6800nu or X800XL

[Munky]

Originally posted by: hans030390
personally, unless you plan on getting a new computer soon, i'd go with the 6800nu just because it has shader model 3.0 and it performs nicely anyways.

if you're lucky you might be able to unlock the pipes on it and make it even better. if not, you should be able to get a nice overclock out of it.

6800nu all the way.

What the??? Hans is at it again! Hans, let me explain something to you. A x800xl is a significantly more powerful card than the 6800, and as such, it will run games faster with or without sm3. Also, the 6800 only has 128mb memory, so that puts it at an even bigger disadvantage.

To the OP, I would consider a 6800gt as an acceptable choice, because the x800xl for the agp is HUGE. However, to answer your question, the x800xl >>>>>>>>>>>>>> 6800 vanilla.

 

[gac009]

In my opinion dont buy a 6800nu over another card simply because of sm 3.0. Its dosnt seem to be a bad card at all but have some other reasons than sm 3.0. think of it as buying a 6600 because it has 256mb ram, sure thats alot of ram but youll never get to use it.

In farcry the sm 3.0 is used to enhance performance and not to increase visuals, but so dose sm 2.0b so no real benifit there. If you want to use HDR on your 6800 prepare to play in 800*600...so yeah for most of us that dosnt sound so great. especially if its a card we just upgraded too.

http://firingsquad.com/hardware/far_cry_1.3_midrange/page18.asp

Same thing about trying to turn on those cool sm 3.0 features on SC:CT, the preformance hit on a 6800nu is such that its really not worth turning on soft shadows or what-not. Sure sm 3.0 "is the way of the future" but on a 6800 its just not much of a usuable feature. I think most other games that use sm 3.0 will be much the same.

now if you want to say get the 6800gt/ultra because of the sm 3.0 thats another story, then yeah its definately worth considering when making your purchase.

 

[Pete]

:beer:/:wine:s all around. Cheers.

We're all recommending 6800GTs and X800XLs because they're burly enough that you shouldn't have any real complaints with them. There's nothing wrong with a $150 6800 if you'll be playing at lower resolutions in newer games and can accept using less than maximum texture quality or minimal AA in games with lots of textures.