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7900GT or X1900XT?

kbc

kbc

kbc

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Joined
20 Nov 2004
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Location
London
Hi, just recently RMA'd a 7900GT because it basically failed on me (unrelated to the recent failure rate issue). I've just been refunded for the loss of the card as my "XFX 7900GT XXX Edition" is no longer in stock (and not at many other places either)... so I'm stuck without a video card. It comes to approximately £250.

I'm thinking of the following options:

1. Cheap 7900GT + Zalman VF900
2. Connect 3D X1900XT

Bearing in mind my old XFX 7900GT had stock frequencies of 560/1650 and managed to clock to 630/1800. So the 1st option may not offer the same performance as my first XFX 7900GT card??

Recent news on 7900GT failure rates have also been worrying. I've never ever owned an ATi card so have no experience with their drivers. But do know that both cards posess noisy fans, the 1st option allows room to purchase a separate VGA cooler but the 2nd option does not curb the noise/cooling issue... so I'm a bit stuck as to what to do. Rest of my PC spec is in signature.
 
Is there much choice if you arent guarenteed to get a working card with option 1?

At least with option 2 you get a fully operational card - and I dont hear mine at all after bootup ..........
 
nbkpsycho said:
The 1900 is a far better card anyway :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Thats what I thought when I bought mine, and still think that - but didnt want to annoy any fanboys of the 7900 variety lol so used pure logic instead :D
 
FrankJH said:
Is there much choice if you arent guarenteed to get a working card with option 1?

At least with option 2 you get a fully operational card - and I dont hear mine at all after bootup ..........
Click to expand...

Agree. I would go for the X1900XT too, as its definitely the quicker card & as stated above you really dont hear them after initial boot up.
 
ACESHIGH said:
Agree. I would go for the X1900XT too, as its definitely the quicker card & as stated above you really dont hear them after initial boot up.
Click to expand...

I assume they are much quieter than the 7900GTs then? As the fans on those run at full pelt all the time.
 
They are quieter during normal 2d operation and probably as loud during 3d operation. If you max out the X1900XT fan (which you shouldn't have to do in normal gaming) then it sounds like a hair dryer.

Of course since games have sound you shouldn't notice the card anyway especially not over the rest of your system fans.

Out of the two the X1900XT is the faster without doubt of the two cards.
 
This may all be true but given a hot day and you will be running to riva tuner to set the fan speed to 100% to avoid crashes after half hour of play.

How it's been on my x1900xt so far, good card but auto setting just dosn't cool it enough on hot days. And that's with two fans mounted on the back aswell.
 
kbc said:
the 2nd option does not curb the noise/cooling issue... so I'm a bit stuck as to what to do. Rest of my PC spec is in signature.
Click to expand...

I've heard the accelero x2 is a good cooling solution and at £14, its half the price of a Zalman VF900.
 
kbc said:
I assume they are much quieter than the 7900GTs then? As the fans on those run at full pelt all the time.
Click to expand...

Yes those small, fast spinning 7900GT fans can be quite noisy (also consider the increase in random crashes / faults experienced by numerous 7900 series owners)
Yes, the X1900XT cooler is quieter than those on the 7900GT's unless their fan speed is set at 100% as well. That will depend on case cooling & ambient temp.

Still i think an upgrade to an X1900XT would be more worthwhile, considering the above.

Then look for the card that "Cyber-Mav" is referring to (Connect3D i believe) & you can still get your cooler (see the post made by "uk_sam" also)
 
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ACESHIGH said:
Yes those small, fast spinning 7900GT fans can be quite noisy (also consider the increase in random crashes / faults experienced by numerous 7900 series owners)
Yes, the X1900XT cooler is quieter than those on the 7900GT's unless their fan speed is set at 100% as well. That will depend on case cooling & ambient temp.

Still i think an upgrade to an X1900XT would be more worthwhile, considering the above.

Then look for the card that "Cyber-Mav" is referring to (Connect3D i believe) & you can still get your cooler (see the post made by "uk_sam" also)
Click to expand...

Yep... I know the card you're referring to. The Connect3D is currently on my mind being the most affordable one at £245. My old XFX 7900GT had a VF900 attached to it but unfortunately that failed (don't ask what happened =/)... so that's lost. Otherwise it would've been ideal on the X1900XT. I was also considering the "Gainward 512MB 7900GT" as this would be more than comparable with my old XFX but for the price I'd have to pay - the X1900XT seems to be a nicer option with better features. :)

Regarding cooling, I've a bog standard ATX case, Coolermaster Centurion 531 with 2x Akasa Amber fans front and back. The side panel has 2 vents for the graphics card and the CPU. I'm using a Big Typhoon on it (The rest of my spec is in sig but am now using a DFI Ultra-D motherboard as my Asus one failed). My PC is pretty quiet, the only thing putting me off is the hair dryer problem - is the Accelero quiet on max fan setting? My room gets very hot in the afternoon facing the sunset.
 
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Yes the Accelero is going to be quiet at its running speed.


Heres some info..

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/accel/

The performance of the cooler is made all the more impressive by how quiet it actually is. A stock X1800 cooler running at 2000rpm creates about 1.9sone this rises to 2.9 when the card is under heavy load and running at 5000rpm. As the X2 doesn’t vary its fan speed it runs at a set 2000rpm and creates only 0.4 sone, a quarter of an idle X1800! In fact there were a couple of times during the first few days of using the X2 that we had to check if our media centre was actually turned on…it’s that silent.


http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=articles&go=page5&arc_id=63

The Accelero X2 simply kills the annoying noise we all hate and provides great performance.

Since this product performed exceptionally well and we really couldn’t find anything negative to say about it, we are awarding it with our prestigious Editor’s Choice Award.


oh & BTW - Big Typhoon - now thats a cooler :)
 
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Sorry to bring my thread back up, is there any reason to actually get an X1900XT-X as opposed to an X1900XT? As the clock frequencies seem very minimal.
 
LanceCrossfire said:
not really just slightly better memory on XT-X's, but XT's easily clock to XT-X speeds and slightly beyond:D
Click to expand...

Ah... OK. :) Not that I want to pay the extra fee for an XT-X. But read somewhere that although the XT is more than capable of overclocking to XTX speeds, the XTX has more room to clock to speeds that even the XT can not reach.

.... though I think I'll save and get the X1900XT. :)
 
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