7950GX2 The Better Choice

Sledgehammer70

In a another thread I was pointing out why the 7950GX2 is a better card, and how is does beat out all its competitors in most tests.

The 7950GX2 was not created to smack the X1900XTX one last time, it was created to drive games on 30" screens at reasonable frame rates. If you look at the chat below I show you how the 7950GX2 outperforms its competitors in Frame for frame in higher resolution situations. I will also show you how the 7950 GX2 holds a pretty stable line in frame rates no matter what screen size you hook up to it.


7950GX2 vs. Others
The following numbers are based on Anandtech's findings in the 7950GX2 review.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2769&p=5

If you look at the frame rates on the cards you will see how the standard cards drop frame rates quickly as the GX2 holds its ground. You will also see how the GX2 outperform in resolutions of 1600 x 1200 or higher.


1280 x 1024
X1900XT - 95.2
7900GTX - 92.7
7800GTX 512 - 92
7950GX2 - 91.2
7900GT SLI - 90.6

1280 x 1024 4xAA
X1900XT - 91.6 "-3.6fps"
7900GTX - 91.4
7800GTX 512 - 86.7
7950GX2 - 90.4 "-.08fps"
7900GT SLI - 88.7

1600 x 1200
X1900XT - 88.7 "-2.9fps"
7900GTX - 90.2
7800GTX 512 - 85.2
7950GX2 - 89.2 "-1.2fps"
7900GT SLI - 88.3

1600 x 1200 4xAA
X1900XT - 76.3 "-12.4fps"
7900GTX - 75.2
7800GTX 512 - 68.3
7950GX2 - 86.6 "-2.6fps"
7900GT SLI - 80.7

2048 x 1536
X1900XT - 65.3 "-11fps"
7900GTX - 73.9
7800GTX 512 - 64.4
7950GX2 - 85.5 "-1.1fps"
7900GT SLI - 81.3

2048 x 1536 4xAA
X1900XT - 54.1 "-11.2fps"
7900GTX - 51.7
7800GTX 512 - 47.9
7950GX2 - 70.8 "-14.7fps"
7900GT SLI - 62.5


Overall Score or fram differance from 1280 x 1024 to 2048 x 1536
X1900XT -41.1 fps drop
7900GTX -41 fps drop
7800GTX 512 -44.1 fps drop
7950GX2 -20.4 fps drop
7900GT SLI -28.2 fps drop

As you can see the 7950GX2 holds the most stable at keeping a high level of FPS by over 20FPs per sec. now to me that is an awesome accomplishment.

In conclusion the 7950GX2 is doing what it was designed to do, turn out huge FPS numbers on a large screen format. I give Nvidia kudos for making a great product at a reasonable cost.

GHoosdum

For those times when 47.9 FPS just won't do. :rolleyes2

Sledgehammer70

actually on a LCD if you dip in the 65FPs or lower you will see ghosting! the 7950GX2 makes that a non issue in most games on a 30" LCD

Cyclonite

I've never seen any ghosting on my LCD, and I'm fairly confident saying I hardly ever have 65FPS.

GHoosdum

The only time I've ever seen ghosting on an LCD was on older or lower quality LCDs with above 25ms response time.

Sledgehammer70

I will create you some ghosting at the LAN

tmh88

yea ive never really noticed any ghosting on both my lcd's. Ones a 17" dell ultrasharp widescreen UXGA with truebright on my laptop, and the other is a samsung 17" with a 12ms response time. The one on my laptop is hooked up to a 7900GS and the samsung was to an x800XL. I only got 65+ fps on older games, and I rarely play them. I think ghostings all relative to the screen your using. If you have a 7950 hooked up to an lcd with a 40ms response time you'll still see ghosting no matter what.

Garg

Sledgehammer70 wrote:

I will create you some ghosting at the LAN

Is that a veiled threat to haunt him from the grave?

Sledgehammer70

Wow I can't play a game if I see less than 45+fps... I see massive lag especially in online games at 50+ fps or less... If a game drops that low, I know it is time to upgrade. I mean even my 7400 Go gets 58fps average in CSS. and well over that in RTS games. I try to seek atleast 70+ fps or better in ym gaming... I guess that is because I am a graphic guru!

GHoosdum

I have trouble playing when my frame rate drops below about 24 FPS. And above 30, I've never really noticed a difference (say, for example, from 31 FPS to 250 FPS my eye can't see anything different)... Maybe it's because I'm getting old?

Sledgehammer70

yeah letting 200 FPS increase pass your eyes and note notice means its time to stop gaming....

GHoosdum

Sledgehammer70 wrote:

yeah letting 200 FPS increase pass your eyes and note notice means its time to stop gaming....

That makes absolutely no sense at all, since even on a monitor that can reach 85Hz, anything the video card can produce above that is always disregarded by the monitor. Furthermore, the human eye does not see faster than about 60FPS.

Sledgehammer70

It was a joke.... and the human eye can see 68 fps, and anything faster than that just becomes a glimps in your imagination. Now I did see a test online soemwhere that did a FPS test "I'll try to find it" which proved that some humans can make sence of upto 84fps. Which in the case of that person you would want a better graphics card

Sledgehammer70

TBH a 30fps to 70+ is a huge difference to my eyes.

Cyclonite

I certainly wouldn't mind being able to run at 60fps, but I'm quite content running at 30fps. It doesn't make a big enough difference for my to spend an extra $200 on a video card.

tmh88

As long as my videocard produces 30+ fps I'm happy (unless i pay $500 and im only getting 30 fps )

Sledgehammer70

The price is one thing for FPS it is another for FPS with all the current tech.

The main point of a higher end graphics card is to get you standard frame rates but with all the bells and whistles. Like AA, AF, SM 3.0, HDR and much more.

Sure a 6600gt can give you sufficient frame rates in BF2, but on medium settings with no AA. If you have a 7900GT and boost the settings you will see what a huge difference in gaming you will get. It is like night and day... That is why us hard core graphic guru's want the best because we want to see the best, and there is no arguing the image quality of a 9800 to a 7900GT it is just so much better...

Thrax

The US Navy has run tests which demonstrated FPS sensitivity greater than 180.

Sledgehammer70

TBH I had a test done where It said I am able to notice upto 87 fps... maybe that is why I am hungry for graphics at raw speeds....

Got to love those eye tests

jradmin

Refresh rate above 60hz isn't as big a deal on a LCD as it is a regular monitor in my opinion. It's all about the responce time on the LCD now days to keep that ghosting to a minimum.

And yes I'm stepping up these 7800 GTX ko's to 7950's. Reason #1 is that its only a $33 difference between each card (I cant believe EVGA MSRP's these 7800's at $533.00) and Reason #2 being that EVGA pretty much owes it to me after the crap I've been through.

Sledgehammer70

Maybe I used the wrong term.... But it is what I call ghosting... usually happens when most of the sreen will be Black with maybe a light or a off color and your computer is only pushing 30 to 35+ FPS... I will see if I can dupicate it at the LAN and show you young bucks what I am talking about.

And yes I know the huge factor 3 years ago was refresh rate on the LCD's which for the most part are not seen anymore...

Enverex

jradmin wrote:

Refresh rate above 60hz isn't as big a deal on a LCD as it is a regular monitor in my opinion. It's all about the responce time on the LCD now days to keep that ghosting to a minimum.

And yes I'm stepping up these 7800 GTX ko's to 7950's. Reason #1 is that its only a $33 difference between each card (I cant believe EVGA MSRP's these 7800's at $533.00) and Reason #2 being that EVGA pretty much owes it to me after the crap I've been through.

It's the opposite on an LCD. Running an LCD ABOVE 60 will INCREASE the response rate, so do the opposite than what you do with a CRT and keep it as low as possible.

Sledgehammer70: I think you're confusing refresh rates with Ghosting/Response times. LCDs ARE still crap compared to CRTs in that department.

airbornflght

Well, it doesnt matter how fast your eye can see, because if I can see 104 fps, and my monitor is only refreshing at 65hz, then my monitor can only utilize 65fps, and everything else is just wasted.

Sledgehammer70

It is never waste.... it is extra horsepower!

Enverex

Not true, if you disable V-Sync then you get the whole 104fps but then you end up getting tearing too, so why anyone would want V-Sync off I don't know...

Sledgehammer70

V-Sync will chop up to 5 to 25 FPS if turned directly on... It brings a 7800GTX to choppy status in BF2....

GHoosdum

I run most of my games without V-sync, and I've never noticed tearing. That might just be my own lack of visual acuity, though.

Garg

GHoosdum wrote:

I run most of my games without V-sync, and I've never noticed tearing. That might just be my own lack of visual acuity, though.

For me, it seems to depend on the game. While I can tell for most games, I'll still try it without to see if I can get some free FPS without me noticing tearing

airbornflght

Well, I dont have a lot of extra time, so I play fps games, and I like the old ones, I really like tribes 2, I have a ball in that game. And it is so easy to render for my 6800GT, that I am maxing out on FPS alot. I have gotten up to 234fps, but my monitor is a pos 15" envision lcd, so it is only synced at 60hz.