Sapphire x1800xt 512mb VS. XFX 7900GT 256mb w/ Zalman900

[Saku]

I've read through the reviews and threads and they give a slight advantage to the x1800xt, but they are unclear as to whether it is the 256mb or 512mb card. Also in this comparison there is a zalman 900cu cooling the 7900gt.



So what do you guys think I am in the process of buying a new vid card. I have narrowed down to these two choices.

Saphire x1800xt 512mb VS. XFX 7900GT 256mb w/ Zalman900

The XFX card has a zalman 900cu installed on it.
I would have to pay about $10 extra for the Sapphire. So what card would you buy?

This is for gaming, all kinds but mostly FPS.
Thanks!!

 

[Munky]

Ati cards have no problems running on Nv chipsets. I've ran several Ati cards on my NF4 board, and no issues.

As to the cards, it depends whether or not you plan on overclocking. At stock speeds the 7900gt will be slower than the x1800xt, but they OC very well, so once you OC the 7900gt to about 550 mhz or higher it should be faster. The 7900gt also has the advantage of running quieter and cooler. The x1800xt has the image quality advantage with angle-independent AF and the ability to do HDR+AA at the same time.

 

[Saku]

Thanks for youre reply, I heard that you could do volt mods to the ATi with the software provided through the company. The program allows you to set the amount of voltage you want the card to have. With the 7900GT it would take a bit more effort, and I would not really feel comfortable doing it.

Yes, I heard that it will work just fine with my mobo. I am leaning towards the x1800xt as of now, sound is not really a factor, although cooling is.
I don't really want to OC all that hard, if neccessary I will get a cooler for it. I am thinking this card will last me a while.

 

[Bull Dog]

If sound isn't any issue then the stock cooler on an X1800XT will provide you with excellent cooling.

 

[Hav0k99]

look for a good deal on 1900XT. I beleive I saw an MSI one for $275 AR

* Edit *

I forgot to mention from Newegg

 

[imported_chewy2314]

Originally posted by: Saku
Thanks for youre reply, I heard that you could do volt mods to the ATi with the software provided through the company. The program allows you to set the amount of voltage you want the card to have. [snip]

You can do software voltmods via ATItool as long as you disable a couple of services that ATI installs. do a search on overclocking x1800. I find that just having the ATI software do the overclocking to XTPE speeds are sufficient (i'm running at 1280x1024). no need to load the XTPE bios.

 

[anandtechrocks]

According to this review by Anandtech, an easy overclock on the 7900GT (expecially with the VF900) should put you above even the X1900XT.

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2821&p=4

 

[Ulfhednar]

X1800XT > 7900GT unless you perform a volt-mod, but the main factor here is price. I don't know about where you might live, but I just got an X1900XT 512MB for £199 which isn't far over the price of a 7900GT here, and the X1900XT 256MB will supposedly be around £150 with the X1900GT.

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks
According to this review by Anandtech, an easy overclock on the 7900GT (expecially with the VF900) should put you above even the X1900XT.

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2821&p=4

Why do people like to compare stock vs. OCed around here? My X1800XT 256MB got to 730/900MHz on air and there was still headroom for the memory, I'd like to see a 7900GT best it in performance without a volt-mod.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks
According to this review by Anandtech, an easy overclock on the 7900GT (expecially with the VF900) should put you above even the X1900XT.

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2821&p=4

LOL, I dont think so, given that the x1900xt is as fast as the 7900gtx, and clocking the 7900gt to gtx speeds requires a volt mod, not to mention you'd still have half the video memory. Those benches you linked, run with no AA or AF, with "quality" driver settings no less, dont tell the whole truth.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Ulfhednar

Why do people like to compare stock vs. OCed around here? My X1800XT 256MB got to 730/900MHz on air and there was still headroom for the memory, I'd like to see a 7900GT best it in performance without a volt-mod.

damn, nice overclock

 

[anandtechrocks]

Originally posted by: Ulfhednar

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks
According to this review by Anandtech, an easy overclock on the 7900GT (expecially with the VF900) should put you above even the X1900XT.

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2821&p=4

Why do people like to compare stock vs. OCed around here? My X1800XT 256MB got to 730/900MHz on air and there was still headroom for the memory, I'd like to see a 7900GT best it in performance without a volt-mod.

Well, it was a stock OC (meaning you buy it that way...), if you can find a stock X1800XT with a 730/900 OC I wouldn't complain about it.

Originally posted by: munky
LOL, I dont think so, given that the x1900xt is as fast as the 7900gtx, and clocking the 7900gt to gtx speeds requires a volt mod, not to mention you'd still have half the video memory. Those benches you linked, run with no AA or AF, with "quality" driver settings no less, dont tell the whole truth.

Sure it may require a volt mod to get to 7900GTX speeds, but the 7900GT in the Anandtech review was factory overclocked which requires no work...

Regardless of AA and AF or video RAM for that matter, the 7900GT still outperformed the fastest ATI cards, which I think shows good reason to choose the 7900GT w/VF900 over an X1800XT.

 

[Saku]

I went with the x1800xt 512mb, I read the reviews and most all of them has the ATi card perform better in newer gen games like Oblivion and Fear especially at higher resolutions. I rather not manually volt mod my vid card, I like the fact that I can change voltage with the software from ATi. I also hear these cards can be flashed with a PE bios to obtain x1900xt clock frequencies.

For those that own this card, did you put a cooler on it? I was thinking about either the ZF900-cu or the Accelero X2.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks
Regardless of AA and AF or video RAM for that matter, the 7900GT still outperformed the fastest ATI cards...

Sure, if you like jaggy edges and blurry, crawling textures. Those benches are about as useless as if they turned off shaders completely and tested the multi-texturing fillrate of modern high end cards.

 

[sisq0kidd]

Originally posted by: munky

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks
Regardless of AA and AF or video RAM for that matter, the 7900GT still outperformed the fastest ATI cards...

Sure, if you like jaggy edges and blurry, crawling textures. Those benches are about as useless as if they turned off shaders completely and tested the multi-texturing fillrate of modern high end cards.

I have no idea why people even bother playing without af and aa. You buy high end cards for a reason, sorry.

 

[JPB]

Originally posted by: munky

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks
Regardless of AA and AF or video RAM for that matter, the 7900GT still outperformed the fastest ATI cards...

Sure, if you like jaggy edges and blurry, crawling textures. Those benches are about as useless as if they turned off shaders completely and tested the multi-texturing fillrate of modern high end cards.

Pwnage

 

[Saku]

lol!

 

[Ulfhednar]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Ulfhednar
Why do people like to compare stock vs. OCed around here? My X1800XT 256MB got to 730/900MHz on air and there was still headroom for the memory, I'd like to see a 7900GT best it in performance without a volt-mod.

damn, nice overclock

Thanks. Took nothing but a VF900, some AS5, and a lot of TLC.

I have not even started with my X1900XT yet, just whacked it on XT-X clocks so far and it's very happy (temps are actually lower than with my X1800XT, I have no idea what's going on there and can only imagine I got a nice chip), so I have a shed-load of room left just waiting to exploit. I honestly had no idea the R5** chips OC so well, considering the heat they put out and the already high frequencies.

 

[imported_chewy2314]

Originally posted by: Saku
[snip]
For those that own this card, did you put a cooler on it? I was thinking about either the ZF900-cu or the Accelero X2.

i'm using the Accelero.. very quiet and cooler on the gpu. Just make sure you have good airflow through your case, as the cooler expels hot air down onto the MB.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Ulfhednar
Thanks. Took nothing but a VF900, some AS5, and a lot of TLC.

I have not even started with my X1900XT yet, just whacked it on XT-X clocks so far and it's very happy (temps are actually lower than with my X1800XT, I have no idea what's going on there and can only imagine I got a nice chip), so I have a shed-load of room left just waiting to exploit. I honestly had no idea the R5** chips OC so well, considering the heat they put out and the already high frequencies.

my x1900xt only seems to get to 670/810 before i start having problems. that's with an accelero x2 (i left the stock stuff on, i've compared artic cooling's thermal gunk to AS5 on processors with favorable results).

about the temps, the x1900 has a larger surface area, so that may lead to lower temps.

 

[anandtechrocks]

Originally posted by: x80064

Originally posted by: munky

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks
Regardless of AA and AF or video RAM for that matter, the 7900GT still outperformed the fastest ATI cards...

Sure, if you like jaggy edges and blurry, crawling textures. Those benches are about as useless as if they turned off shaders completely and tested the multi-texturing fillrate of modern high end cards.

Pwnage

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