HD2900XT owners, please post.

[dshankar]

OT but I've been playing World in Conflict since the second day of Beta and all I can say is that it is the single best RTS game that I've ever played - for some odd reason - and is VERY addictive. The game runs smoothly on my laptop at "Very Low" settings, 1440x900 resolution, x1650 on a T5600 Core Duo 1.86 ghz with a measly 512MB of RAM.

On topic, the Step Up plan works for only 90 DAYS after purchase.
edit: And the G92 will most likely more than 90 days. Wait till September/October to buy an 8800 GTX if you want to step up.

[dshankar]

Both cards are very good and will max out anything out there today so the performance difference will not be noticeable. It's the future where you might (I say might) start crying.

[b1lk1]

Originally Posted by dshankar

Ok to put it straight demowhc, multi-GPU is a BIG hassle. Performance will vary from game to game as only SOME games are optimized for multi-gpu SLI or CF / both. That reflects how the 2900 SUCKS in some games but wins in other situations.

If you want to play it safe and get something cheap for your money, get the 8800 GTX or wait for the 9800 GTX. You said the 2900 will cost you 350 pounds and that the 8800 GTX costs you 700 pounds. 2x350 = 700. Therefore its really simple, go for the 8800 and you won't be disappointed. Even if the 2900 in CF beats the 8800 GTX (single) in a few games, its only going to be the matter of a few fps (and maybe AA ;-) ).

Crossfire is much stronger and far outperforms SLI. It has better game support as well. I have owned X1800 Crossfire, X1900 Crossfire and every from of SLI starting with 6800GS's up to 8800GTS SLI. Without a doubt in my mind, Crossfire outperforms and works so much better than SLI.

[dshankar]

iirc, the old x1k series from ATI had a LOT of bugs in terms of CF support. SLI has been/was king for a long time. Perhaps you mean after a year or so, they're drivers for CF are better?

Do you have 2900 xts in CF? And 8800s in SLI? I would love to see your benches in that case .

[b1lk1]

No. X1800XT Crossfire and X1900XT Crossfire worked nicely. My benches from those machines are long gone. I don't have HD2900 Crossfire and I never really did much benching with the GTS's since they were 320MB cards and after I realized how much they stunk running any resolution over 1280X1024 I ditched them while I could get almost what I paid for. SLI has not been king for a long while, they just have been around longer. SLI drivers are just as quirky as Crossfire drivers, but in real world game use, Crossfire always outperformed SLI for me.

Additional Comment:

Especially at higher resolutions since I used to run a Dell 2407WFP and now I am stuck with just a 20" Dell widescreen....

[demowhc]

what would be a good motherboard for a crossfire system then??
to go with a q6600

most i see are 16xpci-e and 4xpci-e??

are there any with 2 x 16x pci-e lanes??

btw i thought CF scaled much better than SLI aswell

[trajik78]

Originally Posted by demowhc

what would be a good motherboard for a crossfire system then??
to go with a q6600

most i see are 16xpci-e and 4xpci-e??

are there any with 2 x 16x pci-e lanes??

btw i thought CF scaled much better than SLI as well

any of the P35 mobo's are good for crossfire, although the 2nd PCIE slot runs 4x. that will decrease performance somewhat but not enough to make it invalid. if you need 2 x 16x lanes then wait for the x38 MB's to come out later this year.

alternatively a mobo with the RD580 chipset does 2 x 16, but that's a AMD MB.

[demowhc]

thanks trajik, i have decided to wait for the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6

i think it will support both CF and SLI and by then there will be a few more dx10 benchamrks to go by

[gunbo13]

Originally Posted by b1lk1

SLI has not been king for a long while, they just have been around longer. SLI drivers are just as quirky as Crossfire drivers, but in real world game use, Crossfire always outperformed SLI for me.

Seems like an isolated incident. I've seen positive yields for both mediums.

[demowhc]

i was under the impression CF scaled better especially when cranking up the res, although im not saying theres anything wrong with SLI nor have I owned either

[repoman]

Originally Posted by b1lk1

Crossfire is much stronger and far outperforms SLI. It has better game support as well. I have owned X1800 Crossfire, X1900 Crossfire and every from of SLI starting with 6800GS's up to 8800GTS SLI. Without a doubt in my mind, Crossfire outperforms and works so much better than SLI.

http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q3...b/index.x?pg=4

Lost Planet

8800Ultra % increase - 77%
8800GTX % Increase - 73%
8800GTS % Increase - 75%

2900XT 1GB % Increase - 2%

Company of Heroes

8800Ultra - 58% Increase
8800GTX - 57%
8800GTS - 48%

2900XT 1GB - -15%
2900XT - -16%

Call of Juarez

8800Ultra - 77%

2900XT 1GB - 70%

Oblivion

8800Ultra - 66%

2900XT - 59%

Funny how the numbers say otherwise, isn't it?

[dshankar]

Originally Posted by repoman

http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q3...b/index.x?pg=4

Lost Planet

8800Ultra % increase - 77%
8800GTX % Increase - 73%
8800GTS % Increase - 75%

2900XT 1GB % Increase - 2%

Company of Heroes

8800Ultra - 58% Increase
8800GTX - 57%
8800GTS - 48%

2900XT 1GB - -15%
2900XT - -16%

Call of Juarez

8800Ultra - 77%

2900XT 1GB - 70%

Oblivion

8800Ultra - 66%

2900XT - 59%

Funny how the numbers say otherwise, isn't it?

Lol exactly. We now have a benchmark that finally settles everything...

[Scubar]

Yea the 1GB 2900XTs took quite a beating especially as they are priced around the 8800GTX and still get slaughtered by the 8800GTS which are far cheaper.

[demowhc]

lol the 1GB 2900's fail.

[purecain]

thats just one game you genious's... muuuuhahahahahaaaaaa
talk about expert oppinion hahahahahahahaaaa.....

[repoman]

Originally Posted by purecain

thats just one game you genious's... muuuuhahahahahaaaaaa
talk about expert oppinion hahahahahahahaaaa.....

What are you talking about?

[dshankar]

Originally Posted by purecain

thats just one game you genious's... muuuuhahahahahaaaaaa
talk about expert oppinion hahahahahahahaaaa.....

...

[Richdog]

Originally Posted by purecain

thats just one game you genious's... muuuuhahahahahaaaaaa
talk about expert oppinion hahahahahahahaaaa.....

You've already had extended time off for not being able to act like a mature adult in HD2900 threads... please just behave normally.

[Scubar]

It would have been nice for them to include the 320MB 8800GTS cards, We all know that they can keep very close tabs on the 640MB with the latest drivers, I have a feeling even those would be more than equal to the Ati counterparts.

[walle]

Apologizing for disturbing the thread, have one question though. My baby brother is running HD2900XT in crossfire mode, they are being powered by a CorsairHX 620 unit!!. Whilst the PSU is of high quality and delivers (as I understand) 50amps on the +12V lines, I still feel that he should replace it with a more powerful unit. My question is as such; should he keep it or bin it?

Would appreciate your input guys

Cheers,


Edit, was in a hurry so I hope I posting in this thread wasn’t all over the charts! If so, I would appreciate if a moderator could move it.