7900GTX

[ctjoyce]

So I just got back home from a trip to the local computer parts store, where I got my hands on a 7900GTX. The card may be the current "King" however its poorly designed. The eVGA card they were letting people hold was VERY heavy. I mean you could definately tell the difference between the X1900XTX and this. Also the thing that truely turned me off to this card was the poorly designed heatsink. Its all alluminum, and dual slot, thus unless you go out and buy Zalman VPS700Cu's or watercool it, its going to be very impractable for SLi, esp Quad SLi where board space is at a premium. The 7900GT isn't that bad though. About the same size sink as the X1300Pro, and has a really nice fan on it to. As for gameplay (HL Lost Coast) they had two systems set up (they also run LAN turneys out of the shop so its the two guys who moderate rigs). The difference between the cards is absolutely not there. Yes if you go into the consol the 7900 is getting about 7FPS more, but when both are pulling about 135FPS you dont really notice it.

Anyway even though I am a ATi fanboy (and alawaies will be) Im looking at getting a eVGA 7900GT. For only $300 its not a bad upgrade, and I am getting pretty fed up with ATi's lack of OpenGL support. If I end up switching I'll post some benchmarks.

Cheers
Cameron

[candle_86]

the heatsink on the referance card is the 7800 GTX 512 card. Reason is this card should have alot of room. The die shrink meant it could go faster than the 650 its at. Should get around 750 easy on stock. As for the dual part its not that bad, the quad sli from what im told use single slot cooling of some sort, but are massive.

[ctjoyce]

This is the 7900GTX and this is a Quad SLi board. See how the cooler on the 7900GTX is going to be a hastle? Even on regular SLi when the cards are only spaced one slot apart sinks this big are going to be waay to big. So as a single card setup I could see it being fine, but if I were to use the 7900 series for SLi, Ide use the GT insted of the GTX.

Cheers
Cameron

[candle_86]

Nvidia intends to release a specifc card intended for quad SLI setup. Thats there offical press. As for making quad SLI work only the power users with big screens will do it. An FX-60 with 4gb of ram isn't fast enough for 4 cards, unless you can display massive resoloution. I might do quad SLI with my enlistment bonus of 40 grand, but only the 7900gt's and reason is my friend is trading his 7800gt from eVga up for a 7900gt and then buying another. So I need somin to shut him up. I should be done with boot camp in about 3 1/2 months and I'm taking bonus as a lump sum, so I'll get the rig when im done, i gotta go in like 1 month

[Hai Perso Coyone?]

I hate ATi...don't ask why....cuz I won't answer

[ctjoyce]

Why ashar? *grabs led pipe*

Cheers
Cameron

[candle_86]

I hate ATI for several reasons. There tech's are rude, they suck at openGL, the 60+ driver dont work wiht CS 1.6 and there not based in America

[ctjoyce]

I hate ATI for several reasons. There tech's are rude

Never Had a problem with that

they suck at openGL,

Okay you are right there.

the 60+ driver dont work wiht CS 1.6 and there not based in America

Okay, so the newest drivers dont work with older games. Use any of the 5 series and your fine. And so what their not based in America? Theirs alot of companies that arn't based in america that still turn out great product. So does hateing non american companys make you byassed or raceist?

Cheers
Cameron

[candle_86]

im not racist, but I sopport American Compaines, I'm American. I buy from AMD, Nvidia, Chaintech, eVga, or Leadtek as there headquaters are in US. If i feel its my duty to support American bussiness, its good for the economy

[wealthysoup]

I hate ATI for several reasons.

Yeah,

1.Their support sucks (my old 9800 pro i told them that things like power supply werent the problem (550W)and they came back and said in their list of suggestions, something along the lines of 9800 pro needs 350w power supply to run effectively. idiots)Also eliminated several other things that weren't affecting it and they told me to try them not to mention that their reply took 2/3 weeks


2. from sapphires email (Please make sure that there is enough cooling of the card and the fan is running smoothly.) Sure they sdhould have proper cooling out of the box.

3. Card was over heating, but do you think they told me that might be the problem :-/ (except for what they said in 2. which i explained there)

but anyway these are my own personal experiences and after 6 months of gfx card crashes i took it back to the  shop and replaced it with a 6600gt, no problems since.
first and last time I buy an ati card, nvidia all the way now, and ive got half decent open gl  :o

these are my own experiences but to me if you can't get decent tech suport why waste your money on their products.

[candle_86]

I fully agree there. My mom had a Radeon DDR back in the day. I think the tech was reading a standard list of what might be wrong. Same thing when I bought a 9600 Pro from ATI its self. Same problem the fan stopped working, I sent it back under warranty, they told me it wasn't under warranty because the fan was damanged and they couldn't replace it. Then told me that somehow i had to do with the fan going bust up. Bought a 5900xt and this Radeon 7000 PCI is the first ATI card sense then, and i got it used so i dont care.

[congo]

If i feel its my duty to support American bussiness, its good for the economy

Can we get this guy banned on grounds of political content please? Or at least nuisance factor?

Edit: oops, that took long enough to slip out......

[candle_86]

Congo I support a country I live in, I see nothing wrong with that, do you. As for my advice if you do the research I have on gpu, and cpu info you would know that what I type is right. I spend hours reading review after review, after review of a product. I only tell people what is good, and if I don't recmomend your choice then no need to get rude about it. I havn't been rude to you at all. I came here to share my insites and get to know people. I'm sorry you don't agree with my views. But please do go compare what I say with real world reviews other than toms and you will find I give the correct info. If you are offended taht I should dare contradict me then be offended but no one on any other forum has ever gone wrong with my advice and I usally get high praise. On http://winvistasecrets.com those people 99% follow my advice and get excatly what they wanted, I get pm's in my in box for info. So I ask you agian why are you rude to me when I have done nothing to you?

[Brett_Henderson]

Hardware expertise is vague enough and some people have tunnel-vission and lose sight of the big picture (most computer/performance for the $$ and time (time being a big variable, as sometimes we get lost and spend countless hours getting minimal returns in performance)).

I'm still of the school that a novice (starting with nothing) is best served buying a super-sale-special-price pre-built machine with the processor he wants and then "learn as you go" upgrading. The CPU, RAM, optical-drives, hard-drives, case.. etc.

[candle_86]

[quote]Hardware expertise is vague enough and some people have tunnel-vission and lose sight of the big picture (most computer/performance for the $$ and time (time being a big variable, as sometimes we get lost and spend countless hours getting minimal returns in performance)).

I'm still of the school that a novice (starting with nothing) is best served buying a super-sale-special-price pre-built machine with the processor he wants and then "learn as you go" upgrading. The CPU, RAM, optical-drives, hard-drives, case.. etc.