# ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT



## W1zzard (Apr 26, 2007)

AMD's new flagship video card is the Radeon HD 2900 XT which is based on the brand-new R600 GPU. It comes at an amazing $399 price point and offers many unique features. While performance may not be as fast as the GeForce 8800 GTX, its price will definitely make this card a good choice for users who are looking for the best price/performance ratio.

*Show full review*


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## erocker (May 14, 2007)

Well ATi, I'm buying one tomorrow...  so when those new drivers coming out?  Looks like an overclocking monster!!!
*FIRST REPLY!!! (seriously I think it's my first!)


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## zaqwsx (May 14, 2007)

Cant wait till i get my hands on the xtx when it comes out


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## aximbigfan (May 14, 2007)

that is it? we waited months for that? wow. didnt do as good as i hoped, but that flash video of the demo is looks really, really good...


chris


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## pbmaster (May 14, 2007)

Looks like an awesome buy...beat the 8800 GTX in several of the benches


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## erocker (May 14, 2007)

Anyone hear of a card that has something in between a 128bit and a 512bit memory bus?  WTF?


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## Steevo (May 14, 2007)

A little bit of freon and some long lines will remove the noise.


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## Cybie1111 (May 14, 2007)

The price was much better than I thought. Well.. the 3dmark whores would love the card.


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## Taz100420 (May 14, 2007)

we need DX10 games to test the true power of this beast.
I want one still.....


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## strick94u (May 14, 2007)

Errrrrrrrr? I fully expected ATI to come out guns blazing putting the smack down on Nvidia.
I can't wait till the xtx comes out who said that?  Happy 2900xt release day


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## DaMulta (May 14, 2007)

That was a good review Wiz two thumbs up!

Why did you use 7.1 instead of 7.4?


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## DrunkenMafia (May 14, 2007)

Looks nice but I am kinda dissappointed, I was hoping for a little more..  I must say though the 400us tag is pretty sweet, still means it will be like 800aus though...  to much.  

Man that thing sux some juice too...  that is unblelievable, I guess nvidia win hands down there.

Hey W1zz did they give you 2 cards to do some crossfire testing???  That would be nice to see, I mean 2 of those is still cheaper than 1 of those 8800 ultra cards...  I wonder how they compare..

S I C K   Review as always W1zz.  Good on ya, lucky bastard!!


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## TooFast (May 14, 2007)

zaqwsx said:


> Cant wait till i get my hands on the xtx when it comes out






Many of you have heard that for overclocking you will need to plug in one 2x3 6-pin PCIe power connector and one 2x4 8-pin PCIe power connector. This effectively gives you 300 watts to your 2900 XT, up from the stock 225w. If you are wondering why ATI did not launch with the top end “XTX” GPU to compete with NVIDIA, well the reason is you already have XTX if you buy the XT. ATI simply could not get the power usage down into a reasonable envelope for retail sale. Selling 300 watt video cards is simply not going to fly in the mass market. Remember how many support issues that NVIDIA and its partners had to deal with at the beginning of GeForce 8800 sales? Just think if it would have been a 300 watt video card instead of a 160w?

this is the xtx


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## TooFast (May 14, 2007)

I;m not happy but im still getting 2 right away! still 28$ cheaper than the gtx ultra and crossfire will  kill it.


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## DaMulta (May 14, 2007)

Maybe they will offer some kind of crossfire kit. Make it cheaper to buy two at once. That would be urber cool in my book. And if two of them does out perform a signal GTX Ultra while being cheaper. Now thats just a good marketing point.


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## Grings (May 14, 2007)

Two would eat a ridiculous amount of power


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## TooFast (May 14, 2007)

they need to cheat like nshtia did with their 7950gtx 
x2950 dual. Thats the only way I see ATI making it to the top this round.


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## erocker (May 14, 2007)

Yeah, ATi should just charge 2 of thier cards for the price of 1 GTX.  Can't wait to see those hd2600xt bench's, though I am sadened by the 128bit memory bus. 2900pro?  That's what I'm going to want.


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## t_ski (May 14, 2007)

TooFast said:


> they need to cheat like nshtia did with their 7950gtx
> x2950 dual. Thats the only way I see ATI making it to the top this round.



Some AIB partners were making different cards.  I think there was a X1950 x 2 card made by Sapphire.  Buy two of those and you had Quad Crossfire.


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## a111087 (May 14, 2007)

2900XT was suppose to compete with 8800gts not gtx! even AMD guys said it and as you can see by some of the test, the drivers aren't completely optimized yet


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## TooFast (May 14, 2007)

a111087 said:


> 2900XT was suppose to compete with 8800gts not gtx! even AMD guys said it and as you can see by some of the test, the drivers aren't completely optimized yet





x1800 all over again, sorry worse.


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## Seany1212 (May 14, 2007)

Does this have a physics GPU too? also this is only the 512mb one, it still keeps up with the 748mb (or whatever it is) one of the G80, i say show me the gig


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## tkpenalty (May 14, 2007)

The graphics card really seems to be hampered by the Drivers, happens all the time anyways. The 2900XT is not a contender for the 8800GTX dude.... 8800GTS more like.

Either way, such a low price tag, and sheesh... means i wont have to spend a fortune to get a new and zippy graphics card. Try running NFS:C, w1zzard, you will see the HD 2900XT probably beat the 8800.


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## Ashen (May 14, 2007)

erocker said:


> Anyone hear of a card that has something in between a 128bit and a 512bit memory bus?  WTF?



no thats nvidia with their 384bit buss (256+128bit)   ati is using a 512bit, 256bit, 128bit buss on diffrent cards now, and its not all bad to offer 128bit, depending on design of the card it wont hurt perf 

this isnt dissapointing to me, run the g80 with first gen drivers and test it against this card with current drivers(ones from the day it came out) 

remmber when the x800 came out, then after a while ati put out a driver that boosted perf drasticly on 256mb cards, i got up to a 97% boost in some games(almost 2x the fps....thats on top of already stunning fps it came out with) 

give amdti some time to optimize the drivers, and they will endup bringing out a 2nd gen card thats better shortly, much like they did with the x1800 vs x1900..

and how are the vista drivers conpared to nvidia?  they cant be any worse!!!!!

i personaly dont give a shit about vista perf, i want xp benches, i use 2003 and it uses xp drivers


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## mR Yellow (May 14, 2007)

I must say i'm very dissapointed with the 2900XT! I was expecting more. I was hoping ATi/AMD would do well cause i've always loved ATi cards.

I was thinking of getting one of these...hoping it would be much faster than my 8800GTS. 
I get 10 800 in 3dMark06 with my GTS OC'ed, so i don't really see it as a worthwhile upgrade.

The card is 7 months late! So i expected more.


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## Grings (May 14, 2007)

hopefully theres an x1800->x1900 style revision around the corner with 960 pixel shaders!


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## Jimmy 2004 (May 14, 2007)

Not as impressive as the fanboys expected, but it's worth remembering that new drivers should help to boost its performance slightly and obviously it may be better than NVIDIA when it comes to DX 10.


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## OnBoard (May 14, 2007)

Well ain't that perty! I especially like the fact that my card kicks it's ass in Far Cry on every resolution  Double the memory and whole new generation is not enough  Some-256bit-256MB-memory-on-one-side-low-power-consumption-2800xt could be nice. With single 6pin powerplug of course and 199$ price. Or 512MB and 249$.


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## hv43082 (May 14, 2007)

Mixed reviews so far from our own, HardOCP, and VR-zone.  HardOCP tests show this card trailing the 8800gts 640mb by all tests, especially at higher resolution.  VR-zone shows somewhat different number favoring the new card.  Wiz did not have 8800gts 640mb so no direct comparison.  The ATI card is roughly $70 more than their 640mb counter part but you do get a voucher for HL Black Box.  The power load is tremendously more.  I will wait for more reviews from anandtech, THG, and xbitlabs but so far, this card seems like a flop.


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## Jodiuh (May 14, 2007)

Drivers:	NVIDIA: 91.47

Did I read that right? Complete w/ promo video and all...


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## W1zzard (May 14, 2007)

the 8800/8600/8500 use newer drivers of course .. fixed

i wouldnt call the video a promo video .. i just thought some people would enjoy seeing the ruby demo


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## Wile E (May 14, 2007)

Well, I just said screw it, and ordered mine. Ordered a Powercolor and a Corsair 620w psu, in case I ever feel the need to go Crossfire.


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## laszlo (May 14, 2007)

let the price war begin!

and the  winner is....  the consumer

better to wait 2-3 months(or more) before upgrade who need  dx10 now ?


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

well, as some1 quoted, the xt was ment for rivaling the gts, and any1 notice how awsome the x1900xtx performed?? :OOO

it performed so well its often just 10/20 fps behind the 8800 LOL

now thats with well revised and user bug reported corrections, allow that please for the 2900xt

Oh, and remember it IS just an XT version, let em fix the bleedin xtx, hope they hurry up....

Edit: actually, with the x1900xtx beating the 2900xt on some benchies, i can only think its driver related??


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## theonetruewill (May 14, 2007)

mandelore said:


> well, as some1 quoted, the xt was ment for rivaling the gts, and any1 notice how awsome the x1900xtx performed?? :OOO
> 
> it performed so well its often just 10/20 fps behind the 8800 LOL
> 
> ...



Or that it really is specialised for DX10 and will be the king of the new technology.


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

theonetruewill said:


> Or that it really is specialised for DX10 and will be the king of the new technology.



well on other posts thats been my thoughts, designed dx10 card from the ground up. It has a more preffessional feel to it with integrated sound etc.. will be super for media center pc's


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## mR Yellow (May 14, 2007)

I'm so glad i bought my 8800 when it came out....imagine if i waited 7 months for this


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## TooFast (May 14, 2007)

i did see some dx10 benchmarks, the x2900 won every single one.


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## Sasqui (May 14, 2007)

TooFast said:


> i did see some dx10 benchmarks, the x2900 won every single one.




Where???


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## petepete (May 14, 2007)

can't wait for the XTX; the real card that competes against the 8800 GTX/Ultra.


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## Easy Rhino (May 14, 2007)

i have a feeling this card is just to hold us over and perhaps to please the stockholders of amd. regardless for 400 bucks that is a very powerful card that does perform close at times to the 8800gtx. just wait for the high end cards. ati will beat the 8800 ultra!


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## Eric_Cartman (May 14, 2007)

6 months and ati is getting their asses handed to them from cards from last generation!

ati is in serious trouble, after 6 months the drivers should already be optimized


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

look how much it can overclock tho, its gonna be insane on watercooling!! especially with voltages over 2v!!

and no, it aint been handed its arse, in some cases a lowly x1900xtx handed an 8800 its arse on a fresh silver platter  (well, maybe just on one benchy hehe)


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

Eric_Cartman said:


> 6 months and ati is getting their asses handed to them from cards from last generation!
> 
> ati is in serious trouble, after 6 months the drivers should already be optimized



nvidia has had 6 months of USER bug reports..


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## d44ve (May 14, 2007)

I am an Nvidia fan... however, I am impressed with the card.

Clearly it is supposed to compete with the GTS, not GTX. 

With a 399 price tag... I think it is a good buy.


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

lol, guess someone rushed to get it listed on overclockers hehe


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

looking at the post about lost planet dx10 game, I hope it wont be used as a benchy since I reckon its gonna be heavily biased with all of nvidias input 

sucks to the max when games are tarded towards one graphics company


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## TylerZambori (May 14, 2007)

mandelore said:


> well on other posts thats been my thoughts, designed dx10 card from the ground up. It has a more preffessional feel to it with integrated sound etc.. will be super for media center pc's




Why would I want integrated 5.1 sound?  I want a sound card with 7.1!


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

TylerZambori said:


> Why would I want integrated 5.1 sound?  I want a sound card with 7.1!



lol... that made me chuckle


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## TylerZambori (May 14, 2007)

Easy Rhino said:


> i have a feeling this card is just to hold us over and perhaps to please the stockholders of amd. regardless for 400 bucks that is a very powerful card that does perform close at times to the 8800gtx. just wait for the high end cards. ati will beat the 8800 ultra!



I need to get one in June....not gonna wait. 8800 gts it is.


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

TylerZambori said:


> I need to get one in June....not gonna wait. 8800 gts it is.



that.. doesnt actually make sense if you read it, your not gonna wait for the next ati product, while the xt is available, so your going for a gts which the xt can beat?


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## d44ve (May 14, 2007)

mandelore said:


> that.. doesnt actually make sense if you read it, your not gonna wait for the next ati product, while the xt is available, so your going for a gts which the xt can beat?




I thought the GTS beat the XT in most of those tests?


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## TooFast (May 14, 2007)

Every damn review is diffrent! I cant take it anymore. http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=3&id=2260


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## TooFast (May 14, 2007)

the x2900xt overclocked beats the gts in every game.


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

TooFast said:


> the x2900xt overclocked beats the gts in every game.



and all the 8800 benchies were done with a pre overclocked card also


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## TooFast (May 14, 2007)

TylerZambori said:


> I need to get one in June....not gonna wait. 8800 gts it is.




dont be silly the x2900 with driver updates and overclocked will be way faster.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=3&id=2260


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

TooFast said:


> dont be silly the x2900 with driver updates and overclocked will be way faster.
> 
> http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=3&id=2260



its like peeps buying intel chips over amd coz once overclocked they go faster...

if you slap watercooling on an hd2900xt its gonna fly

Put it this way, i have an 1900xtx and would never even think of using it without being overclocked, the difference is just to large to ignore


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## d44ve (May 14, 2007)

I guess I will just have to get another GTS


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

also look at the pricing, its quite shocking really, an 8800 ultra beats the xt (but very few of them) at an insane price tag, while you could have 2 hd2900xt's in crossfire for less and dance around all smug


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## d44ve (May 14, 2007)

everyone knows that the 8800 ultra is a joke... no one is going to buy that thing.


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

d44ve said:


> everyone knows that the 8800 ultra is a joke... no one is going to buy that thing.



well yeah, guess your right there, dunno what Nvidia was thinking with that price...


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## TooFast (May 14, 2007)

Just wait till drivers are updated. 1000% sure the 8800gts is no match for this card.
the x2900xt beats the 8800gts in every game in some reviews.


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

Well thats dx9, I wanna see unbiased dx10 game benchies, where neither ati or nvidia has had their fingers in em. A fair, unoptomized Dx10 showdown

Also think sum1 mentioned that ATI are workin on their next 2 core designs, so hopefully, coupled with the Phenom cpu's, things are looking up for ATI/AMD, for once


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## TylerZambori (May 14, 2007)

So how long will it take for these updated ati drivers?  Gah!


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## d44ve (May 14, 2007)

mandelore said:


> Well thats dx9, I wanna see unbiased dx10 game benchies, where neither ati or nvidia has had their fingers in em. A fair, unoptomized Dx10 showdown
> 
> Also think sum1 mentioned that ATI are workin on their next 2 core designs, so hopefully, coupled with the Phenom cpu's, things are looking up for ATI/AMD, for once



Yeah.... as long as they dont go broke in the meantime and have to go bankrupt.


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## a111087 (May 14, 2007)

TooFast said:


> x1800 all over again, sorry worse.



can someone explain what happened to x1800, i wasn't reading news back then


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## TooFast (May 14, 2007)

we waited like 4ever for it, when it came out yes it was faster than nvidia but only for 2 weeks till the 7900 came out, then 3 weeks later the x1900 came out, wich made the x1800 worthless.


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## KennyT772 (May 14, 2007)

x1800 = rushed out for performance king, then quickly beaten by 7900...


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## MTL (May 14, 2007)

Why wasn't the overclocking tool able to be mentioned?  

What was used?


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## Sasqui (May 14, 2007)

mandelore said:


> Well thats dx9, I wanna see unbiased dx10 game benchies, where neither ati or nvidia has had their fingers in em. A fair, unoptomized Dx10 showdown



From what info I've read, ATI built this card with a tradeoff for high DX10 and mediocre DX9 performance... relatively speaking.  Too bad the software just hasn't been built yet to prove that one way or other

It's still going to take a while for game programmers to really understand what DX10 SDK can do, not to mention optimization.


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## d44ve (May 14, 2007)

Hell...... all in all, EVERYONE wins. 

It doesnt matter if you are an Nvidia fan or an ATI fan.

We all win, weather its lower prices, performace or any other reasons.

Bottom line everyone wins


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## Casheti (May 14, 2007)

For the first time ever I'm disappointed with ATi...

We waited ages for this to come out, and when it does? It's nothing special... I can cheer myself up by saying it's AMD's fault though 

I think I'm just gonna buy an XBOX 360 and be happy with that...


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## mandelore (May 14, 2007)

Casheti said:


> For the first time ever I'm disappointed with ATi...
> 
> We waited ages for this to come out, and when it does? It's nothing special... I can cheer myself up by saying it's AMD's fault though
> 
> I think I'm just gonna buy an XBOX 360 and be happy with that...



you say that b4 its even been properly benchied on dx10 software, it "will" be special when you throw dx10 at it    (toes crossed )


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## d44ve (May 14, 2007)

I just hope for the sake of the ATI fans that it runs like you expect


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## Ripper3 (May 14, 2007)

TylerZambori said:


> So how long will it take for these updated ati drivers?  Gah!



Knowing ATi, either a few days, or maybe another week or two, depends on user feedback, and how quickly their programmers can type. They'll want to up performance as quickly as possible.

Either way, taking an average of all of the reviews I read on the 2900, it's still got decent performance, especially for the price tag (£270 for a card that came out TODAY officially, and on OcUK too... not bad if I say so myself), just wish that my PSU could handle it (430W, only one 6-pin PCIe connector), as if it could, then I'd know that it could easily handle the lower-priced model 2900s, in case a hammer ever happens to come into contact with my card


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## Simri (May 14, 2007)

Good Review


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## Greek (May 14, 2007)

just wait for crysis, then do proper benchies, that way we could see what all this big speculation has been about, in all fearness testing the cards in dx9 mode is crap in my opinion, but thats the only review you can give at the minure which is fair enough, patience is the key here, wait to see whatcrysis will be like, but for 254 in the uk price tag, this card looks very promissing, i have to agree with some of you guys, if this beat the gtx in some benches i cant wait to see what the xtx does, god that must be a killer


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## d44ve (May 14, 2007)

Greek said:


> just wait for crysis, then do proper benchies, that way we could see what all this big speculation has been about, in all fearness testing the cards in dx9 mode is crap in my opinion, but thats the only review you can give at the minure which is fair enough, patience is the key here, wait to see whatcrysis will be like, but for 254 in the uk price tag, this card looks very promissing, i have to agree with some of you guys, if this beat the gtx in some benches i cant wait to see what the xtx does, god that must be a killer





pssstt there will be no xtx. 

this is the best it gets


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## DaMulta (May 14, 2007)

XTX is coming one day, but it might be HD2950XT HD2950XTX when it gets here.


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## Jimmy 2004 (May 14, 2007)

TooFast said:


> i did see some dx10 benchmarks, the x2900 won every single one.



It would be nice if you gave some sources.

For those people interested in DX10 performance, Guru3D has benchmarked the cards using a _Call of Juarez_ demo and the results show both the GTX cards in the lead. These are the first reliable benchmarks for DX10 I've seen.


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## TooFast (May 14, 2007)

well ill be doing some of my own testing, just got 2 out the 3 2900xts in quebec!
and ill find the source for the dx10 benchmarks


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## d44ve (May 14, 2007)

DaMulta said:


> XTX is coming one day, but it might be HD2950XT HD2950XTX when it gets here.




Correct... I am not saying it wont EVER be here in one form or another. I am just saying that the 2900xtx will not be here


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## tkpenalty (May 14, 2007)

d44ve said:


> Correct... I am not saying it wont EVER be here in one form or another. I am just saying that the 2900xtx will not be here



Wha? Its coming out next month, W1zzard will probably review it. HD 2900XTX has never been seen by the public for your information, what we have been seeing up to now as of late is the HD 2900XT.


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## Ripper3 (May 14, 2007)

Call of Juarez had alot of input from Nvidia, so there's going to be millions of optimisations for the 8800s, so I wouldn't call it a fair test. What I'm waiting for is Alan Wake. It'll test both CPU and GPU (Makes use of quad cores quite well I've read in some UK mags)

AMD hasn't gone anywhere, but it has taken ATi with it, but only cos it bought them


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## TooFast (May 14, 2007)

14898 3dmark 06 2900xt in crossfire.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=1950871


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## Greek (May 14, 2007)

what, i thought there were gonna be two 2900 series cards, the xt and xtx, now ppl are saying it will not come out and ppl are saying that it will, for those who are saying it wont, have you got any sources to proove this?


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## Ripper3 (May 14, 2007)

Can't pinpoint the review I read it in (there are about 5 I looked at), but one or more said that the XTX created so much heat that it would be limited to OEMs only. 
If you look for preliminary photos of the R600, you'd have seen a 12" long card. 9" was PCB, just like the current XT, but the other 3" were for an extended heatsink, and a larger fan on the end of the card. The XTX has higher clocks than the XT, and probably packs higher voltage out of the box for stability, meaning it's probably much hotter running than the XT


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## strick94u (May 14, 2007)

3DMark Score
(3DMarks) 17235  

17242  


CPU Score
(CPUMarks) 8610  

6927  




Detailed Test Results


Game Tests 
GT1 - Return To Proxycon
(fps) 64.3  

54.4  


GT2 - Firefly Forest
(fps) 50.2  

45.8  


GT3 - Canyon Flight
(fps) 101.4  

131.6  




CPU Tests 
CPU Test 1
(fps) 4.7  

4.7  


CPU Test 2
(fps) 7.1  

4.5  

first post from a 2900 on futuremark 3dmark 05 mine is on top it did beat my slightly overclocked 8800 gts sc 640 wow it beat me in the hdr test.


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## Grings (May 14, 2007)

3d mark is run at far too low resolution to show the power of these modern cards


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## strick94u (May 14, 2007)

Grings said:


> 3d mark is run at far too low resolution to show the power of these modern cards



Yes well first Bench mark outside of a lab enviroment I have seen and I could do a side by side with mine. I'm sure other bench marks are being posted somewhere?
It only took hours for Nvidia 8800 marks to showup what do you think the holdup is?
Could it be the ATI is indeed on par with the GTS not the GTX ? From what I see yep thats it.


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## XooM (May 15, 2007)

any chance of F@H frame times?


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## KennyT772 (May 15, 2007)

frame times are different for each wu....they are irrelevant.


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## TooFast (May 15, 2007)

strick94u said:


> 3DMark Score
> (3DMarks) 17235
> 
> 17242
> ...




got 21000 with my 2 x2900s


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## hv43082 (May 15, 2007)

Why do you care about those 3DMark scores?  It's far from indicative of the actual in game performance.  So what if this card even the score with the GTX and surpass the GTS, it still underperform compared to them.


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## hat (May 15, 2007)

80C? lol is that normal?!
BTW anyone pointing and laughing at HD 2900XT losing to Mr. 8800GTX should keep in mind that it is the job of the HD 2900XTX to beat the living shit out of the 8800GTX


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## Steevo (May 15, 2007)

I fold with my X1800XT and it runs 80C on a daily basis. Been doing it for quite awhile now.




HD2900XT + DX9 = ehhhhh....


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## hv43082 (May 15, 2007)

hat said:


> 80C? lol is that normal?!
> BTW anyone pointing and laughing at HD 2900XT losing to Mr. 8800GTX should keep in mind that it is the job of the HD 2900XTX to beat the living shit out of the 8800GTX



If it's not here at launch, it's not beating the shit of out anything...may be the amd investors.  6 months late to the party and only perform on par with the counter part while being more expensive.  This round goes to Nvidia.  Let's hope AMD can come back next round, heh?


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## XooM (May 15, 2007)

KennyT772 said:


> frame times are different for each wu....they are irrelevant.



ok, then PPD. a frame time can still be useful, as approximate PPD can be derived from it.


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## TooFast (May 15, 2007)

I Have Had X1800,x1900,1950 In Crossfire. Nothing Has Been Close To As Loud As The X2900xt In Xfire!!!


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## zekrahminator (May 15, 2007)

Where are you getting all this money to get X2900XT CF the DAY that NDA is lifted .


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## DaMulta (May 15, 2007)

You already have them too fast?


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## anticlutch (May 15, 2007)

It must be awesome to have 2900xt's in CF 

The electricity bill is probably going to be insane though


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## DOM (May 15, 2007)

TooFast said:


> 14898 3dmark 06 2900xt in crossfire.
> 
> http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=1950871



Its not being runed at Default settings 


Benchmark Settings 
Default Settings Custom 

Program Version 3DMark06 Revision 1 Build 0 

Resolution 1024x768  

Anti-Aliasing None 

Texture Filtering Optimal 

Vertex Shader Profile 3_0 

Pixel Shader Profile 3_0 

Force Full Precision No 

Disable Post-processing No 

Force Software Vertex Shaders No 

Force Software FP Filtering No 

Disable HW Shadow Mapping No 

Color Mipmaps No 

Repeat Count Off 

Fixed Framerate Off 



Main Test Results
3DMark Score 14898 3DMarks 

SM 2.0 Score 6587 Marks 

SM 3.0 Score 8198 Marks 

CPU Score 2839 Marks


----------



## anticlutch (May 15, 2007)

I thought the majority of benchmarks used 1024x768... did everyone move on to 1280x1024 already?


----------



## mas0n (May 15, 2007)

After reading over all the reviews I can find for this card I think we will see a minimum 15% increase in performance in the next 3 months as drivers get smoothed out. I found this tidbit interesting: "The new Anti Aliasing supports programmable sample patterns, programmable resolve filters and it is upgradeable via driver updates. Yes, programmable sample patterns and programmable resolve filters."

I've seen an increase of 1300 points in 3DMark06 due solely to driver updates with my 8800GTS in the past 6 months. I expect the same from this latest release from ATI


----------



## TooFast (May 15, 2007)

I had no choice im running a 32 inch tv, it wont let go more than 1024 768 in any 3d app.
BTW the overdrive option in the CCC is not there?


----------



## SK-1 (May 15, 2007)

A few questions for anyone who knows,...1-Will there be any XTX{DDR4?},...2-Is it me or are the review benchmark numbers all over the place?


----------



## TooFast (May 15, 2007)

DOM_ATI_X800XL_PCI-E said:


> Its not being runed at Default settings
> 
> 
> Benchmark Settings
> ...




HERE THIS IS IS HIGH AS THE LCD TV WILL GO 1360 768.I  BELIEVE THE DEFAULT RES IS 1280 720


http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=1952769


----------



## SK-1 (May 15, 2007)

TooFast said:


> I had no choice im running a 32 inch tv, it wont let go more than 1024 768 in any 3d app.
> BTW the overdrive option in the CCC is not there?



Are you talking about the 7.4's?
I have Overdrive in my 7.4s?


----------



## TooFast (May 15, 2007)

U Have The Overdrive Option?


----------



## mR Yellow (May 15, 2007)

TooFast said:


> the x2900xt overclocked beats the gts in every game.



Yes, and then i'll just OC the GTS!
BTW The 2900XT is clocked pretty high...huh? So clock for clock nVidia is handing it to ATi/AMD.

I really was hoping ATi/AMD would blow nVidia out the water.

All this talk about the XTX? Where is it? The GTX and Ultra are the fastest cards atm.
ATi is once again late to the party...


----------



## Ketxxx (May 15, 2007)

Are we finally looking at a retail board here and not a sample? If it is retail.. the card certainly isnt the fastest in DX9, but there are hints of what kind of performance its capable of. Lets hope DX10 lets this monser shine. Oh and no, I wont be getting one. I'm not supporting flagship models until ATi and nVida stop being so bloody lazy and design the PCB properly.


----------



## Wile E (May 15, 2007)

Mine should be here on thursday, according to UPS. Can't wait to get it going this weekend.


----------



## theonetruewill (May 15, 2007)

Ketxxx said:


> Oh and no, I wont be getting one. I'm not supporting flagship models until ATi and nVida stop being so bloody lazy and design the PCB properly.



Why don't you tell them that- then patent and then sell them your idea.


----------



## Chewy (May 15, 2007)

mR Yellow said:


> Yes, and then i'll just OC the GTS!
> BTW The 2900XT is clocked pretty high...huh? So clock for clock nVidia is handing it to ATi/AMD.
> 
> I really was hoping ATi/AMD would blow nVidia out the water.
> ...



 the gts dont stand a chance against the xt, its the gtx that this review compares it to for that reason.. gts will be droping in price soon and I think you should get whatever fits your budget best, all theses dx10 cards minus the gtx/ultra will fall into the right price range I think.. mind you 2x2900xt (crossfired) > than 2x gtx(sli'd) it does better in most benches with its current drivers.. and is alot cheaper . So as far as I am concerned ati is owning.. I'll rather pay for 2 xt's than 2 gtx's anyday. I like ati more anyway, no crap marketing scam paying off game companys.. sometimes even having them tweak the game to run better on thier cards.


----------



## W1zzard (May 15, 2007)

TooFast said:


> U Have The Overdrive Option?



are you using the 8 pin connector?


----------



## Ketxxx (May 15, 2007)

theonetruewill said:


> Why don't you tell them that- then patent and then sell them your idea.



No idea, just basic good PCB design. Anyone can do it.


----------



## W1zzard (May 15, 2007)

Ketxxx said:


> No idea, just basic good PCB design. Anyone can do it.



you should go work for ati or nvidia .. what have you designed last?


----------



## m3lisk (May 15, 2007)

I ♥ THIS CARD!!! I WANT ONE RIGHT NOW!!! ALL BOW TO IT! 

About 2/3 the price of the GTX, and losing in only a few benchmarks, this card is simply amazing. Cheers to ATI.

*ATI**nVidia*


----------



## zekrahminator (May 15, 2007)

Come to think of it, despite all the hype, delays, rumors, and bitching, the R600 is a very good deal. It uses the same amount of power as the 8800's, is 2/3 the cost, in general is on par with it, has the potential to rape the 8800's once the drivers are optimized, and is ATI. It just needs a good quiet cooler to be a very nice card .


----------



## Ketxxx (May 15, 2007)

W1zzard said:


> you should go work for ati or nvidia .. what have you designed last?



Funny you should say that, right now I'm trying to decide what architecture to pick and do a PCB re-design as something to just add to my portfolio. I was thinking the 6800 series simply because I already know how it works inside out almost, but at the same time its dated now.


----------



## Ketxxx (May 15, 2007)

zekrahminator said:


> Come to think of it, despite all the hype, delays, rumors, and bitching, the R600 is a very good deal. It uses the same amount of power as the 8800's, is 2/3 the cost, in general is on par with it, has the potential to rape the 8800's once the drivers are optimized, and is ATI. It just needs a good quiet cooler to be a very nice card .



Dont forget its potential 8800 raping DX10 performance


----------



## Ser-J (May 15, 2007)

www.firingsquad.com has a good review on HD2900XT. I have had Nvidia and Ati cards, and somehow I always like Ati better, but personally I thing right now 8800GTS 640MB is a better buy. It orders to overclock 2900xt you need a big a$$ PSU, and who knows if these better drivers ever show up.


----------



## TheButcherNL (May 15, 2007)

All the specs of the XT are higher than the GTX, only think they should have used faster clocked memory, so think it will be faster than the GTX when new drivers are released, and of course when DX10 games appear, like a lot of you already said. Something makes it go slower than its supposed to be.

cya


----------



## Ashen (May 15, 2007)

mR Yellow said:


> I must say i'm very dissapointed with the 2900XT! I was expecting more. I was hoping ATi/AMD would do well cause i've always loved ATi cards.
> 
> I was thinking of getting one of these...hoping it would be much faster than my 8800GTS.
> I get 10 800 in 3dMark06 with my GTS OC'ed, so i don't really see it as a worthwhile upgrade.
> ...



um, m8 its been 5 months since vista came out, b4 that there was no dx10, and infact really their still isnt any true dx10, because no true dx10 games are out, and 8800 still dont have GOLD level drivers....thats after 7 months......and they have had alot of USER error and bugg reports.

ATI tend to put out a VERY stable driver first with the card, then up the perf after the card is out and they have error/bugg reports.



TylerZambori said:


> Why would I want integrated 5.1 sound?  I want a sound card with 7.1!



um, movies arent 7.1 sound and really thats what this is for, movie/video playback over HDMI.
also VISTA breaks most hardware acceleration on current audio, tho cmedia has gotten that problem worked out with drivers, creative hasnt, and may never really get it worked out, because their driver team sucks ass.



Wile E said:


> Mine should be here on thursday, according to UPS. Can't wait to get it going this weekend.



should have payed a little more and gotten fedex express saver, would have had it in 2 days, ups u will probbly see it friday.


remmber yall, these are first gen STABLE drivers that are not missing fetures unlike 8800 drivers, they just need to update them and then we will see dx9 perf gains, as well as more fetures being exploited.

we will see what comes, im not buying one, no need, i have a nice x1900xtx at 700/1600 in here, its plenty for me for now, 1600x1200 runs quite well in current games.

i wont be buying vista, i may get vista server, but that depends on how well it runs and how much of a pita it is.

but i cant wait to see the driver updates come out, from reports i have been reading the 2900 drivers are already leaps and bounds ahead of 8800 drivers for stability and feturs working!!!! (g80 current drivers clean install=no full screen tv out lol)


----------



## TheButcherNL (May 15, 2007)

Yeah, my last Nvidia card was an FX5600, crap card, and always something wrong with the drivers, most of the times AA didnt work properly, after that I bought a 9600XT, and will never go back to Nvidia, never had any driver problems since. Also image quality of ATI cards is better.

So think the XT will be okay.

And it already runs all games with very nice fps, thats the most important.

cya


----------



## a111087 (May 15, 2007)

Ok, no matter how hard for me to say this, I must say that I am kinda disappointed, but I would still wait for new drivers and then see the benchmarks since there has been a big improvement in performance between current and previous drivers.


----------



## Chewy (May 15, 2007)

I think its doing very well and well for its price catagory... I wouldnt care if newer drivers made it faster in dx9 games, theses cards are fast enough.. they can do max graphics with decent to great frames @ 1600x1200 on prob Every single dx9 game out there.

 I'll get one soon just waiting to see if my dads friends online store gets them in stock so I can get a little discount .

 I dont really play on-line fps games, so I wouldnt need any faster frames.. I guess the more fps the better for online fps.


----------



## Ser-J (May 15, 2007)

a111087 said:


> Ok, no matter how hard for me to say this, I must say that I am kinda disappointed, but I would still wait for new drivers and then see the benchmarks since there has been a big improvement in performance between current and previous drivers.


I think it is a big disappointment, we are already in May and this is what we get.................really nothing spacial, AMD needs to step their game up...


----------



## Protius (May 15, 2007)

Chewy said:


> I think its doing very well and well for its price catagory... I wouldnt care if newer drivers made it faster in dx9 games, theses cards are fast enough.. they can do max graphics with decent to great frames @ 1600x1200 on prob Every single dx9 game out there.
> 
> I'll get one soon just waiting to see if my dads friends online store gets them in stock so I can get a little discount .
> 
> I dont really play on-line fps games, so I wouldnt need any faster frames.. I guess the more fps the better for online fps.



wana get me a discount


----------



## a111087 (May 15, 2007)

Chewy said:


> I dont really play on-line fps games, so I wouldnt need any faster frames.. I guess the more fps the better for online fps.



ok, i really didn't get that


----------



## Ser-J (May 15, 2007)

I like what I read about 2900xt at hardocp.com I think this is a good description of HD2900xt
*"Here is what it boils down to. If the Radeon HD 2900 XT performed exactly on par with the GeForce 8800 GTS in every game, it would still be a loser because it draws nearly 100 more watts of power, meaning it is very inefficient. The facts are though that it doesn’t even match the 8800 GTS currently. In every game it slides in underperforming compared to the GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB, and it does it while drawing a lot more power, as much power or more as an 8800 GTX. Not only that, but a GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB based video card can now be had for up to $70 cheaper than the Radeon HD 2900 XT. I don’t know about you, but a video card that is cheaper, runs a lot faster and draws less energy just seems like the better value to me."*


----------



## Chewy (May 15, 2007)

a111087 said:


> ok, i really didn't get that




 did read the rest of my post? theses dx10 cards pwn dx9 so friggin hard that why would really need the extra fps? I mean you can max everything on any dx9 game @ 1900x1200 res and still have good frames.. from what people say the more fps the better for on-line fps games.. but your ping also plays a huge part in that aswell.. 

 I donno, I dont play on-line fps much and when I do I dotn care if my fps is 50 or 160.. as long as Im not laggin its all good.


----------



## Chewy (May 15, 2007)

Ser-J said:


> I like what I read about 2900xt at hardocp.com I think this is a good description of HD2900xt
> *"Here is what it boils down to. If the Radeon HD 2900 XT performed exactly on par with the GeForce 8800 GTS in every game, it would still be a loser because it draws nearly 100 more watts of power, meaning it is very inefficient. The facts are though that it doesn’t even match the 8800 GTS currently. In every game it slides in underperforming compared to the GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB, and it does it while drawing a lot more power, as much power or more as an 8800 GTX. Not only that, but a GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB based video card can now be had for up to $70 cheaper than the Radeon HD 2900 XT. I don’t know about you, but a video card that is cheaper, runs a lot faster and draws less energy just seems like the better value to me."*




 I thought the 2900xt blows the gts away though.. guess well have to wait until everyone uses the right drivers with it... I think some reviews are using older drivers than what Wiz used. thats where they get the 8800gts is very close to 2900xt.. if it was overclocked yeah but I dont think so. Either way I'm getting either a 8800gts 640 or a 2900xt, soon enough.

 I hate nividias Gay marketing, so that makes me not want to buy any of thier cards.. just like the promoteing of that new Nividia optimized dx10 game so they get more sales.. so some suckers think, oh Nivida pwned the 2900xt in dx10, and go out and spend their $$ on nivida. and wait endlessly for better drivers... 64bit vista driver where is it!?


----------



## Protius (May 15, 2007)

Ser-J said:


> I like what I read about 2900xt at hardocp.com I think this is a good description of HD2900xt
> *"Here is what it boils down to. If the Radeon HD 2900 XT performed exactly on par with the GeForce 8800 GTS in every game, it would still be a loser because it draws nearly 100 more watts of power, meaning it is very inefficient. The facts are though that it doesn’t even match the 8800 GTS currently. In every game it slides in underperforming compared to the GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB, and it does it while drawing a lot more power, as much power or more as an 8800 GTX. Not only that, but a GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB based video card can now be had for up to $70 cheaper than the Radeon HD 2900 XT. I don’t know about you, but a video card that is cheaper, runs a lot faster and draws less energy just seems like the better value to me."*



you like reading that?, i've seen some benchies that it (x2900) beats it and some that it loses, which makes me hope it's a driver issue, probly wait a week or to to get one, heck i sold m 2nd x1800 so i could have the money for one


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## zekrahminator (May 15, 2007)

Let's keep the fanboyish arguments to a minimum, please. As far as I can tell, everyone's right. In some cases, R600 wins everything. In other cases, G80 wins everything. But, in most cases, R600 wins some and loses some, which makes me think that R600 is an equivalent to G80 while costing less. And the whole "it draws more power" thing is bullocks. It uses an eight-pin connector for stability, but other wise, you'll find that power draw is quite similar to the 8800GTX. 

I think that we shouldn't be judging this thing until we see A LOT more DX10 apps. Then, I think we'll really see this thing shine. Or not, but that's something we'll have to find out when that time comes. Until then, we can be sure that R600 is definitely on par with the 8800 series, and at 2/3 the price.


----------



## a111087 (May 15, 2007)

zekrahminator said:


> Let's keep the fanboyish arguments to a minimum, please. As far as I can tell, everyone's right. In some cases, R600 wins everything. In other cases, G80 wins everything. But, in most cases, R600 wins some and loses some, which makes me think that R600 is an equivalent to G80 while costing less. And the whole "it draws more power" thing is bullocks. It uses an eight-pin connector for stability, but other wise, you'll find that power draw is quite similar to the 8800GTX.
> 
> I think that we shouldn't be judging this thing until we see A LOT more DX10 apps. Then, I think we'll really see this thing shine. Or not, but that's something we'll have to find out when that time comes. Until then, we can be sure that R600 is definitely on par with the 8800 series, and at 2/3 the price.



thats what i was saying


----------



## zekrahminator (May 15, 2007)

I don't read everyone's posts, I'm far too lazy, multiple people quoting the same post just catch my eye .


----------



## Ser-J (May 16, 2007)

zekrahminator said:


> Let's keep the fanboyish arguments to a minimum, please. As far as I can tell, everyone's right. In some cases, R600 wins everything. In other cases, G80 wins everything. But, in most cases, R600 wins some and loses some, which makes me think that R600 is an equivalent to G80 while costing less. And the whole "it draws more power" thing is bullocks. It uses an eight-pin connector for stability, but other wise, you'll find that power draw is quite similar to the 8800GTX.
> 
> I think that we shouldn't be judging this thing until we see A LOT more DX10 apps. Then, I think we'll really see this thing shine. Or not, but that's something we'll have to find out when that time comes. Until then, we can be sure that R600 is definitely on par with the 8800 series, and at 2/3 the price.


It took ATi all this time to make something that can barely compete with 8800GTS 640MB??? At this point I thing if you want something in that price range you will be better off with 8800GTS 640MB, you can overclock GTS with out getting a new PSU, as far as 2900XT goes, I think ATi focussed too much on technology of the card rather then actual performance in games we play right now or will be playing in 3-6 month from now. While ATi was making this card they also had time to make decent drivers that would get good fps, so I don't think the drivers will be improved dramatically. I was never a fanboy of any of the two, I just like Ati lil betta, but right now I thing they are loosing big times in the world of video cards!


----------



## Wile E (May 16, 2007)

Ser-J said:


> It took ATi all this time to make something that can barely compete with 8800GTS 640MB??? At this point I thing if you want something in that price range you will be better off with 8800GTS 640MB, you can overclock GTS with out getting a new PSU, as far as 2900XT goes, I think ATi focussed too much on technology of the card rather then actual performance in games we play right now or will be playing in 3-6 month from now. While ATi was making this card they also had time to make decent drivers that would get good fps, so I don't think the drivers will be improved dramatically. I was never a fanboy of any of the too, I just like Ati lil betta, but right now I thing they are loosing big times in the world of video cards!



I think you're mistaken about the drivers. There's no way ATI could've made 100% ready drivers because there are too many possible hardware and software configurations. They have to rely on user feedback, just like nVidia. And if you pay close attention to the benchmarks, there are obviously driver problems. In FEAR it comes stupidly close to even the 8800GTX, yet in some benches, it even loses to an X1950Pro. 

Like Zek said, we won't know until there are more driver updates and some DX10 games to test before we know who comes out on top.


----------



## Ser-J (May 16, 2007)

Wile E said:


> I think you're mistaken about the drivers. There's no way ATI could've made 100% ready drivers because there are too many possible hardware and software configurations. They have to rely on user feedback, just like nVidia. And if you pay close attention to the benchmarks, there are obviously driver problems. In FEAR it comes stupidly close to even the 8800GTX, yet in some benches, it even loses to an X1950Pro.
> 
> Like Zek said, we won't know until there are more driver updates and some DX10 games to test before we know who comes out on top.


Even if Ati comes up with better drivers in the near future, and 2900xt will preform close to GTX, Ati is still not going to be on top like a lot of fans were hoping it was going to be. Look at is this way, 8800gtx was out for quite some time, and now R600 is finally here, and now we have to hope for better drivers....??? I say forget it and buy something thats already proven to work or you are going to be waiting forever.


----------



## Wile E (May 16, 2007)

Ser-J said:


> Even if Ati comes up with better drivers in the near future, and 2900xt will preform close to GTX, Ati is still not going to be on top like a lot of fans were hoping it was going to be. Look at is this way, 8800gtx was out for quite some time, and now R600 is finally here, and now we have to hope for the drivers. I say forget it and buy something thats already proven to work or you are going to be waiting forever.



The target for the 2900XT isn't the GTX, it's the GTS. ATI hasn't released anything for the top slot yet (if they even do). But, considering that it comes so close to the GTX in some tests, suggests to me that it has more potential than the GTS. That's just my educated guess, tho. I may be proven wrong, but then again I may not. Guess we'll find out. 

If I'm unhappy with my 2900XT, I'll get rid of it for an 8800 GTS 640mb. Either way, they're both good cards. (Besides, I only game at 1440x900, so either card would likely serve me well for at least a couple of years, I just might not win any benchmark competitions. lol)

The biggest factors I based my decision on were: 

1.) the complaints 8800 owners have about drivers and missing/broken features
2.) The way nVidia essentially turned their back on 7950GX2 owners (that was a serious turn off for me)
3.) The built in Audio/video features of the 2900. (I have a fairly decent home theater setup that I hook into every once in a while. Onkyo 5.1 surround, 32" samsung 720p LCD)
4.) Just the hunch that the card will really awaken with driver updates. (Again, just an opinion/educated guess)

All that said, I have nothing against nVidia. I just feel the ATI will serve me better. And I also feel that, when you consider it's AV features and performance, it holds a good value in this segment of video cards.


----------



## Ser-J (May 16, 2007)

Wile E said:


> All that said, I have nothing against nVidia. I just feel the ATI will serve me better. And I also feel that, when you consider it's AV features and performance, it holds a good value in this segment of video cards.


 I see what your saying.


----------



## Protius (May 16, 2007)

I'm still very undecided, the fact that one of the games it pwns in is CoH and that's the main game i ply, shwing!, but i'll probly give it 1 or 2 more weeks to see (still don't understand how it's performance can very so greatly)


----------



## SK-1 (May 16, 2007)

TooFast said:


> U Have The Overdrive Option?



http://img.techpowerup.org/070515/Capture007.jpg


----------



## SK-1 (May 16, 2007)

Lets start an R700 fan club.


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## TooFast (May 16, 2007)

ok heres my conclusion and i dont care what the reviews/people say, this card rips through all games at max setting in the CCC. for the price of 2 of these u get 1 8800 gtx ultra wich cant keep up to 2 of these. this card beside the noise is great.


----------



## tkpenalty (May 16, 2007)

TooFast said:


> ok heres my conclusion and i dont care what the reviews/people say, this card rips through all games at max setting in the CCC. for the price of 2 of these u get 1 8800 gtx ultra wich cant keep up to 2 of these. this card beside the noise is great.



Cool never thought of that....


----------



## mR Yellow (May 16, 2007)

Ashen said:


> um, m8 its been 5 months since vista came out, b4 that there was no dx10, and infact really their still isnt any true dx10, because no true dx10 games are out, and 8800 still dont have GOLD level drivers....thats after 7 months......and they have had alot of USER error and bugg reports.
> 
> ATI tend to put out a VERY stable driver first with the card, then up the perf after the card is out and they have error/bugg reports.



I've had very little problems with my nVidia drivers...im just lucky. ATi driver programme has come along way and is very good! nVidia learnt from them...now they are releasing new drivers on a regular basis and i can see a improvement with every release.

If u already own a 8800 this card isn't appealing enough to upgrade. I think i'll see what ATi has to offer in the next 6 months. Maybe then they'll release a kickass card that we all expected.


----------



## mR Yellow (May 16, 2007)

zekrahminator said:


> Let's keep the fanboyish arguments to a minimum, please. As far as I can tell, everyone's right. In some cases, R600 wins everything. In other cases, G80 wins everything. But, in most cases, R600 wins some and loses some, which makes me think that R600 is an equivalent to G80 while costing less. And the whole "it draws more power" thing is bullocks. It uses an eight-pin connector for stability, but other wise, you'll find that power draw is quite similar to the 8800GTX.
> 
> I think that we shouldn't be judging this thing until we see A LOT more DX10 apps. Then, I think we'll really see this thing shine. Or not, but that's something we'll have to find out when that time comes. Until then, we can be sure that R600 is definitely on par with the 8800 series, and at 2/3 the price.



On par yes. Thats why its a flop. We all expected much more, especially that the card is 6 months late!  

8800 owners won't make the jump unless the card sucks ass in DX10...which i seriously doubt. BTW I was a ATi fanboy and bought the G80 and love this card. Best card i've had since the ATi 9700. Buy whats best!


----------



## mandelore (May 16, 2007)

mR Yellow said:


> On par yes. Thats why its a flop. We all expected much more, especially that the card is 6 months late!
> 
> 8800 owners won't make the jump unless the card sucks ass in DX10...which i seriously doubt. BTW I was a ATi fanboy and bought the G80 and love this card. Best card i've had since the ATi 9700. Buy whats best!



meh...  its a dx10 card, why wont peeps just leave off till we get unbiased dx10 benchies? it will run every dx9 game out there at max settings at insane resolutions. now please hang on with all this moaning till we can test it as it is designed to be used...


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## mascaras (May 16, 2007)

atitool doesnt  work with my x2900xt  , any ideias ??? i use amdtool to OC  but  in this review  you say that atitool work OK to change voltages  , but i cant  get it work 

i tryed with atitool 0.27


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## zekrahminator (May 16, 2007)

The main developer for ATItool is very busy, I doubt he has very much time to make ATItool work with the HD series.


----------



## JC316 (May 16, 2007)

mascaras said:


> atitool doesnt  work with my x2900xt  , any ideias ??? i use amdtool to OC  but  in this review  you say that atitool work OK to change voltages  , but i cant  get it work
> 
> i tryed with atitool 0.27



You might keep an eye on Ray Adam's Ati tray tools. He should come up with something for that card.


----------



## W1zzard (May 16, 2007)

the current development build with voltage/monitoring/fan control support isnt publicly released yet


----------



## Wile E (May 17, 2007)

Just a quick question W1z, will we need the 8-pin plugged in for ATItool to overclock?

Oh, and if you need help testing. lol


----------



## mandelore (May 17, 2007)

Wile E said:


> Just a quick question W1z, will we need the 8-pin plugged in for ATItool to overclock?
> 
> Oh, and if you need help testing. lol



but isnt the extra power NEEDED for overclocking? so wouldnt using atitool without the extra power connector just result in failed overclocks and crashes or am i missing something here? wouldnt mind knowing coz im gonna get me one eventually


----------



## Wile E (May 17, 2007)

mandelore said:


> but isnt the extra power NEEDED for overclocking? so wouldnt using atitool without the extra power connector just result in failed overclocks and crashes or am i missing something here? wouldnt mind knowing coz im gonna get me one eventually


I'm willing to try without. I think the headroom will just be lower with 2 6-pins vs a 6 and 8. Get paid today, and I'll be contacting Corsair for the 8-pin cable anyway.


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## Ketxxx (May 17, 2007)

All this being said, doesnt anyone wonder how well the ATi card would do if there was a way to increase the shader clock?


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## Agility (May 17, 2007)

Just like nvidia?


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## mandelore (May 17, 2007)

Ketxxx said:


> All this being said, doesnt anyone wonder how well the ATi card would do if there was a way to increase the shader clock?



hmmm, isnt there a way to do that? I mean, comparing to the 8800's, how is the shader clock controlled?


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## WarEagleAU (May 22, 2007)

Good news is, it beat the 8800GTX in some benchmarks, but in most, it was either at the top, or very close to it. Im very impressed with this as its meant to compete against the GTS (640 and 320MB versions). Very well done indeed. Power consumption is the only yellow exclamation point I see.

Spot on review W1zzard but you shouldnt be disappointed in the HD2900XTs performance. You should marvel at it. Its quite well. 6 month delay just proves that.


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## zekrahminator (May 22, 2007)

Ketxxx said:


> All this being said, doesnt anyone wonder how well the ATi card would do if there was a way to increase the shader clock?



The same person probably wonders how they'd cool and power a card that had such huge power requirements as a shader-overclocked R600 .


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## hv43082 (May 22, 2007)

WarEagleAU said:


> Good news is, it beat the 8800GTX in some benchmarks, but in most, it was either at the top, or very close to it. Im very impressed with this as its meant to compete against the GTS (640 and 320MB versions). Very well done indeed. Power consumption is the only yellow exclamation point I see.
> 
> Spot on review W1zzard but you shouldnt be disappointed in the HD2900XTs performance. You should marvel at it. Its quite well. 6 month delay just proves that.



While I agree to most of what you said, I still think the 8800GTS 640mb is better.  It's cheaper and consume far less energy.  Although you can get a free Logitech G5 from newegg with purchase of any HD2900XT.


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## Chewy (May 22, 2007)

I wouldnt say its better, if you can use the video hemi? part of the 2900xt the extra 80$ or whatever would be well worth it.. only time will tell what it is capable of really it has huge OC'n potential as expected from the majority of Ati products... I hope they come out with one with a die shrink and am going to wati until dx10 games really hit the market before I buy a dx10 card now... my 1900gt OC'd to 660+/810 takes on all my dx9 games with a breeze it even fairs well with Oblivion at very high settings. (I need to give it 1.4vgpu to reach up to 690/810 stable and will since Im waiting now).


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## strick94u (May 22, 2007)

when the 9700 came out it was the best card ever(still got mine) those were great times. this 2900 xt is a great card but reminds me of the voodoo banshee kick ass card that is as good as the other card.Good news is there is only 2 real choices out there.


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## Ketxxx (May 22, 2007)

zekrahminator said:


> The same person probably wonders how they'd cool and power a card that had such huge power requirements as a shader-overclocked R600 .



its not that hard. ATi need to redo the PCB tho, I mean dear god theres lazy and theres lazy, but that PCB design has introduced a whole new rank of lazy PCB design.


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## tkpenalty (May 22, 2007)

Actually I find the cooler pretty crap, the copper block is poorly designed, being far too thick.


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## Ketxxx (May 22, 2007)

Notice I didnt say anything about the stock cooler , just its not that hard to cool the 2kXT given the right modding tools.


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## Wile E (May 22, 2007)

I really don't understand why everyone complains about it's heat output. I see 75c during heavy gaming according to the AMD GPU Clock Tool's log. My X1800XT ran just as hot.


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## tkpenalty (May 22, 2007)

Wile E said:


> I really don't understand why everyone complains about it's heat output. I see 75c during heavy gaming according to the AMD GPU Clock Tool's log. My X1800XT ran just as hot.



exactly  80nm can take that heat fine. Im saying it can be improved on.


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## Wile E (May 22, 2007)

True. 

I think I'm gonna skip straight past any lapping or other basic mods, and jump into water cooling it. I'm thinking of picking up a 3x120mm rad and a MCW60 block with some ramsinks.


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## mandelore (May 22, 2007)

Chewy said:


> I wouldnt say its better, if you can use the video hemi? part of the 2900xt the extra 80$ or whatever would be well worth it.. only time will tell what it is capable of really it has huge OC'n potential as expected from the majority of Ati products... I hope they come out with one with a die shrink and am going to wati until dx10 games really hit the market before I buy a dx10 card now... my 1900gt OC'd to 660+/810 takes on all my dx9 games with a breeze it even fairs well with Oblivion at very high settings. (I need to give it 1.4vgpu to reach up to 690/810 stable and will since Im waiting now).



1.4vgpu?? whats the stock 3dmode voltage? coz the x1900xtx is 1.45ish i think, i take it up to 1.57 for 760ish core oc, tho i could probs get away with a lower vcore


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## plamen (Jun 3, 2007)

good card.


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## tkpenalty (Jun 3, 2007)

Wile E said:


> True.
> 
> I think I'm gonna skip straight past any lapping or other basic mods, and jump into water cooling it. I'm thinking of picking up a 3x120mm rad and a MCW60 block with some ramsinks.



LOL.


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