256mb GeForce 7900GT vs. 512mb Radeon x1800xt

ColdPenguin

I'm building a new system and both cards are going for $300 on newegg. I haven't seen a direct comparison of these two cards against each other so was wodnering if anyone had any input. Normally I think I would go with the 7900GT because I hear it overclocks very well, but I also heard that the Radeon would be faster on a game like Oblivion. Also I don't really care if nvidia is faster at quake 4 engine type games because both cards would be fast enough for me in Quake 4, while Oblivion seems to slaughter every card on the market. Ideally I would want the card thats faster at Unreal 3 engine games for when they come out but we have no way of predicting that to my knowledge. Anyway another thing is that the 7900GT would let you add in a second card at a later date whereas you couldnt with the x1800xt.

Anyway if anyone has any ideas let me know, I appreciate it.

AlexM105

The X1800XT does better in Oblivion. It even beats the 7900GTX in that game.



http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...ance/page5.asp

Oh, by the way, those benchmarks were performed with the Catalyst 6.3. Catalyst 6.4 improved performance a little more, and Catalyst 6.5 should be released in 2 weeks.

ColdPenguin

Thanks a lot Alex! I think that will swing my decision in favor of the Radeon unless anyone can predict the performance of the 7900GT in future games.

AlexM105

Here's my prediction:

The 7900GT will continue to lead in OpenGL games (Quake 4, Doom 3, Prey...). Newer games that are more shader-intensive will continue to be ATi territory (BF2, CoD2, Oblivion...).

Just a tip: All the X1x00 series cards from ATi can do HDR+AA, while none of nVidia's current cards can (Valve games use a technique that all DirectX 9 cards can do HDR, but it is not the standard, and is excluded in that statement). Let me tell you, Far Cry looks amazing with HDR+AA. A friend of mine says the same for Oblivion.

Ferret_Style

Honestly i am an old ATI fan but the problem with the x1800xt is heat. That is a stock 7900 running... mine i have OC at time up to 25% more with almost no heat increase and i get incredible results in obilivion even with HDR on. That and X1800Xt is 2 slot vs the single slot of 7900gt.

This is just the same debate i went through and i just finished my system.

ColdPenguin

Yeah I hear the GT can overclock to GTX speeds which isnt too far off in performance in oblivion. With the x1800xt is the heat really an issue? Wouldnt most of the heat be expelled outside of the case with the 2 slot design? Also lets say an overclocked x1800xt runs at very high temperatures in comparison to the 7900GT, if its still stable then it the temp isnt necessarily a problem is it? I suppose I might consider the 7900GT if there is proof that an OCed GT is not too far behind an OCed x1800xt in oblivion.

Ferret_Style

http://www17.tomshardware.com/2006/0...phics_cooling/

Heat issues i have heard they x1800xt can not be oc much cause of the heat already.

AlexM105

I don't think heat is that much of a big deal really. My X1900XT reaches 80C full load, but it still has no problem reaching past XTX speeds.

Ferret_Style

Heat on the card may not be but a card puting out 80 C into your case heats everything else up too i love the 50C off my card fully loaded and OC to by 50 mhz on the core and 100 Mhz on the memory.

nicnik

the ati 1800 and 1900 both run hotter than the 7800, 7900 nvidia's by quite a big margin. But yeh if he's gonna buy a card for oblivion then i'd recommend the 1800xt 512mb. Also note that a few games that has come out lately takes advantage of 512 mb memory on the card for higher res textures; namely tomb raider and ghost recon. If im not wrong the 7900gt only comes in 256mb versions only atm, unless gainward has modded yet another card to 512mb o.O

NUCLEARWINTER

if u're gonna buy a motherboard for SLI, u may also buy an ATI CROSSFIRE capable board. buy ur x1800xt card, and at a later date buy the crossfire edition video card.

Alien1

The 7900GT 256 vs X1800XT 512
are not exactly in the same scale to compare them

Also benchmark scores depends from the drivers that you are you using...

soloz2

well in most games the 7900GT is better at lower resolutions, but if you play on high resolutions then the x1800XT wins because it has more RAM and the ringbus memory controller.

however, you can literally OC the 7900GT's like crazy. I just got mine today and it's running 635/1700 just off the coolbits autodetect. No arctifacts in gameplay or 3dmark 06

Sandok

7900 gt is usually just as fast if not faster than the x1800xt unless in extreme conditions (oblivion anyone? or tomb raider next gen?) but usually, they are quite cheaper, SLI is very mature and easy and the card itself OCs easily, runs ice cold and all in all, is the card I would go for

dayspring_uk

Unless you play really shader intensive games like Oblivion or Tomb Raider Legends with Next Gen features enabled, the 7900GT will certainly cause you less headaches. I sort of regret not getting one myself at times. Also shadows in most games look a lot better on the 7900GT (TR:Legends (although its not really playable with next gen on with most Nvidia cards), LOTR BFME2, Spellforce, Battlefield 2, NFS MW etc).

However, I am very used to High Quality AF on my X1800XT which in certain games makes a nice improvement. Also even though it only has 16 pipelines, it really does do well in shader intensive games compared to the 7900GT.

Either would do you fine.

dsdsdk

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=542&p=2bare in mind this is nvidia reference gfx. A lot of 7900 come pre-oc. Mine is 550/1630 vs the reference of 450/1320?

Alien1

Yes that's a good observation about the shadows

I have noticed that Shadows are exactly as they should look in Oblivion and some other games with my new Nvidia 7900GTX

with my previous ATI X800 Card some shadows in Oblivion (plus with some other games) were completely wrong

And as i heard ATI can't fix that right now because of some game companies supporting in their games only Nvidia specific instructions

I hope ATI do something about these in their next generation sollution or in their drivers (if something can be done after all)


Also no more ATI CCC resourse hog and stupid Net Framework for me

It's not really playable (at max settings) with current Single Cards at all
both from ATI and from Nvidia with the next gen option

Unless if you have a Crossfire or a SLI sollution

dayspring_uk

I do have to say Iv played through the entire game pretty much with next gen and FSAA enabled at 1280x1024 and for the most part its been more then fine. Yes a few sections drop below 30fps, occasionally even below 20fps (although notsomuch since the 1.1 patch) but since it is so easy to switch next gen on and off if need be I switch back to standard mode for the tricky sections and then back into next gen mode afterwards.

I did the entire Croft Manor subgame with next gen enabled with no problems whatsoever, although there was a noticeable drop in framerate in the swimming pool wing of the house due to the water shader. After reading the reviews and how demanding the next gen option was I was frankly shocked that I could run it playably with those settings enabled.

dayspring_uk

The problem is 3D Mark scores are generally not reflected in actual gaming performance. Also, looking at that review, the X1800XT tends to do better with AA enabled and the higher resolution you go. Bottom line is both cards are awesome at that price point.

dipstick

Actually my case temps were a bit higher with my old 7800GTX than the X1800/1900. The Ati cards definitely run hotter but they do blow the heat out the back unlike any nv card

soloz2

the 7800GTX 512 and 7900GTX have coolers that exhaust the hot air out the back of the case.

all the other cards have single slot cooling, which has its advantages as well.

AlexM105

You guys can argue about this forever....

The original poster wants the card that runs Oblivion better... That's the X1800XT... That's it.

Heat is really not that big of an issue. I had an X800XL with a Zalman Fatal1ty cooler on it, and the card never passed 56C under full load. When I replaced it with my overclocked X1900XT (which reaches 80C full load), my case temps went DOWN a little, not up, and that's due to the stock cooler pushing the air out of the case.

And like I said earlier, all the X1x00 series cards from ATi can do HDR+AA, while none of nVidia's current cards can (Valve games use a technique that all DirectX 9 cards can do HDR, but it is not the standard, and is excluded in that statement).

And one last thing... Some of you guys were saying that the 7900GT overclocks very well.... So does the X1800XT, and the XT has twice the memory.