ATI HD 2900 XT 512Mb vs NVIDIA 8800 GTS 320Mb Review

Videocards/VGA Reviews by geoffrey @ 2007-07-06

We take an in-depth look at how the new ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT 512Mb stacks up to the lower priced NVIDIA Geforce 8800 GTS 320Mb; comparing overclocked performance and scaling as well as Crossfire tested with multiple games. Can the new HD 2900 XT outrun the current mid/high range GTS performance champ? Let´s find out.

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Introduction

Introduction

We have been waiting for ATI (now run by AMD) answer to NVIDIA G80 series graphics cards, finally the R600 has arrived and ready for testing. We got our hands on a couple of Radeon HD 2900 XT 512Mb GDDR3 cards from different manufacturers to see how they stack up against our current price/performance favorite: the NVIDIA Geforce 8800 GTS 320Mb.

Why aren’t we comparing the new ATI with NVIDIA’s high end GTX or Ultra card? It seems ATI is unable to get a high enough yield with higher clocked R600 cards to increase performance, so they settled for lower GPU clock speeds and introduced the card at a not so extremely high price of ~$399. If you search around a bit you can even find models priced as low as €339 which is quite low for a brand new higher end VGA card.

So let’s get started by introducing the cards we were offered for testing:




Madshrimps (c)


HIS (Hightech Information System Limited) is an internationally acclaimed graphics cards company founded back in 1987. Their mission to produce the highest quality graphic cards in the industry took a dramatic turn with the release of the Excalibur in 2002, followed by the release of IceQ I & II series in 2003. Since then, this product has been the limelight in the market for its outstanding performance and features over the other rivals. While HIS is known for their IceQ cooling solution which brings better performance at lower noise levels, we have yet to see a R600 edition appear; the HIS Radeon HD 2900 XT 512Mb GDDR3 we are testing today uses the default ATI heatsink.

Madshrimps (c)





Madshrimps (c)


Jetway (provided by Dollarshops) might sound unfamiliar for some people, though ranked as fifth most valuable Taiwanees company it is in fact one of the bigger players out there. Their brand exists for over 20 years now and has not only been focusing on VGA cards and mainboards, they are also knowledge in building barebone PCs, LCD's, pen drives, ... Quality and performance on a Jetway to the future? Well maybe... for now just let us have a look at the Jetway Radeon HD 2900 XT 512Mb GDDR3 video card, also equipped with the ATI stock heatsink:

Madshrimps (c)



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Comment from Cranox @ 2007/07/06
Nice review ( like always ) geoffrey , u know that i was waiting for this .
Comment from Techie @ 2007/07/07
hmm maybe it's worth mentioning that catalyst 7.6 is released. In most reviews on the internet, the 2900XT is faster than the 8800GTS 640MB and almost as fast as 8800GTX...
Comment from jmke @ 2007/07/07
Geoffrey tested the Cat 7.6 but did not find performance to be noticeable better than 7.5 in his games
Comment from Rutar @ 2007/07/07
Why no comparison of the noise and power consumption of the two?
Comment from jmke @ 2007/07/07
Can be (approx) compared with result of the GTS here: http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...&articID=5 61
but indeed, next round giving them a nice head2head comparison is needed
Comment from Techie @ 2007/07/07
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmke View Post
Geoffrey tested the Cat 7.6 but did not find performance to be noticeable better than 7.5 in his games
On most forums i read that the cat 7.6 gave a nice performance boost. But if it's tested, it's tested
Comment from jmke @ 2007/07/07
Let's wait for Geoff to reply
Comment from geoffrey @ 2007/07/14
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmke View Post
Geoffrey tested the Cat 7.6 but did not find performance to be noticeable better than 7.5 in his games
Right on, minor bug fixes and small performance increases here and there, nothing special in the end, I expected more from ATI: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=149354
Comment from jmke @ 2007/07/15
well, the driver releases are MONTHLY, I'm sure they have months were they focus on certain features; be it performance, bugfixes or other things, never all at the same time
Comment from Unknown Soldier @ 2007/07/17
Thank you for this comparison

US
Comment from jmke @ 2007/07/18
HD 2900 XT loves Unreal 3 engine, try running Rainbow Six Las Vegas
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2988&p=22

performance on par with GTX!
Comment from Trixx @ 2007/08/16
Im thinking about buying one of these systems but i dunno wich one. on paper there pretty similar. [i pinked up the stuff thats different for u guys]

- Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 2.40GHz Dual Core CPU Overclocked too a minimum of 2.93GHz and beyond. (9 x 333MHz - 1333MHz FSB)
- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Intel approved cooler
- Arctic Silver 5 Heatsink compound professionally hand installed by our technicians
- Intel P35 Asus P5K (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
- Award winning Team Elite 2GB PC2-6400 (2x1GB) Dual Channel Kit (Running at 800MHz)

- 250GB Western Digital 16MB Cache SATA-2 Hard Drive
- ATI Radeon HD 2900 512MB GDDR3 VIVO HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) DirectX 10 Graphics Card- Asus 18x DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black)
- Black Sony Floppy Drive
- Antec NINE HUNDRED Gamers ATX Case
- Enermax Infiniti 650W Next Generation Power Supply


Alternative

- Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 2.40GHz Dual Core CPU Overclocked too a minimum of 2.93GHz and beyond. (9 x 333MHz - 1333MHz FSB)
- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Intel approved cooler
- Arctic Silver 5 Heatsink compound professionally hand installed by our technicians
- Asus P5N32-E SLi NVIDIA 680 (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
- Award winning Corsair 2GB PC2-6400 (2x1GB) Dual Channel Kit (Overclocked at 900MHz+)

- 250GB Western Digital Enterprise 16MB Cache SATA-2 Hard Drive
- NVIDIA 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 VIVO HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) DirectX 10 Graphics Card
- NEC 7173 18x DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black)
- Black Sony Floppy Drive
- Antec NINE HUNDRED Gamers ATX Case
- Antec 650W Next Generation Power Supply

i read the review on ATI vs NVIDIA so im swayed more to ATI although the NVIDIA does have the oc memory. There both the same price too, your opinions please
Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/16
Asus P35 + 8800 GTS and get the most affordable RAM, RAM OC doesn't do much for system performance
Comment from blind_ripper @ 2007/08/17
yeah john 2900XT driver's are getting beter .
il give u update on game benches with single and CF to add to the review ones i get my cards back
Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/17
the GTS 320 is cheaper and a better deal, in stores for $240 and less!
Comment from Trixx @ 2007/08/17
I forgot to say guys this is a pre built system so i cant take Asus P35 with 8800 GTS. It has to be that one or the other. Btw the system costs £1000 does that sound fair to you?
Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/17
overpriced it sounds to me; why it is prebuild?
Comment from blind_ripper @ 2007/08/17
8800GTS 640MB in belguim shop for 312€ !
HD2900XT same shop 355€
Comment from jmke @ 2007/08/17
ow! in that case, no challenge, GTS 640Mb FTW
Comment from Trixx @ 2007/08/17
Its pre build because anything electrical i touch turns to ashes :P My friend who used to own a computer store told me he'd be me one that spec for loads cheaper anyway but thanks for all your advice fellas.

 

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