HD2900XT Driverheaven Review

[CaiNaM]

worth a read as they have some Vista/XP comparisons, and have actually written a thorough revew.

Full Review

"In business it is always a good idea to learn from your mistakes and it also makes sense to learn from the mistakes of your competitors. It seems like AMD have not done so and throughout our experience with the card it has reminded us on more than a few occasions of the Geforce FX. Why?"

"First off the 2900XT is hugely late to market and as a result has trouble competing with an already well established part. In fact overall the XT is slower than the GTS when it matters. Next up we have the noise levels, don?t get us wrong, the 2900 isn?t anywhere near as loud as the FX was (thank god) however it is much louder than the competition. Whether watching movies or playing games the fan regularly speeds up and the variation in noise levels makes it incredibly difficult to mentally tune out. In this day and age there is no excuse for a noisy cooler on a high end card, Nvidia have very competently demonstrated how to create excellent cooling systems. The impact this has on the enjoyment of any task which involves audio is substantial. "

 

[sisq0kidd]

I still don't believe it. Dailytech, HardOCP, Driverheaven, Hexus, Guru3D, Elitebastards, all part of a conspiracy. I'll wait for more respected websites to come out and tell me my ATI is better (Fudzilla review, where are you?).

These websites have compromised their integrity and I have lost all respect for them. What are they going to tell me next, that the low and mid-end cards aren't ready?

I know in my heart ATI is faster and better, I don't need no stinkin numbers telling me otherwise.

 

[Matt2]

I actually thought this was the best review out there.

I really like the Vista vs XP comparisons.

Pretty much the same picture painted as all the other reviews. $399 for a reason.

 

[MedicalEntropy]

Well, around a year ago, even it was disappointed with the X1800XT compared with the 7800GTX

 

[CaiNaM]

yea, i'd agree they gotten a bit more objective.. but they still like to "lean" towards ati, and in this review, they didn't for the most part. in fact. they were pretty harsh (something i really didn't expect):

"All is not lost with the product though. Most of our main issues can be fixed by two changes; the first is a complete redesign of the cooling solution to create one which is as quiet, if not more so than it?s main competitors and the second is a drop of the retail price by at least £50 or $75 (from RRP $399) to compensate for the fact that overall the card is slower and has less memory than the nearest competition (The Geforce 8800 GTS 640Mb). If AMD or its partners can do both the Radeon HD becomes a much more attractive purchase, as it stands now however, we simply cannot recommend this hardware."

 

[Matt2]

WTF?

Did anyone see the overclocking numbers for R600?

They hit 865/1026 and R600 only gained 6 fps in FEAR and 1 fps in Prey.

Wow :Q

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Matt2
WTF?

Did anyone see the overclocking numbers for R600?

They hit 865/1026 and R600 only gained 6 fps in FEAR and 1 fps in Prey.

Wow :Q

apparently clockspeed is not really what's holding this architecture back... or at least not the only thing. perhaps they've taken it as far as they can, and they need to redesign (ala nv & g80 or intel & c2d), esp considering the power draw, thermal output, and noisy cooling system.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Best suite of games of all the reviews I've seen so far, that's for sure.

 

[exitous]

The minimum framerate charts in this review are pretty interesting and it makes the 2900 look pretty good to me actually. I wonder why some reviews have the 2900 doing terrible in oblivion while others dont though. This one says the 2900 can beat the gtx at average and minimum framerate even with 4xaa

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: exitous
The minimum framerate charts in this review are pretty interesting and it makes the 2900 look pretty good to me actually. I wonder why some reviews have the 2900 doing terrible in oblivion while others dont though. This one says the 2900 can beat the gtx at average and minimum framerate even with 4xaa

Well thats one game.

Its interesting to see that vista and xp gaming performance on the G80 isnt bad at all. Its pretty darn close.

 

[bobthemongoloid]

I bought a x1900xt 512mb the first week, man they did that card right.. I didnt mind the huge price, could they really have missed it by so far this time? Besides drivers that need revising, has anyone benched this on an x2 instead of an intel cpu? Would it surprise you if that made a difference?... speculating.

 

[Griswold]

Originally posted by: sisq0kidd
I still don't believe it. Dailytech, HardOCP, Driverheaven, Hexus, Guru3D, Elitebastards, all part of a conspiracy.

Out of that list, the Guru3d review sticks out as the most comprehensive one with common sense in the conclusion. I dont know why you name it with the other ones in a sentence - not to mention DT, who didnt even post anything but a preview 2 weeks ago.

 

[exitous]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster

Originally posted by: exitous
The minimum framerate charts in this review are pretty interesting and it makes the 2900 look pretty good to me actually. I wonder why some reviews have the 2900 doing terrible in oblivion while others dont though. This one says the 2900 can beat the gtx at average and minimum framerate even with 4xaa

Well thats one game.

Its interesting to see that vista and xp gaming performance on the G80 isnt bad at all. Its pretty darn close.

It wins minimum framerate in dark messiah against a gtx too in vista (2 whole fps heh), but thats not the point. I just wonder why the all the reviews are still giving out such different numbers. In the end though it doesnt matter to me much since Im buying a gtx anyway.

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: exitous

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster

Originally posted by: exitous
The minimum framerate charts in this review are pretty interesting and it makes the 2900 look pretty good to me actually. I wonder why some reviews have the 2900 doing terrible in oblivion while others dont though. This one says the 2900 can beat the gtx at average and minimum framerate even with 4xaa

Well thats one game.

Its interesting to see that vista and xp gaming performance on the G80 isnt bad at all. Its pretty darn close.

It wins minimum framerate in dark messiah against a gtx too in vista (2 whole fps heh), but thats not the point. I just wonder why the all the reviews are still giving out such different numbers. In the end though it doesnt matter to me much since Im buying a gtx anyway.

The reason the numbers are so inconsistant is because of the drivers that are used. If the retail drivers were used, the performance is going to suck. If the newest (and beta) drivers are used, the performance is going to better. With every new driver the HD 2900 is seeing large performance increases.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster

Originally posted by: exitous
The minimum framerate charts in this review are pretty interesting and it makes the 2900 look pretty good to me actually. I wonder why some reviews have the 2900 doing terrible in oblivion while others dont though. This one says the 2900 can beat the gtx at average and minimum framerate even with 4xaa

Well thats one game.

Its interesting to see that vista and xp gaming performance on the G80 isnt bad at all. Its pretty darn close.

Vista and XP benchmarks are close,makes you think what happened to HARDOCP when you look at their terrible review they did with Vista v XP benchmarks lastweek.

 

[n7]

Thank god for this review

Tons of games tested, & on Vista primarily too.

While it definitely seems that the 2900 loses fewer fps in Vista as opposed to the 8800s, it's still pretty minor comparatively even on the 8800s, which is great to see, considering till now i'd seen nothing but horror stories.

Great review overall, though 2560x1600 & lower resolution results woulda been nice :thumbsup:

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: sisq0kidd
I still don't believe it. Dailytech, HardOCP, Driverheaven, Hexus, Guru3D, Elitebastards, all part of a conspiracy. I'll wait for more respected websites to come out and tell me my ATI is better (Fudzilla review, where are you?).

These websites have compromised their integrity and I have lost all respect for them. What are they going to tell me next, that the low and mid-end cards aren't ready?

I know in my heart ATI is faster and better, I don't need no stinkin numbers telling me otherwise.

Guru3D and daily tech never really said 2900XT was slower than 8800GTS. best review yet is Guru3D.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986

Originally posted by: sisq0kidd
I still don't believe it. Dailytech, HardOCP, Driverheaven, Hexus, Guru3D, Elitebastards, all part of a conspiracy. I'll wait for more respected websites to come out and tell me my ATI is better (Fudzilla review, where are you?).

These websites have compromised their integrity and I have lost all respect for them. What are they going to tell me next, that the low and mid-end cards aren't ready?

I know in my heart ATI is faster and better, I don't need no stinkin numbers telling me otherwise.

Guru3D and daily tech never really said 2900XT was slower than 8800GTS. best review yet is Guru3D.

lol.. why? cause it's the most positive review out?

 

[A554SS1N]

Originally posted by: sisq0kidd
I still don't believe it. Dailytech, HardOCP, Driverheaven, Hexus, Guru3D, Elitebastards, all part of a conspiracy. I'll wait for more respected websites to come out and tell me my ATI is better (Fudzilla review, where are you?).

These websites have compromised their integrity and I have lost all respect for them. What are they going to tell me next, that the low and mid-end cards aren't ready?

I know in my heart ATI is faster and better, I don't need no stinkin numbers telling me otherwise.

lol you poor fanboy.

 

[mac35]

I think he was joking....I hope.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Originally posted by: A554SS1N

Originally posted by: sisq0kidd
I still don't believe it. Dailytech, HardOCP, Driverheaven, Hexus, Guru3D, Elitebastards, all part of a conspiracy. I'll wait for more respected websites to come out and tell me my ATI is better (Fudzilla review, where are you?).

These websites have compromised their integrity and I have lost all respect for them. What are they going to tell me next, that the low and mid-end cards aren't ready?

I know in my heart ATI is faster and better, I don't need no stinkin numbers telling me otherwise.

lol you poor fanboy.

Omg... Whats happening with all your sarcasm meters? THAT POST WAS SO OBVIOUSLY SARCASTIC ITS NOT EVEN FUNNY!

Did you not notice he mentioned Fudzilla as a reliable site? And the part "What are they going to tell me next, that the low and mid-end cards aren't ready?" ? Well, THEY ARENT! Thats the whole point...

Sometimes I wonder...

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: mac35
I think he was joking....I hope.

Clearly.

We all know that the truth is much more disturbing...... ATI built this card just to further global warming.

 

[Pugnate]

Originally posted by: A554SS1N

Originally posted by: sisq0kidd
I still don't believe it. Dailytech, HardOCP, Driverheaven, Hexus, Guru3D, Elitebastards, all part of a conspiracy. I'll wait for more respected websites to come out and tell me my ATI is better (Fudzilla review, where are you?).

These websites have compromised their integrity and I have lost all respect for them. What are they going to tell me next, that the low and mid-end cards aren't ready?

I know in my heart ATI is faster and better, I don't need no stinkin numbers telling me otherwise.

lol you poor fanboy.

Dude that was a hilarious joke and you messed it up by taking it seriously.

 

[A554SS1N]

Hehe, I can't tell these days whether people are being sarcastic or not In fact it looks pretty much like what alot of people have been posting! Anyway, i can have a good laugh at myself now for not spotting it.