7900 Collated Reviews Thread

IT Troll · 10 Mar 2006 at 13:47

Came to the same conclusion as easyrider, cancelled my X1900XT order and went for a 7900 GT Extreme Edition instead.

After looking again at the benchmarks it didn't make sense to spend the extra £100 when I am limited to 1280x1024 and DirectX 10 is on the horizon. I have had bad experiences with ATI in the past and nVidia's offering simply seems much more refined.

smids · 10 Mar 2006 at 14:22

IT Troll said:
Came to the same conclusion as easyrider, cancelled my X1900XT order and went for a 7900 GT Extreme Edition instead.

After looking again at the benchmarks it didn't make sense to spend the extra £100 when I am limited to 1280x1024 and DirectX 10 is on the horizon. I have had bad experiences with ATI in the past and nVidia's offering simply seems much more refined.

The X1800XT would have been cheaper and slightly faster (especially with 512MB RAM at your resolution) but tbh, either is a good buy.

Arcane · 10 Mar 2006 at 15:02

Well, I decided on a XFX 7900GTX, got it for a great price and will pair it up with an NEC LCD, will see if it runs everything ok at native res...if not will get another one next week.

Wakinglimb · 10 Mar 2006 at 19:14

I've read about 5 or 6 reviews of the 7600GT, can't see any noise or heat comments. I'm considering replacing my 7800GT with one. Anyone found one?

easyrider · 10 Mar 2006 at 20:08

Wakinglimb said:
I've read about 5 or 6 reviews of the 7600GT, can't see any noise or heat comments. I'm considering replacing my 7800GT with one. Anyone found one?

your 7800gt is 256 bit

the 7600 is 128 bit

not much of an upgrade imo

sunlitsix · 10 Mar 2006 at 20:10

easyrider said:
your 7800gt is 256 bit

the 7600 is 128 bit

not much of an upgrade imo

agreed, not worth changing a 7800GT for a 7600GT.
the 7600GT is still a fast card though

easyrider · 10 Mar 2006 at 20:11

get a 7900 gt instead

D.P. · 10 Mar 2006 at 20:19

Wakinglimb said:
I've read about 5 or 6 reviews of the 7600GT, can't see any noise or heat comments. I'm considering replacing my 7800GT with one. Anyone found one?

Get A 7900GT or up, or X1800XT or up, the 7600GT wold be a downgrade (hence th 6 being lower than 8...)

I would wait a couple of weeks for NV's prices at OCUK and other stroes to settle.

testa12 · 10 Mar 2006 at 20:40

D.P. said:
Get A 7900GT or up, or X1800XT or up, the 7600GT wold be a downgrade (hence th 6 being lower than 8...)

I would wait a couple of weeks for NV's prices at OCUK and other stroes to settle.

Personally, I can't see any reason to buy an NVIDIA card unless it's the 7900GTX clocked at 700MHz.

Yes, it's expensive but no more so than the 7800GTX 512 was.

As I understand, these cards are cherry picked so people saying they can buy a 7900GT and expect to overclock it to faster speeds than the XXX editions are wrong. XXX edition is the daddy

Something the ATI fans are not letting on, is how does the XXX 7900gtx compare to a x1900xtx. The dury is still out on this one.

NVIDIA may still yet regain the performance crown but IMHO will not do this with the 650MHz versions.

sunlitsix · 10 Mar 2006 at 20:42

testa12 said:
Personally, I can't see any reason to buy an NVIDIA card unless it's the 7900GTX clocked at 700MHz.

do you mean you can't see any reason to buy a 7900GTX?
unless im understanding it wrong that seems like you mean you cant see any reason to buy any nvidia card unless its the 7900GTX

testa12 · 10 Mar 2006 at 20:45

sunlitsix said:
do you mean you can't see any reason to buy a 7900GTX?
unless im understanding it wrong that seems like you mean you cant see any reason to buy any nvidia card unless its the 7900GTX

Apologies, I am biased in that I'm only really interested in high performance graphics cards.

For those of you who are on a shoestring, don't bother to listen to me

easyrider · 10 Mar 2006 at 21:00

testa12 said:
Apologies, I am biased in that I'm only really interested in high performance graphics cards.

For those of you who are on a shoestring, don't bother to listen to me

testing has shown that with a simple volt mod the 7900 GT's run at GTX speeds no problem

speeduk · 10 Mar 2006 at 21:08

Come on guys take a step back. Remember it will probably be the reverse in 6-12 months time with NV on top and ATI behind like it was 6+ months ago.

testa12 · 10 Mar 2006 at 21:29

easyrider said:
testing has shown that with a simple volt mod the 7900 GT's run at GTX speeds no problem

I didnt mention GT's. I'm talking about the 7900GTX XXX edition, produced by partners such as XFX and BFG.

Are you trying to tell me you can overclock your card faster than this?

If you are, then I'm very interested to see some evidence.

Nothing is stopping 7900GTX XXX edition owners from overclocking their cards. Are you saying you can overclock your GT faster than someone can overclock their 7900GTX XXX edition?

Bookime Wood · 10 Mar 2006 at 22:02

testa12 said:
For those of you who are on a shoestring, don't bother to listen to me

What card do you actually run, or what are you actually buying and what system will be feeding this non shoestring card?

Wakinglimb · 10 Mar 2006 at 22:04

RE: Moving from a 7800GT to a 7600GT

I know it would be a downgrade... but I want something quieter and cooler. Additionally, nothing I own has challenged my 7800GT, so why would I go up?

Dutch Guy · 10 Mar 2006 at 22:30

Wakinglimb said:
RE: Moving from a 7800GT to a 7600GT

I know it would be a downgrade... but I want something quieter and cooler. Additionally, nothing I own has challenged my 7800GT, so why would I go up?

I doubt the 7600GT will be quieter, it's got a small noisy fan like the 7800GT, why not get a Zalman VF700 and run it at 5V :confused:

testa12 · 10 Mar 2006 at 23:05

Bookime Wood said:
What card do you actually run, or what are you actually buying and what system will be feeding this non shoestring card?

I'm running an x1900xtx. I'm keeping an eye on all the threads, and making an assessment as to which card is best. NVIDIA have a very fast card but it is very expensive.

They said (quote inquirer) that the 7900 would be competetivly priced. So far this is untrue and the £500 price tag is not impressive.

What is impressive though, is the 700MHz clock speed.

24 pipes???? hmm, well this is dissapointing - we expected 32.

Overall, a nice speed bump from nvidia and a good replacement for the 7800GTX 512 cards but the real fireworks will be revealed in the 8 series.

Wakinglimb · 10 Mar 2006 at 23:16

Dutch Guy said:
I doubt the 7600GT will be quieter, it's got a small noisy fan like the 7800GT, why not get a Zalman VF700 and run it at 5V

Run the fan at 5v or the graphics card? What affect will it have?

Never thought about this solution before to be honest. How easy is it to fit?

Is the Zalman the right choice? What about the Thermalright V-1 Ultra? Sorry if I am going too far off topic.

sunlitsix · 10 Mar 2006 at 23:27

run the zalman at 5v, makes it run slower = less noise.
you still get great cooling performance though at 5v