ATI X1900XTX, X1900XT, X1900 AIW reviews

[Tony DiMarzio]

Sorry, no X1900 Crossfire yet - those cards expected soon.

Here are the X1900 reviews:

---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/315/
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4477&page=1
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=1&id=1808
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2679
http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/ati/r580/
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/865/
---------------------------------------------------------

Important notes:

1. This is a very successful launch for ATI. 10,000 cards available for
purchase at launch lies in stark contrast to the R520 launch.
2. The X1900XTX dethrones the 7800GTX-512 and is ~$100 MSRP.
3. The $100 price difference between the X1900XTX and X1900XT is hard to
justify, but then again so is the price of video cards nowadays
4. 7800GTX-512's have just resurfaced, but will anyone buy them when the
X1900XTX is faster and less expensive? Bad timing NVidia.
5. The full performance potential of the X1900 series will not be realized
in current games and applications. Newer games will show the X1900 series
power.
6. The X1900 series has 3 times the pixel shading power of the X1800 but
that does not translate to 3x the performance or framerates.
7. I am not an ATI fanboy.
8. GO ATI RAH RAH!

9. Finally, NVidia will surely counter ATI in early March with 7900 series
(if all goes as planned) so if you do plan to buy X1900 series then
understand you'll only have ~2 months max of bragging rights.

 

[Pluvious]

|Sorry, no X1900 Crossfire yet - those cards expected soon.
|
|Here are the X1900 reviews:
|
|---------------------------------------------------------
|http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/315/
|http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4477&page=1
|http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=1&id=1808
|http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2679
|http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/ati/r580/
|http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/865/
|---------------------------------------------------------
|
|Important notes:
|
|1. This is a very successful launch for ATI. 10,000 cards available for
|purchase at launch lies in stark contrast to the R520 launch.
|2. The X1900XTX dethrones the 7800GTX-512 and is ~$100 MSRP.
|3. The $100 price difference between the X1900XTX and X1900XT is hard to
|justify, but then again so is the price of video cards nowadays
|4. 7800GTX-512's have just resurfaced, but will anyone buy them when the
|X1900XTX is faster and less expensive? Bad timing NVidia.
|5. The full performance potential of the X1900 series will not be realized
|in current games and applications. Newer games will show the X1900 series
|power.
|6. The X1900 series has 3 times the pixel shading power of the X1800 but
|that does not translate to 3x the performance or framerates.
|7. I am not an ATI fanboy.
|8. GO ATI RAH RAH!
|
|9. Finally, NVidia will surely counter ATI in early March with 7900 series
|(if all goes as planned) so if you do plan to buy X1900 series then
|understand you'll only have ~2 months max of bragging rights.

With DirectX 10 coming at the end of the year.. you'd be foolish to buy a new
card now.

Pluvious

 

[Tony DiMarzio]

With DirectX 10 coming at the end of the year.. you'd be foolish to buy a
new
card now.

Pluvious

There's always something new coming down the pipeline.

Upgrade now, upgrade then, it's all the same. It's all relative.

Tony

 

[eventerke]

Will DX10 *need* new hardware? Sure - there will be new cards released
that will be the best for DX10, but is there an actual feature set that
only the new cards will be able to manage (like DX9 shaders on older
cards)? If we're only talking about features that will just require a
big jump in GPU power, how does SLI and Crossfire fit in? Aren't we
only just now seeing games that take full advantage of the DX9 feature
set?

Kendt

 

[NightSky 421]

There's always something new coming down the pipeline.

Upgrade now, upgrade then, it's all the same. It's all relative.

Normally I'd agree, but if I know that there's going to be a new version of
DirectX coming out the same year I want to buy a new video card, I will
almost certainly wait to make my purchase since my purchases tend to be
higher-end. For me, as a gamer, my 9800 Pro isn't as fast as I would like
it to be anymore, but it's good enough until I build a new system later in
the year when DirectX 10 cards come out.

 

[eventerke]

I've done a little searching - and it seems like this will be a major
shift - I'm not sure I'd want to buy the first gen of cards for Vista
(and you will need both a new card and to upgrade to Vista for Direct3D
10).
I'd bet that most everything is going to stay at 9 until there is
significant market penetration for Vista - unless MS has some killer
game that they can try to leverage the market with.
Aero apparently runs on a slightly tweaked version of Dx9, so current
cards should handle all the UI bells and whistles.

Kendt

 

[Tony DiMarzio]

Normally I'd agree, but if I know that there's going to be a new version
of DirectX coming out the same year I want to buy a new video card, I will
almost certainly wait to make my purchase since my purchases tend to be
higher-end. For me, as a gamer, my 9800 Pro isn't as fast as I would like
it to be anymore, but it's good enough until I build a new system later in
the year when DirectX 10 cards come out.

I'd agree with that too if the new version of DirectX was going to
necessitate new hardware. However, there's no reason to believe that the
X1800/X1900 and 7800/7900 series of cards won't work perfectly fine with
DirectX10 and Vista and anything else coming out in the next 2 years.

Buying a high end video card that only had 6 to 12 months of useful life
would be ill advised no matter what the reason.

Tony

 

[NightSky 421]

I'd agree with that too if the new version of DirectX was going to
necessitate new hardware. However, there's no reason to believe that the
X1800/X1900 and 7800/7900 series of cards won't work perfectly fine with
DirectX10 and Vista and anything else coming out in the next 2 years.

You're right to imply that DirectX 9 isn't dead and buried the minute
DirectX 10 comes out, but when I buy high-end, I tend to do it for reasons
of longevity. My 9800 Pro, for example, was the best thing you could buy
when I got it 30 months ago, but I bought it because I felt it would go the
distance. Obviously it has. But being this close to DirectX 10 coming out,
I want to be a bit more careful about my purchases. Still, if someone wants
to buy now, you're right that it should be good for the next two years.

Buying a high end video card that only had 6 to 12 months of useful life
would be ill advised no matter what the reason.

True.

 

[NightSky 421]

I've done a little searching - and it seems like this will be a major
shift - I'm not sure I'd want to buy the first gen of cards for Vista
(and you will need both a new card and to upgrade to Vista for Direct3D
10).

I was admittedly a little surprised that Microsoft has no current plans to
release DirectX 10 for Windows XP.

I'd bet that most everything is going to stay at 9 until there is
significant market penetration for Vista - unless MS has some killer
game that they can try to leverage the market with.
Aero apparently runs on a slightly tweaked version of Dx9, so current
cards should handle all the UI bells and whistles.

I would change the video card on my current system if the price was right,
but when I build something new later in the year, I'd really want a DirectX
10 card with it. However, you do make some good points.