So...what positives can we take from the HD2900XT launch?

[dug777]

I'm waiting for the AT article before crystallising my opinion (i know AT isn't the 'be all & end all' of graphics card reviews but i find their summaries are usually right on the money), but as always i'm interested to see what the learned masses of AT Video have distilled :beer:

 

[HigherGround]

Here's one. People who waited all those months for R600, will finally be able to buy G80 based card with a clear conscious.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: HigherGround
Here's one. People who waited all those months for R600, will finally be able to buy G80 based card with a clear conscious.

Insert 'conscience' for 'conscious' and that makes more sense, but thank you for pointing this out

If one was to nitpick (some more ), you've violated the spirit if not the words of my request

 

[tuteja1986]

People have already made up their mind 2900XT is crap by reading half decent reviews. I doubt many would even read Firisquad , Ratchet's , Gurg3d or Xbit-labs reviews which are the quality review.
''

 

[HigherGround]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: HigherGround
Here's one. People who waited all those months for R600, will finally be able to buy G80 based card with a clear conscious.

Insert 'conscience' for 'conscious' and that makes more sense, but thank you for pointing this out

If one was to nitpick, you've violated the spirit if not the words of my request

I should probably read my posts from time to time. With regards to the launch, I guess now, that both major chip manufactures are offering a DX10 solution, we finally might start seeing DX10 based titles.

 

[wahoyaho]

look forward to their bounceback?

 

[nemesismk2]

I have learned that I was right to wait for the HD2900XT because it's performance is good and it costs the same as the 8800 GTS. Now I just need some DX10 software to use with it and I will be happy!

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: HigherGround

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: HigherGround
Here's one. People who waited all those months for R600, will finally be able to buy G80 based card with a clear conscious.

Insert 'conscience' for 'conscious' and that makes more sense, but thank you for pointing this out

If one was to nitpick, you've violated the spirit if not the words of my request

I should probably read my posts from time to time. With regards to the launch, I guess now, that both major chip manufactures are offering a DX10 solution, we finally might start seeing DX10 based titles.

:thumbsup:

 

[AVP]

Well we can now truly throw out 3dmark as any indication of performance, wait....

 

[BFG10K]

Positives? CFAA is a lot better than most claim. It's smarter and better than Quincunx.

Having said that I'll likely avoid the card because of the high noise levels.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

I see an EVGA 8800GTS 640 for $359.99 ($329.99 AR) on Newegg. Sounds like one helluva deal.

Sorry for breaking the rule, dug.

 

[yacoub]

AMD positively doesn't know how to make what the people want. They took all the time in the world and released a part that saps more power, makes more noise, and gives less FPS in the games people play. For that, they can lose more marketshare until they learn how to do it right.

How a card can have so many of the right hardware ingredients and lose to older products is beyond me. I guess I could ask NVidia about that too with their 8600 series having the same problem.

Really, no one has a reason to celebrate this. I'm certainly more disappointed than anything. I wanted this card to be good, so that I could either buy it or see the GTS go down in price.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Originally posted by: dug777
So...what positives can we take from the HD2900XT launch?

It actually launched

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Scott Wasson - pretty popular guy - from TheTechReport has called it the best IQ of any GPU.

The 2900 XT does match the GeForce 8800 series on image quality generally, which was by no means a foregone conclusion. Kudos to AMD for jettisoning the Radeon X1000 series' lousy angle-dependent aniso for a higher quality default algorithm. I also happen to like the 2900 XT's custom tent filters for antialiasing an awful lot?an outcome I didn't expect, until I saw it in action for myself. Now I'm hooked, and I consider the Radeon HD's image quality to be second to none on the PC as a result. Nvidia may yet even the score with its own custom AA filters, though.

But two paragraphs later,

Ultimately, though, we can't overlook the fact that AMD built a GPU with 700M transistors that has 320 stream processor ALUs and a 512-bit memory interface, yet it just matches or slightly exceeds the real-world performance of the GeForce 8800 GTS. The GTS is an Nvidia G80 with 25% of its shader core disabled and only 60% of the memory bandwidth of the Radeon HD 2900 XT. That's gotta be a little embarrassing.

TheTechReport

 

[Lord Banshee]

Where are the SpecView benches?

DT showed that it is possible for the HD2900 to have all the pro features turned on but i have yet to find one review site to test it... If it can't beat the 8800GTS in games but it has the pro abilities of a FireGL it will sell well in the workstation market and sell like hotcakes at 400 dollars.

i want my benches

 

[Agent11]

the price to performance looks amazing. If you have read some of the reviews it's obvious that it has some driver quirks that need to be ironed out, but I think it will do very well.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I wish both camps would put more resources into developing their drivers, especially at launch.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
I wish both camps would put more resources into developing their drivers, especially at launch.

No kidding, for all the delays the 2900XT suffered, you'd think their drivers would be a little more mature.

Of course, the 7.5 revision of Catalyst will be out in a few weeks, so hopefully that will include some fixes and optimizations.

 

[Cooler]

It may lower 8800GTX Prices.

 

[jaykishankrk]

Seriously HOW MANY OF YOU THINK HD2900XT still has a chance with respect to performance ratio against G80 as far as DirectX10 is concerned??

all the mentioned and linked reviews in this Video forum deals mainly with directx 9 aspect of the Card and not purely on Diretx 10, if i am in my conscience these puppies are built and marketed exclusively as DIRECTX 10 Complaint(not that it doesnt support direct 9 and lower). I would really like a review of the HD 2900XT with G80 cards with some Directx 10 patched games if any. I am expecting ANAND to come out with review based similar to what i have mentioned above. GURU 3D has a page dedicated to Directx 10 testing with this Card and it looks somewhat impressive to me. I am not quoting all this for a fact but Rolling the dice over and thinking perspectively, quote me if i am wrong

 

[n7]

Postives?

Well, i'd say Open GL performance.

Not sure if anyone else noticed it, but in the zillion reviews i've read over the last 8 hours, it seems they've done really well w/ Open GL titles.

Vista performance seems to be a bit better than nV's is currently.

Overclocks well, especially if you can throw on insane cooling.

Unfortunately, i'm seeing a lot more negatives than positives personally, so i've finally decided which card i'll be buying sometime in the next month or so.

 

[Zstream]

The card has some promise at super high resolutions, enough to where I can now say a 30 inch LCD will have good frame rates. This is what I am most excited about.

I believe the refresh of this card will say a lot. If it can somehow decrease the heat then all is good. Now I must save for my 30 inch.

 

[Mem]

So...what positives can we take from the HD2900XT launch?

They have a DX10 card out at last,however pricing is the killer since in the UK they are anywhere from £260-£310,I have seen a Leadtek 8800GTS 640mb for £214,that's £46 ($90)cheaper.

the price to performance looks amazing. If you have read some of the reviews it's obvious that it has some driver quirks that need to be ironed out, but I think it will do very well.

At this time value is not that great.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Personally, I would not buy any of today's current offerings to play DX10 games. By the time a DX10 game is out, the 8900s and 2950s will be out.

 

[Dashel]

From what I can gather from the reviews I'd say the positives are that although currently it's a hair above/below the 8800 640GTS, it's still got room to grow. Assuming the drivers mature a bit perhaps it can clearly edge out the 640 GTS and, coupled with a price drop, grab some market share.

At the end of the day it's price and performance that equals value. Nobody will care about the higher power requirement or nosy fan nearly as much if those two fall in line.