ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT – AMD's long awaited R600 DX10 GPU arrives

[kilroy0097]

Here it is folks. First benchmark out of the gates for the new ATI Video Card.

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1100/ati_radeon_hd_2900_xt_amd_s_long_awaited_r600_dx10 _gpu_arrives/index.html

Enjoy!

Edit add: It's interesting to note that it gets a little higher scores then the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB on other test beds on other websites. Strictly looking at3 3D Mark 05 and 06 scores. So it's about the same price, a little hotter in temp but more FPS and Scores than the 8800 GTS. So looks like it's going to be pretty nice. I guess we will see once they release the card with faster memory if it will beat out the 8800 GTX or not. I wonder if we put an after market cooler on there if the temps would be better. We all know the stock coolers never work as well as they should.

[hank123]

12 inches long! WOW that sonbitch is huge! DDR-4 come on ATI always wins over the GEforce in FPS, maybe some day they will have good software too.

[kilroy0097]

Another review by AnandTech.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2988

And also Tom's Hardware

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05/14/r600_finally_dx10_hardware_from_ati/

[Prowler130]

12 inches long! WOW that sonbitch is huge! DDR-4 come on ATI always wins over the GEforce in FPS, maybe some day they will have good software too.

12in is waaaaaaay too long. Id have to chop up my hdd bays

[Uncle_Ho]

Snake is buying us all one for Christmas:thumbsup:

[sir_digalot]

12 inches is full size AT... AWESOME! i havent had a 12 incher since my scsi raid card with memory add on.... though the SBAWE32 was a close call!

i still feel ATI playing catch up though, it is like they focused too much on the 360 GPU and forgot about the PC market

[z3speed4me]

well ill wait until the 65nm and 1 gig ddr4 cards are out before i bite down on another 400-500

[sir_digalot]

400 - 500 is a car payment *L*

[CrockD]

12 inches long! WOW that sonbitch is huge! DDR-4 come on ATI always wins over the GEforce in FPS, maybe some day they will have good software too.

12 inches only refers to the XTX card which is not consumer ready for that very reason. In fact at this point it is not known if and when it will be ever be ready. The size of the XT is actually a little smaller than the Geforce 8800GTX.

As for ATI always beating Nvidia, that hasn't been the case lately, mainly because ATI has had so many delays producing new products. Nvidia had taken the lead in just about every game other than those based on the HL2 engine. As for this card, it still gets beaten by Nvidia's 8800GTX, but it's important to note that it is $150 cheaper than the GTX and prices in the range of the 8800GTS where it beats Nvidia like a red headed step child.

The juries gonna be out on this one for quite some time until we start seeing the DX10 games hit the market and significant driver improvements from both companies. Regardless it's nice to have some competition out there.

[kilroy0097]

Ok some of the first consumer reviews are coming in and the verdict is just about the same across the board.

1. It's faster than a 8800 GTS if you get the drivers working properly.
2. It's hotter than shit and temps get to around 90 degrees Celsius
3. Driver issues causing game crashes and also slowness.
4. It's HOT HOT HOT and I do stress HOT.
5. It sucks power like a whore sucks... well you know.

So it looks like... you might want to lay off right now until they figure out what the hell is going on with this thing.

[sir_digalot]

isn't the 360gpu really hot too? you think they modified that slightly to get this version with more DX10 stuff in it

[Prowler130]

mmm i was just thinking that this could drive the price of the 8800gts down a little bit, then it might be worth going sli :)

btw, thats really freaking hot

[kippendrecht]

so, the 8800GTX is still king of the hill hu?

[CrockD]

so, the 8800GTX is still king of the hill hu?

If money is no object...then yes. Even then, we really don't know how any of these cards will perform with DX10 games yet. Not to mention we should let ATI come out with a few drivers to see if they can bridge the gap. or at least solve their power and temperature issues.

As far as the 8800GTS goes, I think this almost certainly will force NVidia to drop its prices given the fact it loses in every benchmark (except HL2). As far as SLI is concerned NVidia could have a distinct advantage because at the temps that the 2900XT is running I have to think crossfire will put a severe strain on all of the internal components, not to mention require a seriously beefy power supply.

After writing that I just looked at what ExtremeTech had to say about Crossfire and they didn't mention any serious problems with it so perhaps it's not as bad as it would seem. One glaring issue though is how the card performs on HL2, which is is very poorly. It is almost certainly a driver issue so i'm sure it'll get worked out, but for us CSSers, we may want to hold off until they have resolved the poor FPS in HL2 based games.

[z3speed4me]

400 - 500 is a car payment *L*

or half a car payment... haha


this card is surprising still, but if it drops the 640mb another 50-75 bucks...ill go back to nvidia again

[CrockD]

In this article ExtremeTech does a brief synopsis of the 2900XT giving grades for each major area (price/performance, competitiveness, energy use...etc). It's a nice one page rundown of how the card stacks up.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2131366,00.asp

[Uncle_Ho]

When ever you run the HIGH END HIGH PRICE stuff doesnt it always put out the heat :flamethrower:

Anyway anyone know the size of the case you would need to go crossfire with the 2900xt?

I am not sure if I could run one at that size I have an Antec SOHO tower with removable drive bays I can barely get them past my 1950:thumbsdown:

[Kernel Error]

My last build i moved from a mid sized tower to a full.... im not sure ill ever be able to fill that sucker up. I have room to spare with my 8800GTX
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Nvidia Rules!!!!

[hank123]

ya I think drivers will pull ATI out of the hole. AMD come on I expect more from a company like you.

[z3speed4me]

good drivers will prob take a while though....

but hopefully once they are optimized correctly it will pull up the fps a lil

[z3speed4me]

ya know what... i said f it and i bought one....

now i REALLY gotta sell the 1900 asap, so its goin on ebay like monday if anyone wants it first