7900 GT 256mb or X1800 XT 256mb?

[man_from_uncle]

I thought you would have got more than that in 3D Mark 05?

That's about what you can expect. A few people can get them gaming stable with 3dmark scores of nearer 9.5-10k, but that's pretty much the limit even with a 3ghz A64. Most people get quite a bit lower in the 8-9k region. It's got almost exactly the same spread of scores as an overclocked but unmodded 7900gt.

With the mod the 7900gt gets about an extra 10-15% speed over what it can do without it. I was gaming with clock speeds that scored 11k in 3dmark05.

 

[pcknight]

Well, my 7900 gets 9,200 in 3D Mark 05. But that doesn't mean anything does it? Is it right that the X1800XT give you a better picture?

I thought that being as it had a high Core to start with it would be better than the 7900. Must score much higher when clocked too?

 

[man_from_uncle]

There is an image quality difference, but it's slight and though i've seen a lot computers I can't honestly say i'd be able to spot an ATI card rendering from an Nvidia card rendering even if they were side by side (I might notice a difference, but not one i'd call better or worse or that could tell me which was which).

As for core speed as the sole guide to how fast a card runs, it's simply not possible to judge a card by core speed alone, there are many other facotrs. Pipes, vertex shaders, ROPs and vram type, quantity and speed all play a massive role.

 

[pcknight]

But overall the X1800XT is a better bet?

 

[man_from_uncle]

But overall the X1800XT is a better bet?

If you're not planning to overclock at all, then the X1800XT is the one to go for. If you are planning to overclock but aren't planning to do a physical mod then then it's about even. If you are prepared to do the volt mod then the 7900gt is your best bet.

The other factors, heat, power consumption and noise all probably favour the 7900gt, but not by much.

By the looks of it, I think the X1800XT would be better for you. You'll get excellant performance out of the box and room to overclock as and when you want to.

 

[pcknight]

Cheers, X1800XT 256mb it is then!

 

[dewi]

I thought you would have got more than that in 3D Mark 05?

Has anyone got any suggestions as to how to improve my 3DMark05 score? And how many of those suggestions would result in improved gaming performance? I tried moving all the sliders from quality to performance; my score improved from 9000 to 9200.

I'll try reducing my CPU clock from 2.6 GHz to 2.5 GHz, because that'll allow me to increase my memory clock speed. I suspect that CPU speed is more important than memory speed, but I'll be interested to see the effect on the scores.

 

[geeza]

I have a [email protected], 2x1gb Gskill HZ, 1800xt 256mb on dfi ultra-d and get 9372 in mark 05. (overclocked graphics)

I havent done any gaming for a few weeks now though (apart from minesweeper) as im just using it for browsing and music. I have the odd urge of DOD source and BF2 though

 

[Vegeta]

Just to let you lads know with a decent cpu/ram (opty running at like 2.8ghz, tight ram timings running around 240fsb) and a x1800xt voltmodded via ati tool to 1.5V on the core with a decent cooler and airflow in case, its easily possible to break 10K in 3dmark 05.
I personally got 9750 with a a64venice @ 2.4ghz, ram at 200fsb @ 2,3,3,6, gpu core at 1.45 forgot clocks but around 700, i've now got an opty [email protected] and some good ram coming soon that could run at 290fsb with tight timings and i'm tempted to buy a zalman vf900 and voltmod the card to 1.5v, i'll let you know how I get on.