Budget: <£200

TomL · 13 Oct 2006 at 12:35

I'm currently having difficulty deciding which graphics card I should purchase, I was contemplating the Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 256MB but apparantly the new nVidia 7950 GT's are quite good for what they cost?

mikeymike · 13 Oct 2006 at 12:39

i have same dilema, x1900xt 256meg or 7900GTO, both £170, i got mixed replies last night, although as i only game on this computer i think im going to go for the x1900xt as it edges the 7900GTO, (and also the 7950) in most games that i play atm, HL2, oblivion etc, plus i like all eye candy on and i think x1900 will give me more candy than the 7900 series and still keep the FPS up

easyrider · 13 Oct 2006 at 12:41

7900 GTO

Reason?

512MB ram and can be clocked to a 7900 GTX also its silent and cool and fast.

TomL · 13 Oct 2006 at 12:42

I suppose all I really need to know is what will give me the best performance at 1280x1024 that's under 200 quid...

EDIT: That 7900 GTO looks pretty spandangly :cool:

easyrider · 13 Oct 2006 at 12:48

TomL said:
I suppose all I really need to know is what will give me the best performance at 1280x1024 that's under 200 quid...

EDIT: That 7900 GTO looks pretty spandangly

Yes the 7900 GTO will play that res without issue.Clock that baby up and watch her fly!

I had a constant 60+ min FPS with mine in half life 2 on a 20" widescreen playing
at 1680 x 1050 with evrything maxed!

making for a lag free shoot fest

mikeymike · 13 Oct 2006 at 12:52

http://firingsquad.com/hardware/evga_e-geforce_7900_gto/page5.asp

ACESHIGH · 13 Oct 2006 at 12:53

The 7900GTO is a good card but the X1900XT 256MB is the faster card.

See link...

http://firingsquad.com/hardware/evga_e-geforce_7900_gto/page2.asp

easyrider · 13 Oct 2006 at 12:59

ACESHIGH said:
The 7900GTO is a good card but the X1900XT 256MB is the faster card.

See link...

http://firingsquad.com/hardware/evga_e-geforce_7900_gto/page2.asp

But thats the card at stock.

Look at the games with the GTX beating the 256MB X1900 on numerous occasions.

The GTO can even be flashed to a GTX

People buy these cards to clock them to to run them at stock!

The GTO is the clear choice here beating the x1900 when running at GTX speeds.

Cyber-Mav · 13 Oct 2006 at 13:02

7900gto is faster than x1900xt

TomL · 13 Oct 2006 at 13:10

There's no 7950 GTO in them links, there is a 7900 GTO though if that's basically what it is?

ACESHIGH · 13 Oct 2006 at 13:13

easyrider said:
But thats the card at stock.

Look at the games with the GTX beating the 256MB X1900 on numerous occasions.

The GTO can even be flashed to a GTX

People buy these cards to clock them to to run them at stock!

The GTO is the clear choice here beating the x1900 when running at GTX speeds.

Im not sure what youre reading but the X1900XT 256MB is in a fair number of cases as quick or faster than the 7900GTX. So when you overclock both cards the X1900XT 256MB will still be the quicker card.

To the OP if you want best games performance for the price the X1900XT 256MB is the easy choice, see the review yourself.

mikeymike · 13 Oct 2006 at 13:18

easyrider said:
The GTO can even be flashed to a GTX

thats a dangerous thing to say i think, everything ive read points to the fact that not all of these cards will actually reach GTX speeds, the rest have memory that wont quite reach GTX speeds, which is why they have been re-branded as GTO's in the first place
secondly whats the point in flashing these? your only increasing the speeds, not unlocking any pipes, might as well just ramp up with coolbits which gains you flexibility, and is not at all risky like flashing is

TomL · 13 Oct 2006 at 13:26

ACESHIGH said:
Im not sure what youre reading but the X1900XT 256MB is in a fair number of cases as quick or faster than the 7900GTX. So when you overclock both cards the X1900XT 256MB will still be the quicker card.

To the OP if you want best games performance for the price the X1900XT 256MB is the easy choice, see the review yourself.

Alright thanks.

HangTime · 13 Oct 2006 at 13:47

I think they are very, very similar cards. Here are the relative pros of each card as I see it:

x1900xt
-Faster at stock in some titles
-Marginally better Filtering quality/performance tradeoff.
-Capable of performing AA and HDR at the same time.

7900GTO
-Closes the gap in performance when both cards are overclocked
-Lower power requirement
-Less heat production
-512meg could potentially be advantageous in the long term.

Now both cards are priced the same I guess the decision could come down to whether the power/heat issues with the x1900xt matter to you. People with high end PSUs who play Oblivion, for example, would probably be better off going for the x1900xt. Whereas guys with average psus, in packed cases who play flight sims would likely be better off with the 7900GTO.

Cyber-Mav · 13 Oct 2006 at 13:56

HangTime said:
I think they are very, very similar cards. Here are the relative pros of each card as I see it:

x1900xt
-Faster at stock in some titles
-Marginally better Filtering quality/performance tradeoff.
-Capable of performing AA and HDR at the same time.

7900GTO
-Closes the gap in performance when both cards are overclocked
-Lower power requirement
-Less heat production
-512meg could potentially be advantageous in the long term.

Now both cards are priced the same I guess the decision could come down to whether the power/heat issues with the x1900xt matter to you. People with high end PSUs who play Oblivion, for example, would probably be better off going for the x1900xt. Whereas guys with average psus, in packed cases who play flight sims would likely be better off with the 7900GTO.

i can vouch for the hdr + aa at the same time it good

MonkeyMagic · 13 Oct 2006 at 14:00

GTO to GTX...

Flashing the GTO to GTX is a bad piece of advice, the reason these are GTOs in the first place is they carry the 1.1ns Samsung memory that was causing problems on the GTXs. Hence flashing them is not clever.

However manually clocking the card to 800Mhz mem is probably pretty safe, as you dont alter the vmem and you keep the tighter ram timings of the GTO.

easyrider · 13 Oct 2006 at 15:53

mikeymike said:
thats a dangerous thing to say i think, everything ive read points to the fact that not all of these cards will actually reach GTX speeds, the rest have memory that wont quite reach GTX speeds, which is why they have been re-branded as GTO's in the first place
secondly whats the point in flashing these? your only increasing the speeds, not unlocking any pipes, might as well just ramp up with coolbits which gains you flexibility, and is not at all risky like flashing is

I'm not saying that everyone should flash their GTO's

I'm saying that they can be flashed to GTX speeds with postive results.

The best way is to clock the card.

And when clocked the card to get is the GTO for this reason.

easyrider · 13 Oct 2006 at 15:54

MonkeyMagic said:
Flashing the GTO to GTX is a bad piece of advice, the reason these are GTOs in the first place is they carry the 1.1ns Samsung memory that was causing problems on the GTXs. Hence flashing them is not clever.

However manually clocking the card to 800Mhz mem is probably pretty safe, as you dont alter the vmem and you keep the tighter ram timings of the GTO.

I never said to anyone to flash their GTO's to GTX's

I said they can be flashed.

There is a difference!

ugly ferret · 13 Oct 2006 at 16:18

I think 7900gto's can overlock more though. My HIS x1900xt will barely overclock at all. :confused:

ademcg · 13 Oct 2006 at 18:39

Ok, so back to the point in the OP

I am in the very same boat and I have been struggling to come to a conclusion.

Yes now is not the ideal time to change [DX10 around the corner, New nVidia core in Nov], but then again when is ?

The X1900 series coolers are known to be **** and noisy as hell, so if you were to choose the X1900XT 256 MB it would have to be the HIS ICEQ3 version.

This card will do AA and HDR as Cyber says and if like me you play BF2, GW and DOD:S then this is a total boon.

But at £187 is that the best value card? :confused:

Probably, unless you want to go second hand and pay £200 for a X1900XTx, but will have all the stock cooler issues mentioned above.

The other condiseration is the performance, low noise, low power and similar price of the 7900GTO

Not wanting to tar an entire range with the same brush but it hasn't been the best of times for nVidia with reliability, (I Am NOT an ATI fanboy btw

) so I have tended to exclude on these grounds...as I say, its been my personal choice, not saying its right.

So still I am stuck between making the right move with regards to future proofing (as best you can these days) 256mb Vs 512Mb and Xt Vs used XTX and feeling you get a decent "Bang for your buck"

When I started typing this reply I was certain of a conclusion in favour of the X1900XT ICEQ3 256mb,...but the price is niggling away at me and only 256Mb..........well, the GTO has 512 Mb,..and quiet, cool,...D'oh talked myself into a muddle again

happens every time I think of these,....I guess I should stick with the 7800GT........hmmmm :confused: