A choice of a video card (7950 or up and comming 1950 XTX)

**Ahiga** · August 30, 2006, 09:44 AM

It turns out that the ATI 1900XTX card that Monarch was going to put in refuses to work. it's not the system but simply the card, by Asus. I'm to choose a new video card to replace it.

This is my system:

Monarch Furia 2 Custom Workstation (PCI-E w/SLI) 1 $89.00 $89.00
Case: 100168 - No PS - Thermaltake Kandalf Super Tower E $167.99 $167.99
Power Supply: 101246 - PS 750W - Thermaltake Toughpower W0117RU $159.99 $159.99
Case Fan: 100987 - 120mm - Thermaltake 120X120X25mm Case Fan $9.98 $9.98
Motherboard: 110829 - Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe nForce 590 SLI Audi $209.99 $209.99
Processor: 120977 - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Dual-Core 512K Per $382.00 $382.00
Thermal Grease: 800018 - Shin-Etsu G765 Thermal Grease (Cools CPU $14.99 $14.99
Heat Sink Fan: 130845 - Thermaltake CL-P0075 K450 AMD Preferred O $40.69 $40.69
Memory: 140573 - DDR2 (800) 6400 - 1 GB (2 pcs 512) Corsai $128.62 $128.62
2nd Memory: None
Hard Drive: 150261 - SATA - Western Digital Raptor 74 GB 16 MB $159.89 $159.89
2nd Hard Drive: 150175 - SATA - Western Digital Caviar SE16 400 GB $160.75 $160.75
CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/CD-RW: 160833 - DVD-ROM - Lite-On SOHD-16P9S 16X-DVD/48X- $49.00 $49.00
CD-RW/DVD-RW: 160837 - DVD±RW - Lite-On SHM-165H65 DVD+RW Dual L $54.89 $54.89
CD-RW Software: 210613 - Ahead Nero 6.6 Suite DVD+-RW Software (OE $15.99 $15.99
DVD-ROM Software: 210601 - Cyberlink PowerDVD 6.0 (OEM) $15.99 $15.99
Floppy: 170104 - Sony 1.44MB 3.5" (Black) Floppy Drive $19.66 $19.66
More Storage: None
Sound Card: 180425 - Creative Labs X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 24-Bit $113.62 $113.62
Video Card: 190761 - ATI (Asus) Radeon X1900 XTX 512MB GDDR3/P $534.69 $534.69

Now, I have a choice of either:

1)Nvidia 7950 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merch...e=nvidia-PCI-E

2)ATI 1950 XTX (Which will be out soon, review provided by Monarch Rep here - http://www.guru3d.com/newsitem.php?id=4294)

3) Any videocard that would work that's shown on their cite (presumably, this would be going with a ATI (MSI) Radeon X1900XT 512 MB)

Which do you guys feel I should be going with? Cost is not an issue but rather quality and shelf life is. Which will work the best and offer the longest survivability? The lack of potentially running HDR on any new games is a concern in going with the 7950, but the fact that the 512 MB Radeon 1900XTX not working is also a worry.

**Zhuge_Liang** · August 30, 2006, 10:10 AM

You'd be better off getting an intel duo core E6600 processor which is faster and only a little more expensive than the one on your list (between £250-£300 i think). It will also have a longer life span in terms of competitive performance.

Also with regards to the video card i'd get the ATI 1950 XTX because the x1900xtx is still one of the greatest cards to buy at the moment, has been king since its release and the x1950xtx can only be better.

Just be sure to get advanced cooling.

**Arakorn** · August 30, 2006, 10:11 AM

Well, as a NVidia fan, I say go for the first!

Also I wanna correct Zhuge in saying that the first option is better than the one that wasn't working

**vizi** · August 30, 2006, 10:20 AM

I am curious as to why the x1900 isnt going to work?

Also do as Zhuge says and get a Conroe, they are the king right now.

**Shaun** · August 30, 2006, 10:25 AM

Ecatly, the X1900XTX is still the best card currently avaliable, and with the release of the X1950XTX it will go down in price even more.

**sunsmountain** · August 30, 2006, 01:31 PM

If you can get it:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz 4MB $316

As an ATi fan, the performance of the 7950 GX2 is simply better. If cost is not an option, and you're looking for performance, go with nVidia. If you're looking for image quality (= better anisotropic filtering, HDR+AA instead of only HDR or only AA), however, and a good support for dynamic branching (in future titles), ATi is your choice: 1950 XTX.

Power, heat and noise considerations are irrelevant for the high-end, if you get a quality brand.

Similar though slightly lower performance is given by the 7900 GTX, the 1900 XT at similar $400 price points, but also the 1900 XT 256 MB and the (less performing) 7900GT (about $250) which only cost $280! At $200 get the X1900 GT, for the roughlysame performance as the 7900GT!
So it's
$500: GF7950 GX2 (X1950 XTX performs less well)
$350: X1900 XTX 512 MB (GF7900 GTX costs $400)
$280: X1900 XT 256 MB (GF7900 GT performs less well)
$200: X1900 GT (GF7900 GT costs $250)
$140: GF7600GT (X1600XT/Pro perform less well)
$80: X1600Pro (if you really want to spend only $80)
below $80: Don't bother.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2821

Also, get 2 x 1 GB pieces of system memory. OCZ and Corsair are good.
http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2809&p=2

750 W power supply is irrelevant, it needs to have quality. If thermaltake can guarantee that in a datasheet, by all means, buy it. But 500 W (quality) will do just as good.

**rayzzz** · August 31, 2006, 01:51 AM

I had a thread somewhere with X1950 bench marks and it wasnt that great but still an excellent card. As shaun said, with the x1950 release, X1900s will have a big decrease in price.

**Freddie** · August 31, 2006, 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by rayzzz

I had a thread somewhere with X1950 bench marks and it wasnt that great but still an excellent card. As shaun said, with the x1950 release, X1900s will have a big decrease in price.

Try to think of the AMD X1950 XTX as leaner and more efficient AMD X1900 X-TX. It's quieter, uses less power, cooler and it’s about 5%-8% (depending on benchmarks) faster then its predecessor.

The choice between the NVIDIA card and the AMD X1950X-TX comes down to personally preference. If all out performance is the most important thing to you I would choose the 7950, however if Image quality is more important to you should go with the X1950 (it can run AA & HDR at the same time, plus the drivers on the AMD cards have a better at texture fill rate).

BTW don't buy the X2 5000 from AMD. That chip is very bad value for money, go and buy a 6400 (if you want to save a heap of money and have a faster chip) or 6600 (it’s not worth comparing this with the X2 5000) Core 2 from Intel. The time to buy AMD chips was 3 months ago, now Conroe is on the streets AMD's front line chips are very poor value for money. I you must go AMD at least buy an x2 4200, but since performance is key for you, you really should go with a Core 2 chip.

**UnderdawgIV** · September 01, 2006, 09:05 PM

Originally Posted by Freddie

Try to think of the AMD X1950 XTX as leaner and more efficient AMD X1900 X-TX. It's quieter, uses less power, cooler and it’s about 5%-8% (depending on benchmarks) faster then its predecessor.

The choice between the NVIDIA card and the AMD X1950X-TX comes down to personally preference. If all out performance is the most important thing to you I would choose the 7950, however if Image quality is more important to you should go with the X1950 (it can run AA & HDR at the same time, plus the drivers on the AMD cards have a better at texture fill rate).

BTW don't buy the X2 5000 from AMD. That chip is very bad value for money, go and buy a 6400 (if you want to save a heap of money and have a faster chip) or 6600 (it’s not worth comparing this with the X2 5000) Core 2 from Intel. The time to buy AMD chips was 3 months ago, now Conroe is on the streets AMD's front line chips are very poor value for money. I you must go AMD at least buy an x2 4200, but since performance is key for you, you really should go with a Core 2 chip.

Heed this man's advice.

**Ahiga** · September 01, 2006, 09:32 PM

Thanks for the advice. I need to cut it short since I'm about to head into a game,

, but I may not be able to change the CPU as they were making this system and found the issue with the video card. I think I will be pushing for them to let me do a system redo with little or no fiancial punishment, as this has taken over a month to make due to their (And occassionaly my) mistakes.