New GPU - Money no object (well €700.00)

Robertr

Hi,

Somehow I am after wrecking my ATI X850 XT PE. I fitted a new Atric cooler and all went well until I turned it back on and the screen was covered in white blocks (right from power on). Fails to "initiate renderer" if I try to run a game. It al takes about 5 minutes to log in. I must have hit off something but I took is all appart and back together again but no good.:mad: :mad:

The cooler is working great though:rolleyes:

So where does that leave me, well not I need a new one.

I want an Nvidia 7900GTX 512mb but I cant seem to get one anywhere for a few weeks. I wnat it in the next two days. Anyone know where I'll get one now?

Would I be better getting a new Mobo and an SLI setup? Could I do that for €700.00.

My current spec is below:

XPS Gen 4
Processor: Pentium 4 3.73 Ghz Extreme Edition
Memory: 2 GB PC-4200 Dual Channel
Harddrive: 250GB SATA & 250GB EIDE Harddrive (500 Total)
Graphics: ATI Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition (BUSTED)
Sound: Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS 7.1
Drive: 16x DVD+/-RW
Monitor: 20" Ultrasharp Flat Panel with soundbar
Keyboard: Logitech G15
Mouse: Logitech G5
Speakers: Creative 7900

8T8

Try contacting the the vendor who is marked as the seller of the X850 XT-PE they all come from the same factory but the potential RMA would be with the vendor e.g MSI, Sapphire etc

Top end GPU for running with lots of AA/AF at high resolutions is the X1900XT-X for a dual GPU setup NVIDIA's SLI is better. The difference between the 7900GTX and X1900XT-X isnt huge they trade places for number one spot in different games but the X1900XT-X is readily available.

If you are set on the 7900GTX Dabs say they will have some in a few days it seems so it might be worth watching what comes into stock.

SLI for €700 I'd say maybe 2x7900GT's would fit in the budget as to whether they are worth it against a single X1900XT-X is a tricky one, the 7900GT is basically the same as the 7800GTX 256MB edition so the 7800GTX SLI scores in this review which also has the X1900XT-X featured should be a decent enough guide to judge against.

Of course the ATI GPU has the advantage of AA+HDR lighting plus a few other tricks under its bonnet that future games will make use of.

mewso

The latest Crossfire board seems to be a viable option now with a nice affordable X1800GTO and another one once the 6.5 Catylst come out but then everyones SLI mad these days aren't they.

Edit - Scratch that I see you have an Intel CPU.

8T8

You can do Crossfire with Intel CPU's, ATI I believe support certain Intel chipsets although I'd double check that but ATI do sell their own Intel Crossfire chipset.

However ATI's Crossfire isn't that great and does not scale as well as NVIDIA's it also lacks support for user added profiles so if a game isn't supported by Crossfire there is no way to add support for it unlike NVIDIA's system. Also ATI's default supertile mode if no game profile is present doesn't really improve performance and only works with Direct3D no OpenGL support.

If you want the absolute best in performance I'd say the 7900GT in SLI just about takes it but if your monitor cant go higher than 1280x1024 then a dual GPU setup is pointless as in general it will not be any faster then a X1900XT-X.

mewso

Are you referring to the new Crossfire chipset per my link?

8T8

Sort of, Crossfire support for Intel CPU's is there on the older models as well it's just that ATI's motherboard retail presence is very small so its not easy to get hold of the older motherboards let alone the latest ones, Komplett have an older one based of RD400.

The whole true x16 slot thing for both ATI & NVIDIA doesnt really make a difference at all thats just marketing hype though it doesnt hurt either.


It's all in the driver there is nothing stopping NVIDIA or ATI letting SLI/Crossfire work on any Intel,ULI,VIA,SIS,ATI,NVIDIA motherboard other than their own desire to sell as many of their own chipsets as possible which seems to be working. ATI only let Crossfire on Intel work to try and one-up NVIDIA which failed as NVIDIA hasnt moved an inch in this area and knows it has the upper hand with the more mature solution.

Confirmation on ATI's Crossfire FAQ in that the Intel i955X and i975 are Crossfire compatible.

Robertr

Either way, not going ATI again.

Any other online shops that might have the 7900 GTX in stock?

Robertr

8T8 wrote:

Try contacting the the vendor who is marked as the seller of the X850 XT-PE they all come from the same factory but the potential RMA would be with the vendor e.g MSI, Sapphire etc

It came in the Dell system but I'm sure I screwed up any warranty when I fitted the new heatsink

Robertr

Change of heart. I read a few reviews and decided to go with the 1900XTX after all.

This one:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=317430

Reason why I'm in such a rush is that I'm right in the middle of Oblivion at the moment so needed something very good very quickly:)

8T8

Robertr wrote:

Either way, not going ATI again.

Any other online shops that might have the 7900 GTX in stock?

None that I know of they sold out their initial shipments and are awaiting restock, Komplett are saying the 12th of this month for XFX 7900GTX parts to come into stock.

If you want something right away two 7900GT's in SLI will set you back there-abouts €350 a piece so thats your €700 budget but you also need to tack on another [roughly] €100 for the Intel nForce 4 SLI motherboard (or just get one 7900GT + motherboard and add another 7900GT when you have the cash).

Either that or simply wait for a 7900GTX.

Edit: Some interesting Oblivion benchmarks here show the X1900XT-X owning everything but in dual GPU setup NVIDIA SLI pulls out ahead even against the dual X1900XT parts.

Azza

Hey 8T8 did you spot in the Oblivion readme it states that Crossfire does not work with Oblivion until ATI releases a new driver. Its odd because crossfire shows an increase in performance according to the charts....which makes me wonder weather its working or not properly in it?

8T8

Either they were given pre-release drivers or its working in Suprertile mode which could explain why it trails the NVIDIA SLI setups but in single GPU mode it is king of the hill.

christophicus

Intels 975x is the chipset that supports crossfire although it is no where as competative as the ati 580( at least i think its the 580 thts out now) mobos.Personally i would go for the ATI solution as the x1900xtx is suppost to be a good bit better then the 7900gtx.

Azza

8T8 check that site with the performance review of Oblivion. They ran Crossfire and got it to work properly. In out door area's it out performs the 7900GTX in SLI but in door area's it does not. Interestingly it noted texture tearing in crossfire but I noticed graphical problems running just one x1900xtx.

Also ati have a beta catalyst driver 6.3 that allows you to run both HDR and AA in Oblivion.

All x1000 series users can get the patch here
http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=21960

Note crossfire is still not working 100% properly yet. Should be fixed with next driver. ATI just threw this beta out to look more competitve in dual gpu configuration.

8T8

Just posted that in the Oblivion game thread so yeah that is a nice one from ATI and mister "Chuck".

Some screenshots are on Rage3D.