Radeon X1950 XT vs. GeForce 7950 GT

[SMLeon]

Hey all,

I'm looking to upgrade my 6800 GT, and have narrowed my choices down to the 2 cards listed in the subject. I can find both on newegg.com for ~ $250, so it comes down to performance. I have been unable to find a comparative reviews, so I thought I'd check with the knowledge base here.

Below are links to both cards, in case you need specs:

X1950 XT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102067&ATT=14-102-067&CMP=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r

7950 GT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143071

Thanks in advance.

 

[tbiggums]

Go for the x1950xt. IT preforms better than the 7950gt look up some reviews on google.

http://www.tekbunker.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=375&Itemid=55

It beats the 7950gt in almost every benchmark

 

[apt403]

Yeah, my vote is for the 1950xt.

 

[djplanet]

The XT is a better buy, slightly better performance, plus it allows HDR+AA. On the other hand, the GT could be stepped up to an 8800 if you buy the eVGA flavor, plus it runs a little cooler. This is ALL the GT has going for it though, and IMO it isn't enough to justify buying it, in most cases anyway.

 

[SMLeon]

Thanks for the quick responses fellas.

So even with the additional 256 MB in the 7950 GT, the 1950 XT is still the better buy?

I've always been partial to NVidia, so it's hard for me to commit to buying an ATI. I will likely go with the opinions I get here, however.

Thanks again!

EDIT: After doing some more research, I'm getting a little worried about the rest of my system specs. Can you guys lend an opinion here? I need to know if my current rig will be able to handle either of these cards. My specs are as follows:

P4 3.2 GHz (w/HT)
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 RAM
120GB Serial ATA HDD
500W PSU

 

[djplanet]

Other stuff looks good, I'm guessing you're concerned about the Pentium 4. I wouldn't worry about it. Might bottleneck a little, but not overly so.

 

[SMLeon]

Other stuff looks good, I'm guessing you're concerned about the Pentium 4. I wouldn't worry about it. Might bottleneck a little, but not overly so.

Thanks again man. I appreciate the info.

 

[apt403]

Yeah, nothing to worry about, but what kind of 500w psu do you have?

 

[mustardman24]

Go with the radeon, it performs better in the VGA charts in alot of cases

 

[SMLeon]

Yeah, nothing to worry about, but what kind of 500w psu do you have?

It's an Aspire. But other than that, I'm not sure. How can I find out?

 

[apt403]

wow, aspire, thats about as low as you could go, might want to invest in a better psu before you install the card.

 

[djplanet]

Check the box if you still have it. There should also be a sticker on the unit itself with that information.

 

[SMLeon]

Ugh!

I checked my order history on Newegg, and found a link to the PSU I bought (I bought it about a year ago).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817148027

From looking at the specs, it looks like it has two 12v rails; rail 1 (dedicated to the CPU) supplies 18 amps, and rail 2 supplies 16 amps. the X1950 wants at least 30 amps on it's rail, correct?

Can you guys suggest a PSU that would work for me? I need to keep the cost on this as low as possible though (to minimize the beating I'm going to take from the wife when I tell her about this latest development 🙁 )

You guys rock.. thanks for all the help though. I almost made a big mistake.

 

[apt403]

Heres the one in my sig.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194004

might be a little overpriced for you though, this one is a little more affordable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341001

Those two could power an 8800gtx, so a 1950xt will seem like peanuts to 'em.

This one would work too.

 

[outlw6669]

Vote X1950XT + new PSU

 

[djplanet]

Heres the one in my sig.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194004

might be a little overpriced for you though, this one is a little more affordable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341001

Those two could power an 8800gtx, so a 1950xt will seem like peanuts to 'em.

This one would work too.

Small world, that's the one I have, still need to build the rig though...

 

[apt403]

Small world, that's the one I have, still need to build the rig though...

small world, so do i, i have it half build, its sitting caseless on my desk, and ive done some stress testing, thats about it though.

 

[ak47is1337]

Hey all,

I'm looking to upgrade my 6800 GT, and have narrowed my choices down to the 2 cards listed in the subject. I can find both on newegg.com for ~ $250, so it comes down to performance. I have been unable to find a comparative reviews, so I thought I'd check with the knowledge base here.

Below are links to both cards, in case you need specs:

X1950 XT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102067&ATT=14-102-067&CMP=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r

7950 GT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143071

Thanks in advance.

get a good cooler and this will overclock like a BEAST.

 

[cleeve]

So even with the additional 256 MB in the 7950 GT, the 1950 XT is still the better buy?

A 256mb X1950 XT will eat a 7950 GT alive, no matter how much memory it has onboard.

It's simply in a different performance class.

 

[enforcerfx]

Heres the one in my sig.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194004

might be a little overpriced for you though, this one is a little more affordable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341001

Those two could power an 8800gtx, so a 1950xt will seem like peanuts to 'em.

This one would work too.

Small world, that's the one I have, still need to build the rig though...

Settle with this powersupply instead:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817371001

And yes, like Cleeve said the X1950XT will completely destroy the 7950GT.
The X1950XT runs par or a little better than the 7900GTX.

 

[djplanet]

Thanks, but I already have the PSU in my otherwise empty case. An ASUS P5W and E6600 sit atop my fridge awaiting a video card and memory. Yes, I have storage issues.

 

[Sugarcane]

Well, I've had my 7950gt ko for about a week, and I have zero problems running everything at 1680x1050, all eye candy maxed. Granted, I don't play Oblivion, but I can't stand that game anyway. I play stuff like FEAR, Company of Heroes, Prey, Railroads, and any other good action/strategy games I can get my hands on. FEAR runs between 40-60 fps all the time, COH around 40ish. I just got my 2nd gig today, so I can't comment on any improvement from that.

Sure, a 1950xt will probably get 5-10 more fps or whatever in games at my current resolution. I just wanted something to hold me over for a while, and it was on sale locally, so I grabbed it. By that time DX10 gets into full swing, the 8800gts and ATI equivalents will probably be somewhere around $300, and I can make a decision then. But for now, I'm happy w/ what I have.

 

[cleeve]

Sure, a 1950xt will probably get 5-10 more fps or whatever in games at my current resolution.

At the highest settings where it really matters, the difference will be notably higher than that.

There's nothing wrong with your 7950 GT and I'm glad you're enjoying it, but if someone hasn't bought yet, choosing a 7950 GT over the X1950 XT is crazy.

The X1950 XTis simply alot more powerful, you can see it in current games and as time goes on it's shader strength will only become more apparent compared to the 7950 GT.

 

[pauldh]

At the highest settings where it really matters, the difference will be notably higher than that

Yeah, I agree.

A couple games to especially note, Oblivion and NFS:Carbon, the X1950XT would completely dominate the 7950GT as even the X1950 pro does in this review. I was amazed just what the X19xx series can do in NFS:Carbon. I mean, the X1950 pro is way ahead of the X1800XT and the X1900XTX doubles the performance of the X1800XT. Imagine if this is a trend. 8O

In my own testing, the new X1950XT way outperformed my X1800XT. You should add that game to your benchie list as with fraps it's very easy to run a two lap race with the demo and get totally consistent results. Anyway, I saw a 55-56% increase in avergae fps at 12x10 max details 4xaa/16xaf both with or without motion blur enabled.