7900gs and x1600

is the nvidia 7900gs worth around 200 dollars more than a ati x1600 for an intense gamer?

 

7900 is better, but the x1800 competes with the 7900. They are both great cards. If you have the money get the 7900. Also, if you are comparing prices between two diferent computer manufactorer companies then your pricing is not accurate. Check Newegg.com for the real prices. Dell and Asus may price dfierently, but it doesn't mean one is worth more than the other because they are both seperate companies that compete. Dell doesn't even offer the X1600 XD

 

ya, im lookin at the Dell E1705 and the ASUS S96J

 

The 7900 is much much better than the x1600, but the x1600 is no slouch. It'll run most games on highish settings at decent resolution. The 7900 will run games at high settings with high resolution.

As for Dell vs. Asus: Dells quality doesnt even compare to Asus. Asus goes above and beyond to produce a great computer while dell is "meh" at best. *puts on flame retardent vest* Dells customer support is also sub par while Asus and its resellers are awesome.

 

so wat laptop would u get between the 2 if u were me?

 

Do you need uber high resolution, graphics, and fps? If you do, get the Dell. If you need some portability and battery life, while still being able to play games on high settings (but not uber high) get the Asus.

If quality and customer support is important to you the Asus would be the only choice.

Personally, for MY needs, I'd get the Asus. But those are my needs. I dont know what you need.

 

well im thinkin more into the future....will the 7900gs be a better card down the road?

 

Yeah if you want it to last a long time for gaming, then get the 7900gs. It will be good for a long while, its a great card.

 

alrite ty sheff and twilight

 

many people had great experiences with dell technical support.

I have E1705 with 7900GS and the build quality is rather good. Asus is better for sure in build quality and design, but imho Dell is good too. Large part of the case is metal which prevents bends in the laptop and makes it look much and feel nicer than plastic.

Gaming peformance is excellent and yet the laptop is still very quiet and you can expect 2.5hrs of average use on 9-cell battery (which is more than enough for me).

 

The x1600 is a great card by any measure, but in all honesty the 7900gs is leaps and bounds ahead. If you plan on doing some intense gaming (BF2, oblivion, FEAR, anything new) you will find that the 7900gs is going to preform marginally better. Anyway, if your looking at the E1705, rock on. There is no better laptop for the price and will handle any of the games I listed above no problem. The build quality is solid, I have no flex AT ALL in mine. Yeah, like leshii said 2.5 hours on a 9 cell (at least that is what I get on mine). Ohh, almost forgot to mention, the 7900gs is a beast for overclocking, so you have that to look forward to as well (if your into/up to that sort of thing, I've yet to do mine because I just have not needed the extra performance yet) if you go with the E1705.

 

alrite thx leshii, i have just heard some complaints bout dells customer support and the way they build there systems, but im finiding out now that there is more happy people than dissapointed

 

also thank you spookyu

 

Rankings can be found in my post =D

 

I've got an e1705 with a 7800 (missed the 7900GS boat by a couple months) and I can play nearly any game at 1920x1200 with flawless framerates. Sometimes I can even apply some AA and AF. I would highly recommend a 7900 over a X1600 if you can swing it. The GPU is the LEAST upgradeable component in your laptop. If gaming is important to you, it's better to sacrifice on some other things which you can easily (and cheaply) upgrade later. Also, what type of screen are you getting? You'll want a GPU that can achieve acceptable framerates in games at a 1:1 pixel ratio for better image quality. An X1600 is well suited for a laptop with a screen res of 1280x800 or maybe even 1600x1050, but a 7900GS would allow for greater resolutions.

For me, Dell technical support is a mixed bag. My first laptop had a broken fan, so returning it for a new one within the first month was a cinch and quite painless. My second laptop had some heat problems so I had to send it off and there was some bullcrap that went on, but I got it resolved. I'm 50/50 on their support, but the end product is exceptional, I feel.

 

The problem with the internet is that the only thing you are going to hear is complaints. How often do you see someone make a thread on how good their customer service experience was? Forums are used to rant, so no matter where you go, you will hear bad things with ANY notebook company. In majority Dell has good support and warranties. I for one have owned 3 Dells, only problem i EVER had with any of them is on my I9300, a key broke off my keyboard, i called Dell, they sent me a whole new keyboard free of charge. If you are not going to be traveling with it, then the difference in build quality will not even be an issue. My advice would be to do your own research, the 7900GS is a nice jump from the X1600, so if you are looking for something that will last you a long time - without having to upgrade in the future to play the latest and greatest, this might be a good choice for you.

 

I've owned Dells and several of my friends own dells and all of us have had ONLY problems. Not one positive experience.

 

So that is you+3 or 4 people, out of how many million PC's sold?

 

I know I've mentioned this before, but there is an interesting statistic: 7-8 out of 10 people who had unpleasant experiences with product/service/etc will scream yell and let the whole world know; however only 1 maybe 2 out of 10 people will let everyone know of their pleasant encounter.

So you're bound to hear a lot of complaints, especially the ones that are not specific enough for you to draw any conclusions about product/company. If you don't hear any complaints it means that noone is using the product or it's exceptional (but that doesn't happen very often).

 

Either way, this is getting off-topic and I'd appreciate it if we made a u-turn and started discussing the original topic.

 

ya, im lookin at wateva screen comes originaly with the E1705.....i will also not be traveling much, so is the e1705 the best bet for me?

 

well e1705 is definitely a very powerful solidly built system. If it's the best bet for you or not is for you to decide. I really like my e1705, but I don't have much to compare it to at the moment. Also, one word of advice, if you get e1705, get 9-cell battery, 7200RPM HD and WUXGA display

 

im tryin 2 keep my laptop cheaper, wat r some musts for the e1705 besides the 7900gs for a gamer?

 

The WUXGA is absolutely worth the money, but i wouldnt call it a must (but I STRONLY recomend it). The 9 cell is something i would consider a must if you would like to be unplugged long enough to watch a couple of movies. The 7200 rpm is not a must be comes recomended (if your looking to cut costs this is the first thing to go). One little side note, Dell ram is expensive, if you are up to it I would recomend you by the ram aftermarket from somewhere like www.newegg.com (you will save a good chunk of cash by doing that). As far as the processor goes, I think you would be MORE than fine with the T2400, but if you must go faster I would not suggest going past the T2500, after that you are paying way too much for a small performance increase that you wouldnt even notice. However, in the end it is all up to you (obviously), good luck either way.

 

Let me explain myself a little bit.

1. Why screen? If you're playing games or watching videos WUXGA screen is highly recommended if not a must. You will really appreciate higher resolutions. WXGA is just too small for this 17" screen. You also cannot easily upgrade it later.
2. Why 9-cell battery? If you're planning on using this notebook while unplugged then you'd probably want this because with performance comes power consumption.
3. Why 7200RPM HD? the hard drive is the slowest component in your system - the bottleneck. I have owned a powerful system with a slow HD before, and trust me, it was a total nightmare. There is no reason not to upgrade to 7200RPM HD except for the price. That said, the HD can be upgraded later but can be a bit of a hassle. I really recommend getting 7200RPM HD if you can afford. IMHO more important than 9-cell battery esp if you don't go unplugged for hours.


Now, a couple of other things....

1. Processor: T2400 should be more than enough for the system unless you do some serious video processing or other CPU-intensive tasks.
2. RAM: dell's ram is pricey. If you have to pay $150 for 512 to 1gb ram upgrade - forget it. RAM is also very easy to upgrade. You can get it fairly cheap from newegg, NCIX or some other place. There is also no performance difference between DDR2-667 and DDR2-533.

 

7200rpm is nice, but definetly not a must. The only thing that a slower hard drive will affect is loading time, as far as in-game performance you will see no difference. If my budget was tight, i would rather save my money and spend it on something else.

 

First off, is the OP talking about desktop or laptop graphics cards? So far, everyone has been talking about laptop cards.

Well the X1600 and the 7900gs are in two opposite classes. The X1600 is designed to save power, and fit into smaller notebooks. You can get good battery life(4 hours or so with a standard battery, well over 6 with extended battery) and you can find an X1600 in 14" notebooks which are thin and light.

The 7900 will eat more power than probably my entire Asus laptop in my sig with an X1600. You will have no battery life, you will have a new space heater for your home, and you won't be able to fit your laptop in a backpack let alone fit it in a handbag or slip cover. Although Dell could probably hook you up with a $100 oversized backpack.

As for 7200 RPM hard disks.... you'll notice that I have a 7200 rpm hdd in ALL of my computers. It makes the computer feel that much faster. Loading times are much shorter. This is a must if you like to play games which involve frequent loading.

There is one catch. 7200 RPM hard disks are relitively cheap(about same price as a 5400 rpm) when you buy small hdd's. But the larger HDD you need, the bigger the price difference will be. And there's the fact that it is very hard to find large 7200 RPM hdd's.

The X1600 is a very strong card... I can play Doom 3 with settings maxed out at SXGA(1280x1024) at around 60FPS. Games like Half-Life 2 I can run at WSXGA(1680x1050) at a constant 60FPS. Sure, the 7900gs can handle much more, by the x1600 is by no means a bad card.

Here's my advice:

Get a laptop with a 7900 if you
1. Have lots of $$$.
2. Don't care about battery life.
3. Don't mind a massively unwieldy laptop.
5. Don't mind your laptop being a space heater.
6. Need top of the line gaming power, or want the laptop to game for the next 3 or so years.

Get an X1600 base laptop if you:
1. Are on a tight budget.
2. Want something that can game while still getting good battery life.
3. Want a thin and light laptop.
4. Want a cool laptop.
5. Don't mind turning down a few settings on games to make them playable in the future when more demanding games are on the market.


In the case the the OP wants to know about what he should get for a desktop... they are still in different classes. The X1600 is supposed to be a budget mainstream type card, and the 7900 is supposed to be top of the line performance. I would suggest getting whatever your budget allows, unless you want to save for a DX10 card, or you don't need extra power.

Don't forget that when you are talking about desktops, there is a whole other world of overclocking. You could pick up a cheap desktop card that is close to top of the line, but at half the price, than OC up to or a little past the top of the line. That's what I did with my desktop. I paid $250 for my X800xl last year. At the time, the x850xt was well over $500. I have my X800xl OC'ed past x850xt's speeds, and get much higher performance at half the cost.

 

Couple things here:

1. I wouldn't exactly call the Go7900GS a card you can only get if you have a lot of money . .the Dell E1705 is rather inexpensive. I have seen configurations with it come in signifigantly less than X1600-equipped notebook, but that's not really a fair comparison, since the laptops are completely different.

5. Now, if the E1705 had a Pentium 4, I'd call it a space heater, otherwise, the heat it produces seems within reason. The models I have seen run fairly cool and quiet, much more so than any Pentium 4-based model.

1. As for the X1600, you'll probably find that laptops featuring that card actually cost more than the Dell E1705 because A) you can't compete with Dell in terms of price, and B) they are two differently-sized notebooks.

4. Although the X1600 uses less power, that doesn't necessairly mean it will keep the laptop cooler . . putting it in a smaller chassis can cause things to heat up a lot, maybe even more than the Go7900GS-equipped E1705.

I would break it down into two groups -
Portability: X1600 (15.4" and less)
Performance, and if you don't mind Dell, Go7900GS (17").

 

1. OK. Agree with you that laptops are completely different. You can price out an X1600 laptop at $1000. MOST 7900 based laptop you will end up paying well over $2000 unless you go with basic options on everything but the graphics card. And what if someone doesn't want to get a dell? Then you are off looking through $3000 models from other companies. Or a $2000 barebones unit from Clevo.

5. Isn't the X1600 built on a smaller process so that it generates less heat? The X1600 is designed to PRODUCE LESS heat. As you said, this doesn't necessarily mean it will run cooler, but heat ouput will be less. You can heat your room with a DTR notebook that runs cool, and you could fail to raise the room temperature at all with a small notebook that runs hot.

1. It all depends on the laptop with the X1600 you are looking at. The apple mbp costs well over $2000. It is possible to put together, say, and Asus S96J for under $1000.

4. I will agree with your there. It all depends on the laptop though. Some have horrible cooling(take the mbp) and others will run very cool. BUT NOTICE, I didn't say "cool, thin, and light" all in the same point. Two comparable laptops of the same size with similar cooling systems will run at much different temperatures if you put an X1600 in one and a 7900 in the other.

Please understand that all those points I mentioned weren't grouped together because they would all be true for every laptop. It was more a list of all the different needs/cares people might have, and if that matters to them, they would be best off looking for a laptop with that card to fit their needs. Takes points one and three on an X1600 based laptop. You can find a cheap laptop with the X1600. An Asus S96J. But it won't necessarily be "small". You can also find a laptop that is very small, the W3J, that has an X1600. But the W3J is not cheap. It'll cost you close to $2k.

 

Just priced out a Dell e1705 with the EXACT same hardware as I got with my Z96J, except slightly higher resolution(WUXGA vs. my WSXGA) and a 7900gs with the dell. Everything else identical, even down to the warranty policies. I got my Z96J for $1500. The E1705 came out to $2400. The E17050 costs as much as my Z96J and the desktop in my sig. And the only X1600 based laptop I've seen over or even close to $2400 is apple's overpriced mbp.

 

how about discounts? you can definitely still get them over the phone. I got my system for about $1733 w/ 3 yr NBD warranty ($230 upgrade from base 1yr return to depot).

as to your points....

1. Imho e1705 is very reasonably priced after discounts
2. 2.5hrs is not that bad in my books for a laptop this powerful. My old laptop built on P4 with Radeon 9600M lasted for only about an hour.
3. Imho, again, it's not that big for a 17". It's thicker than it could be, but with all of the performance components in it I'd rather have it take up more space than generate more heat.
5. IMHO totally unfounded. E1705 runs rather cool. Very cool if you, again, compare to my old P4-based system that was, indeed, a space heater.
6. Totally true.

 

I think most e1705 users here were able to score 30-40% off coupons. I got mine for just a little over $1,100 after shipping and tax, so when someone asks me what laptop to get, my first instinct is to say, "Dude, yer gettin a Dell!" But only if you can get a coupon... Otherwise, Acer is a GREAT brand with really competitive pricing.

 

Dude, read my previous post.

Since when were we comparing all X1600 models to the dell e1705? There are other laptops with a 7900 in them, you know.

The e1705 reviewed here on NBR with a 7900 cost the guy $3800. That is a complete ripoff. And by the time you end up paying taxes, shipping fees, etc. dell's prices suck. And remember, I was not comparing X1600 models to just the e1705. There are plenty other laptops avaible which you could blow $4-5k on with a 7900 gs.

2. 2.5 hours is not bad. But what if a user wants 4 hours? And how many other 7900 based laptop runs for 2.5 hours?

3. "Not that big for a 17". That is exactly my point. You can't find it in anything smaller than a 17". You can't find it in an ultraportable. If you need an ultraportable, then you can't get a 7900. You can, however, find a limited selection of ultraportables with X1600's in them.

As I said before, there is a difference from running hot/cool and being a space heater. The e1705 undoubtedly produces more heat than a laptop similarly spec'ed with an X1600. When a laptop runs cool, that means all the produced heat is transferred to the air. When a 7900 and X1600 run at the same temps, that means that the 7900 is transferring more heat to the air, thus acting as a space heater. It will heat your room long before an X1600 will. This will either make the user and every else in the room uncomfortable hot after a few hours, or it will run up your electric bill because you have to turn up your AC.

 

I would like to stress that the 7900gs produces very little heat for a card of its calliber, due to its amazingly low energy consumption (again, for a card of its calliber). One thing I would like to note is that if you find that your laptop increases the temperature of the room significantly in a few hours, you should probably stop playing video games in your closet. As far as battery life goes...its a desktop replacement, what do you expect? If he wants to use it for 4 hours he can buy 2 batteries. As far as the price...someone is doing something wrong while customzing because my laptop (in my sig) only cost me 1600 dollars, and that was several months ago.

 

I priced out the same thing, except with a 7200 rpm hdd, 667 ram, and a 3 year warranty. It game out to $2400. With a coupon it would have been about $2100, but dells coupon system was not working. The website said something about dell not accepting coupons at this time.

That's my point exactly. These two cards are in different notebook classes. And please, why do people keep bringing in the dell e1705?

 

because the original poster was trying to decide between e1705 and asus!
As people told you noone has paid over $2k for E1705. The price for my laptop was indeed $2400+ warranty if priced online w/o discounts. I got it for $1733. IF you call dell I bet you can still score major discounts.

P.S. If I was to rely on e1705 as the space heater in the winter I'd freeze to death. It is not a space heater because it does not produce enough heat to increase the ambient temperature. If you follow your logic all computers are space heaters (they transfer heat to the outside environment).

 

Where does it say that in this thread?

Who besides you has said "noone" paid over $2k for an e1705? Like I said, the person who reviewed an e1705 with a 7900gs spend $3800. You can max out an asus z96J for under $2000.

Of course you aren't going to be able to heat your house with a laptop. But when you're sitting in an already heated room, you are going to raise the temperature quite a bit. Last summer I spent a few hours a day gaming with a DTR notbook which ran fairly cool- but it raised the room temperature from 70F to 85F after about 3-4 hours of gaming.


Finally, if the OP is trying to decide between an e1705 and an asus, the two notebooks you would be looking at are in two completely different categories. You have a lot more to consider between the two than the difference of graphics cards.

I would suggest filling out the "which notebook to buy" form, and then telling use which asus models you are comparing. Then we'll be better able to help you decide.

 

alrite thanks all for the replys, im lookin more into the dell e1705 now than the asus s96j

 

Go with the dell and get the 7900gs, its Amazing and even Better at overclocking You'll love it. Its just a few hundred bucks... you'll gain them back later.

 

what'd you decide?

 

i decided with the e1705, now i just need the money

 

Good choice, you won't be dissapointed. Now you just need to wait a week or 2 for some good coupons. :dell:

 

does ne 1 know, during christmas, how much they sell for?

 

Hahahaha, seriously man you need to stop playing video games in the closet. I really doubt that just a notebook will raise your abient temp by 15F in any amount of time. Consider this: you most likely had light bulbs turned on (a MASSIVE contributer to heat), your body produces large amounts of heat as well, along with anything else electronic you had on in the room. I'm not calling you a liar or anything, I'm just telling you things you might not have taken into acount. Ohh, and the person who review the laptop probably bought it right when it came out, therefore the costs are going to be pretty dang high, and if he didnt use coupon codes, or shop wisely (ie. order ram aftermarket) thats more cash thrown away.

Edit: Statesoccer, they are always changing there prices, but I can gaurentee you the prices will go up during the holiday season. If you are willing to, wait like a week after and you will find huge price drops (hmmmm, I'm sure you knew that, but I had to mention it).

 

I wasn't. In the closet, I mean. The room is normally 70-75 degrees. But when you put a person and a space heating laptop in a 10x12 room and shut the door, and the air conditioner can barely keep the room at 70 degrees, it is not very hard to raise the room temperature. But a smaller notebook which produces less heat will raise the room temp far less. With my Z96J, it barely gets over 75 degrees.

Now if I had left the door open, the room would barely get past 75 with my old DTR laptop. But you can't expect a laptop to heat your entire house. Put yourself in a 10x12 room with your e1705, shut the door, and play Doom 3 or something for a few hours. Is it now very hot in that room?

EDIT:

Before you order, make sure that you will be getting a good battery with your notebook. You would think that dell would be shipping out notebooks with safer batteries now, but I could easily see dell still shipping out notebooks with the bad batteries.

 

haha dude... I was just playing F.E.A.R Combat for 2 hours. I have my i8k set to turn GPU fan on slow at 72 degrees (the card runs hot even on idle but that doesn't change the temperature) and CPU fan on slow at 53. MAX GPU temp was 73 degrees and CPU temp was 57 degrees. I did not notice any temperature change either, never mind 15F. My room size is actually very close to 10x12.

 

Was the door shut, did you have the air conditioner on? If your airconditioner is temperature controlled, and the thermometer is in that room, of course you won't be able to change the room temp by more than a few degrees.

 

I have a VERY small bed room, and the thermostat is out in the hallway (the AC wasnt on anyway, I had my window shut though), when I had my door closed (which is almost always) and playing bf2 for several hours (which puts even more stress on me lappy than doom 3) I noticed an increase of about 5 degrees from 73 to 78 (which can be contributed to lights and body heat alone). Now, I have I8kfangui setup so the fans come on at slow at temps of like 45C, then progressivley get faster every 5 or 10 degrees, with this setup I should be throwing out more heat than ussual. However, like I said before its only a temp increase of about 5 degrees, most of which can be contributed to body heat and the 2 lights I had on.

 

Why not consider the Fujitsu Siemens Amili Xi 1546??
It is FAR cheaper than both the ASUS and Dell models you are talking about and it has the X1800 that is seriously fast! and on par with the 7900gs!. Here are the specs for it..

Intel Centrino Core Duo T2400 Processor 1.83 GHz
1024 MB DDRII-533MHz SDRAM
100 GB Hard Drive
DVD Dual Layer Drive
17" WXGA+ Widescreen TFT Screen with CrystalView Technology
ATI Mobility Radeon X1800 256 MB Dedicated!!

 

Well the, go in your room, close the door, and read a book or listen to music or something for a couple hours to see if it really is your body heat and the lights.

FS computers aren't really available in the US. I've never seen one for sale in the US, anyway.