* The Official HD2900XT Thread *

Cyber-Mav · 14 May 2007 at 13:53

looks like the 8800gts 640mb is faster than ati's fastest card on the market.
finally proof that the x2900xt is crap.

Gerard · 14 May 2007 at 13:54

Cyber-Mav said:
looks like the 8800gts 640mb is faster than ati's fastest card on the market.
finally proof that the x2900xt is crap.

Yeah and i suppose the multiple reviews stating that the ati driver is hampering its performance are all just fulla crap. :rolleyes:

stickroad · 14 May 2007 at 13:55

Though looking at mose of the review sites, the GTS beats it but not by much.

If im going to get a new GPU ill go for the ATI card most likely, becuase i like their driver support and the diffrence between the GTS and 2900XT means very little to me. IM very unlikely to notice a diffrence but thats me.

It probally comes down to things like drivers now.

Elevon · 14 May 2007 at 13:55

Price is the killer,when you can buy a retail Leadtek 640mb 8800GTS for £214 inc VAT,well no brainer as they say.

fornowagain · 14 May 2007 at 13:55

Another.

http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2007q2/radeon-hd-2900xt/index.x?pg=6

Can we keep this thread for the results, reviews and new owners?

Darkwave · 14 May 2007 at 13:55

Gerard said:
While thats true the difference here is the ati card is being held back by the driver, nvidia can probably eek a few more % out of the 8800 series, ati on the other hand have a card thats drivers are obviously doing significant damage to its performance.

Just out of curiosity, have you used an 8800 Series card lately?

The driver is most definitely holding it back, it's buggy and the performance is abysmal.

Cyber-Mav · 14 May 2007 at 13:56

Gerard said:
Yeah and i suppose the multiple reviews stating that the ati driver is hampering its performance are all just fulla crap.

how do they know the driver is hampering its performance? do they have a driver that delivers 200% more performance? if so why not release it? for all you know this is the fastest the card will ever be.

either way this card should be priced no higher than 200 quid seeing as how 640mb 8800gts cards can be had from 215 quid these days.

Gerard · 14 May 2007 at 13:57

Cyber-Mav said:
how do they know the driver is hampering its performance? do they have a driver that delivers 200% more performance? if so why not release it? for all you know this is the fastest the card will ever be.

either way this card should be priced no higher than 200 quid seeing as how 640mb 8800gts cards can be had from 215 quid these days.

Go and read the firing squad conclusions at the end. id assume if theyre competant enough to be able to review the card and get into the technical jarogn then theyre also competant enough to know when something is dodgy about the performance.

Gas Panic! · 14 May 2007 at 13:57

I almost went with the 8800GTS 640Mb, but stopped at the last minute.

I'm running Vista, and my X1800 has been running great. I've heard bad things about nVidia's support in Vista... is it true?

Richdog · 14 May 2007 at 13:58

Tute said:
You posted this before the prices went up. How is it the "current victor" before you know the bang/buck?

You then went on to tell me that anybody could have "guessed" it would be £270.

Either way, i'm bored of bickering, i'd rather just get along with people than argue. Agree to disagree?

Not really... if you're wrong you're wrong. We already had a good idea of price/performance before the NDA was lifted. Just accept it and stop causing such a fuss about nothing. I don't think many in this thread agree you have even a slight point, and you're the one who started the bickering today.

Cyber-Mav · 14 May 2007 at 13:58

Rivey said:
I almost went with the 8800GTS 640Mb, but stopped at the last minute.

I'm running Vista, and my X1800 has been running great. I've heard bad things about nVidia's support in Vista... is it true?

yes nvidia drivers are bad in vista. but i guess its something that they can work on since the hardware can do better.

neo202020 · 14 May 2007 at 14:00

Gerard said:
Go and read the firing squad conclusions at the end. id assume if theyre competant enough to be able to review the card and get into the technical jarogn then theyre also competant enough to know when something is dodgy about the performance.

Right now the card is hard to justify at $400, you can find GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB cards for less money at most online retailers. But if AMD’s driver team is able to squeeze more performance out of the Radeon HD 2900 XT, its $400 price tag becomes easier to live with.

"Easier to live with" doesn't sound like "omfg this is a GTS killer right here boys" to me.

Let's face the facts: both cards have crap drivers but the GTS is cheaper and performs better, consumes less power and makes less noise. Oh, and you know they're not going to fail in their droves like some previous HIS cards.

Cyber-Mav · 14 May 2007 at 14:00

Gerard said:
Go and read the firing squad conclusions at the end. id assume if theyre competant enough to be able to review the card and get into the technical jarogn then theyre also competant enough to know when something is dodgy about the performance.

they not the be all and end all of the story, they think its a software problem when it could easily be a hardware problem that can never be fixed without a brand new card.

all i can say is that the x2900xt would be a good card if it was priced properly at 200 quid inc vat. right now its just not worth it.

Cyber-Mav · 14 May 2007 at 14:01

neo202020 said:
"Easier to live with" doesn't sound like "omfg this is a GTS killer right here boys" to me.

Let's face the facts: both cards have crap drivers but the GTS is cheaper and performs better, consumes less power and makes less noise. Oh, and you know they're not going to fail in their droves like some previous HIS cards.

exactly what im trying to say.

Tute · 14 May 2007 at 14:01

Richdog said:
Not really... if you're wrong you're wrong. We already had a good idea of price/performance before the NDA was lifted. Just accept it and stop causing such a fuss about nothing. I don't think many in this thread agree you have even a slight point, and you're the one who started the bickering today.

You're still wrong, but I can't be bothered to discuss this anymore.

Dutch Guy · 14 May 2007 at 14:02

Gerard said:
While thats true the difference here is the ati card is being held back by the driver, nvidia can probably eek a few more % out of the 8800 series, ati on the other hand have a card thats drivers are obviously doing significant damage to its performance.

I don't think there has ever been a driver release that boosted the performance by more than 25% while keeping the same IQ, or has there been one?

Even if the HD2900XT would get a much needed boost thru drivers and gets the same performance as a 8800GTX it still uses more power, runs hotter and is much louder under load.

What ATI need more than anything right now is a die shrink.

willhub · 14 May 2007 at 14:04

Whats all this about an 8800GTS640 been better than an HD2900XT when most results including Gibbos show it almost as fast as a GTX / a few frames faster in some of the benchmarks I think and sometimes allot slower than a GTS 640 which would proberbly be down to driver problems.

Yea sure it uses more power than the 8800GTX, but its as cheap as a GTS and performs near a GTX lol.

neo202020 · 14 May 2007 at 14:06

willhub said:
Whats all this about an 8800GTS640 been better than an HD2900XT when most results including Gibbos show it almost as fast as a GTX / a few frames faster in some of the benchmarks I think and sometimes allot slower than a GTS 640 which would proberbly be down to driver problems.

Yea sure it uses more power than the 8800GTX, but its as cheap as a GTS and performs near a GTX lol.

Near a GTX? It gets owned in everything but artificial benchmarks by a GTS640MB of all things.

Tute · 14 May 2007 at 14:06

Dutch Guy said:
I don't think there has ever been a driver release that boosted the performance by more than 25% while keeping the same IQ, or has there been one?

Even if the HD2900XT would get a much needed boost thru drivers and gets the same performance as a 8800GTX it still uses more power, runs hotter and is much louder under load.

What ATI need more than anything right now is a die shrink.

I think these are a shrink, from the 90nm of the X1950 to the 80nm of the 2900XT.

Unless you mean another die shrink?

Cyber-Mav · 14 May 2007 at 14:09

they need to move over to 45nm or something to get that power consumption under 100w.

Competitor rules

*** The Official HD2900XT Thread ***

* The Official HD2900XT Thread *