XFX 7950 GT Xtreme or eVGA 7900GTO

zeronine

Junior Member
Sep 26, 2006
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Okay, I have tried to do some research, but I am kind of stuck on what to buy. I currently have an temporary 7300GS card in my system and I am looking for something with more power and a little more permanent. I am kind of new to the graphics card market, so any pointers would be helpful. The 7300GS is actually pretty good in my system for what I do, but it does have it's moments when running Beryl (AIGLX). I probably don't need this powerful of a card right now, but this will probably be my card for a while.

A few things to point out to save some time:
-I run Linux, so I don't care about DirectX 10 coming out.
-I plan on avoiding HDCP for as long as possible. Don't plan on getting any of the new drives, and I just bought a new LCD which isn't HDCP compliant anyway.


XFX PV-T71J-YHE9 GeForce 7950 GT Xtreme PCI Express 512MB DDR3 Video Card
$331.95
I do like the fact that this is passively cooled for noise concerns, but I am not sure if I like it enough for the $70 price increase over the eVGA, unless it is much better in some other regard.
or this one:

eVGA 512-P2-N573-AR GeForce 7900GTO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video
Card - Retail
$259.99

**EDIT**
OR should I wait until the 8800 comes out on November 7th. Do you think there will be a price drop, or will these card prices remain stable?
 

zeronine

Junior Member
Sep 26, 2006
10
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Yeah that is what I heard and I am leaning that way because of price as well. Thanks. anybody else feel free to post their 2 cents. I probably won't order for a few days.
 

Kromis

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2006
5,214
1
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I'd go for the GTO. According to a lot of review sites, an X1900XT 256MB beats that 7950GT in a lot of games and the price is about on par with the GTO. So uhh...if you *could* get a X1900XT, you should do it. But hey, what do I know. I just read reviews. :p

But I'd say hold out a *little* longer for a price drop, if any. Or maybe wait 'til black friday or something.

Heh, also, if you want to avoid HDCP, avoid that 7950GT. :p
 

josh6079

Diamond Member
Mar 17, 2006
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If you have to buy now, the GTO--if you can find it.

Next would be the 7950GT.

If you can wait until November 8th, every current 7 series card will probably better-suit you because of price drops.
 

zeronine

Junior Member
Sep 26, 2006
10
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Thanks Kromis, I try not to be a fanboy of any company, but ATI hasn't shown much love for linux in the past (Nvidia isn't exactly where I would like it either, but is better). Although, my brothers X1900XT did install without a problem when he moved to linux). I just don't trust ATI's linux drivers yet, maybe by the next time. If I ran windows, I would definitely take a look at ATI, but for now I just completely ignore the company. The HDCP worries me a little. But I hope to avoid buying an High Definition drive for as long as possible, although I know it is inevitable. Don't mean to bring politics into it, but I am a staunch opponent of DRM. For that reason I am also leaning toward the 7900GTO just for spite. :) Either way, I probably will hold off a few days at least until the 8800 comes out and see what the price does.
 

josh6079

Diamond Member
Mar 17, 2006
3,261
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xtknight has mentioned that ATi's linux drivers are pretty solid. I can't remember the last thread that he briefly talked about it, but if you are concerned about which card will be better for linux, a PM asking him what he knows wouldn't hurt.
 

Pens1566

Lifer
Oct 11, 2005
13,470
10,918
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GTO. Find the .8 BIOS (if it doesn't already have it) and hit GTX speeds.
 

zeronine

Junior Member
Sep 26, 2006
10
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Thanks Josh and Pens. I am pretty sure I am going to go with the GTO now. I will probably wait until after the 8 series comes out to buy though to see if there is a price drop. I will see about talking to xtknight and see what he has to say as it actually has been a few months since I last researched ATI's drivers, but ATI really hasn't had the best track record with linux. They have seemed to have gotten better in the past year or so, but I don't want to be the guinea pig for $200+. Nvidia's drivers and cards may not be quite as fast/cheap/whatever, but I know that their driver is going to work with linux. I also would like to see what happens with AMD/Intel merger/takeover/whatever, if anything. Hopefully they will up the ante in the linux arena.
This isn't the best article, but it sums up most of what I have found out pretty well:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/07/12/...ce_and_radeon_take_on_linux/index.html
 

Kromis

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2006
5,214
1
81
Thanks zeronine for stating the names of the people who helped you. That is very proper etiquette that we AnandTecher's appreciate very much.
 

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,281
4
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GTO is easily the better choice at those prices.

I'd take the 7900 GTO over the 7950GT even at the same price anyway :)
 

Skott

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2005
5,730
1
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If it were me I'd choose the 7900GTO as well and get it from eVGA and use their Step Up Program to the new G80 model a couple months down the road. But thats just what I would do.
 

zeronine

Junior Member
Sep 26, 2006
10
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No problem Kromis. I actually do it for selfish reasons as i tend to be an easily confused individual. :) Makes it easier for me to follow.

n7: The more and more I think about it, I am thinking you are right.

Skott: I spaced out about the Step Up program! I just became aware of it a few days ago, but have been sorting through so much info. Anyway, that is probably the way to go. Unless anybody else has any differing opinions, I will probably go with the eVGA GTO here in a few days (hopefully after a price drop because of the 8 series).
 

Skyguy

Senior member
Oct 7, 2006
202
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GTO FTW! If you can find it, that is.........getting scarce. The cooler is silent. Very nice, not like the leaf blower on the @T! card ;) No need to GTX BIOS, just OC it close to the GTX and you're laughing
 

ingenue007

Senior member
Apr 4, 2000
860
0
0
yeah 7900 gto if you can find it. mwave has it for >300 now IIRC. mine is at 720/800 at the moment. sweeet.
 

zeronine

Junior Member
Sep 26, 2006
10
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Thanks guys. I will definitely go with the GTO. I can't figure out a reason why not to go with it now. Except for the fact that they are getting scarce. I know where a few are, hopefully they stay put.

By the way, this is a little off topic, but I talked to xtknight on the advice of josh6079 who recommended getting an ATI card and this is his take on the linux driver:

I still prefer NVIDIA as well for Linux. I think josh is referring to this article I made a thread about, stating that both ATI and NVIDIA are quite decent: http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/07/12/geforce_and_radeon_take_on_linux/

Actually though, there are open-source accelerated 3D drivers for at least some ati cards, while there are none for nvidia. On the proprietary side of things, I believe both drivers (ati and nvidia) are quite stable now. AMD is an avid supporter of Linux...we will have to see what happens with the acquisition in regard to ATI's drivers.

The only real problem I remember with ATI's drivers was stability, and I have experienced this myself. With the proprietary 3D driver, I experienced several crashes just 10 mins into a Quake 2/3 game. I haven't gone to lengths to prove that it was the ATI drivers, but I assume it was. With my NVIDIA card I experience considerably less crashes. I haven't had any during game that I can remember...only during switching virtual consoles which ironically was a big problem in the ATI drivers too.

I haven't been tracking ATI's releases as I no longer own an ATI card but it seems NVIDIA has been releasing betas once a month for Linux. The amount of final drivers seems adequate as well. I don't think either company is putting in as much effort as they could for Linux. The GUI is still kind of ugly and primitive with nowhere near the amount of options in the Windows-based control panel. How to enable transparency AA, triple buffering.....who knows?

For those who don't know, you can enable triple buffer, etc. in xorg.conf settings file. He was refering to an gui based tool.
 

Hauk

Platinum Member
Nov 22, 2001
2,806
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The GTO price (if it's still available) will not drop dramatically as new cards come out. It doesn't interfere with new card price points. The GTX will be a different story. I'm betting the GTO will hold a $200+ value (even used) for a year.

People know it clocks to GTX specs, and that will keep market value just under a GTX a year from now. I play the game, have been selling on ebay for some time now. :)