Just got a 7900GT to replace X850XT

[Zap]

Replaced the ATI Radeon X850XT in my mATX gaming rig with a Geforce 7900GT (XFX factory overclocked to 520 core, 1500 RAM, $298 shipped price). Here are my thoughts/experiences so far, in no particular order:

Shimmering textures - people have talked about it as far back as the 6800 series and now I've seen it with the 7900GT. I may not notice it much in the midst of a fragfest, but it is noticeable in 3DMark. Using 84.21 Forcewares.

3DMark05 went from 6097 to 8518. Both run with video cards at factory clock speeds.

Fan on 7900GT spins at full speed all the time I guess, yet is still as quiet if not quieter than X850XT fan at 30% (or whatever it's set to) and MUCH quieter than when the X850XT fan is at 100%.

7900GT runs a lot cooler. The X850XT has this metal plate (heatspreader?) on the RAM that gets burning hot. Heck, the whole video card PCB gets burning hot. The 7900GT doesn't get very hot.

My system was making a really high pitched sound... which went away when I swapped video cards.

Theoretically the 7900GT draws less power - a good thing for my Enermax SFX 270W PSU.

The 7900GT looks kinda plain. The X850XT looked pretty decent in red. What would have been best would be the more expensive XFX cards that use black PCB (almost $40 more shipped price). Oh well.

I had ordered an Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5 rev2 for the 7900GT (will fit with some trimming) but after using the card a bit and knowing already that it is reasonably quiet and cool running, perhaps I won't bother with it.

 

[BFG10K]

Run under high quality mode to fix the shimmering but be prepared for a performance drop.

 

[RussianSensation]

Tell us about your gaming experience differences

 

[Canterwood]

QUIET????

I guess thats subjective, but my rig is whisper quiet and my 7900GT sounded like a jet engine in there, especially compared to my old X800XT with its stock cooler.

A Zalman fixed the noise, but I wasn't impressed that such an expensive card had such sh1t cooling.

 

[MedicalEntropy]

Originally posted by: Zap
Theoretically the 7900GT draws less power - a good thing for my Enermax SFX 270W PSU.

Holy hell, you better get that replaced.

 

[JBT]

Originally posted by: Canterwood
QUIET????

I guess thats subjective, but my rig is whisper quiet and my 7900GT sounded like a jet engine in there, especially compared to my old X800XT with its stock cooler.

A Zalman fixed the noise, but I wasn't impressed that such an expensive card had such sh1t cooling.

The X800XT stock cooler is much quieter than the fan that the X850XT's have... It looks and sounds more like the x1X00 XT series.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Canterwood
QUIET????

I guess thats subjective, but my rig is whisper quiet and my 7900GT sounded like a jet engine in there, especially compared to my old X800XT with its stock cooler.

The X850XT fan seriously is noisy when it spins up. It does so when the machine is first turned on and that thing sounds like a hairdryer. In comparison the fan on the 7900GT is really quiet. Now, on its own, the fan isn't so quiet but is reasonable considering the machine gets used only in LAN party environments where everyone is making noise, plus I use headphones during gaming. Also, even with the noise it makes, it's still one of the quieter machines at LAN parties. :roll:

Originally posted by: MedicalEntropy

Originally posted by: Zap
Theoretically the 7900GT draws less power - a good thing for my Enermax SFX 270W PSU.

Holy hell, you better get that replaced.

Replaced with what other SFX PSU? That's all that will fit. Only thing as good (dunno if better) is a 300W Fortron. I've got that in my other system.

Here's pictures of my gaming rig with the Radeon - only change being the 7900GT.

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
Tell us about your gaming experience differences

I don't know yet. I game on the weekends, but have final exam on Monday 5/8 so I don't know if I'll make it to the LANs this weekend. There's an overnighter Friday and a separate all day event Sunday.

My guess is that my gaming experience... will be exactly the same. That Radeon did everything I needed it to do, but just with more fan noise, that irritating high pitched noise and a TON of heat - if heat had palpable weight. During LAN parties I can put my hand behind the system and most of the heat comes out of the exhaust of the Radeon, and the metal part gets burning hot. Just from installing it and basic testing, I can tell the 7900GT runs much cooler. Also, less stress on my PSU... So, I expect gaming to stay the same but will benefit from some other, more intangible aspects.

 

[PingSpike]

Were you not able to fit an Arctic Silencer into the SFF case with your x850xt? I bought one of the clearance ones at SVC for $15. It was worth it. The x850xt is a nice card and a good deal for the money...but the thing sounds like a fvcking hairdryer with the fan on 50%. My PC is loud and it doesn't really bother me, but that fan had a really annoying pitch that didn't blend in with the whole thing.

The AS dropped idle and load temps by...7-8 degress I'd guess and I can't hear it.

Just curious why you decided to switch cards instead of switch coolers?

 

[firewolfsm]

Basically the same for me, I run the Zalman from the GOU fan header and it runs at the minimum 25% at idle, completely silent...I think that's 3V or something

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Were you not able to fit an Arctic Silencer into the SFF case with your x850xt? ... The x850xt is a nice card and a good deal for the money...but the thing sounds like a fvcking hairdryer with the fan on 50%.
...
Just curious why you decided to switch cards instead of switch coolers?

The X850XT already exhausted air out the back so I... didn't get around to it.

The 7900GT was a good deal at around $298 out the door and I wanted less power usage (for the small PSU) and less heat output (case only has two 60mm fans).

 

[Sonikku]

I would have liked comparison between the 7600gt rather then the 7900 versus an old X850XT.

 

[Ika]

Why did you order an NV Silencer Rev 2 instead of Rev 3? price difference wouldn't be much, and rev 3 is much improved...

 

[Zap]

What's improved with rev 3? I asked in the volt mod thread because I think the OP mentioned it, and nobody answered my question. Neither are made specifically for the 7900GT and both have to be trimmed. What about rev 3 makes it "better?"

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

Originally posted by: Zap
What's improved with rev 3? I asked in the volt mod thread because I think the OP mentioned it, and nobody answered my question. Neither are made specifically for the 7900GT and both have to be trimmed. What about rev 3 makes it "better?"

The Rev. 2's fan power connector (2-pin) were incompatible with the 7800GTX (4-pin) hence the need for Rev. 3 which has both 2-pin and 4-pin power connectors. That's the only difference between the Rev. 2 and the Rev. 3. Since the 7900GT uses the 2-pin power connector, the Rev. 2 works just fine on it.

 

[MAC5000]

Originally posted by: firewolfsm
Basically the same for me, I run the Zalman from the GOU fan header and it runs at the minimum 25% at idle, completely silent...I think that's 3V or something

So you hooked the zalman power up to the 7900? How do you do that? My connecters do not match.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: 1Dark1Sharigan1
The Rev. 2's fan power connector (2-pin) were incompatible with the 7800GTX (4-pin) hence the need for Rev. 3 which has both 2-pin and 4-pin power connectors. That's the only difference between the Rev. 2 and the Rev. 3. Since the 7900GT uses the 2-pin power connector, the Rev. 2 works just fine on it.

Thank you, that's the most complete answer I've gotten so far. :thumbsup:

 

[CKXP]

The Rev. 2's fan power connector (2-pin) were incompatible with the 7800GTX (4-pin) hence the need for Rev. 3 which has both 2-pin and 4-pin power connectors. That's the only difference between the Rev. 2 and the Rev. 3. Since the 7900GT uses the 2-pin power connector, the Rev. 2 works just fine on it.

there's a difference between rev.2 and rev.3 that was left out, rev.2 has soldered memory pads while rev.3 uses thermal pads to cool the memory.

pic of rev.2
pic of rev.3

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: Zap
Shimmering textures - people have talked about it as far back as the 6800 series and now I've seen it with the 7900GT. I may not notice it much in the midst of a fragfest, but it is noticeable in 3DMark. Using 84.21 Forcewares.

Certain hardware (monitor) shows shimmering worse than others. Its hardly noticable with smaller monitors, and lower resolutions. Its also less noticable with CRTs, than it is with LCDs. There is no "fix" for it, at least not yet.

Glad you're happy with the card.