VeeshanVault

I was at a friend's place the other day and he had recently got a x1950 XT (I think it was the XT, might have been the XTX).

For the past 3 years, I've exclusively used nvidia cards and I've had zero complaints... but the image quality (on his PC) in games like EQ2, Vanguard, FEAR and HL2 was astounding when compared to my 7900.


I'm putting together my new system in a couple of weeks and my video card choice previous to seeing the x1950 was a foregone conclusion (8800).
So I priced out the x1950 XT 512 and I can pick one up for about $150 cheaper than the 8800. I could actually do a crossfire setup for around $200 more if I found the single card performance lacking.

I'm not concerned about DX10 right now and I probably won't be for at least another year or so. I'll be running 64 bit XP.



So I'm looking for input and opinions from anyone who has a current generation ATI card.

Unless you were running your separate video cards from the same rig, how would you know whose video quality is actually better? Does he have a better monitor? Is he capable of running with higher settings than you (though I assume not much higher as a 7900 is a good card)?

The x1950xtx is a generation ahead of the 7900 if I recall correctly, so of course his specs looked better. But I'm sure you already knew that.

My unbiased input would be to look at anandtech or tomshardware or some website which has controlled setups and make your decision based upon their screen shots and benchmarks.

My biased input would be to get Vista Premium with your 8800 GT_ and tear the universe a new one. God damn Vista is awesome.

Wait Wait Wait!

The next generation ATI cards come out starting May 2nd...so...last generation 1950's will drop in price.

So wait wait wait!

And take a look at the reviews (official ones after May 2nd) that show quality of images differences between 8800 and 2900 card lines.

Then make a choice. The 2900XT launches on May 2nd. Lots of rumors saying it sucks, lots saying it will destroy...all you can do is wait for reviews based on release version cards available through retail.

At least that's what I'm doing. Going to replace my 7900GS with whichever ends up having the best image quality.