Connect3D & Sapphire Radeon X1900GT

Overclocking:

We overclocked the two Radeon X1900GT's using a tool called 'Overclocker'. It's a little primitive, but it should give us a rough idea of how well the Radeon X1900GT might overclock. However, please bear in mind that your own mileage may vary, as we cannot guarantee that manufacturers are sending us samples that overclock particularly well.

The Connect3D card overclocked from its default clock speeds of 575/1200MHz up to 625/1480MHz without any stability problems in both Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Day of Defeat: Source. By comparison, Sapphire's Radeon X1900GT was a relatively poor overclocker, as we only managed to get the card to run stable at 592/1280MHz. Of course, mileage may vary - when overclocking above the speed at which a manufacturer sells a card at, you can't guarantee one brand will always overclock more than another; it's much more of an individual black art.

The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that the Connect3D Radeon X1900GT actually exceeded the raw clock speed of the RadeonX1900XT, which is clocked at 625/1450Mhz. It is hard to say how many cards will achieve this feat, and don't forget that the Radeon X1900XT has a full 48 pixel shader processors, when Radeon X1900GT only has 36 pixel shader processors enabled. In saying that, it may well be possible for enthusiasts to enable the remaining twelve pixel shader processors with a BIOS flash - known as a 'Soft Mod'. We will keep you informed if this turns out to be the case.

Value:

Unfortunately, there are no online retailers in the UK with stock at the moment. We were told by a number of distributors shipping the cards to retailers that the Radeon X1900GT's price is expected to hit the £199 including VAT mark. We also spoke to Sapphire, and the company representative told us that he is expecting eBuyer to get the first shipment of Radeon X1900GT's later this week. Sapphire is expecting Ebuyer to be able to hit a retail price of under £199 inc VAT on its card.

However, we will have to wait until the cards are available before making an absolute decision on whether the Radeon X1900GT represents good value for money. This is because the only Radeon X1900GT's available for sale today are in the USA. The best price that we have found is on Dell's online parts store, where it is selling the ATI-branded version for $376.95. If that price holds true in the UK, we're looking at retail prices closer to £250 including VAT.

GeForce 7900 GT's start at under £200 including VAT, and go up to around £260, depending on the clock speeds. BFG Tech's GeForce 7900 GT OC is available for £234.95 including VAT from Ebuyer. On the other hand, XFX's GeForce 7900 GT XXX Edition is listed on Savastore for just under £250 including VAT. It's still not in stock, though...

Final Thoughts...

In some areas, the R580-based Radeon X1900GT is faster than the card it is replacing. However, in other, less shader-intense titles like Day of Defeat: Source, the R520-based Radeon X1800XT is the faster of the two. This can be attributed to the architectural differences between R520 and R580.

The natural competitor for the Radeon X1900GT is NVIDIA's GeForce 7900 GT, and across a range of games, it is very much a case of win some, lose some for both companies.

In texture-heavy games, the Radeon X1900GT can sometimes be slower than the GeForce 7800 GT, nevermind the faster GeForce 7900 GT. In newer, shader-intensive games like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Call of Duty 2, the Radeon X1900GT delivers a very good gaming experience in comparison to the GeForce 7900 GT. This is particularly the case in Oblivion, where the Radeon X1900GT is able to deliver a better gaming experience than XFX's superclocked 7900 GT XXX Edition. In addition, it will be possible to play Oblivion with both HDR and Anti Aliasing enabled if the upcoming Catalyst 6.5 driver includes the 'Chuck' patch. This is something that is currently not an option for NVIDIA owners.

Based on the current price forecasts from people in the know, the deal looks to be a pretty good one. If the Radeon X1900GT is priced at £199, it is undoubtedly a good deal. However, there are GeForce 7900 GT's already selling for that price. The decision will ultimately depend on what games you're currently playing, whether you're planning to overclock or not, and also based on the price points that ATI's partners will manage to hit.

The GeForce 7900 GT is a very good overclocker, while the Radeon X1900GT looks to be a bit of a mixed bag at the moment. If you're looking to overclock, we feel that the GeForce 7900 GT is the better deal if you find one at a good price. However, if you're planning to run your video card at stock speeds the final decision will depend on the games you're looking to play.