Why 7900gt?

[Legacyc]

what does the 7900gt have over a x1800XT 512mb?

they are about the same price.

 

[Zhimin]

Probably better SLI performance.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

nothing. but its does OC better. But doe not do HDR+AA OR HQ-AF. take your pick .

 

[akshayt]

go for radeon 1900xt if possible

but isn't hthe 512mb x1800xt better than 7900gt

 

[morgash]

ok here goes. this is NOT a flame of the x1800xt, it is simply listing the benifits/downfalls of each.

Image Quality:
Overall the x1800xt wins here. For one reason or another ATI has had a better IQ ability for a long while now though they usually dont have as much "raw speed" as nvidia. so the answer has long been if u want raw speed go with nvidia if ya want IQ go with ATI. ATI's HQ AF is great and the much better solution for AF however i do prefer nvidia's AA. ur choice.

Performance:
At stock the x1800xt is gonna win by anywhere from 5-10 FPS in D3D games while the 7900gt is gonna edge it out in opengl based games. If you dont overclock then make ur decision based on which games you play. As a side note the Half-Life 2 engine is pretty much ATI's bitch so keep that in mind if ya wanna play all the new episodes.

Video Playback:
ATI has AVIVO nvidia doesnt. simple as that. while i feel no need for vivo, i am not a video editor and lots of them will tell u its much better. take ur pick based on ur needs.

Overclocking:
Here is the killer. If u OC, the 7900gt will outperform the x1800xt hands down. Now, before i get flamed u must realize that to reach insane clock speeds you are gonna need to do a quick and easy voltmod which can be found right here on these forums. the mem volt mod is not necessary as the mem goes up to 1700mhz or so on stock volts anyway. (i have mine runnin at 2ghz just for show, no real improvement as they are core clock hungry) I DO realize that ATI cards can be volt modded via software and its much easier but the improvement is nt drastic and it CANNOT keep up with a 7900gt runnin at 650/1700, sorry ATI guys it just cant. The 24 pixel pipes of the 7900 really begin to show their true muscle with more speed and far outstrip the 16 of the x1800.

Summary:
so in summation if u dont mind a quick and removable volt mod then the 7900 is the card for you. If u do mind it, then go with the x1800. either way u wont be unhappy.

Morgash

*EDIT* If you doubt the OC performance of a 7900gt go check out reviews of the 7900gtx, cuz thats how fast its runnin. and u cant tell me the x1800xt can keep up with a 7900gtx, hell the x1800xt cant even keep up with a 7800 gtx 512 (560/1700) which is a very conservative OC for the 7900gt.

 

[TheRyuu]

My 7900GT OC's to over 7900GTX speeds. Right now it's at 680/1920 which is a pretty high OC. 7900GTX outperforms a X1800, however the X1800 has HQ-AD and HDR+AA.

Also, I should have 2 7900GT's in SLI but one was DOA (i think) so I didn't vmod that one and I'm currently going to RMA it.

Take your pick (and forget about my 7900GT coming DOA, it's pretty rare I think)

 

[Tig Ol Bitties]

x1800xt:
does HDR+AA, which is nice for Oblivion. Somewhat better IQ, but I guess thats more of a personal opinion. 512MB video RAM, although still 256-bit interface, but doesn't hurt at all. Exhausts heat OUT of the case, not into it, although it still runs hotter than 7900gt.

7900gt:
OC's like crazy with volt mod (pretty good OCer w/o it too), runs a lot cooler, uses less power.

Personally, I'd go with the x1800xt, has more features and can be had for cheaper if you look in the right places. I think newegg has got one going for like $270 AR, pretty good deal.

Edit: Price

 

[Shadowmage]

The X1800XT 256MB is selling for close to $220 with rebate on Newegg. Get the X1800XT

Why? Obviously, the 7900GT is not 1/3 better