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X1900XT Question

speeduk said:
The x1900 is a fine card.But it runs hot and drains your system.The stock cooler is unacceptable (overtime)

The stock cooler on the x1900 is unacceptable? How?

I would get a better PSU anyway for a new system - never skimp on the PSU. Then you could just get the x1900.

If the x1900 is what you fancy then don't let anyone put you off mate its a cracking card even if it does need a bit more power.

No problems with my x1900 @ 670/780 and opty 144 @ 2.8ghz on a cheap hiper 580w (I was skint when I bought the hiper lol).

Easy you make the x1900 seem like a totally crap card. Drains the system? My psu is just about the cheapest you can get of the decent branded ones and it runs fine.

Edit: Also the 7900 is not out right faster than the x1900. Its faster in some games and slower in others.

Smoother ? How?

Quieter? I can't even hear my x1900..........
Click to expand...

His (the op) has a good PSU to run a 7900 GTX

I don't think upgrading his PSU to satisfy X1900 is the way to go.

This will cost him more money.

Have the same performance (Its faster in some games and slower in others.)

The case he wants has a PSU.

With the 7900gtx this is fine.,

sound level is subjective.But The X1900 is loud.


To the OP: plop a 7900 GT or GTX in your new Sonanta II case and enjoy.
 
easyrider said:
His (the op) has a good PSU to run a 7900 GTX

I don't think upgrading his PSU to satisfy X1900 is the way to go.

This will cost him more money.

Have the same performance (Its faster in some games and slower in others.)

The case he wants has a PSU.

With the 7900gtx this is fine.,

sound level is subjective.But The X1900 is loud.


To the OP: plop a 7900 GT or GTX in your new Sonanta II case and enjoy.
Click to expand...


Well you make a good point but the way you go about it has a lot to be desired.

I wouldnt run my rig on a 450w psu that comes with a case (even a 7900) but easy is right in that the 7900 has more of a chance of running on that 450w.

And LOL @ sound level is subjective but the x1900 is loud. In your opinion it is loud then.....Have you heard one while playing games?
 
speeduk said:
Well you make a good point but the way you go about it has a lot to be desired.

I wouldnt run my rig on a 450w psu that comes with a case (even a 7900) but easy is right in that the 7900 has more of a chance of running on that 450w.

And LOL @ sound level is subjective but the x1900 is loud. In your opinion it is loud then.....Have you heard one while playing games?
Click to expand...


Agreed speeduk.I could have made it better :)

No I wear headphones. but on idle it irritates (music etc..)
 
The X1900XTX is a great card. Even better with the "This Week Only" deals.
Getting a quality PSU is always a good idea.
Th price difference between the X1900XTX & similar speed 7900GTX is huge (you can easily get a better PSU for less than the difference).
Besides there are NO 7900GTX cards avialable, & the 7900 GT is way slower.

Anyway the Antec Smart Power PSU's are good ones & a 450W Antec PSU should cope with a X1900XTX & more.
 
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speeduk said:
The stock cooler on the x1900 is unacceptable? How?

I would get a better PSU anyway for a new system - never skimp on the PSU. Then you could just get the x1900.

If the x1900 is what you fancy then don't let anyone put you off mate its a cracking card even if it does need a bit more power.

No problems with my x1900 @ 670/780 and opty 144 @ 2.8ghz on a cheap hiper 580w (I was skint when I bought the hiper lol).

Easy you make the x1900 seem like a totally crap card. Drains the system? My psu is just about the cheapest you can get of the decent branded ones and it runs fine.

Edit: Also the 7900 is not out right faster than the x1900. Its faster in some games and slower in others.

Smoother ? How?

Quieter? I can't even hear my x1900..........
Click to expand...

LOL Just realised I have the same PSU as it was put in by the people who built my PC. I was concerned as although its a type R it was cheap. Oh yes and my point like you it runs my x1900xt-x just fine. :)
 
Good comments, some say yes, some no, some go for Nvidia. About what I expected really! The question is though, who has a X1900XT and what power supply do you use?

Sounds to me like ditching the Sonata II/ smartpower combi though which will add at least £30 to the build cost but better safe than sorry!
 
fornowagain said:
That depends on your budget. The best is PCP&C (I use a 510, nothing comes close), but they are very expensive and difficult to find. OCZ powerstream 600. Seasonic S12-600W. FSP Epsilon. Enermax. Tagan. Pretty much in that order. Get more than you need, you never know the upgrade needs. And it won't cost any more to run.

This DFI thread is a good guide.
Click to expand...

Umm tbh I didn't want to spend more than about £60. That leaves me with the following main choices:
Enermax 485w
Seasonic 430w
Akasa 460w
Hiper type r 580w
OCZ Modstream 450w
FSP sparkle 500w

I'm assuming the best one in terms of quality is the Seasonic folllowed by the OCZ? The Hiper has the largest combined 12v rails at 38a with 360w but I have heard they are really noisey.
 
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I agree MG42Maniac, that list is pretty much what I came up with, except I was also looking at the Tagan U22 or U15.

Your £60 budget is about what I had in mind which was why the Sonata was such an attractive deal - basically a case for free!!

Hiper is currently in top position on my list...
 
nands said:
I agree MG42Maniac, that list is pretty much what I came up with, except I was also looking at the Tagan U22 or U15.

Your £60 budget is about what I had in mind which was why the Sonata was such an attractive deal - basically a case for free!!

Hiper is currently in top position on my list...
Click to expand...

You're spending money unnecessarily.

The antec sontata II with the 450 PSU is fine.

For the 7900GTX.

The HIPER is no better quality wise.In fact the PSU that comes with the case is probably better. :confused:
 
I don't think I am wasting money, the Powercolor X1900XT is currently £239.95 + VAT, but the cheapest 7900GTX is over £300 + VAT. The whole thing is new build so I have not bought the Sonata yet.
 
MG42Maniac said:
The Hiper has the largest combined 12v rails at 38a with 360w but I have heard they are really noisey.
Click to expand...
360W is 30A, the values given for the rail outputs are the maximum for each rail without any load connect to the other rail. You can't use the sum of the currents. Look for the combined wattage for the sum of the currents 12v1+12v2 etc and divide by the line voltage.
 
Looking at it like that then, the Enermax Noisetaker 485W gives 384W ( 32A ) on 12V (according to the website). The instruction also state it can run "150W performance and 75W mainstream PCI Express x16 graphics cards".

That would make it more than man enough for the job (wouldn't it) and at £44.95 + VAT a real bargain. Or am I talking rubbish?
 
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nands said:
Hi, my first post, greetings to you all!

I am in the middle of an upgrade dilema - I want a X1900XT and a Sonanta II case, which has a 450W power supply. Does anyone have this combo? Is it stable? I am not planning on having too much else in the box (2 HDDs, 2 DVDs, 2GB RAM and a 3700 Athlon 64). I am paranoid about the wattage issue on the X1900XT!

Tanks for you help.
Click to expand...

Well I'm running this on an Antec Truepower 430w psu thats only got 20A's on the 12v rail. I think !
Running 1 Samsung spinpoint 80gb hd and 1 DVD rewriter + an overclocked Opteron and it all runs fine for me.
 
nands said:
Interesting that Yorkshirepadd, what are you testing it with, any games pushing the card at all?
Click to expand...


Been playing Doom 3 at ultra settings and AGE of empires 3 with all the eye candy on Looks awsome. :D

Just bought FEAR at lunchtime and I'll give it a go when I get home around 5ish,

Been benchmarking with 3dmark 05 and got around 11800 marks, and 3dmark 06 have been getting around 5500 marks but i've not really set the system up and tweaked it yet.

I didn't like 3dmark 03 at all which is odd, It ran the first 2 tests then jumped straight back to windows with no errors or anything !

I may do a full HD format and a clean install of windows as i've not done that on over 12months + i've installed Xp pro over the top of Xp home version. I've probably got various stupid old drivers that programs clogging the whole system up.

I'll report back *** this evening how FEAR is,

Cheers
 
Sounds good to me, maybe I am back to where I was at the beginning of this thread! Anyway I would be interested in how FEAR goes. Playing it at 640x480 with most seeting turned down was not fun - I put that game on hold!
 
MG42Maniac said:
Umm tbh I didn't want to spend more than about £60. That leaves me with the following main choices:
Enermax 485w
Seasonic 430w
Akasa 460w
Hiper type r 580w
OCZ Modstream 450w
FSP sparkle 500w

I'm assuming the best one in terms of quality is the Seasonic folllowed by the OCZ? The Hiper has the largest combined 12v rails at 38a with 360w but I have heard they are really noisey.
Click to expand...

Hmm...

Enermax noisetaker 485w - 2x 12v lines (18A & 15A, 33A total)
Seasonic 430w - 2x 12v Lines (15A & 14A, 29A total)
Hiper Type R 580w - 2x 12v Lines (20A & 18A, 38A total)
OCZ Modstream 450w - 1x 12v Line (28A total)
FSP sparkle 500w - 2x 12v Lines (?A & ?A, ??A total)
Tagan U22 580w SLI - 2x 12v Lines (20A & 20A, 40A Total)

Looking at them, its between the Tagan and Hiper Type R. Both 580w and nearly the same A output.

More details:

Tagan U22 580w SLI - £73.97

3.3v @ 28A, 5v @ 48A and 2x 12v lines @ 20A each...


Hiper Type R 580w - £62.22

3.3v @ 30A, 5v @ 36A and 2x 12v lines @ 20A / 18A...

For the extra £11.77, Id go with the Tagan ;) Its a great psu, mate of mine swears by it using CF and SLI setup's to other psu's like the OCZ powerstream 600w that he has tried out the in the past.

It amazes me that someone wants to buy top notch hardware like a X1900 XT or FX etc and buts wants to power them with a 'cheap, decent' psu. If this psu cant handle the load and fails, it can take your £300 and £600 cpu with it.

The PSU is an area of any new pc build that should be looked at first. Good money should be spent in this area then build the system around that. Even if it makes you have to down grade your cpu from a X2 4200+ to a X2 3800+ for instance because your on a budget, so be it, its worth it for a higher chance of your PSU not failing ;)
 
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