EliteBastard comparison x1800xt 512 vs x1900gt

[Beomagi]

one hell of a mixed success

win some, lose lots, may prove a better architecture for the future, but they may have cut more than they should have.

here's the difference between the x1900xt and x1900gt and x1800xt 512 (going 512, cause no x1900gt < $300)
512 -> 256MB ram -> 512MB
16 -> 12 pipes -> 16
48 -> 36 shaders ->16 (3:1 shader games with the 1900 and 1600)
625 -> 575 MHz core -> 625
1450 -> 1200 MHz memory -> 1500
16 -> 12 ROP (raster operators) ->16
same number of vertex shaders

and for people that this part matter to
$430us (xt version, 400 ar) -> $300 ($250 for 256MB ar) ->
2 -> 1 slot -> 2
noisy -> less noisy -> noisy
135 -> 90w? -> ~115W (Stromverbrauch! damn that xtx looks scary up there! power consumption figures here, 1900gt is between the 1900xtx and x1800xl)

we saw ratio games before - the 5900 was a 4 pipe card with 2 texture manipulation units, which helped it compete against the 9800 series, but it got it's tail whipped in shaders. Ati believes the power need is continuing to shift to shaders even more, so they're pulling a 3:1 ratio.

[TriniXaeno]

good find Beo,

This baby is priced to fight the 7900 GT.

Smart move by ATI, though I think it would have been smarter if the card truly outpaced it's older sibling, the x1800xt, instead of offering mixed improvements.

They would do well to learn from the 7600GTs overall superiority over the 6600GT.

Making it a no brainer upgrade.

[Beomagi]

The 7600gt does more than that It completly obliterates the entire 6800, x800 and x850 generation. I dont remember the last time a $150-$160 card could do that to it's prior generation.

I'd give the x1800xt the win for oblivion, since indoors isn't nearly as bad as outdoors, and it's outdoors that the x1800xt rips the x1900gt a new one - you'd think all that grass and stuff would make the x1900gt the king there.

It pulls ahead in age of empires 3 only. For all the other games, It falls behind. I'm not going to bother with synth benches, they just say it has more shader power, and even then, it does appear to completly outshine it.

I think if they had made it cheaper - i mean you can get the x1800xt for $250 now While the 512 helps in a couple games, and at ultra high resolutions, it's hardly necessary now.

One thing may save it, turning around it's losses to the x1800xt - the xbox360.
If the architecture of the xbox360 is used to it's best, then games may be designed to stress the x1900 architecture best, including the shader:texture/raster ratio. This is assuming of course that games are ported form the xbox360 to pc or just designed with both in mind stressing the xbox's gpu architecture in it's maximum(or close to ) settings.



It's on zipzoomfly.com for $350. At that price, online buyers should just get the x1900xt for $400 after rebate, or for $430 without. It would actually be worth the extra $50 - $80


NB early estimates are it's the SAME core as the x1900xt. All 384M transistors. Like the early x1800GTO this may flash to the full 16 pipelines. Discussion on VR zone is that it's flashable, but screen craps because it's 256MB and the current bios roms on the x1900xt are all 512MB. A hacked 256MB x1900xt bios, may be this card's ticket to shine.
http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=68335&page=3