Yeesh, X1900XT may be fast, but it has issues.

[aggressor]

I'm hoping it's just because of immature drivers, but ugh. More problems with the card over the last two days than the last 3 months with my old card, a 7800GTX.

The list:

1) I forgot how horrible the CCC is. Some of the settings don't even work right, let alone some nice\semi-important features are missing. Plus, it's really ugly, clunky, and slow. I used to be able to get away using the old control panel, but even that's gone and it lacks some functionality now as well.
2) The fan is very noisy compared to the 7800GTX reference cooler. I'm going to have to get an Artic Silencer for it if I plan on keeping it.
3) Instability. This has been the biggest issue for me. I haven't even attempted to overclock because of all the issues I've been having. Day 1 was just horrible. Constant crashes and lockups. After doing a little tweaking (Changing from SLI mode on the mobo to single and switching PCI-E slots) it SEEMED to be stable in the games I was playing that day (CS:S and EQ2\WoW), but today I fired up some Q4 and find it crashing. First a little graphical corruption, then quake4.exe errors and I'm sent to the desktop. That never happened on my 7800GTX.

The pluses? Err...Well, it's fast, of course. Not blazingly so, and not really enough to warrant an upgrade from a 7800GTX, but then again this wasn't a planned thing. The HQ AF mode is extremely nice. Yea...that's, um...it. I guess EQ2 does seem a lot faster\playable in HQ mode, I guess, but that's probably due to the 512mb of ram on the card.

If I didn't get the card for $100 under MSRP, I'd be pissed. Right now I'm more annoyed that nVidias new card is still a month away

 

[5150Joker]

Did you format after getting the card? I had instability and performance issues when I only used driver cleaner and installed the card. After I did a format everything was perfect. If you format, don't use .net 1.1, get 2.0 only and CCC will fly. The performance jump from a 256 gtx is huge, don't understand how you aren't seeing that.

 

[aggressor]

No, I haven't formatted, and I probably won't until the 6.2s are released. I don't understand why a format would help and using DC wouldn't (Which I did use). And no, I don't notice the difference. Maybe it's because of the resolution I use, which is 1280x960. I'm sure benchmarks would show a difference, but actually playing? Not so much. Hell, my 3dmark06 scores only went up by 400 points, though I do have HQ AF enabled and Catalyst A.I. disabled at all times, though I did turn off all optimizations on the 7800GTX as well.

By the way, how does Overdrive work for you? I just ran it and it said 689mhz core and 797mhz mem are a-okay to use, though I quickly reset it back. This card runs too hot (85c underload) to consider any OCing imo.

 

[lopri]

Exactly what I've been concerned.. Excuse me for quoting myself from another thread.

Originally posted by: lopri
Well.. To be 100% honest if I were given a choice to pick a GTX 512 or a X1900XTX, I'd pick a GTX 512 without a second thought. Don't get me wrong I believe the X1900XTX is faster than GTX 512 in general and ATI's image quality is great. I've owned many of ATI cards in the past.

However, there is something other than just speed.

1. ATI really need to hire some industrial designers.. Their boards, coolers, stickers, even the logos and advertisements.. ugh.. why can't they hire some top-notch designers? They sure can afford to do so, I believe.
2. I love the GTX 512 cooler. It keeps the card very cool (My max never goes above 60C) and extremely quiet. One more thing I can actually clean the dust off the fans! Believe it or not it's a big deal for me. I don't think it'd be easy to clean the fans on X1900s. Lower GPU temps = lower system temps = better CPU OC
3. Have you tried OC GTX 512s? It goes easily above 625/1800. Not sure how it'd compare to X1900XTX stock, but I have a feeling that it'll be close. Of course I have no idea how XTX will OC, but given the information on its temps, I wouldn't want to OC much higher than its stock speed.
4. I still have some reservation on ATI's drivers. You just can't predict where the quirks will show up. (Age of Empires 3, Black and White 2, etc.) System level compatibility also seems sometimes questionable. (Especially with those AIW cards) It could be a result of NV's marketing (TWIMTBP) or incompetency of ATI drivers team, but regardless I just don't want to have such occasions at all. I was extremely temped to get an R520 cards when it came out, but I'm so relieved that I didn't buy one. I'm currently playing Age of Empires.
5. I wanted dual card setup. The choice is quite obvious. Does anyone own a cross-fire motherboard?

Just my thought.

It's a fact, indeed a very sad one. But ATI needs to spend more budget on marketing and investing on game developers. Or they should hire new programmers. I admire their hardware but their software side constantly makes me hesitant to pick up their cards, since my 9800Pro..

in an ideal world, there should be a standard that every IHVs should conform to and have a fair competition, but nVidia is spending sooooo much money on things other than GPUs themselves. No matter how much we blame them for it (well, I'm not sure if that will have any logical ground, either) they won't stop feeding the developers, journalists, etc. The only way ATI can compete is to do the same.

 

[aggressor]

After having the card...Yea, I think I'd also trade my X1900XT for a nVidia 7800GTX 512. It's too bad the price is so inflated I can only hope the new nVidia cards are as fast as the GTX512 but at a much more reasonable price.

 

[tuteja1986]

yeah i did a clean install and my x1900xt works perfectly

 

[TSS]

have to do a clean installw hen you buy a new computer

i havent had any problems with my 1900XT so far, everything installed fast and works well. i've only used .net 1.1, that came with the chipset drivers. CD drivers also working nicely.

compared to my old TI4600, the CCC feels a bit nicer for me then the NVidia manager. i've read it uses alot of memery but i belive it uses like 7 mb on my system total, and no more then 17-20 when the CCC's up and running. even norton uses more then that, and thats just running in the background. especially where you can set quality settings is nice, with the little 3d show, i can see what im doing (definatly see a change between no AA and 4aa.) i was a little scared to use it because all the negative stuff on the forum but its really not that bad. and if the CCC bothers you, rightclick on the icon in the systemtray and you can set everything just as easy as on NVidia cards....

BF2 works nice, havent had any problems with that, havent installed Q4 yet but UT2004 and HL2 didnt seem to have any problems either. no crashes, no instability for me, but then again i havent been OCing yet. the one thing i agree with you though is the noisy cooler. sure, its effective, but seriously when my PC starts up it sounds like a leafblower. my zalman will fix that though

 

[drednox]

why would you need a format ?

arent video cards supposed to work when plugged in ?

arent video card manufacturers supposed to make functional products without having to do a system wipe ?

and if a system wipe is required why doesnt it state so on the box when you purchase it ?

 

[anandtechrocks]

Originally posted by: drednox
why would you need a format ?

arent video cards supposed to work when plugged in ?

arent video card manufacturers supposed to make functional products without having to do a system wipe ?

and if a system wipe is required why doesnt it state so on the box when you purchase it ?

I think it's hard to remove all traces of previous drivers. When I switched from my 6600 GT to my X800 GTO, I reformated and have not had any compatibility issues.

Edit: I don't know what's the big deal with CCC, when running it uses 25-30 MB RAM max.

 

[aggressor]

I wish the problems with the CCC ended at memory usage. It's just badly put together.

That said, I just crashed again out of Q4. Yay ATI!

 

[M0RPH]

Originally posted by: aggressor
1) I forgot how horrible the CCC is. Some of the settings don't even work right, let alone some nice\semi-important features are missing. Plus, it's really ugly, clunky, and slow. I used to be able to get away using the old control panel, but even that's gone and it lacks some functionality now as well.

As for ugliness, set it to use the system skin and it will look like any other Windows app. What exactly is not working in it and what are the features/functionality that you feel are missing? You know, a version of ATI Tray Tools that supports this card should be out soon so if CCC bothers you that much you won't need to use it. It's really nothing to get stressed out over.

2) The fan is very noisy compared to the 7800GTX reference cooler. I'm going to have to get an Artic Silencer for it if I plan on keeping it.

I'm sure you knew beforehand that it's not the quietest card out there. If you're especially sensitive about noise, maybe this is not the card for you.

3) Instability. This has been the biggest issue for me. I haven't even attempted to overclock because of all the issues I've been having. Day 1 was just horrible. Constant crashes and lockups. After doing a little tweaking (Changing from SLI mode on the mobo to single and switching PCI-E slots) it SEEMED to be stable in the games I was playing that day (CS:S and EQ2\WoW), but today I fired up some Q4 and find it crashing. First a little graphical corruption, then quake4.exe errors and I'm sent to the desktop. That never happened on my 7800GTX.

Let's be clear here, your system is experiencing instability with this card, That doesn't mean that 1900XT cards are unstable in general. There are numerous people in this forum who are using the cards without any problems.

If I didn't get the card for $100 under MSRP, I'd be pissed. Right now I'm more annoyed that nVidias new card is still a month away

I'd say it's quite obvious from your post that you have a strong preference for Nvidia cards. You could always return the 1900 and try to get your hands on a GTX512 for a few hundred more.

 

[M0RPH]

Originally posted by: aggressor
This card runs too hot (85c underload) to consider any OCing imo.

If your card is running at 85C then you've got some serious cooling issues inside your case. Time to get some airflow going in there.

 

[aggressor]

Time for some responses:

I already turned off that ugly skin, but it doesn't help the horrible layout any. It's missing per resolution refresh rate locks, along with custom resolutions. Also, where is the triple buffering option for D3D Apps? I see it for OpenGL, but that's all. As for the fan noise....no, I don't recall any reviews mentioning how the cooler sounded, besides being loud at the initial boot.

I just checked and it peaks at about 78c under load, which is pretty normal. Not that it applies, but I've seen ATI state the card can run as high as 105c before having trouble. As for the strong preference for nvidia cards..ah. ahaha. ahahahahhaa. Before the 7800GTX, my last two cards were ATI (9800P and X800XL) and I quite enjoyed them. I still have zero preference, I'm just annoyed at how this card is acting up on me, along with the new CCC.

 

[dguy6789]

I do not recall triple buffering EVER being available for ANY ATi card in Direct 3D. And for Quake 4, it has an issue running at Ultra settings. Set it to high and your problems with that game should go away. Been waiting on a patch to fix the ultra settings bug for a little while now.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: aggressor
After having the card...Yea, I think I'd also trade my X1900XT for a nVidia 7800GTX 512. It's too bad the price is so inflated I can only hope the new nVidia cards are as fast as the GTX512 but at a much more reasonable price.

No problems on the GTX 512 so far- fast, quiet, stable.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: M0RPH

2) The fan is very noisy compared to the 7800GTX reference cooler. I'm going to have to get an Artic Silencer for it if I plan on keeping it.

I'm sure you knew beforehand that it's not the quietest card out there. If you're especially sensitive about noise, maybe this is not the card for you.

ATI screwed up with the X1800XT and X1900XTX HSF, no two ways about it. They are the noisiest cards out there except for the 5800U from the sound tests I've seen.

 

[Steelski]

Originally posted by: aggressor
I wish the problems with the CCC ended at memory usage. It's just badly put together.

That said, I just crashed again out of Q4. Yay ATI!

there is a known bug with Q4 which ATI are supposedly fixing in 6.2

 

[FlasHBurN]

Originally posted by: aggressor
Hell, my 3dmark06 scores only went up by 400 points, though I do have HQ AF enabled and Catalyst A.I. disabled at all times, though I did turn off all optimizations on the 7800GTX as well.

So are you saying you have Cat AI disabled only when running 3dMark, or always? If you always have it turned off, you might want to try turning it on and seeing if it solves any of your problems.

 

[ayabe]

The only time I hear the fan on mine is when I first do a cold boot, during any kind of gameplay noise isn't an issue and my temps are about 80C with my OC. But this is winter and I keep my windows open, I'm betting I will have some noise issues when summertime hits.

I do have issues with CCC, it crashes on me every once in a while, but it's not a gamestopper. The new Cat's should be out within a week with an updated CCC for the 1900's.

All I did to install was run the ATI uninstaller to remove the 6.1's that I had installed for my previous card and install the correct drivers from the CD. I have never used drivercleaner and I have never had any instability from upgrading, removing, or reinstalling ATI's drivers. I guess I'm the minority in that respect.

It sucks that you are having so many issues, I do have a problem with ATI not having release ready drivers on their website when the card was released and they should have put more effort into the stock cooling solution, something like the GTX 512 cooler which is fantastic as those without efficient case cooling will probably have noise issues.

 

[Zstream]

Who the fack is computerbase? I remember you posting below that someone found a french site and you went all crazy on them because they could not find a american website. Go find a real compare and come back mmmmk?

 

[dadach]

No, I haven't formatted,

why even post of the problems if you have not done one BASIC thing you absolutely must do when installing a new card...especially when upgrading with the different brand of the card

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: aggressor
After having the card...Yea, I think I'd also trade my X1900XT for a nVidia 7800GTX 512. It's too bad the price is so inflated I can only hope the new nVidia cards are as fast as the GTX512 but at a much more reasonable price.

No problems on the GTX 512 so far- fast, quiet, stable.

:roll:

AND all for a great low price :roll: :laugh:
Let's see
ATI fast Yes, the 1900XT(X) is faster in almost all cases than the 7800 GTX 512 (Non SLI of course and from the benchmarks I have seen the SLI/Crossfire split benchmarks)
ATI loud. Again, subjective and for the price difference between the X1900XT and the 7800 512 just buy an aftermarket silencer part
ATI stable. Yes, some people have problems with the 1900XT(X) but every video card from every manufacturer has people who have problems with it. It is the nature of computers.

I am a proud (well, I don't really have a personal attachment other than it is faster than my previous card, a 9600 Pro) owner of a 7800GTX but Rollo, please, your unabashed pro-Nvidia position is so humourous that I wish you would double your posts so I could use more :roll: emoticons.

Edit: Had to fix a roll emoticon :roll: :laugh:

 

[Zbox]

Originally posted by: aggressor
I'm hoping it's just because of immature drivers, but ugh. More problems with the card over the last two days than the last 3 months with my old card, a 7800GTX.

...

Right now I'm more annoyed that nVidias new card is still a month away

I know EXACTLY how you feel. Regretting the move from my 7800GTX more every day.

 

[Yreka]

All I did to install was run the ATI uninstaller to remove the 6.1's that I had installed for my previous card and install the correct drivers from the CD. I have never used drivercleaner and I have never had any instability from upgrading, removing, or reinstalling ATI's drivers. I guess I'm the minority in that respect.

I think most of the problems come up with people switching from Nvidia to ATI. I am having a similar experience as the OP, games crashing, bluescreens, ccc suckage, etc.. I am waiting on the new cats to do a reformat and install to re-evaluate. I will give ATI the benifit of the doubt since it is so close to launch, but if things don't change before the new NV launch, I will likely be going back to green.

The IQ is better than my old setup, but not enough so to justify the other issues that cropped up.

As far as the fan goes, I actually never hear it except on first boot. It seems to run right around the same temps as my old 7800GT SLI setup, and definately seems to be moving alot more air out the back of the case.

 

[terentenet]

Formating when purchasing a new video card is plain stupid. This isn't a required step to take if you have good hardware. All ppl complain when passing from nvidia to ati. i've been changing lots of cards within my computer, all nvidia based and didn't even have to reinstall the forceware.
my windows is now 11 months old, currently having 7800gtx. no issues here. 8400 3d marks in 2005.


EDIT: 7 months old, that's when I purchased the 2 HDDs. forgot, my bad