ATI or Nvidia

[DannyBoy]

There really isn't that big of a budget, just something reasonable that's top of the range, which would you choose and why?

Cheers,
Dan

 

[So]

6800GT

Why?

I have had so many bad experiences w/ ATI and non w/ NVIDIA, and NVIDIA is faster ATM.

 

[RussianSensation]

If availability was not a concern, and price not an issue, X800XT PE over 6800Ultra
If better price/performance is required and Doom 3 is a major issue, 6800GT over X800Pro.
If good performance at a reasonable price is the goal, then 9800Pro over 5900/xt
If low budget is a concern then 9600Pro or even Ti4200 series.

NOTE: But the most important question is: What games do you play, and will want to play the most? When you answer that, the answer from which company to buy might be much clearer.

Nvidia 6800 cards are excellent, but saying that Nvidia is in the lead is somewhat unjustified considering over the 35 games reviewed in The Fastest Graphics Cards of Summer 2004, X800xt is slightly ahead in Quality/High Resolution modes. Of course refer to NOTE* above to make meaning of these benchmarks for yourself.

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
If availability was not a concern, and price not an issue, X800XT PE over 6800Ultra
If better price/performance is required and Doom 3 is a major issue, 6800GT over X800Pro.
If good performance at a reasonable price is the goal, then 9800Pro over 5900/xt
If low budget is a concern then 9600Pro or even Ti4200 series.

NOTE: But the most important question is: What games do you play, and will want to play the most? When you answer that, the answer from which company to buy might be much clearer.

Nvidia 6800 cards are excellent, but saying that Nvidia is in the lead is somewhat unjustified considering over the 35 games reviewed in The Fastest Graphics Cards of Summer 2004, X800xt is slightly ahead in Quality/High Resolution modes. Of course refer to NOTE* above to make meaning of these benchmarks for yourself.

Interesting and (might I add) VERY long read.

Cheers,

 

[Schadenfroh]

how much are you willing to spend?

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: DannyBoy

Interesting and (might I add) VERY long read.

Cheers,

I guess you could have always jumped straight to the conclusion

 

[Xernex]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
If availability was not a concern, and price not an issue, X800XT PE over 6800Ultra
If better price/performance is required and Doom 3 is a major issue, 6800GT over X800Pro.
If good performance at a reasonable price is the goal, then 9800Pro over 5900/xt
If low budget is a concern then 9600Pro or even Ti4200 series.

I agree with the first 2 lines there but when looking at the cheaper alternatives, don?t look past the 6800 non ultra. Its knocks the crap out of 9800XTs and below and is extremely cheap. In some cases eg doom 3 even beating out the X800pro. I upgraded from a 9800pro to a 6800NU and after selling my 9800 pro on ebay it was a very cheap upgrade and I've seen some very impressive performance gains.

Also going with a 9600 or ti4200 is no longer an advisable option in my opinion, especially the 4200. Unless the person concerned really isn?t much of a gamer and not bothered about future game performance.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Xernex

I agree with the first 2 lines there but when looking at the cheaper alternatives, don?t look past the 6800 non ultra. Its knocks the crap out of 9800XTs and below and is extremely cheap. In some cases eg doom 3 even beating out the X800pro. I upgraded from a 9800pro to a 6800NU and after selling my 9800 pro on ebay it was a very cheap upgrade and I've seen some very impressive performance gains.

Also going with a 9600 or ti4200 is no longer an advisable option in my opinion, especially the 4200. Unless the person concerned really isn?t much of a gamer and not bothered about future game performance.

With regard to 6800nu, I agree with you that in shader intensive games it offers a great improvement over old generation of cards. However, i didn't consider the options of someone selling their videocard and deciding to spend an only marginal amount of say $100-150 extra to get a 6800nu, and it is good that you pointed this out. But if I was gonna buy a 6800nu for $300 i'd probably spend extra $100 to get the GT. When you are gonna spend without reselling your videocard, I think the 6800gt is a better option. But certainly from a performance stand point the 6800nu is a great card.

Yeah you are right that you cannot expect any decent gaming performance from a 4200 or a 9600 pro card at this point. Afterall, 4200 is 2 full generations behind. I think both are decent alternatives for someone who doesn't want to spend more than 80-100 on a videocard (so they don't end up buying 5500/5600, etc. by mistake)

I think the bare minimum card a gamer should have to play the new wave of games coming out has to be a 9700/9700pro/9800np or 5900xt card.

 

[araczynski]

the top cards in both camps perform equally, and are more or less priced equally, all else aside, at least the 6800 line has the potential for the SLI configuration, which will be a big benefit for those of us out there who don't start nutting all overthemselves the second ati/nvidia make a new announcement (i.e. potentially longer life span with the nvidia 6800 investment)

 

[daveshel]

Matrox: the choice of people who use their computer for work instead of play.

 

[Draco]

No brainer I think. 6800 all the way.

 

[GoldFiles]

I would say the same thing, but we have yet to see HalfLife2 in action and we have yet to see any X800XT PEs actually for sale.

 

[Mullzy]

Until the 6800's came out you couldn't beat ATI for $$ to Frames Per Second ratio. At this moment the 6800 line seems superior in every way (NU and GT anyway).

I am sure ATI will be doing some major driver overhaul's in light of Doom 3 results (unless they know they will own HL2 benchmarks).

I recently made the switch from nVidia to ATI (ti4200 to 9800 pro) - and although I have REALLY enjoyed some decent gaming with my ATI, I'd have to say nVidia will be my preference next upgrade. There are just enough annoying driver problems with ATI to make me seriously consider switching back (can't change AA or AF or gamma within some games... have to force it at the control panel level).

BUT... if 6 to 12 months from now there's a similar $$/FPS situation as with the 9800 Pro 3 months ago, I might find myself buying another ATI.

 

[Oyeve]

I beleive ATI screwed up with the whole X800 line and obviously rushed it to market. They knew Nvidia was coming out with the 6800 line and shoved out the X800 line (as well as the X600 and lower). I am an ATI fan because I have always had too many issues with Geforce cards (own several versions and gave up after the Geforce 4 series). The ATI 9500 pro was awesome in its time, the 9700 pro was aweome in its time, but since the 9600 lines and after they have messed up royaly. While I am still not an Nvidia fan I do have to say their latest cards ROCK. I will wait and see if ATI fixes their mistakes, and not with drivers, I want the latest HW on their next cards.

 

[Regs]

I vote for the 6800GT this round.