7600GT vs. X850XT

[Mortifix]

I know this question has probably been asked time and time again, but I was wondering which would be better between the two. Also, if you could please explain why one is better than the other.

My Analysis:

eVGA Geforce 7600GT 256MB

Sapphire Radeon X850XT 256MB

eVGA | Sapphire
Pixel Pipelines: 12 | 16
Core Clock: 580MHz | 540MHz
Memory Clock: 1500MHz | 1080MHz
Memory Interface: 128-Bit | 256-bit

Which one would hold out longer as far as technology is concerned?

 

[pauldh]

Yes, it's been hashed over what seems to be countless times. Basically my take on it is the X850XT has a slight performance advantage overall, winning more often than not and sometimes by quite a bit. But the 7600GT would take some games and has a feature set advantage. They are close enough that if it were my money and they cost the same, I'd go with the 7600GT, especially one of the higher factory clocked versions.

And the feature set advantage really IMO does not mean it will last any longer. When games someday come out that require PS3.0, then I think both these cards will be too weak to enjoy such a game anyway. But the 7600GT will let you get to experiment with OpenEXR HDR like Oblivion uses, and that's a nice setting to get to play around with if the card has the power to use it. The other side to this story is the 850XT will easily beat the 7600GT in Oblivion with FSAA and therefore no HDR. So the X850XT would allow for higher detail settings.

Anyway, I wouldn't fault anyone for buying either card, I only fault those who claim that one is the clear choice for everyone.

By the way, below are some games you can click on and compare them. These charts support my own feeling that the X850Xt is a little higher perfomance. Even the 6800U OC 425/1100 pretty much edges out the 7600GT in nearly every test in this review, although I hear that the 7600GT handles HDR a little better from someone here who has owned and benchmarked both. And the 7600GT will OC better than the 6800U also as the 6800U core is already near it's limit.
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/index.html

 

[Mortifix]

Thank you so much for that post. It really cleared alot of things up. Sorry I meant to put the links in for the exact card's I was looking at. There both the exact same price. On a second note, im not THAT much of a detail freak. I just want games to run smoothly for the most part. This is just a "for now" card until I plan on upgrading in the future. Also, I am think about getting an SLI board. Would it be worth it to even do dual 7600GT's? Also, is the Crossfire for ATI a certain board, or can it be done on SLI boards. Thanks again for the respawn and putting up with another repeated question

 

[Multiplectic]

Dual 7600GTs isn't convenient. One 7900GT has roughly the same performance, and it's slightly cheap than 2x 7600GTs.
Crossfire can be done on SLI boards, because it's mostly a software-based interface.

 

[enforcerfx]

Yea 2 7600GTs Wouldnt really be much of a improvement even in SLi over a single 7900GT. Between the x850Xt and the 7600GT, i personally would go with the x850xt if you can find it for around 150-160 like the 7600GT.

 

[pauldh]

Crossfire can be done on SLI boards, because it's mostly a software-based interface

Can you find one single link anywhere that shows crossfire working on an NF4 SLI mobo? I searched and couldn't find a single situation where both cards actually worked and there was a performance boost over a single card. From my understanding, Crossfire is blocked from working in NF4 mobos, by ATI's drivers. A while ago I would have bought a X1800XT master card for $300, but passed when not being able to find a single working case on NF4.

Anyway, a crossfire mobo is the way to go for crossfire.

 

[Multiplectic]

Then I must be confused... :?
It could work, and, as I said, it can be done, in theory. I didn't say it has been done.

Crossfire is possible in Crossfire mobos and i975X mobos.
Of course, I would buy a Crossfire mobo to do Crossfire and/or a SLI mobo to do SLI. It's the logical thing to do.