Is the IQ of 1900XTX that much better?

[ben805]

than nvidia 7800/7900? I'm toying with the idea of upgrading my 7800GT to the 1900XTX, so can you really tell the difference on LCD? I'll use it for both gaming and dvd movies.

[G H Z]

You'll get a bunch of guys saying there is no difference & a bunch of guys saying it's huge. Really the only way is to see for yourself, but from my experience it's the latter

[Absolute_0]

Personally i could never tell the difference between ATi and nVidia cards

Radeon 7200, GF4 TI 4600, 9800 Pro, 6800GT, X850XTPE

Wow, and i just ordered a 7900GT, i never noticed my alternating pattern : P

I really overestimated the X850XTPE when i bought it. Barely faster than my 6800GT, ATi Tool consistently crashes my computer when i tell it to find the max clocks, and i don't like any of the drivers. I ended up liking my old AGP 6800GT a lot more than my X850. Kinda pushed me in the nVidia direction this round.

[gr8golf]

I'm in the exact same boat - and I'm trying to decide if having 512MB of video RAM is really a benefit over the 256MB cards. I am trying to choose between an XT or XTX and a 7900 GT / GTX.

I have a 19" LCD that runs 1280x1024 right now, but am also thinking about / planning an upgrade to a 24" widescreen (likely the Dell 2407 when it arrives). It seems like maybe I should just hold on to my 7800 GT until I get the bigger LCD or the best route to go becomes more obvious.

[zakelwe]

If you like AF then defo go Ati, it is a lot better. AA is closer but Ati stil has the edge.

However it depends a lot on what sort of game you play. If you are going to play a slow paced game like Oblivion it might matterm more than a fast paced game like most fps.

Regards

Andy

[ben805]

I'm in the exact same boat - and I'm trying to decide if having 512MB of video RAM is really a benefit over the 256MB cards. I am trying to choose between an XT or XTX and a 7900 GT / GTX.

I have a 19" LCD that runs 1280x1024 right now, but am also thinking about / planning an upgrade to a 24" widescreen (likely the Dell 2407 when it arrives). It seems like maybe I should just hold on to my 7800 GT until I get the bigger LCD or the best route to go becomes more obvious.

I too have the 19" Samsung LCD and getting stuck at lower resolution (1280x1024 max), reason I upgrade is not for the extra FPS but mostly for the IQ if the ATI is that much better than Nvidia. I'd figured...if I'm about to drop couple hundred bucks on a dang video card I might as well go the extra mile and get the XTX instead of XT, I play BF2 and Quake4 and use the pc to watch dvd movie quite often. I also do some graphic/photo/video editing on this pc as well.

[perkam]

It may not be noticeable, but if you check any of the 7900 reviews, you'll find the observation in most.

Look for a detailed explanation there. Historically, this isn't the type of question that exudes friendliness at Xtreme 3d

Perkam

[Gnome]

intel intergrated (pentium 90mhz), intel intergrated (pentium mmx 200), geforce2 ultra, radeon 9700, radeon 9800pro, radeon 9800pro, radeon 9800pro (yeah i fried a few), radeon 9800pro (more then a few...), 9600XT (ran out of money there), 9200pro (finally received the alienware desktop i ordered a year and a half befor), 6800gt (couldnt stand the 9200pro), 6800u, x800xt pe, 7800GT SLI.

i have to say, in 2D, the intergrated pentium mmx is just perfect. The problem is :
1) finding one
2) no too good in 3D

orelse in 3D ATI looks better (the textures just look sharper).

[DilTech]

That's why you use the image sharpening setting in the NVidia control panel... It'll match up with ATi's "better texture quality" with ease.

ATi has better AF.
NVidia has better AA(SuperSampling > Multisampling, don't argue. Also 8xAA vs 6xAA)
ATi has HDR + AA in games using FP16 HDR(ONLY USABLE IN SS2 AND FAR CRY! Beyond that and it's chop city as the card can't do it playable)
NVidia has Digital Vibrance(Makes colors MUCH more vivid in games!)

In the end, it comes down to preference.

[ben805]

that's an excellent point you made, I almost forgot about the Digital vibrance feature that our card has...dang it. decision decision....

[Absolute_0]

Oh SHOOT i forgot all about digital vibrance. Man i miss the 6800GT, digi vibe on a 2001FP looked so nice.

[DilTech]

Everyone forgets about Digital Vibrance... It makes for a VERY vivid picture.

[JasonDTM]

Digital vibrance is what I missed most

[cantankerous]

im surprised ATI hasn't integrated their own version of this digital vibrance. I have never witnessed this myself though have heard about it and it seems like a nice feature. I wish I had something like that on my X1900.

[ben805]

digital vibrance is good for gaming and watching movie, but for photo editing I always turn it off. from some of the images comparison I've seen the ATI tend to look a bit warm, wherea the nvidia is a bit on the cold side, can't say for sure what I like most.

[Plywood99]

Lol, I thought DV was a joke. And yes I tried it, on sli'd 7800gt's. Reminds me of a combination gamma, contrast, color control.

Anyway, Ati IQ is much better than NV. Although you wouldn't be able to walk into a room and say, "Hey, that is an Ati card your running." Unless you were playing a game such as Guild Wars, which shows Nvidia's shimmering problem all too easy...

[ben805]

Reminds me of a combination gamma, contrast, color control.

That's pretty much what it is, nvidia made it easier for the end user to simply adjust one parameter instead of messing around with a bunch of settings. Cartoon (nemo, monster inc, etc) looks amazing with the Digital Vibrance on.

[Eastcoasthandle]

im surprised ATI hasn't integrated their own version of this digital vibrance. I have never witnessed this myself though have heard about it and it seems like a nice feature. I wish I had something like that on my X1900.

It's called Avivo

[Daveb2012]

I went directly from 7800gt->x1900xtx, im much more happier with it but cannot really notice a difference, side by side im sure it would be more possible to tell. but no once can reference any examples from what ive seen if they are not side by side in a comparison.

[qujck]

I would say that the IQ of Ati Cards is much better.
Because yesterday i used the computer of my girl friend with my benQ TFT and i thought " why is the screen so sharp"?? i reconnected my computer with my 7800GTX card and couln't believe it. The picture wasn't as sharp as with my girl friends computer with a 9250 SE from ATI.

So what??

[Daveb2012]

I would say that the IQ of Ati Cards is much better.
Because yesterday i used the computer of my girl friend with my benQ TFT and i thought " why is the screen so sharp"?? i reconnected my computer with my 7800GTX card and couln't believe it. The picture wasn't as sharp as with my girl friends computer with a 9250 SE from ATI.

So what??

same monitor? I agree the IQ is probably better but its very hard to notice for me.

[qujck]

yep same Monitor, and the Screen of the Ati looks much clearer and more brilliant than the Screen with NVidia.
Its true.

[Nephilim]

I thought the "shimmering" thing was all in my head, I have a notebook with a 6600GT and a desktop with an x850xt.

I had some downtime for my desktop while my vga was off for RMA and in world of warcraft it is unbelievably noticeable. To the point where it is distracting. Glad to have my x850xt back I will be upgrading the ati route simply because WoW is my antijob.

To clarify the shimmering is when the textures (particularly on the ground) shimmer and ladder when you move... I liken it to in FFX on PS2 when only using a composite video connection during the intro

[Daveb2012]

yep same Monitor, and the Screen of the Ati looks much clearer and more brilliant than the Screen with NVidia.
Its true.

I wasn't doubting you just curious. I wonder if this IQ comparison is still true when comparing say an x1900 vs the 7900 series cards. I would like to see a review comparing 7900gtx vs x1900xtx IQ with some kind of visual reference.

[DilTech]

[H] found shimmering on both NVidia and ATi's latest offerings.