7900gt

[AMDTurbo]

I just upgraded from 800XL to 7900GT.

HUGE difference.

Decided to go with BFG OC 7900GT for $340. Its really hard to find these on sale, and when they appear you literally have 5 min to get it before they are sold out again.

I ran both cards on the same PC. A64 3000 939, Asus SLI board, 2GB of RAM, 2x 80GB SATA in Raid0.

Results for 3D Marks 2005 (free version) :
ATI 800XL - 4652
BFG OC 7900GT - 7565

Im impressed, I thought it wasn't going to be much of an upgrade but this card ROCKS. Love it.

I can actually play COD2 at 1680x1050 with everything maxed out. I was getting 30-40fps.

Played HL2 and DOD:S and both games run flawless and look beautyful at the same res with everything maxed out (AA x4, AF x4, VS on, HRD Full)

My CPU is a bottleneck as it tops out in most games. I can't wait to get the X2 3800.

[My PC is loud]

Glad you like it, I'm looking into getting a 7900 GT myself in the coming future

[OmegaMordred]

hows the noise on that overclocked card?

(i ordered an Oc asus one,still has to arrive)

-M-

[AMDTurbo]

Same as 800xl......cant hear it.

Fan and heatsync is actually smaller then 800xl

It needs 2x 4-pin connectors

[Brandito]

i don't think your cpu is going to be a bottleneck, and you may find that an x2 might lower performance. i only say this because i've heard a few people in other threads say the plain a64's still offer better performance as far as games go.

x2's will likely pull ahead as games start to take advantage of the dual cores and as video drivers take more advantage as well, but i wouldn't expect much from the cpu upgrade, a64's are just too darn fast as it is.

[HotShotMedic]

i believe his cpu may be a bottleneck.
for comparison, i just recently upgraded to the X2 4400+ and my 3dmark05 score w/ a 7800gt co went from 7300 w/ my 3500+ to 7600 w/ the new cpu.

[Brandito]

i believe his cpu may be a bottleneck.
for comparison, i just recently upgraded to the X2 4400+ and my 3dmark05 score w/ a 7800gt co went from 7300 w/ my 3500+ to 7600 w/ the new cpu.

3dmark isn't a good representation of real world improvement though, you'll really want to compare with games, 3dmark is mostly theoretical.

you may find that 300 3dmarks equates to about +0.5fps

[peski]

Ya, the 7900gt seems to be the better $ value. I'm getting the 7900gt too, but first a s754 pci e mobo. After looking at countless reviews the 79gt most times beats out 78gtx or equals FPS. Take a look at some other users scores in pcmark 05 and look at the FPS not the mark points and have a look at some reviews, I don't think you'll benifit to the point your x2 cpu would be a worthwile $ value investment. PPL think I'm crazy for buying a s754 mobo, but with 3700 claw, I don't see the point to go s939. For real world I put a semp 754 2800@2ghz together for my Dad and after put a seagate sata with it, it screams along. Oh and for pcmark 05 my stock 9600xt get 2070 with some gpu and ram overclock 2235 and the game test portion went up 1 and a bit fps, so 300 points whats the point.

[Brandito]

if you're getting a new mobo and cpu why not go s939? little more future proof and dual channel. not to mention you won't need another new mobo if you did decide to go x2, or get a new a64.

[peski]

I'll stick with my 3700claw 754. AM2 will be out soon and the future proofing will be down the toilet again. I just looked over other ppls results again pcmark 2005 and it looks like with 79gt around 9000 points is pretty avg ranging from 2ghz to 2.6ghz cpu's s 939 or s754. Anyway I'll post my results in a couple months 3700claw+7900gt.

[AMDTurbo]

i don't think your cpu is going to be a bottleneck, and you may find that an x2 might lower performance.

My CPU usage is 100% in games I play the most Red Orchestra and Call of Duty 2.
Hardly ever dips down into 90s.

[steven975]

My CPU usage is 100% in games I play the most Red Orchestra and Call of Duty 2.
Hardly ever dips down into 90s.

that doesn't necessarily make it a bottleneck. yea, performance will go up with cpu speed, but you will find that that gain isn't even close to a 1:1 linear gain.

[Brandito]

My CPU usage is 100% in games I play the most Red Orchestra and Call of Duty 2.
Hardly ever dips down into 90s.

you'll find cpu usage will always be at 100% when playing games, that's totally normal, no matter what your setup.

[AMDTurbo]

that doesn't necessarily make it a bottleneck. yea, performance will go up with cpu speed, but you will find that that gain isn't even close to a 1:1 linear gain.

I agree however it is slowing down my FPS on these games. One of the reason I bought the 7900gt is to play at higher resolution with better FPS.

[fatlazyhomer]

I cant wait for a good budget card to be released by ATI. The X1900XL is looking good, but i dont know when that will be out.