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Thread: X1800XT Versus 7800 GTX 256mb (and watercooling)

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    Lovely chap dangel's Avatar
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    X1800XT Versus 7800 GTX 256mb (and watercooling)

    I thought this might interest some, particularly after all the debate some months back where we were all told how much better the X1800XT was by all and sundry (I seem to remember hexus gushing over it..). I've recently swapped out my 7800 GTX 256 for a x1800xt and here's my initial thoughts on differences:

    1. Speed

    Exactly the same as far as I can tell. Everything I've played so far seems no worse or better than the old card. If you're think of upgrading for this alone, don't bother. My marginally overclocked GTX (510 core) felt a lot smoother in HL2 lost coast for example. I've not overclocked the XT yet, simply because i've only just fitted a watercooler to it and not had the chance. I'm sure overlocking will even this out..

    2. Quality

    Image quality is better - you might not gain FPS from this card but you can turn on more levels of antialising/AF without suffering.

    3. Temps

    It's a hotter card - make no mistake. Core temps at idle are much higher and i'm sure you can fry food on it when it's under load

    4. Physical attributes

    It's HUGE. The 7800 GTX looks incy-wincy compared to this double-slot monster card. It weighs a lot more but this is down to it's huge cooler - which by the way is neat in that it ejects it's hot air out he back of the case directly.

    5. Noise.

    Often overlooked this - but this is one noisy barsteward. The first thing you notice when powering up your PC is that, apparently, you've fitted a dyson to it. Whhhhhhhhhiiiineee..
    GTX was much quieter again here. Watercooling became and essential here (but at least the fan does dynamically ramp up/down so you can hear people on the phone [when not playing games]).

    6. Drivers

    I've never had problems with ATI drivers since the Rage 128 days and no problems here so far. I _hate_ the .NET control panel (catalyst control center) as it's fat, lardy and slow (.NET for you) but then i'm a programmer and such things bother me.

    7. Warranty

    nVidia cards come with 3 years, ATI with 1. Not good ATI!!

    Watercooling:

    I went for an Alphacool unit:



    It's a Alphacool NexXxoS NVXP-3 6800/7800 but it's often advertised as fitting the X1800XT too. Whilst this is true, it's not perfect as you can only use the four core screws to clamp the unit onto the card (the 5 surrouning outer screws do no match holes on the board) and this can leave some of the RAM chips without proper contact with the base of the cooler. I solved this by adding some Artic Silver 5 to the themal pads (which you place on the ram before hand) to 'bridge' the small gap. Not ideal but better than a mm gap on the odd chip (and hopefully this works). Core temps at idle are now 31/32C which is a drop of ~32C over the stock cooler.

    So why did i do it? What did i gain? Probably only double the video RAM, other than that nothing of note. What did it cost me to do it? Nothing, I got XT for ~280quid, which is what i sold my card for.

    Which one would I go for if buying now? The ATI one. The 512 GTX is just silly money (as is the 1900XT).
    Last edited by dangel; 01-02-2006 at 02:57 PM.
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    Anthropomorphic Personification shaithis's Avatar
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    Nice.....currently considering an X1900XT to replace my SLI 7800GTs.

    Is it really that noisey? How would you compare it soundwise to, say, one of the old delta (screeming) fans?

    Also, I was wondering what games you play and which ones were faster/slower...x1800 vs 7800GTX?

    Regards
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    not posting kempez's Avatar
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    I have the X1900XT-X and unless I set the fan to 100% in ATI Tool, its nice and quiet, even whilst playing games - nice

    Review of mine here: http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews_s...p?id=19&page=1
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    Banned Smokey21's Avatar
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    Heh, i went from a Gainward GTX 470/1300 to my X1800XT and i was impressed 3 months ago and i still am.

    I could barely use AA/AF with the GTX, on the ATI card, i use 4X AA on everything except FEAR, game at 1600x1200 all the time.

    Heat is the same, my GTX got really hot as well. The X1800 is louder, but in say 3 hours of gaming, it spins up loudish for about 10 seconds a few times. Ive got a Viperjohn cooler from the US coming anyways.

    It overclocks like a beast. The software voltage control is also sweet. Don't know why the size of the card matters. My CPU and case temps are a bit lower because of the XT fan.

    Warrenty, are you sure about your numbers?

    Sure a GTX to a X1800 isn't realy much of an upgrade, but i had different surcumstanaces. Also the price on the XT is dropping all the time because of the X1900.

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    Lovely chap dangel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Smokey21
    Heh, i went from a Gainward GTX 470/1300 to my X1800XT and i was impressed 3 months ago and i still am.

    I could barely use AA/AF with the GTX, on the ATI card, i use 4X AA on everything except FEAR, game at 1600x1200 all the time.
    I game at the same res - 7800's favour 8x ansistropic and 2x (but i did point out that IQ was higher with the ATI above..).

    Quote Originally Posted by Smokey21
    Heat is the same, my GTX got really hot as well. The X1800 is louder, but in say 3 hours of gaming, it spins up loudish for about 10 seconds a few times. Ive got a Viperjohn cooler from the US coming anyways.
    Idle temps are much higher, at least in my experience. The old 6800 ultra was a hotter card than the 7800 GTX (plus it was double slot like the ATI one). Seeing as the XT is clocked much higher the extra heat wasn't a shock (and I guess this also explains the heavy duty cooling solution - the GTX cooler is half the size!).

    Quote Originally Posted by Smokey21
    It overclocks like a beast. The software voltage control is also sweet. Don't know why the size of the card matters. My CPU and case temps are a bit lower because of the XT fan.
    Size matters Or at least it does if you're trying to fit in a PCI card beneath it, particularly in SLI motherboards where a double slot card renders one or more PCI slots useless when compared to a single slot card. As an air-cooled solution it's a good one (again I said i liked it exhausted outside the case).
    I expect it'll overclock much better on water - what r u getting speed wise?

    Quote Originally Posted by Smokey21
    Warrenty, are you sure about your numbers?
    Yes, it ATI did it some time ago and it's a little bit worrying having only 1/3 the GTX's cover. It's not that i'll keep the card long, but it's a nice selling point!

    Quote Originally Posted by Smokey21
    Sure a GTX to a X1800 isn't realy much of an upgrade, but i had different surcumstanaces. Also the price on the XT is dropping all the time because of the X1900.
    ...as is the GTX (256). Both can be had for the same money right now - i'd choose the X1800XT for the extra memory alone.
    Crosshair VIII Hero (WIFI), 3900x, 32GB DDR4, Many SSDs, EVGA FTW3 3090, Ethoo 719


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    Lovely chap dangel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shaithis
    Nice.....currently considering an X1900XT to replace my SLI 7800GTs.

    Is it really that noisey? How would you compare it soundwise to, say, one of the old delta (screeming) fans?

    Also, I was wondering what games you play and which ones were faster/slower...x1800 vs 7800GTX?

    Regards
    It's not as bad as the old deltas - and as some have said it's not on 100% all the time so there are worse things The only way to get high performance parts quiet and cool is to go with water IMHO - the difference is astounding - in my case i've got the radiator in a second tower so none of the heat is dumped into the main pc case.
    I'll add to this thread once i've overclocked - my cpu is at stock right now as i've simply not had the time to research the new motherboard i've got (as to overclocking settings - it's very different from the asus AN8-premium i had). I'll also see how far i can push the XT now it's temps are somewhat more sensible on water!
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    Banned Smokey21's Avatar
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    I just run 690/800 using CCC for games and 24.7.

    For benching i have got 780/868 out of it, with fan at 100% and lots of volts, with very cold outside air.

    Waiting for my new cooler.......

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    you guys may find that the dual slot gtx cooler is the answer i have one of the scan ones which has the 512 cooler not only is it very cool but its not loud either.

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    Or this, will have same sinks on power regs to:




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    Anthropomorphic Personification shaithis's Avatar
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    Well, caved in last night and ordered the X1900XTX.......definatly won't be water-cooling (the idea of water in my PC makes me )

    Will be checking out its overclock potential and maybe look for aftermarket heatsink/fan.......although will be staying away from Zalman after my 7800GT cooler decided to pack up after 2 months
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    Lovely chap dangel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shaithis
    Well, caved in last night and ordered the X1900XTX.......definatly won't be water-cooling (the idea of water in my PC makes me )
    Congrats WC isn't as bad as you'd think and well worth the huge drops in both noise and temperature..
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