X1800XT

[nitromullet]

Those of you who have been on the video forum for a any amount of time and have traded words with me in the past most likely know that I tend to lean towards NVIDIA cards, which I can directly trace back to numerous driver issues I had with my 9700Pro and Linux. Well, I don't have much use for Linux at this point, so I decided to give ATI another go (after more than 2 years away).

...so I picked up an X1800XT... My first impressions are this:

1) Nice looking card, very heavy. Nice dual slot HSF. A loud whine at startup and a slight whine during gaming, but nothing at all bothersome or louder than my GTX's.
2) The drivers... The CCC will take some getting used to. Did ATI completely phase out their old control panel? I remeber when .net wasn't a requirement for the ATI control panel, and you could pretty much do all the stuff you needed to... Anyway, they seem to be stable, and that's what really counts.
3) This thing runs hot... I've been running 2D for the last 30 mins, and it's pegged at 60C.
4) IQ and playability... Well, this is the biggie right?

-WoW: looks great plays great, but still exhibits a slight shimmer. Not quite like a GTX, but even with 16xAF HQ you get a bit. I guess this is something to do with Blizzard code.

HL2: looks great, plays as well as the SLI setup. I'm sure the SLI set is probably pushing more frames but, you really can't tell the difference in terms of smoothness. HL2 looks awesome with 4xAAA/16xHQAF, looks slightly better with 6xAAA, but the performance hit is noticable, so 4x it is. (Note: I never could run anything higher than 4xtrSSAA with the NV cards either due to a driver loop crash, so it's pretty much an apples-to-apples comparison in terms of AA IQ). On to the AF... Here's where it's at, the HQ AF on the XT looks better than any settings on the NV card. Period. I won't post screenshots, since rage3d and firingsquad both have excellent comparisons in their X1800XT review articles.
Lost Coast: Played through the whole thing 1680x1050 4xAAA/16xHQAF. Looks great and just as playable as my SLI rig.

FEAR: Well, now this is where the SLI rig gets to stretch its legs. 7800GTX SLI = 1680x1050 4xAA/8xAF completely playable, X1800XT = 1680x1050, really pretty slideshow. Serioulsy, it really wasn't realisitcally playable on the XT. I know, I know... I'm comparing 2 cards to one... It really does kind of baffle me that you serioulsy need SLI to play FEAR properly.

So, anyway. There you have it. Nothing official, and not any actual benchmarks, just a few thoughts from a nvidia leaning guy on ATI's best. Overall, I'm pretty pleased. I'm just dreading the phone call from AEG...

j/k

 

[BlacKJesuS]

"Thoughs from a "nvidiot"....


yes...you are an idiot


but why compare 1800XT vs sli?

 

[Powermoloch]

WE need true apple apple comparison...

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: BlacKJesuS
"Thoughs from a "nvidiot"....


yes...you are an idiot


but why compare 1800XT vs sli?

Because that's what I own... It's NOT a review... Just my thoughts on the card. Also, if you actually read what I wrote, the XT fairs rather well against the SLI rig. The only time I ever noticed a drop in performance was with FEAR.

Originally posted by: Powermoloch
WE need true apple apple comparison...

Again, it's not a review. I don't think there is any question as to which is faster between dual GTX'es and an X1800XT.

 

[redbox]

thanks for the info. I have a 7800gt and before I decided to go Nvidia I was waiting for these cards for a long time just like everyone else, in the end the wait got to me and i don't think it was a bad decision. I am planing a move to a larger screen and I was wondering what screen you game on. I would love to see what the new part from ATi is capable of doing at high res. I don't think the 7800gt will cut it on a 2405fpw and i don't like sli at the moment.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: BlacKJesuS
"Thoughs from a "nvidiot"....


yes...you are an idiot


but why compare 1800XT vs sli?

Because that's what I own... It's NOT a review... Just my thoughts on the card. Also, if you actually read what I wrote, the XT fairs rather well against the SLI rig. The only time I ever noticed a drop in performance was with FEAR.

Originally posted by: Powermoloch
WE need true apple apple comparison...

Again, it's not a review. I don't think there is any question as to which is faster between dual GTX'es and an X1800XT.

I dont know why people want apple to apple comparisons, because thats what AT has been doing for the past months of revieiwng these new cards. As soon as TR SS/MSAA or AAA HQAF is turned on, its simply not apples to apple because of difference in IQ.

Thats why AT does 16x12 and 16x12 4xAA (8xAF included). To do apples to apples comparisons. Because there isnt much difference in IQ in those settings. But then again most people too also want reviews using the highest settings etc.

Btw- whats the IQ difference like? are you using a LCD or CRT? is it ture about NV looknig better on LCDs than CRTs? difference between TAA and AAA?

So, overall with true honesty which card (solution etc) was overall better?

 

[nitromullet]

Btw- whats the IQ difference like? are you using a LCD or CRT? is it ture about NV looknig better on LCDs than CRTs? difference between TAA and AAA?

LCD, Dell 2005FPW. I haven't had a CRT for a while now, so I'm not quite sure. TAA and AAA are pretty similar actually (at least in HL2), In HL2, the XL looks a bit better than the GTX.

So, overall with true honesty which card (solution etc) was overall better?

Well, probably not much of a surprise here. The SLI rig is better overall, no doubt about it. It is double the price though. For single cards though, they both are really great.

 

[fliguy84]

pretty nice comparison you have here. btw, what happened to your SLIed GTXs?

 

[vikingblade]

Im curious how FEAR runs for you on the XT at 1600x1200 AA/AF... Or, is your rez pretty much same thing..

i thought the XT ran FEAR pretty well..

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: vikingblade
Im curious how FEAR runs for you on the XT at 1600x1200 AA/AF... Or, is your rez pretty much same thing..

i thought the XT ran FEAR pretty well..

Probably close enough to the same thing.
1600x1200 will be slightly more taxing.

 

[Zenoth]

You don't need SLi to play F.E.A.R properly.

Look at my rig.

I play it @ 1024 x 768. 4x Adaptive A-A, 16x HQ A-F, and all in-game settings to their maximum, except for Soft Shadows, which I turned Off.

It looks beautiful, plays extremely smooth, never goes down below 40 f-p-s.

Adjust your resolution, and you'll play it "properly".

 

[w00t]

I dont see why you got an X1800XT when you could of got a 7800GT-7800GTX. I am not an nvidia fan and realize that nvidia won this round no doubt it was stupid of you to even waste your money on that card.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: fliguy84
pretty nice comparison you have here. btw, what happened to your SLIed GTXs?

I still have them. I have been thinking about going to a single card for a while now, since I noticed that the only games that I play regularly are WoW and HL2. Mostly HL2 MP, and a single player mod here and there (I highly recommend MINERVA:Metastasis and Combine Destiny to anyone who is patiently waiting for HL2:Aftermath). Given that, an SLI rig just isn't necessary, even with a Dell 2005FPW. Besides, I really wasn't planning on going SLI again next gen. I've done it once, liked it, but it really is just too damn expensive.

Honestly, it was more curiousity about the Radeon than any sort of common sense reasoning behind the purchase.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
You don't need SLi to play F.E.A.R properly.

Look at my rig.

I play it @ 1024 x 768. 4x Adaptive A-A, 16x HQ A-F, and all in-game settings to their maximum, except for Soft Shadows, which I turned Off.

It looks beautiful, plays extremely smooth, never goes down below 40 f-p-s.

Adjust your resolution, and you'll play it "properly".

I play at 1680x1050...

 

[Zenoth]

nitromullet, I suggest you buy a Zalman cooler for your XT.

I ordered one yesterday, for my XL. The Zalman VF700-ALcu.

I heard, and read superb things about that cooler, and any cooler they make that's compatible with the X1K series.

X1800 XT's at stock speeds usually tend to reach as high as 65ºC at load on the reference cooling. The Zalman can drop your load temperatures noticeably. As low as between 40ºC to 50ºC (I repeat, that's load temperatures, not idle) depending also on air-flow efficiency in your PC Chassis. And that cooler is much less noisy than reference cooling.

Personally I can't wait to get my hands on it, so my over-clock temps won't go as high as they can at the moment. It's stable, no artifacts, but is quite hot.

 

[Zenoth]

Yes I see you play F.E.A.R at high resolution.

My point remains the same. You don't "need" SLi to play F.E.A.R properly. Unless your definition of "properly" means something no current single-GPU solution can do at such settings in that game. And that was something you should have taken notes of when you changed from SLi setup to single-GPU setup.

And if you can't have lower resolutions for any good reasons, than I can't help you, but say you're toast. You'll need to find another game. The new ATi cards are good, but they aren't technical saints from five generations in the future back in time for a few consumers.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
nitromullet, I suggest you buy a Zalman cooler for your XT.

I ordered one yesterday, for my XL. The Zalman VF700-ALcu.

I heard, and read superb things about that cooler, and any cooler they make that's compatible with the X1K series.

X1800 XT's at stock speeds usually tend to reach as high as 65ºC at load on the reference cooling. The Zalman can drop your load temperatures noticeably. As low as between 40ºC to 50ºC (I reoeat, that's load temperatures, not idle) depending also on air-flow efficiency in your PC Chassis. And that cooler is much less noisy than reference cooling.

Personally I can't wait to get my hands on it, so my over-clock temps won't go as high as they can at the moment. It's stable, no artifacts, but is quite hot.

I considered the Zalmans for the GTX'es as well, but ended up with the NV Silencer. I have a Lian Li V1200, which is designed similarly to a BTX case, so the airflow is optimal for the CPU, not the video card. For this reason, I prefer a cooler on the video card that exhausts the air out of the case.

 

[Zenoth]

Wait, you mean it's still skulks around 60ºC with an NV Silencer ?

I might have read your post a bit too fast, but I hope I'm actually wrong.

Because if that's the case ... then I'm happy I went with Zalman instead !

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Avalon

Originally posted by: vikingblade
Im curious how FEAR runs for you on the XT at 1600x1200 AA/AF... Or, is your rez pretty much same thing..

i thought the XT ran FEAR pretty well..

Probably close enough to the same thing.
1600x1200 will be slightly more taxing.

Well, the XT runs FEAR decent about 98% of the time, but it's really the min frames that get you in the other 2%. It will be smooth, then you go around a corner, and all of a sudden slideshow! Then it's smooth again. Just not enjoyable.

I think that on some occasions 1680x1050 can actually be more taxing that 1600x1200 because of the increased FOV. I haven't done back to back comparisons (and can't do so), but I think Ackmed ran a few benches last year when he got his 2005FPW in a comparison to his 2005FP. IIRC, the frames were a bit lower on the widescreen rez even though the 2005FPW actually has less pixels than the 2000FP.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
Wait, you mean it's still skulks around 60ºC with an NV Silencer ?

I might have read your post a bit too fast, but I hope I'm actually wrong.

Because if that's the case ... then I'm happy I went with Zalman instead !

No, the NV Silencer rocks. Did a great job of cooling the GTX'es. I be the Zalman is really good to though, I really like the Zalman I have for my CPU. Very quiet and very effective. I just prefer video coolers that exhaust the hot air outside of the case.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
Yes I see you play F.E.A.R at high resolution.

My point remains the same. You don't "need" SLi to play F.E.A.R properly. Unless your definition of "properly" means something no current single-GPU solution can do at such settings in that game. And that was something you should have taken notes of when you changed from SLi setup to single-GPU setup.

And if you can't have lower resolutions for any good reasons, than I can't help you, but say you're toast. You'll need to find another game. The new ATi cards are good, but they aren't technical saints from five generations in the future back in time for a few consumers.

Ok, you might be taking me too literally. I guess I meant that you will want to have an SLI rig to play FEAR properly at higher resolutions. I've already finished FEAR SP and the MP was fun for a few hours, but I don't really see myself playing it anymore. I just included FEAR because I was curious to see how the XT would run it at a fairly high resolution with AA/AF.

 

[Ackmed]

Did the 5.12's add the fix to speed up F.E.A.R.? If not, try renaming the exe, to FEER.exe or something. See if its faster.

edit, whats load temps?

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
You don't need SLi to play F.E.A.R properly.

Look at my rig.

I play it @ 1024 x 768. 4x Adaptive A-A, 16x HQ A-F, and all in-game settings to their maximum, except for Soft Shadows, which I turned Off.

It looks beautiful, plays extremely smooth, never goes down below 40 f-p-s.

Adjust your resolution, and you'll play it "properly".

I guess if 10X7 is good enough for you, you don't need SLI to play FEAR "properly".

For a lot of us, 10X7 is a HUGE step back. The difference between 16X12 and 10X7 is night and day.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

hey nitro, just wanna ask......how do you make fear use higer res? i can only pick 10x7 and 11x8? and thats it! i didnt get 7800gt's in SLI to play 10x7!

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
hey nitro, just wanna ask......how do you make fear use higer res? i can only pick 10x7 and 11x8? and thats it! i didnt get 7800gt's in SLI to play 10x7!

They didnt even have 1280x1024 as a selectable res within the game upon relesae, pretty short sighted to me.

Go here; C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Monolith Productions\FEAR Open up the settings.cfg, change ScreenWidth and ScreenHeight to what you want. Save it, make it read only to make sure it doesnt change it back, and start up the game.