Nvidia 7900GT, 7800GTX or ATi 1900XT

[TeleFragX]

I have around £280 to spend on a new graphics card to upgrade from my 6800GS and use PCI-E. Which should I get for the best performance?

Nvidia 7900GT or
Nvidia 7800GTX or
ATi 1900XT

Thanks

EDIT: Possibilty to get the Ati 1900XTX (sapphire) Would that rock all other 3?

[charger]

Yes the sapphire x1900xtx would be the best out of the choice of the 4. even the ati x1900xt can easily overclock to xtx levels with ease, however if your not a fan of noise then these 2 cards are not for you, as they run quite noisy with the dual slot coolers on them. The 7900gt is not a bad choice either, good value for money imho from current reviews around the web.
The ati cards are probably better for image quality at high resolutions and AA and AF enabled, plus they seem to run HDR quite well in some games. the 7800gtx is good however i dont know about current supplies as they are quite hard to find nowadays.
I personally like the evga and bfg 7900gt models as they come with the satisfaction of life time warranty, which can be a load of your mind if something goes wrong. the choice is yours at the end of the day.

[ExceededGoku]

Not really worth the extra 25Mhz on top of the XT I would go for the X1900XT reviews/benchmarks show it beating bother of the other cards quite easily... In the end though, its your choice!

[ExceededGoku]

Yes the sapphire x1900xtx would be the best out of the choice of the 4. even the ati x1900xt can easily overclock to xtx levels with ease, however if your not a fan of noise then these 2 cards are not for you, as they run quite noisy with the dual slot coolers on them.
The ati cards are probably better for image quality at high resolutions and AA and AF enabled, plus they seem to run HDR quite well in some games.

I agree, and about the warranty thing, powercolor

[sawyen]

x1900xt FTW... 7900GTX would get the cake if its a little cheaper..

[TeleFragX]

I have just taken the time to read 3 reviews... It seems that 1900XTX is better as a 1 card machine but for 2 cards SLI wins over crossfire.

Yes i run at high resolution (well a 20" widescreen monitor... hmm)

So i think ill get a 1900XT or XTX which should i get? As for noise how loud are we talking?

The atis are on offer @ scan this weekend:

XTX £346.63
XT £314... but so are nvidia cards (cost more then ati) see here: http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/

[charger]

The xt would be better simply due to the fact that it can easily clock to xtx speeds and beyond. Its pretty loud, the cooler is generally at 85% spin [correct me if im wrong]. So alternatively replacing it with a third party cooler e.g. a zalman vf900 would be a much better choice, as it can lead to better overclocking results and less noise. Also note that the x1900xt cards are quite power hungry so make sure your psu has enough juice to feed it.

[ExceededGoku]

basically the card doesn't get loud but it gets hot and if it gets too hot >80 it gets loud aswell. So you really do need something like a zalman or an arctic accelero like I have Both are good if you ask me

[TeleFragX]

Well lets see...

580watt (630 peak) Psu... I have...

Mobo
Pentium 4 processor
dvd rw
dvd rom
floppy
drive modular
2 uv lights
nvidia 6800GS
x-fi fatality bay and card
tv tuner
watercooling fan and pump

think thats it atm. With these cards be able to run direct x 10 next year?

[TeleFragX]

basically the card doesn't get loud but it gets hot and if it gets too hot >80 it gets loud aswell. So you really do need something like a zalman or an arctic accelero like I have Both are good if you ask me

Well i would maybe try the thermaltake tide water GPU cooler on it - any good?

And yes that is what the HIGHLY overclocked sapphire 1900XTX toxic uses when it arrives ina couple months priced at .. wait for it... £470!!

[ExceededGoku]

There will be some support for DX10 but it will not be fully DX10 compliant, meaning you will run in emulation mode... But who cares DX10 is more than a year away

[TeleFragX]

this will be my last gfx update till dx10 then lol... thanks for that. So sapphire 1900XTX, XT or 7900GT or GTX...

[sawyen]

sapphire X1900XT + zalman VF900.. solved.. (make sure u dun split your rails)

[TeleFragX]

sapphire X1900XT + zalman VF900.. solved.. (make sure u dun split your rails)

I was just looking at that cooler.. I dont mind paying £30 for the XTX And what you mean by dont split rails?

[piranha]

Although the stock cooler on the x1900 is not the greatest it does push the hot air out the back of the case; I have concerns as to whether the zalman cooler just blows the hot air around the case. Anyone with any experience of these?

[ExceededGoku]

No idea what splitting rails means :S, but my accelero vents it into my case and case temps have only risen by around 5-7oC which is marginal to say the least. Also it dramatically cools the gfx card.. Small price to pay imo