Should I use 7900GS or X1900GT?

[f4phantom2500]

I have both, but don't know which one to use. I have an Accelero X2 on the X1900GT, default cooler on the 7900GS. I have the rev 1 X1900GT, and IIRC I was able to OC it to somewhere around 620/720 (after that required too much additional voltage; probably could get a bit higher but I didn't want to spend a lot of time fine tuning. Oh and yeah if you didn't know you can change the voltage on the rev 1 X1900GT's using ATITool, no hacks.); I recently OC'ed the 7900GS to 555/840 using that manual overclocking screen in nvidia's drivers (don't remember what it's called, not at my computer, and I haven't used nvidia cards too much since the GF4 days). So, at those settings, which would be the better performer? Or would they be close enough to not matter? Oh, and my X1900GT does not unlock.

Whichever one I don't use will go into my spare rig.

 

[RussianSensation]

See, component recommendations are given on the forums since most people do not own 8800GTS and HD 2900XT to compare before purchase. In this case you own both of the cards in the comparison, which means you should be able to discern which card is more satisfactory based on the games you play. And if you cannot tell, pick the quieter one, or flip a coin.

I would imagine X1900GT at 620 clock speed will outperform the GS card.

 

[f4phantom2500]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
See, component recommendations are given on the forums since most people do not own 8800GTS and HD 2900XT to compare before purchase. In this case you own both of the cards in the comparison, which means you should be able to discern which card is more satisfactory based on the games you play. And if you cannot tell, pick the quieter one, or flip a coin.

I would imagine X1900GT at 620 clock speed will outperform the GS card.

hm...i guess a better question would be which architecture is more advantageous overall in current games? i know one will win out over the other in game a and the other in game b, but i didn't know if like the x1900 will win in 70% of games and the 7900 in 30%. then again, it's such a narrow difference it might not even matter. plus even to overclock the x1900gt that high i have to overvolt it a bit, which sucks because it puts out more heat (even though it already puts out a lot), whereas the 7900gs is running on stock volts and is cooler anyway.

like, i went to gpureview.com and pulled up both cards and set the clock speeds to mine, here's what i got:


X1900GT:

Memory Bandwidth: 46.1 GB/sec
Shader Operations: 22320 Operations/sec
Pixel Fill Rate: 7440 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 7440 MTexels/sec
Vertex Operations: 1240 MVertices/sec

7900GS:

Memory Bandwidth: 53.8 GB/sec
Shader Operations: 11100 Operations/sec
Pixel Fill Rate: 8880 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 11100 MTexels/sec
Vertex Operations: 971.25 MVertices/sec

Would the faster shader and vertex ops of the X1900GT offset the higher memory bandwidth and slower pixel/texture fill rates of the 7900GS, or is that mostly game-dependent? if so, which one would be more advantageous in the majority of games?

 

[t0xik]

Ive been hearing the ATi card dominates the 7900gs but it does have crappy drivers....

 

[Matt2]

X1900GT stomps 7900GS

 

[f4phantom2500]

Originally posted by: Matt2
X1900GT stomps 7900GS

lol, you actually had the x1950gt highlighted, which is slower than the x1900gt. that chart actually puts my card ahead of a 7900gtx, which is, obviously, not normally the case.

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: f4phantom2500

Originally posted by: Matt2
X1900GT stomps 7900GS

lol, you actually had the x1950gt highlighted, which is slower than the x1900gt. that chart actually puts my card ahead of a 7900gtx, which is, obviously, not normally the case.

Oops, my bad.

Still, every bench on that chart except the OpenGL games has the GT a mile head of the GS.

 

[Nathelion]

Well if you select the "All games average" 'benchmark' they're EXACTLY even lol
Although that includes microsoft flight simulator which you might not play in which the 7900gs wins by over 100%

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: Nathelion
Well if you select the "All games average" 'benchmark' they're EXACTLY even lol
Although that includes microsoft flight simulator which you might not play in which the 7900gs wins by over 100%

3DMark scores too.

 

[f4phantom2500]

lol; i don't care for flight sim, and i certainly don't plan on playing a lot of 3dm. the thing that's confusing me is the overclocking. i read a few reviews on 7900gs's where they overclocked them by a certain amount and they ended up being about as fast as the 7900gt. but from what i've seen in most reviews, the memory speed for my 7900gs (840) is rather high, so would this make it competitive with the x1900gt?

 

[Captante]

If you look at average & minimum frame-rates as well as maximum the X1900GT is consistantly the better performer & will often match or beat out a 7900GT, never mind a GS ... note however that its louder, hotter & draws a lot more power too... also if anything ATI drivers have the slight edge over Nvidia these days based on my current use of both on my primary 8800GTX & backup X1900XTX.

Both of the OP's choices are solid cards, it just depends on what your priorities are to determine which is "better" for you... personally I'd go withe the GT.

 

[Rage3kMoiz]

The X1900GT is a better performer overall. The 7900GS may be a good overclocker but is no match for the X1900GT's better shader processors

 

[f4phantom2500]

thanks guys, but at this point it doesn't look like it matters; i tried the x1900gt, and the mobo wouldn't post with it. works fine with the 7900gs though lol. that makes that decision pretty easy. i'll try to see what's up with the x1900gt, but for now i'll just use the7900gs. oh also heat and noise aren't really a problem for my x1900gt since i have the accelero x2.