mobo, for possibly marginally better performance if you overclock?

Cheapest 7900GS are ~200 each, i see a MSI X1900XTX for 283 after rebate on the RTPE ;)

SLi mobos are cheap though. Many people here have them even without SLi.
X1900XTX would be great, but i dont know about you but i rather have fun tweaking and OCing the 7900GS SLi, so that they hit 700/1800~ with a volt mod and additional cooling. Thats from 400 dollars, you get the performance of 7900GTX SLi! Would be be better if they unlock.

Being a hardware junkie is VERY addictive.. i gotta get away from all this stuff for a while. :)
 

dug777

Lifer
Oct 13, 2004
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Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Originally posted by: dug777
More importantly, why would you want the relative hassle of SLI and paying more for a SLI mobo, for possibly marginally better performance if you overclock?

Cheapest 7900GS are ~200 each, i see a MSI X1900XTX for 283 after rebate on the RTPE ;)

SLi mobos are cheap though. Many people here have them even without SLi.
X1900XTX would be great, but i dont know about you but i rather have fun tweaking and OCing the 7900GS SLi, so that they hit 700/1800~ with a volt mod and additional cooling. Thats from 400 dollars, you get the performance of 7900GTX SLi! Would be be better if they unlock.

Being a hardware junkie is VERY addictive.. i gotta get away from all this stuff for a while. :)

yeah i love messing with stuff like that too ;)

I just think it's relatively important to keep sight of what most people are willing to do, and the vast majority of people won't touch physical volt-modding with a 10' pole, so i tend to go for advice based on stock speeds, or n00btastically easy oc's that pretty much everyone should be able to get.

Off topic somewhat, that MSI X1900XTX is a pretty frickin sweet deal if you are prepared to wait on the rebate, i just stumbled upon it playing with the RTPE...
 

SpeedZealot369

Platinum Member
Feb 5, 2006
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Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Originally posted by: dug777
More importantly, why would you want the relative hassle of SLI and paying more for a SLI mobo, for possibly marginally better performance if you overclock?

Cheapest 7900GS are ~200 each, i see a MSI X1900XTX for 283 after rebate on the RTPE ;)

SLi mobos are cheap though. Many people here have them even without SLi.
X1900XTX would be great, but i dont know about you but i rather have fun tweaking and OCing the 7900GS SLi, so that they hit 700/1800~ with a volt mod and additional cooling. Thats from 400 dollars, you get the performance of 7900GTX SLi! Would be be better if they unlock.

Being a hardware junkie is VERY addictive.. i gotta get away from all this stuff for a while. :)

Uhm you know these cards have disabled pipes...
 

jiffylube1024

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2002
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Originally posted by: Wreckage
looks like SLI 7900GS beats a X1950XTX and it's out now for under $400
http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/geforce-7900gs/index.x?pg=1

It wins some and ties some; loses a few (by a slim margin). Looks like the 7900GS SLI is a good option.


That article is defintely a bit misleading, though. For starters, the two big wins for the 7900GS are synthetic benchmarks (3dmark05 and 06 are great for bragging rights and good for comparing across a similar pool of GPU's (eg single card vs single card) but SLI/Crossfire scales unrealistically high in 3dmark).

The 7900GS does excellently in FEAR and very well in Quake 4. In HL2 it loses to a single 1900XTX.

What impresses me is that 7900GS SLI consumes as much power (a tad less even!) than an X1900XTX or X1950XTX. Good job by Nvidia there!