The ATI Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire and Nvidia GeForce 7900 GTX SLI dual video card setups represent the pinnacle of gaming-video-card technology. Both setups require bleeding edge motherboards and power supplies to function, so don't think that you can buy two of each card and be on your merry way. You're likely going to have to upgrade your motherboard to an SLI- or CrossFire- certified motherboard. Then, if you actually want your system to turn on, you're also going to have to buy a beefy 550 watt or greater power supply. If you can pay more than $1000 for the video cards, another $200 for the motherboard, and an extra $100 for the power supply, prepare yourself for gaming nirvana.
All told, the barrier to entry is enormous; but once you're there and running your games at 1920x1080 with 4x antialiasing and 16x anisotropic filtering, any regrets you might have had about spending a small fortune will be thrown out the window. We're sure that one of these setups offers a better experience, however. The two could differ in terms of raw performance or the subtleties of image quality depending on the game. Either way, if you're going to lay down the smack for the best performance, we're going to make sure you get it.
Who's the king of the roost--Nvidia's SLI or ATI's CrossFire? No one test could tell us this answer, so we decided to run five of them. We also assembled a spread of image-quality tests to go along with the raw-performance numbers. Read on to find out who gets to take home the chickens -- ATI or Nvidia.
F.E.A.R.
Image Quality
Without a doubt, F.E.A.R. is one of the most demanding games out on the market. We tested the game at 1600x1200 with soft shadows on, which automatically disables antialiasing, regardless of the video card. You'll have to decide what you want more, but we'd go with soft shadows every time. Eliminating a few jaggies with antialiasing is nothing compared to realistic shadows.
Both sets of cards rendered the game very well, and we'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the two. Even when zoomed in, the two setups produce nearly identical images.
Performance
Without a doubt, the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI setup takes the lead. With all settings cranked to their maximum at a resolution of 1600x1200, the 7900 GTX takes a commanding 20 percent performance lead. Even at lower resolutions, the Nvidia setup maintains its lead.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
GeForce 7900 GTX SLI
Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire
F.E.A.R., 1280x960, Max Quality 16xAF
95
87
F.E.A.R., 1600x1200, Max Quality 16xAF
76
60
Verdict
Both setups deliver excellent image quality, and we'd be hard pressed to pick one over the other. But when it comes to brute power, the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI setup walks away the clear winner in this test. System Setup:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU, Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard, 1GB (512MB x 2) Corsair XMS Memory, 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows XP Professional SP2.
Graphics Cards: GeForce 7900 GTX, Radeon X1900 XTX.
Graphics Drivers: ATI Catalyst 6.2, Nvidia ForceWare 84.17.
F.E.A.R.
Image Quality
Without a doubt, F.E.A.R. is one of the most demanding games out on the market. We tested the game at 1600x1200 with soft shadows on, which automatically disables antialiasing, regardless of the video card. You'll have to decide what you want more, but we'd go with soft shadows every time. Eliminating a few jaggies with antialiasing is nothing compared to realistic shadows.
Both sets of cards rendered the game very well, and we'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the two. Even when zoomed in, the two setups produce nearly identical images.
Performance
Without a doubt, the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI setup takes the lead. With all settings cranked to their maximum at a resolution of 1600x1200, the 7900 GTX takes a commanding 20 percent performance lead. Even at lower resolutions, the Nvidia setup maintains its lead.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
GeForce 7900 GTX SLIQuake 4
Image Quality
Like the other tests, we cranked the settings all the way up to 1600x1200, with 4xAA, 16xAF, and high quality all around. It looks like we're staring at identical sets of pictures. If there are differences, they're small enough for us not to care.
Performance
The performance crown in games made by John Carmack historically belongs to Nvidia. It seems that this trend isn't changing anytime soon. The GeForce 7900 GTX SLI setup walks away with a solid 10 percent lead in both tests.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
GeForce 7900 GTX SLI
Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire
Quake 4, High Quality, 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF
121
106
Quake 4, High Quality, 2048x1536 4xAA/16xAF
70
62
Verdict
Need we say more? The GeForce 7900 GTX SLI easily gets our nod with respect to performance. Image quality, once again, doesn't play much of a factor. System Setup:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU, Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard, 1GB (512MB x 2) Corsair XMS Memory, 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows XP Professional SP2.
Graphics Cards: GeForce 7900 GTX, Radeon X1900 XTX.
Graphics Drivers: ATI Catalyst 6.2, Nvidia ForceWare 84.17.
Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire
F.E.A.R., 1280x960, Max Quality 16xAF
95
87
F.E.A.R., 1600x1200, Max Quality 16xAF
76
60
Verdict
Both setups deliver excellent image quality, and we'd be hard pressed to pick one over the other. But when it comes to brute power, the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI setup walks away the clear winner in this test. System Setup:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU, Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard, 1GB (512MB x 2) Corsair XMS Memory, 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows XP Professional SP2.
Graphics Cards: GeForce 7900 GTX, Radeon X1900 XTX.
Graphics Drivers: ATI Catalyst 6.2, Nvidia ForceWare 84.17.
Image Quality
The architectural benefits of the Radeon X1900 series really shine when you start to combine antialiasing with high-dynamic-range rendering. We compared images from the Radeon rendered at 1600x1200 with 4xAA and 16xAF, while the Nvidia setup could only run at 1600x1200 with 16xAF. Nvidia's cards are not able to run antialiasing with certain high-dynamic-range titles. As for the images, they speak for themselves. ATI's output is superior simply because it can apply antialiasing, thus making all of the edges smooth.
Performance
Both setups perform identically, unless there are those among us that can visually differentiate between a single percentage-point of difference. The Radeon machine walks away with an easy victory once we enabled antialiasing, since 3DMark06 does not output a result for the Nvidia setup as it cannot run the test.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
GeForce 7900 GTX SLI
Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire
3DMark06, 1280x1024
8488
8386
3DMark06, 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF
0
7777
Verdict
Once we enabled antialiasing, ATI swept the field with 3DMark06. Nvidia's implementation cannot compete if you want both HDR rendering and antialiasing at the same time. System Setup:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU, Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard, 1GB (512MB x 2) Corsair XMS Memory, 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows XP Professional SP2.
Graphics Cards: GeForce 7900 GTX, Radeon X1900 XTX.
Graphics Drivers: ATI Catalyst 6.2, Nvidia ForceWare 84.17.
The Big Picture
The Winner: Nvidia GeForce 7900 GTX SLI
We see that Nvidia wins three tests, while ATI wins two. It's not a decisive victory--the overall results show us how evenly matched these powerful setups are. We're sure that if we kept adding games to the comparison, our verdict would ping pong back and forth between ATI and Nvidia. However, in these five tests, Nvidia walks away the winner.
Keep in mind that Nvidia's GeForce 7900 GTX cannot render certain games with both antialiasing and HDRL enabled at the same time. As we showed in 3DMark06, the Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire's ability to perform both of these functions at the same time improved image quality greatly. The list of HDRL games isn't long at the moment, but it will keep growing.
If you play on a 30" LCD that supports resolutions of up to 2560x1600, antialiasing won't be of much use if you want to maintain a decent frame rate with all of the eye candy turned on. On the other hand, if you're still using a 19" LCD with a maximum resolution of 1280x1024, you might not need two video cards. When it comes to upgrading your computer, remember to build evenly-- there's no point in spending $1200 on a pair of video cards if you're still using a $300 monitor. System Setup:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU, Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard, 1GB (512MB x 2) Corsair XMS Memory, 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows XP Professional SP2.
Graphics Cards: GeForce 7900 GTX, Radeon X1900 XTX.
Graphics Drivers: ATI Catalyst 6.2, Nvidia ForceWare 84.17.
Now guys this is the result and i think y a gamer need SLI when they r making so powerful GPU,s?like 8800 GTX.so do not fell prey tho that SLI or Crossfire trap.:banned:
All told, the barrier to entry is enormous; but once you're there and running your games at 1920x1080 with 4x antialiasing and 16x anisotropic filtering, any regrets you might have had about spending a small fortune will be thrown out the window. We're sure that one of these setups offers a better experience, however. The two could differ in terms of raw performance or the subtleties of image quality depending on the game. Either way, if you're going to lay down the smack for the best performance, we're going to make sure you get it.
GeForce 7900 GTX
Radeon X1900 XTX
Core ClockRadeon X1900 XTX
700/650MHz
650MHz
Memory Clock650MHz
1600MHz
1550MHZ
RAM Size1550MHZ
512MB
512MB
Pixel Shaders512MB
24
48
ROPs48
16
16
Vertex Shaders16
8
8
Texture Units8
24
16
Manufacturing Process16
90nm
90nm
Transistor Count90nm
278M
384M
384M
Who's the king of the roost--Nvidia's SLI or ATI's CrossFire? No one test could tell us this answer, so we decided to run five of them. We also assembled a spread of image-quality tests to go along with the raw-performance numbers. Read on to find out who gets to take home the chickens -- ATI or Nvidia.
F.E.A.R.
Image Quality
Without a doubt, F.E.A.R. is one of the most demanding games out on the market. We tested the game at 1600x1200 with soft shadows on, which automatically disables antialiasing, regardless of the video card. You'll have to decide what you want more, but we'd go with soft shadows every time. Eliminating a few jaggies with antialiasing is nothing compared to realistic shadows.
Both sets of cards rendered the game very well, and we'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the two. Even when zoomed in, the two setups produce nearly identical images.
Performance
Without a doubt, the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI setup takes the lead. With all settings cranked to their maximum at a resolution of 1600x1200, the 7900 GTX takes a commanding 20 percent performance lead. Even at lower resolutions, the Nvidia setup maintains its lead.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
GeForce 7900 GTX SLI
Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire
F.E.A.R., 1280x960, Max Quality 16xAF
95
87
F.E.A.R., 1600x1200, Max Quality 16xAF
76
60
Verdict
Both setups deliver excellent image quality, and we'd be hard pressed to pick one over the other. But when it comes to brute power, the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI setup walks away the clear winner in this test. System Setup:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU, Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard, 1GB (512MB x 2) Corsair XMS Memory, 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows XP Professional SP2.
Graphics Cards: GeForce 7900 GTX, Radeon X1900 XTX.
Graphics Drivers: ATI Catalyst 6.2, Nvidia ForceWare 84.17.
F.E.A.R.
Image Quality
Without a doubt, F.E.A.R. is one of the most demanding games out on the market. We tested the game at 1600x1200 with soft shadows on, which automatically disables antialiasing, regardless of the video card. You'll have to decide what you want more, but we'd go with soft shadows every time. Eliminating a few jaggies with antialiasing is nothing compared to realistic shadows.
Both sets of cards rendered the game very well, and we'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the two. Even when zoomed in, the two setups produce nearly identical images.
Performance
Without a doubt, the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI setup takes the lead. With all settings cranked to their maximum at a resolution of 1600x1200, the 7900 GTX takes a commanding 20 percent performance lead. Even at lower resolutions, the Nvidia setup maintains its lead.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
GeForce 7900 GTX SLIQuake 4
Image Quality
Like the other tests, we cranked the settings all the way up to 1600x1200, with 4xAA, 16xAF, and high quality all around. It looks like we're staring at identical sets of pictures. If there are differences, they're small enough for us not to care.
Performance
The performance crown in games made by John Carmack historically belongs to Nvidia. It seems that this trend isn't changing anytime soon. The GeForce 7900 GTX SLI setup walks away with a solid 10 percent lead in both tests.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
GeForce 7900 GTX SLI
Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire
Quake 4, High Quality, 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF
121
106
Quake 4, High Quality, 2048x1536 4xAA/16xAF
70
62
Verdict
Need we say more? The GeForce 7900 GTX SLI easily gets our nod with respect to performance. Image quality, once again, doesn't play much of a factor. System Setup:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU, Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard, 1GB (512MB x 2) Corsair XMS Memory, 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows XP Professional SP2.
Graphics Cards: GeForce 7900 GTX, Radeon X1900 XTX.
Graphics Drivers: ATI Catalyst 6.2, Nvidia ForceWare 84.17.
Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire
F.E.A.R., 1280x960, Max Quality 16xAF
95
87
F.E.A.R., 1600x1200, Max Quality 16xAF
76
60
Verdict
Both setups deliver excellent image quality, and we'd be hard pressed to pick one over the other. But when it comes to brute power, the GeForce 7900 GTX SLI setup walks away the clear winner in this test. System Setup:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU, Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard, 1GB (512MB x 2) Corsair XMS Memory, 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows XP Professional SP2.
Graphics Cards: GeForce 7900 GTX, Radeon X1900 XTX.
Graphics Drivers: ATI Catalyst 6.2, Nvidia ForceWare 84.17.
Image Quality
The architectural benefits of the Radeon X1900 series really shine when you start to combine antialiasing with high-dynamic-range rendering. We compared images from the Radeon rendered at 1600x1200 with 4xAA and 16xAF, while the Nvidia setup could only run at 1600x1200 with 16xAF. Nvidia's cards are not able to run antialiasing with certain high-dynamic-range titles. As for the images, they speak for themselves. ATI's output is superior simply because it can apply antialiasing, thus making all of the edges smooth.
Performance
Both setups perform identically, unless there are those among us that can visually differentiate between a single percentage-point of difference. The Radeon machine walks away with an easy victory once we enabled antialiasing, since 3DMark06 does not output a result for the Nvidia setup as it cannot run the test.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
GeForce 7900 GTX SLI
Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire
3DMark06, 1280x1024
8488
8386
3DMark06, 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF
0
7777
Verdict
Once we enabled antialiasing, ATI swept the field with 3DMark06. Nvidia's implementation cannot compete if you want both HDR rendering and antialiasing at the same time. System Setup:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU, Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard, 1GB (512MB x 2) Corsair XMS Memory, 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows XP Professional SP2.
Graphics Cards: GeForce 7900 GTX, Radeon X1900 XTX.
Graphics Drivers: ATI Catalyst 6.2, Nvidia ForceWare 84.17.
The Big Picture
The Winner: Nvidia GeForce 7900 GTX SLI
We see that Nvidia wins three tests, while ATI wins two. It's not a decisive victory--the overall results show us how evenly matched these powerful setups are. We're sure that if we kept adding games to the comparison, our verdict would ping pong back and forth between ATI and Nvidia. However, in these five tests, Nvidia walks away the winner.
Keep in mind that Nvidia's GeForce 7900 GTX cannot render certain games with both antialiasing and HDRL enabled at the same time. As we showed in 3DMark06, the Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire's ability to perform both of these functions at the same time improved image quality greatly. The list of HDRL games isn't long at the moment, but it will keep growing.
If you play on a 30" LCD that supports resolutions of up to 2560x1600, antialiasing won't be of much use if you want to maintain a decent frame rate with all of the eye candy turned on. On the other hand, if you're still using a 19" LCD with a maximum resolution of 1280x1024, you might not need two video cards. When it comes to upgrading your computer, remember to build evenly-- there's no point in spending $1200 on a pair of video cards if you're still using a $300 monitor. System Setup:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU, Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard, 1GB (512MB x 2) Corsair XMS Memory, 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows XP Professional SP2.
Graphics Cards: GeForce 7900 GTX, Radeon X1900 XTX.
Graphics Drivers: ATI Catalyst 6.2, Nvidia ForceWare 84.17.
Now guys this is the result and i think y a gamer need SLI when they r making so powerful GPU,s?like 8800 GTX.so do not fell prey tho that SLI or Crossfire trap.:banned:
