Which graphics card to buy?

Which card to go for?

  • AIT Radeon X1950 Sapphire

    Votes: 5 45.5%

  • Nvidia GeForce 7900GT

    Votes: 6 54.5%
  • Total voters
    11
MagpieRacer

MagpieRacer

Premium
17,936
England
Wymondham, Norfolk
Seagull_Racer
I have narrowed it down to 2, both within budget and I am looking to buy one within a month. Do I go for the Nvidia 7900GT, or the ATI Radeon X1950 sapphire?
 
I have a Radeon X1950 and I can run all my games comfortably at max settings, the card is abit big, but nothing harrowing.

I got a score of 5000 ish on 3d benchmark 06.
 
What memory sizes are the cards you looking at?

The X1950 would probably be the best performer there... Depends on the other specs of your system, because you don't want bottlenecking to happen.
 
I run a 7900GT, works great for every game I've played (but you do have to turn down the grass on Oblivion...a lot). Something to look into - if you were to get a eVGA 7900GT, you can trade them in to upgrade. You may want to look into that.
 
Ebiggs
I run a 7900GT, works great for every game I've played (but you do have to turn down the grass on Oblivion...a lot). Something to look into - if you were to get a eVGA 7900GT, you can trade them in to upgrade. You may want to look into that.
Click to expand...

X1950 is winning so far if what you say is true. It can run everything on max.
 
Gen.
X1950 is winning so far if what you say is true. It can run everything on max.
Click to expand...

Well, the grass thing is most likely my processor really. Oblivion has a ton of grass and each individual blade moves in the wind. I don't think the graphics card is responsible for any of that.

Even 8800s can have some trouble with Oblivion. The X1950 isn't going to be much different than the 7900GT. I think the general rule is that ATi cards produce slightly nicer looking graphics whereas an equivalent nVidia card will perform slightly better. Honestly, you need an 8800GTS 640MB at least to run Oblivion at full settings. And likely an overclocked C2D unless you turn down the grass draw distance.
 
Don't expect perfection in Oblivion no matter the hardware. that game is brutal on hardware.

8800GTX's can have trouble with it, and SLI'ed 8800GTX's would bottleneck any processor today.

I say go for the 7900GT, but I have seen great performance from the x1950. I just say you should go for eVGA 7900GT. Sapphire... booo.
 
standard235
Don't expect perfection in Oblivion no matter the hardware. that game is brutal on hardware.

8800GTX's can have trouble with it, and SLI'ed 8800GTX's would bottleneck any processor today.

I say go for the 7900GT, but I have seen great performance from the x1950. I just say you should go for eVGA 7900GT. Sapphire... booo.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why the 8800GTX w/SLI wouldn't work with today's highest processors. Can you shed some light on that? Plus, why did it come out with DVI outs? Haven't they heard of HDMI? Is DVI better than VGA? Two outs for two monitors, right?
 
Allianz
I have narrowed it down to 2, both within budget and I am looking to buy one within a month. Do I go for the Nvidia 7900GT, or the ATI Radeon X1950 sapphire?
Click to expand...

Both should be fine, unless you're planning to play Oblivion, which is where the ATI pulls ahead.
 
Solid Lifters
I don't understand why the 8800GTX w/SLI wouldn't work with today's highest processors. Can you shed some light on that? Plus, why did it come out with DVI outs? Haven't they heard of HDMI? Is DVI better than VGA? Two outs for two monitors, right?
Click to expand...

It will work, its just that you won't be getting the full potential out of them because your processor be limiting your performance.

Why DVI? How many monitors have HDMI input? Yes, DVI is better than VGA, as its a digital signal.
 
This may be a silly question, but have you checked that you have a PCI-E slot?
 
My friend has an XFX 7900GT and stuff looks pretty good. He can run FEAR, BF2 and other crap on pretty much full settings.
 
Isn't it amazing how fast these games of today evolved? Like, where's the time we used to play games on our newest computers with the latest ATI Radeon 32 mb RAM graphics card :lol:
 
Eh, I wouldn't support getting that particular card. Never heard of the brand...Try to find an eVGA, XFX, or Leadtek. BFG and MSI are pretty good too from what I've heard. XFX likes to overclock things, so you can probably find a factory overclocked one from them.
 
Oh my god, don't buy a factory overclocked card. If you want higher clocks, buy a aftermarket cooler for it with some Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Paste and overclock with Riva Tuner or nTune.

Factory OC is worthless. Spending money for something that takes 20mins.
 
Ebiggs
Eh, I wouldn't support getting that particular card. Never heard of the brand...Try to find an eVGA, XFX, or Leadtek. BFG and MSI are pretty good too from what I've heard. XFX likes to overclock things, so you can probably find a factory overclocked one from them.
Click to expand...

From what I have read Gainward Bliss are pretty good.

And I have no idea what difference it makes so if you could let me know what the difference between different brands is I would be very grateful.:)
 
Allianz
From what I have read Gainward Bliss are pretty good.

And I have no idea what difference it makes so if you could let me know what the difference between different brands is I would be very grateful.:)
Click to expand...

There probably won't be any noticeable differences in performance, but some brands will have better quality than others. Technical support and warranties vary sometimes too. You don't want to buy a cheaper brand of a card and then find out that the guy on their tech support line just began his lessons on the English language when the card messes up.

And the factory overclocked card has a warranty, as opposed to a card you would overclock yourself...
 
I have been told that a 7950GT 512mb would bottleneck my 2.8ghz, 1gb ram pc.

First off, is it true, and 2nd off what is bottlenecking?:D
 
Yes, it probably would bottleneck.

It means when your CPU cannot keep up with the processes the GPU is making, because it is a much newer and advanced card than the era of the Pentium 4. So what will happen is the card's performance will be lowered so the CPU can keep up, so you don't want to waste your money on a super-card when you will get exactly the same performance from a cheaper once. Unless, of course, you're thinking of upgrading your CPU in the future.
 
thanks James, so could you recommend me a good card that could run games like rFactor on high graphics?
 
A 7800 or 7600GT would probably work well for you. You can get a 7600GT for under $130 last I checked. 7800s step into the $200 range.
 
Well, in the end I have opted for a 7300GS, does the jobs I want it to do so its all good:) £60 it cost.
 

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