I am thinking about getting one of these two cards and most of their benchmark results are close so I just wanted some educated opinions from you guys. BTW: I'll be playing mostly FPS games (BF2, CoD2, Quake 4, etc.) Thanks
Well, the 7950GX2 is basically 2 video cards setup in SLI in one package, whereas the X1900XTX comprises of a single graphics chip. For any single GPU, the X1900XTX is the fastest, hands down. The 7950GX2 is going to give you a little more of an edge because it's running 2 GPU's in tandem. If you're looking at Linux, the 7950GX2 is a better choice due to the much better driver support for nVidia-based cards.
I was leaning towards the GX2. One of the major reasons being Quad SLI, that is, whenever they're gonna release the drivers for it.
There's guide's floating around on how to make it happen. Really, either card is going to serve you well, but just know that you're not comparing apples to apples between the 7950GX2 and the X1900XTX.
The GX2 will allow you to run far higher levels of AA without seeing a fall in frames persecond. I cant comment on how the GX2 would run Battlefield 2, but I will say that one of my clan mates had two 7800GTX in SLi and saw no difference. This should not deter you from getting the GX2 and future proofing your machine though.
Some of that problem may be due to lack of CPU power. Believe it or not, stuff like quad SLI can't be fully realized because even the fastest CPU's hold it back. I tend to find this amusing.
Nvidia's SLI Zone hosts a beta driver to try which supports quad SLI. Quad SLI sounds great, but a lot like overkill to me, it's meant for playing games on Ultra-high resolutions and widescreen 16:10 modes (2560x1600, 1920x1200, and 1680x1050 resolutions) while maintaining high fps.
I have to admit, it is a little overkill for today's games, but as stated, I want to future-proof this machine. If there's already games like Oblivion putting most high-end systems to shame, I can only imagine what there will be in a few years .
Don't forget that there will be new video cards in the future. DX10 is not required for Crysis, although having it (which is going to be a Vista only, due to the change in the driver model interaction of DX10). Supposedly the GeForce 6600 is going to be the minimum. By that time I'll probably have upgraded my CPU and video card to whatever the current mid-range card is.
i think if your not made out of money and going and buying a 7950GX2 now, you would proberbly regret the decision to buy that card as in a couple of months you could be complaining that you cant have the best settings the game can have with your new GX2 or even quad SLI, its annoying really, all the new effects coming in DX10, they could of been used on DX9 and somthing like an X1900XTX or GX2 would be able to play these games just fine, but no matter how powerfull the quad SLI is, it wont be good enough to play games on highest if they are DX10, i heard ATI is releasing a X1950XTX, somthing that could rival with the G80 or somthing from nvidia for quite a while, dont know if its going to be DX10 though.
well i had a similar issue recently, the best advice i can give is to search the web for benchmarking results, thats what i did. It will give you a better idea of the performance capabilities of each card so you can make a better decision. it helped me
Well there is no Question that the 7950GTX will win in most benchmarks AND games as its 2 7900 GPU's on the same card. But then again 2 X1900XTX would proberbly beat the 7950GTX, and would be cheaper, dont know about power consumption though.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think one 7950GX2 is cheaper than 2 X1900XTX's. One GX2 is just a little bit more than one XTX. 2 XTX's would be $800+.
I think you should remember that DirectX 10 isn't too far off. To play games like Crysis and get the best performance from it, you will need a graphics card that supports DirectX10. Is it really worth splashing all your cash out on a top-end card now only to replace it within the next 6 months or so?
well if you have a card like the 7950GTX or X1900XTX, even an X800XT PE, then you can expect quite good FPS, with the first 2 graphics cards, you proberbly could have it at max settings, x800xt, proberbly looking at Medium, maybe Max too, as the minimum specs are somthing like a X800GTO/6800GS. just becouse you dont have a DX10 card dont mean your going to get crap fps, infact with DX9 cards, i think direct x 10 games will run, just wiht the DX10 fetures off, but you wouldent struggle with a 7950GX2 or X1900XTX, you just wont be able to use DX10 fetures or get the most out of the game. I know that when i get Crysis i will b expecting to run it on medium setting.
Yeah, I guess we will have to wait untill it does come out. I would much rather wait a couple of months and play with the DX10 features on, the way it's meant to be played.
