Graphic Cards X1800 GTO vs 7600 GT - Review

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dipdude

Forerunner
ATI Radeon X1800 GTO vs Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT

Face-off verdict

We've judged the two cards each in their own right, but how do they fare when they're compared directly?

Performance-wise the GTO has the edge. It won all of the game benchmarks except for F.E.A.R. and it also came first in 3DMark 05. The 7600 GT beat it in 3DMark 06, though only in the four tests it could do out of 12, due to the fact that it won't do FSAA with high dynamic range (HDR) enabled. So if you're in to the few HDR titles that are out there, you might well want to consider the X1800 GTO in favour for the 7600 GT.

Both cards have their own video processing systems, Avivo on the ATI and PureVideo for Nvidia. Neither yet offers as stand-out benefit over the other. The 7600 GT comes on a more conveniently size board than the X1800 GTO, sports a more friendly, less intrusive cooling system and it doesn't need an extra power feed.

But with the recent price cut, the X1800 GTO has one other advantage: it's cheaper than the 7600 GT, though the difference isn't huge. For now, then, the scales tip in the ATI products' favour. For now..
Click to expand...

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/05/05/h2h_ati_x1800_gto_vs_nvidia_7600gt/
 
thanks for this one ... i would like to see more reviews between these 2 cards .. :)

EDIT : hmm those guys say that the x1800gto is cheaper .. well looking at newegg the cheapest 7600gt is for 169$ and cheapest x1800gto is for 199$ ... ????????
 
Ive already read pretty much every review out there :P ( See siggy :ohyeah:) And i went for this card purely for the better features( HDR + AA big plus point). Add to this the possibility of unlocking to 16 pipes and it seems to be an excellent mid range card. But yea the downer is more power, more heat and price. on average its about 30-50$ more expensive if u dont consider rebates. I don know how these guys are saying its cheaper :S
 
As you may recall, I wrote a preview of ATI’s top-of-the-line X1900 XTX at the end of January. On March 9, ATI took a small step back and announced a new card in the X1800 line-up, the Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB PCI-Express. Notice that I said announcing, not launching; I’ll come back to that… One might ask why ATI would seemingly make the X1800 series obsolete only to announce another card in that series a month later.

Conclusion

After examining the results of all my benchmarks, it quickly becomes clear that the X1800 GTO and the 7600 GT perform about the same. In some of the games, there is a clear leader, but for the most part, the cards score very close. However, I can’t say that the cards are complete equals for a couple of reasons...

First is the issue of price. For whatever reason, the 7600 GT can be found for about $30 less than the X1800 GTO through our Hardware Price Index. That’s not a lot of money, but considering how close the performance numbers are, it could certainly be enough to aid in your purchase of a 7600 GT instead of an X1800 GTO.

The next issue is the features. While the 7600 GT is slightly cheaper, the X1800 GTO is what I would consider a more well rounded offering. Because of the HDR+AA fiasco, which plagues NVIDIA’s current cards, the X1800 GTO could be considered a smarter buy. Basically, you can run games with HDR and Anti-Aliasing with the ATI’s X1000 series whereas you can’t with any of NVIDIA’s cards. Whether or not this matters to you will depend on what games you like to play, but I personally lean towards ATI for the HDR+AA support. NVIDIA’s next generation of cards should support HDR+AA, but for now ATI is the leader in this regard.

The last thing to consider is something which mainly concerns the hardcore enthusiast. It is possible to unlock the 4 disabled pipelines on the X1800 GTO to turn it into an X1800 XL – a card that costs well over $100 more. If you successfully unlock those pipelines, the X1800 GTO is without a doubt the smarter buy – the downside is that you’ll be taking the risk of damaging your card, and you’ll void your warranty.

In the end, if you’re looking for a new video card in the mid-range segment and you’ve got about $200 to spend, I would recommend ATI’s X1800 GTO. The reason I’ve decided to recommend the X1800 GTO over the 7600 GT is based mainly on the fact that it supports HDR+AA, but remember that it also has the potential to be turned into an X1800 XL (though that’s less of a factor in my decision). In my opinion, $30 for HDR+AA support is $30 well-spent.

Pros
HDR+AA Support
Affordable card to play the latest games
Could potentially mod into an X1800 XL

Cons
Slightly more expensive than 7600 GT
Click to expand...
http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/273-1/ATI+Radeon+X1800+GTO+256MB/
 
Thanx for solving my probs..... huge dilemma u see....

But tell me one thing.... What is the adnvtg of HDR + AA ...a trifle better lighting effects/rendering? for that u spend 30 $ extra is a little too much. Plus 7600 GT comes out just 3 to 4 fps lesser in HDR ...so not much of a difference.

Anyway... my heart(and possibly my money) is given to eVGA's superclocked 7600 GT.

U see i'm not too much into details (hardcore...that is) of the games and play just for fun of the story...action...etc.( read Fear..Farcry..etc) So i suppose the 7600 GT is more suited to my needs. PLUS i'm not gonna take the risk of crapping my card (if 1800 GTO) by unlocking 4 pipes.

Any comments,

Sultan.
 
Hi, people i have a 7600GT.

Two reasons or not buying X1800GTO:

1. Availability of ATI cards is much lesser In India than of the 7600GT.

Hence . warranty problems even if u manage to get one.

2. on unlocking the disabled pipelines in the X1800GTO, it will prove to be a much better performer but you are going to risk seriously damaging your card and also losing warranty.
 
Yea no chance, nothing's happend yet in my attemps to unlock my GTO. Whether i succeed in finally unlocking it is another thing entirely. Bah, stupid card :@
 
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