Yet another X1900XT vs. 7800GTX thread.....so torn!

[Ronin]

Here are your options, with your timeline:

256MB GTX (512MB if your friend doesn't mind paying the premium), which is a quieter card (not by tremendous margins, mind you), and slower in performance (depending on which card you get..obviously the 512MB GTX is going to perform more closely to the X1900, but it's not superior)
X1900 with an ATi Silencer (presuming that the ones for the X1800 work. I haven't looked into this, though), which will provide you with a higher performing card, but at the cost of power usage (if you're buying either card, though, chances are power isn't much of a concern).

Price vs performance, the X1900 is the better way to go, IF you can get an alternate cooler. If your friend could only wait for a small bit longer, it might behoove him to see the results of the G71 (if for nothing else, to justify which direction to go).

 

[Elfear]

Do like the others have said and ask your buddy what he would like. If it were me building a rig for one of my buddies (something I'm pretty familiar with so I know why you're concerned about useability) I would just slap on a $25 Zalman VF700 heatsink which would take care of the noise. Uninstalling the drivers and using DC is the best way to wipe old drivers but I've had very good luck just having customers update the new drivers automatically. Thats process is easy enough to explain over the phone.

The performance difference is really pretty big (I've owned both) so for the little extra $$, your buddy will see a big boost in most games.

 

[nib95]

Originally posted by: Ronin
Here are your options, with your timeline:

256MB GTX (512MB if your friend doesn't mind paying the premium), which is a quieter card (not by tremendous margins, mind you), and slower in performance (depending on which card you get..obviously the 512MB GTX is going to perform more closely to the X1900, but it's not superior)
X1900 with an ATi Silencer (presuming that the ones for the X1800 work. I haven't looked into this, though), which will provide you with a higher performing card, but at the cost of power usage (if you're buying either card, though, chances are power isn't much of a concern).

Price vs performance, the X1900 is the better way to go, IF you can get an alternate cooler. If your friend could only wait for a small bit longer, it might behoove him to see the results of the G71 (if for nothing else, to justify which direction to go).

Spot on. Have to agree with everything you said there.

 

[Yreka]

I don't know why people say this cooler is so loud. Honestly, it is compareable to the 2x NV silencers on my old cards, and this one moves MUCH more air. It does scream pretty loud during bootup, but slows back down immefiately and dosn't get louder than a low growl/hum at full temp (78 degrees).

Keep in mind this is in a fairly quiet system, Seasonic S12, Scythe Ninja, 2x 120MM Yate Loons undervolted, TJ-02 case,and it is sitting on the desk right next to me. I am not super anal about noise levels, but am far from a lan kiddie with 250 screaming 80mm LED fans in a plexy steel case.

Noise and *minor* driver issues aside, I would have a hard time reccomending a GTX over a X1800XT when the prices are that close regardless of the circumstances.

 

[Ronin]

I've run both cards in the same system (an X1800 and a 512MB GTX), and there's no comparison which one is louder. It's very easy to figure out where the noise is coming from (and that was the easiest way for me to make the determination).

 

[Yreka]

512 GTX and 256 GTX use different coolers so we are really talking about 2 different things here.

I have run the 7800GT CO ( same cooler as the 256mb GTX ) in the same system and it wasnt noticably quieter than the XT.

 

[Ronin]

I've done all 3 cards (I probably should have stated that). The 256MB GTX and the 512MB one (although different cooler designs) produce about the same amount of sound, if not the same, so the comparison is still valid.

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: kwo
Here's the KEY: This is a long distance build for a friend that I am *flying out* with to setup for him in 2 weeks.

How much of an enthusiast is your friend?

You may be better off just getting him a 7800GT for less than $300. Great card and he saves upwards of $300.

To be honest I would not recommend anything more than a GS to most my friends as they don't have high res monitors and don't really care if every little piece of eye candy is turned up. If it looks better than their Xbox (480i) they are happy.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Yreka
I don't know why people say this cooler is so loud. Honestly, it is compareable to the 2x NV silencers on my old cards, and this one moves MUCH more air. It does scream pretty loud during bootup, but slows back down immefiately and dosn't get louder than a low growl/hum at full temp (78 degrees).

Keep in mind this is in a fairly quiet system, Seasonic S12, Scythe Ninja, 2x 120MM Yate Loons undervolted, TJ-02 case,and it is sitting on the desk right next to me. I am not super anal about noise levels, but am far from a lan kiddie with 250 screaming 80mm LED fans in a plexy steel case.

Noise and *minor* driver issues aside, I would have a hard time reccomending a GTX over a X1800XT when the prices are that close regardless of the circumstances.

I went from dual 7800GTX's (stock NV spec, eVGA KO stock, and NV5 Silencer) to a single X1800XT, and the XT is louder. Period, no doubt about it.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

Our ears discern noise in different ways. Sometimes it is the type of noise that is particularly bothersome. ATI tends to use small whiny fans, which produce a far more annoying sound when compared to other fans that may even be spinning at higher RPM's. It baffles me that with the extravagant cooler they have on there, that they skimped on the fan entirely. The damn thing takes up two slots anyways.....

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
How much of an enthusiast is your friend?

You may be better off just getting him a 7800GT for less than $300. Great card and he saves upwards of $300.

To be honest I would not recommend anything more than a GS to most my friends as they don't have high res monitors and don't really care if every little piece of eye candy is turned up. If it looks better than their Xbox (480i) they are happy.

He is a *huge* enthusiast, and he has a Dell 2405FPW which has been quoted as being the "monitor of the gods..."

He's fairly loaded and wants the best - but without sacrificing decibels to fans. But I think asking him is a good idea - he just doesn't like to be much involved in the decision processes...but I'll force him...

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: kwo

He is a *huge* enthusiast, and he has a Dell 2405FPW which has been quoted as being the "monitor of the gods..."

He's fairly loaded and wants the best - but without sacrificing decibels to fans. But I think asking him is a good idea - he just doesn't like to be much involved in the decision processes...but I'll force him...

With that monitor, definetely get a X1900XT. My 7800GTX struggled at 1920x1200 in quiet a few games.

 

[Capt Caveman]

"monitor of the gods"???? Hardly. My 2+ years L2335 is nicer.

http://www.penstarsys.com/reviews/monitor/hp/l2335/index.html

 

[Cuular]

As to people wondering about the fan noise on the 1900. I'm running a 1900CF setup, so that's 2 of them in the system. And with a good case, that has good airflow, the cards produce little to no noise, because the only time the fans spin up off the lowest setting is when the system boots. And I run eq2 at extreme quailty at 1920X1200, so I'm driving the cards pretty much as hard as you can.

But if your case doesn't have good airflow, and somehow the card decides to spin up to full speed, then yes it's going to make noise. The key is to not skimp on the case.

Get a good solid case with good airflow, and you should be good. As a comparison, I have a 7800GTX/SLI system about 15 feet away, and the fans on those cards are way louder then the whole system with the 1900's. Because the 256's run at medium speed from startup, and empty their heat back into the case. The 1900's vent the heat out of the case. So on a system with good airflow they do a good job of not raising the internal heat.

Drivers as mentioned above have been flawless. Any games I play have been good. I don't play Black&White 2, nor do I play Doom3. But I do play F.E.A.R., eq2, WoW, SWG, HL2, Vampires Bloodlines, KoToR2, and a few others, and all have seen good increases in speed, over the SLI system, obviously.

My X1800 would occasionally start to spin the fans up during EQ2, and vampires and HL2. But the X1900 has not, so apparently the cooling system is better on the 1900's.

I use the same case for both setups, only differences are PSU, the 1900's really require a much beefier PSU, and of course the motherboards are different. Other than that the CPU (oppy 170 OC'd to 2700), sound card X-Fi Platinum, the CDROM/DVD drives are the same. The ATI has 3 74GB scsi drives, the GTX has 2 100GB IDE drives.

So the ATI system has more hard drives, and much beefier PSU. But is still quieter. Because the fans on the grpahics cards do not spin up, since the case has good airflow. The fans on the GTX's spin up, and never go down below medium speed. And in the middle of heavy games sometimes boost up to high speeds occasionally.

Anyway your mileage may vary depending on luck on CPU, case airflow etc.

edit: Correct typing mistakes. Slow typing for the win.

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: Elfear
With that monitor, definetely get a X1900XT. My 7800GTX struggled at 1920x1200 in quiet a few games.

Really? Geez - I didn't think that would be a problem with the GTX series.......perhaps I'll have to rethink after all - he would prefer to go with the quieter one (wound up calling him on the phone)..but I know it's important to him to get a card that can support his monitor's native resolution (1920x1200)......

Well, assuming what you experienced is a video card limitation and not a system limitation (/me checks your .sig stats - what's that Stealth S3????) then that might be the key point after all.....

 

[Ronin]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
"monitor of the gods"???? Hardly. My 2+ years L2335 is nicer.

http://www.penstarsys.com/reviews/monitor/hp/l2335/index.html

Buwahahaha...hahahahaha...omg...I'm dying over here.

 

[RobertR1]

Originally posted by: kwo

Originally posted by: Elfear
With that monitor, definetely get a X1900XT. My 7800GTX struggled at 1920x1200 in quiet a few games.

Really? Geez - I didn't think that would be a problem with the GTX series.......perhaps I'll have to rethink after all - he would prefer to go with the quieter one (wound up calling him on the phone)..but I know it's important to him to get a card that can support his monitor's native resolution (1920x1200)......

Well, assuming what you experienced is a video card limitation and not a system limitation (/me checks your .sig stats - what's that Stealth S3????) then that might be the key point after all.....

I have a dell 2405 with a x1800xt. So far, 1920x1200 has been fine for me when it comes to BF2, Source based games, FEAR and all other older games that I play on it.

My friends similar setup with a 7800GTX KO struggles in BF2 and FEAR at 1920x1200 (game play is not smooth) but Source based and older games are fine and run as good as mine.

The x1900xt is obviously faster than my x1800xt so that should give you a decent idea of what to expect from the x1900xt/x.

 

[Munky]

LOL. THIS is the monitor of the gods. LCD's are just pretenders to the throne

 

[Ronin]

Meh..I have one, and it sits stored.

 

[Zebo]

I hate to say it as I prefer nV but with that case which is extremly low airflow you want a card which blows air out the back though it's second slot.

There are three options. In order or prefernece.

1. X1900XT $494, faster no modding.
2. GTX $439 then buy after market nV silencer add $25
3. GTX 512 $750 expensive realative to X1900XT, just as fast depending on game.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: munky
LOL. THIS is the monitor of the gods. LCD's are just pretenders to the throne

That's really nice except it has'nt been made since 2004. People could'nt afford it's "god" price of $2499

 

[Zebo]

In addition, he wants a *quiet* system

Don't forget HDD, and PSU and other noise makers. You want seasonic PSU. Seagate HDD's. A motherboard with a passive chipset. A AMD processor which is sometimes 1/4 power as intel thus facilitating silent mode on Zalman 7700 or Arctic cooling Freezer 7.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: Zebo

Originally posted by: munky
LOL. THIS is the monitor of the gods. LCD's are just pretenders to the throne

That's really nice except it has'nt been made since 2004. People could'nt afford it's "god" price of $2499

I was pretty certain people were buying these on Ebay for 350... Certainly a good deal if your desk can handle 90+ pounds and you don't need the space. Personally, I am a fan of LCDs now. I wouldn't trade mine for anything and while the black levels are not pefect, the geometry is, and that is what I consider important.

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: Zebo

In addition, he wants a *quiet* system

Don't forget HDD, and PSU and other noise makers. You want seasonic PSU. Seagate HDD's. A motherboard with a passive chipset. A AMD processor which is sometimes 1/4 power as intel thus facilitating silent mode on Zalman 7700 or Arctic cooling Freezer 7.

Yep - I've pretty much narrowed it down to:

POWERCOOLER X1900XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card with Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 (hopefully they'll be out soon!)
ABIT AT8 Socket 939 ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 CrossFire ATX AMD CrossFire MB

Rest of the system:
Lian Li PC-60APlus Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
SeaSonic S12-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939
ZALMAN CNPS7700-CU 120mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan with Copper Heatsink
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Platinum System Memory
Seagate 7200.7 160GB SATA NCQ (slow, I know, but quiiiiieeettttt)
NEC Silver IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3550A
ALPS Silver 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive

 

[lopri]

That's what I was going to recommend.
X1900XT + After-market Cooler