X-bit labs

Started by: Moe Szyslak | Date 09/11/07

Comments: 42 | Last Comment:  01/10/08

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1. The 8800 Ultra still blows the 2900 out of the water in a single card set-up. Which brings me to a flaw in this review. You show the 2900 in CF but you don't show the 8800 in SLI. Not really fair now, is it?

Sure, but 8800 sli gives you a different price tag. 2x 8800 ultra is considerably faster than 2900 in cf, but at what price ?

Well you can't really get two 8800 cards to run in VISTA stably now can you? You want it to be fair tell NV to fix their drivers. I'm glad ATI spent the time to provide better drivers for Vista, but I would have liked a little bit better hardware. C'mon guys, some more texture units, yeah. Don't cripple your hardware with lack of texture units again and again.

Nah wait I don't really care I'm sticking with XP for now ^_^ as is 80% of the people out there. My 1950GT will be fine for now till the next set of graphics cards comes around.

2. Um, did you two guys read why they didn't have SLi in their setup?

I think you have a flaw in your reading of this review.

"As for Nvidia’s multi-GPU solutions, the support of SLI technology in Windows Vista is deficient so far despite the release of an appropriate patch by Microsoft. We installed that patch but could not enable SLI mode on our test computer."

My bad *Bows head in shame*

It's alright. *gives cookie*

3. Why the hell would you test with the 7.7 drivers? We were ALL using the 7.8s at the time this article was written. Actually today I'm using the 7.9s that came out yesterday and they fixed a huge amount of performance issues since the 7.7s. As far as I'm concerned this article is all ready out of date.

They should test with the 7.9s. AMD has made huge strides since those crappy 7.7s.

Ha, I'm using Catalyst 5.1 for my X800

4. Got to say I would love to see the performance differences that the new 7.9 drivers would give. I'm still amused by the decision to make a 1GB graphics card as 512 is more than enough. Running 2x 1gb in CF just seems ludicrous to me. Interesting article tho, but get those 7.9 drivers in there and give ATI a redo. They slipped up after AMD played buyup but they're getting better.

yes, 7.9 drivers please.
also show 8800GTS SLI if you can.

It appears you didn't read my other comment: "As for Nvidia’s multi-GPU solutions, the support of SLI technology in Windows Vista is deficient so far despite the release of an appropriate patch by Microsoft. We installed that patch but could not enable SLI mode on our test computer."

Taken directly from the review. SLi can NOT be done under Vista with their test system.

why use windows vista at all?
xp please, i want to see amd crossfire (with their latest drivers) vs ultra sli...in glorious 2560x1600

Because Vista is the Only OS with DX10

5. Those drivers are obsolete, from what July? Well, considering you probably started on this project around then, i guess i'll give you a break, but i'm sure you and i know if you used the 7.9 ATI CCC drivers most of the performance hits would be gone. Hopefully! :)

6. it's great that xbitlabs finally review in 2560x1600 resolution.

i am just wondering why the heck didn't they use the latest amd driver 7.9?

where is the ultra sli result?

I already made the mistake of saying that a second time, please no 3rd.
basically
they didn't get SLi to work in vista.

7. latest patch for company of heroes should be 1.71.

thanks

8. AMD/ATi should decrease its price level for Radeon HD 2xxx series to compete against nVidia 8xxx series domination. Otherwise, AMD will always be a market follower. Hopefully a new generation from ATi would be unveiled soon enough : Faster clock for core, memory and shader ; Lower power consumption and lower noise level ; Greater performance and more stable (no drivers handicap) ; and packed with lower price. I'm an Indonesian and sorry for my English. Regards for all hardware freaks.

"Lower power consumption and lower noise level ; Greater performance and more stable (no drivers handicap) "

Its already here! ---> *Looks at his 8800GTX*

;-)

And NO SLI for Vista, HAHHAHAHAHAA

9. To all those defending the lack of SLI testing in this review with the Vista limitation excuse. This review is both outdated AND lacking.
1. Besides support for DX10, Vista is still buggy and slow compared to XP.
2. Less than 10% of world wide Windows installations on home computers (gamers) are on Vista. Thus, XP is still the standard Windows OS!
3. Catalyst 7.8 was indeed available at the time this review was written, and 7.9 was released a couple of days ago. nvidia have also released a beta ForceWare 163.xx which could solve the SLI problem on Vista.

My conclusion of this review - a very small and none fair perspective of the current comparison between the involved models.

Considering you are an nVIDIA freak, I would no doubt say that you consider this unfair.

@Mr. DonDon - are actually totally wrong. I read this review with the hope of finding some thorough and objective info, and I was disappointed. I'm not an nVIDIA freak, nor an ATI freak. I always look for the best card for my uses and budget. When the GeForce 7950GT came out there was a lot of hype around it about finally getting a price/performance optimized card. I gladly looked through that hype and found that the Radeon 1950XT gives better performance at the same price range, and that what I bought (and still using).

Now, dear DonDon, how does jumping into wrong conclusions feels? Maybe your logic is clouded because you're an ATI freak and look for every chance to jump into ATI's defense when someone supposedly says something against ATI?

10. Wow! It really sucks to be an R600 owner of any kind. Unless you'd like fapping to its rotated gridcore and 512-bit mem controller.

I feel for the poor souls (uninformed and/or in denial fanboys) owning one of these.

You know, now that I think of it the rotated grid gpu core of the R600 sereves a good purpose. You can remove the cooler and actually make a lip-lock with the rotated core and think of all the eperformance deficiencies it has but you still love it dearly.

It fits that purpose properly you know CUZ ITS EFFING RTATED AND HAS 512BIT INTERNALZ MEM CONTROLLERZZZ!!!!

Cheers!

:b

11. RAWRCAKES

12. Wow, X-Bit Labs really outdid itself this time! I can't remember the last time I've seen so many benchmarks for a graphics card review. I can't say this wasn't expected though, the NVidia's 8800 Ultra is king of single-card performance but the sweet spot for price/performance in the high-end segment is still the Radeon HD2900 XT with 512MB, specially under Windows Vista where NVidia's drivers are still poor.

13. Nincompoops. Pay 800 for a broken multi-gpu crossfire setup, or simply buy a 8800GTX for 500, overclock it to Ultra speeds, and blast away anything AMD has to offer. Pair it with an Intel CPU for even better performance.
Unless AMD receives multi-billion dollar grants from some cancer charity, they are going down the drain.

14. >>A CrossFire tandem made out of two ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT cards is quite a different thing. Costing about $800-1000, which is comparable to the price of a GeForce 8800 Ultra

15. AAA with catalyst 7.7 = transparency super sampling AA
AAA with catalyst 7.9 = transparency mutli sampling AA

So you testet ATi TRSSAA vs NV TRMSAA?


It seems that the Quality mode with G80 is now quite similar to AI standard. There should be no need to choose High Quality. In fact its wrong because Nvidia cards have to render a better image than Ati cards.


I'm really looking forward to an imagequality comparision.

16. I've got a p5n-e and two 8800GTS 162.22 drivers that run sli mode in vista 64bit. My FPS is a little less then 2x in most games since adding in the 2nd card. I'd guess that the reviewers need to keep trying and not give up so easily ;)

17. I've had good experience with using ATI card and I'm currently using the x1950pro. I find nvidia product cycle is too fast. in the long term, benefiting only the company, not the consumer's pocket.

Nevertheless, I won't even think of buying the R600 series card. I think the AMD merging and possibly some other internal disturbance really ruined this potentially great product. I do praise nvidia for their comparatively better effort in DX10 cards.

In the end, there is no reasonable priced DX10 cards out there. If I want high tech, I'll put my money on a PS3. I reckon PS3 is still the most powerful machine a consumer can purchase.

i agree ps 3is wayy better soln. than buying all those DX10 graphic cards

18. I don't see the reason you used the catalyst 7.7beta while we're in Catalyst 7.9.

From I've read, it's a big difference.

Yes, Catalyst 7.8 boosted Radeon HD 2600 performance, but not much in 2900XT. 7.9 may have boosted performance in all though.

19. Also one thing not picked up by anyone is the use of the DFI LanParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G mainboard which everyone knows only supports 2) x8 Pci express and the memory controller is not as efficient as the intel 975x. I would like to see a repeat of this review done with an X38 / X48 chipset for some dual x16 action. I have been an ATI fan since my first Mach 32 512KB GPU but this whole AMD hostile takeover has left me with the feeling of someone pissing on my back and trying to tell me it's raining.

20. "Costing about $800-1000, which is comparable to the price of a GeForce 8800 Ultra"

Let me correct those prices if you don't mind. A pair of Diamond Viper cards (1 Gb) will cost you 1040$ while a Geforce 8800 Ultra will cost you 600$ (current prices on www.newegg.com).

That makes the Geforce 8800 Ultra a lot more attractive if you ask me. Considering the fact that you don't have to buy a new and expensive PSU (unless it's too old).

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