Lets end it! 7900GTX or X1900XTX - Which is better?

[Maximilian]

I dont know, im biased towards ATI, and ive seen many threads where others dont know and more people come in and simply claim the card they own is better.

If you take into account *everything* noise, power consumption, performance, cost, warrenty, hell even how the thing looks. Which is better?

Dont come and say theyre the same, we wanna know which is better no matter how little the difference is. Or! Maybe if there are pro's and cons to each of them? So that an individual can decide on which would suit them better. Personally im all in favour of picking a winner, a better card, but whatever suits.

 

[CKXP]

looks wise, 7900GTX hands down
i'll keep the rest to myself...i see another flame war coming

 

[phantom404]

Depends on what you want more. Owning both a x1900xt and a 7800gtx ko i can say that nvidia is quieter and consumes less power while ati has better image quality and is able to handle higher resolutions without a sharp drop in fps. After having 2 gtx kos in sli and now an x1900xt i like the ati better. After I stuck the accelero x2 on it the card was almost silent. I do like nvidias drivers and ui better. I'm not a big fan of CCC.

 

[darXoul]

Performance: pretty much equal. Availability now: X1900. Features (HDR+AA): X1900. Noise: 7900. Power & heat: 7900. Driver maturity and quality (IMO): 7900. Image quality (AF): slightly X1900. Price: roughly equal in my country. Dual card solution (SLI vs. CF): 7900.

Basically, I'm not gonna select a winner. Both cards have their pros and cons. Since I've been using nVidia for a long time now, and since noise is an important factor in my book, and since nVidia pretty much closed the gap in games like F.E.A.R., I choose:

7900 GTX.

This is my personal preference though, many people (e.g. those who like HDR very much and want to use AA along with it in every game) will probably choose the X1900XT(X), also because of much higher availability at the moment.

You're not gonna make a mistake going for either of them. Both rock, and it's good that way.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: CKXP
looks wise, 7900GTX hands down
i'll keep the rest to myself...i see another flame war coming

I like the girl on ATI cards, shes curvier Im hoping people wont just vouch for the card they own or the company they like best because of its pretty logo or whatever, the best card needs to be found! Or at least a decent pros/cons list.

 

[Extelleron]

7900GTX advantages:
Lower power consumption
Less heat
Quieter card

X1900XT advantages:
Better performance in shader heavy games
Overall better image quality, certainly better AF
Very good drivers & CCC

 

[hans030390]

Originally posted by: Extelleron
7900GTX advantages:
Lower power consumption
Less heat
Quieter card

X1900XT advantages:
Better performance in shader heavy games
Overall better image quality, certainly better AF
Very good drivers & CCC

There aren't any games out that really put the cards to the test...games like UT2007 will be good for benching these cards, so you can't really call current games "shader heavy" when put next to these powerhouse cards.

I just read an article about ATI vs Nvidia IQ (yes, with AF too) and I'd have to say it all looked identical to me. Why waste money when you'll get great IQ either way? I think its a mental thing.

Nvidia has great drivers...actually, i believe they were rated better than ATIs, and then if you get the modded XG ones, then Nvidia drivers pull ahead without a doubt, IMO.

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

Originally posted by: Soviet
I dont know, im biased towards ATI, and ive seen many threads where others dont know and more people come in and simply claim the card they own is better.

If you take into account *everything* noise, power consumption, performance, cost, warrenty, hell even how the thing looks. Which is better?

Dont come and say theyre the same, we wanna know which is better no matter how little the difference is. Or! Maybe if there are pro's and cons to each of them? So that an individual can decide on which would suit them better. Personally im all in favour of picking a winner, a better card, but whatever suits.

i find this ironic... lets end it, but which is better???


not to sound like the ATi fanboy while owning an Nvidia card, but the real world performance is about the same with the xtx having hdr and whawt not...

now you can equally argue the nvidia is better but um from my expierience with both, the 2d in nvidia is alot more blurry and i have to turn up my refresh hertz thing alot higher.... dunno its all up to the consumer as there weill always be those who are ATI and those who are Nvidia.

Pros nvidia
-------------
less power, cooler on stock, possibly looks better with its big funky heatsink thing, SLI being more mature

Pros Ati
--------------
HDR and all that stuff, availibility?, RUBY!, More Shader performance,


and do the guys saying better drivers? hense why you get the XG, Omega ones?


lol

 

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: Extelleron
7900GTX advantages:
Lower power consumption
Less heat
Quieter card

X1900XT advantages:
Better performance in shader heavy games
Overall better image quality, certainly better AF
Very good drivers & CCC

Pretty good comparison, but I dont think ATI has better drivers than Nvidia. Past 3 cards ive had were from ATI and I've never gotten CCC to work.

 

[Elfear]

This subject has been beaten to death me thinks. Here are some consolidated results I put together off of various review sites.

Disclaimer: The following you are about to read is my own opinion so take it how you will.

Aftyer switching from a pair of 7800GTs@550/1300 to my current card I must say I am very pleased with the change. The pros and cons of the 7900GTX can basically be derived from the pros and cons of the X1900XT that follow:

X1900XT
Pros-
1) Best overall performance from consolidating the various reviews
2) Slightly better IQ in the form of more vibrant colors and HQ AF
3) Ability to do HDR + AA
4) Software voltage adjustments which is a huge plus for overclockers
5) Cheaper (as of today even the cheapest out-of-stock 7900GTX is $50 more than the cheapest X1900XT and the same price as the cheapest X1900XTX)

Cons-
1) For users who know nothing about computers (for whom the installation of ATI Tray Tools would be a monumental and annoying feat) CCC is more bloated than the Nvidia Control Panel.
2) Run about 10C hotter than the 7900GTX which could limit overclocking ability
3) Louder if you have poor case ventilation and for 3 secs. at start-up.
4) More power consumption for those ultra-frugal users who want to save $2.00 a month.
5) Linux support isn't as good as Nvidia's.

 

[the Chase]

lol - you'll never end it. (unless one of the two companies go out of business).

 

[Munky]

Here's how I see the winner in each category:

Availability: xtx
Performance: xtx
Features, IQ: xtx
Noise: gtx
Linux support: gtx
Power consumption: you spend $500+ on a card and you're worried about power consumption?
Drivers: tie, if you're smart enough not to install CCC and use ATT instead. Otherwise, gtx

There should be a poll in this thread...

 

[LOUISSSSS]

wait.. you can uninstall CCC and use only ATI tray tools?
how do you have Ati tray toold start on windows startup? "integrate into windows shell"?

 

[Zebo]

ATI
- Little better performance
- Better IQ (less cheats)

nV
-Cooler
-quieter
-Better drivers
-Better warranties
-more slection though vendors (e.g. OC & warrantied ones)

PS nothing wrong with either choice - both fine product - just what your driven twards more should choose for you.

 

[Zebo]

Power consumption: you spend $500+ on a card and you're worried about power consumption?

Now use your head. What else does high power consumption mean?

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
wait.. you can uninstall CCC and use only ATI tray tools?
how do you have Ati tray toold start on windows startup? "integrate into windows shell"?

It installs itself in the Windows start-up file. Just make sure to disable the overclocking feature when prompted in the installation process.

 

[BFG10K]

For driver quality I'd definitely be voting ATi as superior. Monthly WHQL driver updates, rock solid drivers and any problems tend to be fixed very quickly.

nVidia seem to release drivers whenever they feel like it, beta drivers are generally useless and issues can remain for months or years without being fixed.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
For driver quality I'd definitely be voting ATi as superior. Monthly WHQL driver updates, rock solid drivers and any problems tend to be fixed very quickly.

nVidia seem to release drivers whenever they feel like it, beta drivers are generally useless and issues can remain for months or years without being fixed.

I haven't wanted to say that for fear of being labeled an ATI fanboy but that has been my experience as well.

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: Elfear

Originally posted by: BFG10K
For driver quality I'd definitely be voting ATi as superior. Monthly WHQL driver updates, rock solid drivers and any problems tend to be fixed very quickly.

nVidia seem to release drivers whenever they feel like it, beta drivers are generally useless and issues can remain for months or years without being fixed.

I haven't wanted to say that for fear of being labeled an ATI fanboy but that has been my experience as well.

I agree. I never had a single problem with my Radeon 9600, and not a single one w/ my X1900XT either. I dont see what people are talking about when they say ATi has crappy drivers.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Soviet
I dont know, im biased towards ATI, and ive seen many threads where others dont know and more people come in and simply claim the card they own is better.

If you take into account *everything* noise, power consumption, performance, cost, warrenty, hell even how the thing looks. Which is better?

Dont come and say theyre the same, we wanna know which is better no matter how little the difference is. Or! Maybe if there are pro's and cons to each of them? So that an individual can decide on which would suit them better. Personally im all in favour of picking a winner, a better card, but whatever suits.

depends on what's most important to the person buying it.

performance is close, ati prolly has a slight edge.
nv aa has an edge over ati imo
ati af is better then nv
heat & power nvidia has an edge
i prefer nv's drivers (aside from ccc bloat, among other things ati really needs game profiles)
gtx is quieter, however the 7900gt seems to have gone backwards in that dept
avivo > purevideo imo, & overall video features (dvd playback, etc.) favors ati

so if someone says there is no "better" per se, dunno how you can argue that.... it's as much personal preference as anything.

 

[akugami]

Originally posted by: Elfear

Originally posted by: BFG10K
For driver quality I'd definitely be voting ATi as superior. Monthly WHQL driver updates, rock solid drivers and any problems tend to be fixed very quickly.

nVidia seem to release drivers whenever they feel like it, beta drivers are generally useless and issues can remain for months or years without being fixed.

I haven't wanted to say that for fear of being labeled an ATI fanboy but that has been my experience as well.

I'm not saying ATI's drivers are bad, they're certainly not the bug riddled crap that every nVidia fanboy wants you to believe but at the same time I think nVidia has the better drivers. Now, I use an ATI card but it seems that ATI's recent CCC is bloatware. Stupid .net thing. The other thing is, nVidia seems to have less issues with games such as the Black & White 2 performance bug. Until ATI fixed the drivers, their B&W2 performance was horrible. Couple other games had some issues as well.

That's not to say I think ATI's drivers are unstable or anything, they do have the positives such as monthly updates and the fact that contrary to reports, I have multiple ATI systems in the house using various ATI video cards and haven't run into any major issues with ATI's drivers. A lot of my friends who game also use ATI cards and don't have any major problems either. ATI tries to fix all bugs asap it seems and most issues their drivers have are actually fixed quite fast.

I'd give a slight edge to nVidia on the driver front. But it's not a major advantage.

As far as overall which card is better, the 7900GTX or the X1900XT(X). Too close to really call. Each has pluses and minuses. I'm leaning towards the X1900 but at the same time if someone said the 7900GTX was better, I wouldn't dispute it either. Mainly depends on what games you play.

 

[JBT]

I will be installing a X1900XT when I get home from work tonight. Thats me decision this round... I ordered a 7900 GT at first but canceled after a little bit of thinking.

I was planning on doing SLI in a few months but decided to stick to a single card solution for the time being and I think in the single card scene ATI has NV beat.

I totaly understand the where some people would perfer NV vs ATI this roudn but its up to each and everyone's preferences.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
For driver quality I'd definitely be voting ATi as superior. Monthly WHQL driver updates, rock solid drivers and any problems tend to be fixed very quickly.

nVidia seem to release drivers whenever they feel like it, beta drivers are generally useless and issues can remain for months or years without being fixed.

Who the cares how many they release? So instead of one piece or crap every six months I get a piece every month and burried in crap? Another way of looking at it is regualr fixes to thier bug master deluxe software.

Until ATI drops thier bloat, .net, gives game profiles, Digital vibrance etc I consider them second rate.

 

[LittleNemoNES]

IF performance is the same then shouldnt we go with what looks better? The x1900xtx looks great so that's why I bout an XT...and did a bios mod

16x HQ AF is amazing.

I'm extremely happy with my cards performance. Couldn't ask for more! I get perfect frame rated @ maxed @ 1280x1024 (LCD). Almost never get fps under 45

 

[greenwar]

I have been using linux for years now and have never used it with anything higher than a $50 video card. Heck I have always run linux in machines which I stopped using for other purpose as linux runs great on relatively slower machines. Who will be using his/her 7900gtx with linux and for what reason?

So 7900gtx's linux support being a pro seems a little absard to me at this point of time.

I am no ati or nvidia fanboy, just so you know.

Given the price and performance x1900xt seems like a great deal to me if you are looking to game at high res.