Best Card to Buy?

[SaberDicer]

I have around 600 in my budget for a graphics card, so any suggestions of what I should get, Im sorta torn between the x850 xt pe (when it comes out) or a 6800 ultra, thx in advance

 

[boyRacer]

buy the time the next XT PE comes out there will be another XT PE coming out

 

[Demo24]

except the 850's will be PCI-e and wont be out till january

 

[RealityTime]

the x850xt will certainly be a better card than the 6800ultra, the current x800xtpe is a better card than the ultra already, apart from doom3 where the difference is bent to the ultra but unnoticeable in a actual gameplay. dont forget though, the new nvidia revision of the 6800 gpu will be out probably by february's end

 

[RussianSensation]

If you cant use PCIe, then get X800xt right now for $485.

If you can use PCIe, wait for December's launch of new ATi cards to see if current ati cards will fall in price and you can pick up x800xt maybe even cheaper. Also Nvidia should have a refresh of 6800ultra as well. Also Ati promised that their refresh products will be available in larger quantities. What that means remains to be seen though...

If you are building a whole new system, 2 6800GTs in SLI sound nice - if you acquire 1 now for $380 and another for $220 in 6 months (so thats 600).

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: RealityTime
the x850xt will certainly be a better card than the 6800ultra, the current x800xtpe is a better card than the ultra already, apart from doom3 where the difference is bent to the ultra but unnoticeable in a actual gameplay. dont forget though, the new nvidia revision of the 6800 gpu will be out probably by february's end

This isn't true. The XT PE and Ultra trade winning benchmarks, depends on the game.

 

[imported_JeReMY]

If I were you, I would get a x800 xt.

 

[df96817]

Originally posted by: JeReMY
If I were you, I would get a x800 xt.

Yea man, $600 to spend on a video card is crazy! It's one thing if you were filthy rich, but since you used the word "budget", I figure money is somewhat of an issue. And to make things worse, a $600 video card will be outdated in a couple of years anyway.

X800XT is probably the way to go. You can get great performance for about $450 and can save the extra $150 for your next upgrade. You can even put it in a savings account and get interest!

 

[RealityTime]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: RealityTime
the x850xt will certainly be a better card than the 6800ultra, the current x800xtpe is a better card than the ultra already, apart from doom3 where the difference is bent to the ultra but unnoticeable in a actual gameplay. dont forget though, the new nvidia revision of the 6800 gpu will be out probably by february's end

This isn't true. The XT PE and Ultra trade winning benchmarks, depends on the game.

ok where exactly ?

xt-pe is best for the source engine
xt-pe is best for farcry
xt-pe is best always for using 4xaa and 8xaf, xt-pe really shines on the aa/af front, this is well known

ultra is better for doom3 engine

you can tell difference between the xt-pe and ultra in the aforementioned engines, funnily you can't notice in d3 differences, beyond benchmarking.

The difference is not drastic, but the xt-pe really is the all round better card.

 

[SaberDicer]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
If you cant use PCIe, then get X800xt right now for $485.

If you can use PCIe, wait for December's launch of new ATi cards to see if current ati cards will fall in price and you can pick up x800xt maybe even cheaper. Also Nvidia should have a refresh of 6800ultra as well. Also Ati promised that their refresh products will be available in larger quantities. What that means remains to be seen though...

If you are building a whole new system, 2 6800GTs in SLI sound nice - if you acquire 1 now for $380 and another for $220 in 6 months (so thats 600).

Yea, It's going to be a whole new system, I was hoping for around xmas but I can wait till february if necessary. Would getting 2 6800gt really be better than an x850 xt pe. I was going for an original x800 xt pe but no one has them in stock except dealers on ebay, and all of them seem to charge 600$. Anyhow it seems the general consenus is that the ATI card is better, as long as your not playing doom (which I won't be, HL2 all the way). Anyhow thx for the feedback guys.

EDIT:

Originally posted by: df96817

Originally posted by: JeReMY
If I were you, I would get a x800 xt.

Yea man, $600 to spend on a video card is crazy! It's one thing if you were filthy rich, but since you used the word "budget", I figure money is somewhat of an issue. And to make things worse, a $600 video card will be outdated in a couple of years anyway.

X800XT is probably the way to go. You can get great performance for about $450 and can save the extra $150 for your next upgrade. You can even put it in a savings account and get interest!

By Budget I mean the maximum I'm willing to spend. I don't see the point in spending a 1000-1200$ on 2 6800ultras, I'm willing to spend around 5 or 6, and buy top of the line. Yea it kind of sucks a 600$ card is outdated in a few years, but then again technology is a super expensive hobby, and in my opinion paying 500$ for 2 years of use and around 2-3 hours of use a day is worth it. Anyhow thx again for the imput.

 

[Gamingphreek]

SLI 6800GT's will blow an XTPE out of the water for miles. It will be way better in terms of performance. However i agree with Rollo, it is a very fine line and more or less a trade off in wins.

What is interesting is that ATI made such a good flexible core that they could reintroduce it for many years and still keep up. Though it is "old" tech it is very remarkable that they were able to do that. However Just flip a coin both cards are about equal, with the XT PE pulling ahead by a VERY small margin in some cases.

-Kevin

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: RealityTime

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: RealityTime
the x850xt will certainly be a better card than the 6800ultra, the current x800xtpe is a better card than the ultra already, apart from doom3 where the difference is bent to the ultra but unnoticeable in a actual gameplay. dont forget though, the new nvidia revision of the 6800 gpu will be out probably by february's end

This isn't true. The XT PE and Ultra trade winning benchmarks, depends on the game.

ok where exactly ?

xt-pe is best for the source engine
xt-pe is best for farcry
xt-pe is best always for using 4xaa and 8xaf, xt-pe really shines on the aa/af front, this is well known

ultra is better for doom3 engine

you can tell difference between the xt-pe and ultra in the aforementioned engines, funnily you can't notice in d3 differences, beyond benchmarking.

The difference is not drastic, but the xt-pe really is the all round better card.

Boy does this get old. (like he could even find a PE to buy, in any case)

6800 faster at IL 16X12 4x8X
(although also a good example of the "even" I referred to)

6800 faster at Lock On
(still basically a draw though)

6800 5fps slower at UT2004
But you couldn't really tell the difference in 65 and 68 fps now could you?

6800 6fps slower at Splinter Cell
Again, who can tell the difference in 87 and 93 without the counter on?

6800 .3fps slower at TRAOD

6800 1 fps slower at Halo

Anyway, you get the point. There are other games besides HL2 and Far Cry. :roll:

You should change your name to "Fantasy Time".

 

[RealityTime]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: RealityTime

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: RealityTime
the x850xt will certainly be a better card than the 6800ultra, the current x800xtpe is a better card than the ultra already, apart from doom3 where the difference is bent to the ultra but unnoticeable in a actual gameplay. dont forget though, the new nvidia revision of the 6800 gpu will be out probably by february's end

This isn't true. The XT PE and Ultra trade winning benchmarks, depends on the game.

ok where exactly ?

xt-pe is best for the source engine
xt-pe is best for farcry
xt-pe is best always for using 4xaa and 8xaf, xt-pe really shines on the aa/af front, this is well known

ultra is better for doom3 engine

you can tell difference between the xt-pe and ultra in the aforementioned engines, funnily you can't notice in d3 differences, beyond benchmarking.

The difference is not drastic, but the xt-pe really is the all round better card.

Boy does this get old. (like he could even find a PE to buy, in any case)

6800 faster at IL 16X12 4x8X
(although also a good example of the "even" I referred to)

6800 faster at Lock On
(still basically a draw though)

6800 5fps slower at UT2004
But you couldn't really tell the difference in 65 and 68 fps now could you?

6800 6fps slower at Splinter Cell
Again, who can tell the difference in 87 and 93 without the counter on?

6800 .3fps slower at TRAOD

6800 1 fps slower at Halo

Anyway, you get the point. There are other games besides HL2 and Far Cry. :roll:

You should change your name to "Fantasy Time".

It's basicly a given that the best and newest games to be coming out in future will be based on source, cryengine, or d3 engine. Not those old pos game engines you mentioned. the xt-pe in these terms is the best card for the reasons i mentioned above. plus its a legit solid card. not like the 6800, with its broken feature set.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Originally posted by: Rollo
like he could even find a PE to buy

 

[SaberDicer]

They Have PE's on ebay, just because you can't find one, doesn't mean they don't exist ( unless your talking about 6800 Ultra Extreme's in which case they don't )

 

[Rent]

Originally posted by: RealityTime

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: RealityTime

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: RealityTime
the x850xt will certainly be a better card than the 6800ultra, the current x800xtpe is a better card than the ultra already, apart from doom3 where the difference is bent to the ultra but unnoticeable in a actual gameplay. dont forget though, the new nvidia revision of the 6800 gpu will be out probably by february's end

This isn't true. The XT PE and Ultra trade winning benchmarks, depends on the game.

ok where exactly ?

xt-pe is best for the source engine
xt-pe is best for farcry
xt-pe is best always for using 4xaa and 8xaf, xt-pe really shines on the aa/af front, this is well known

ultra is better for doom3 engine

you can tell difference between the xt-pe and ultra in the aforementioned engines, funnily you can't notice in d3 differences, beyond benchmarking.

The difference is not drastic, but the xt-pe really is the all round better card.

Boy does this get old. (like he could even find a PE to buy, in any case)

6800 faster at IL 16X12 4x8X
(although also a good example of the "even" I referred to)

6800 faster at Lock On
(still basically a draw though)

6800 5fps slower at UT2004
But you couldn't really tell the difference in 65 and 68 fps now could you?

6800 6fps slower at Splinter Cell
Again, who can tell the difference in 87 and 93 without the counter on?

6800 .3fps slower at TRAOD

6800 1 fps slower at Halo

Anyway, you get the point. There are other games besides HL2 and Far Cry. :roll:

You should change your name to "Fantasy Time".

It's basicly a given that the best and newest games to be coming out in future will be based on source, cryengine, or d3 engine. Not those old pos game engines you mentioned. the xt-pe in these terms is the best card for the reasons i mentioned above. plus its a legit solid card. not like the 6800, with its broken feature set.

Even thought the video processor is currently broken, its fixable, and its feature set is equal, if not bigger than that of the PE.

The 6800 series is more solid as a whole, being reasonably obtainable for enthusists. Both cards win some and lose some, so its all up to your personal preference to decide which one you want. If HL2 is your life, then get a X800 and enjoy it.

 

[drpootums]

ok, rollo, u just proved RealityTimes point. As he said, the differences arent drastic, but there are differences. That's exactly what the benches proved to be true. It doesnt prove your point that the XT PE is equal with the Ultra when it wins 4 out of 6 benches.

Yes, it is close, but the XT PE is still a bit faster.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: drpootums
ok, rollo, u just proved RealityTimes point. As he said, the differences arent drastic, but there are differences. That's exactly what the benches proved to be true. It doesnt prove your point that the XT PE is equal with the Ultra when it wins 4 out of 6 benches.

Yes, it is close, but the XT PE is still a bit faster.

I posted six benchmarks where you can't tell the difference between the performance of the two cards, if you want to consider that "proving his point", have a party. :roll:

The X800XT you can actually buy for the price of a 6800Ultra, and actually buy, would have lost more benchamrks than the mythical X800XT PE, available on EBAY only and pray you don't get a flashed VIVO you need to return. Also, that X800XT (the one you can actually buy from a vendor) doesn't win so big at HL2 and Far Cry that 6800U owners are going to say "Oh no. If only I had a X800XT".

These "my card wins by 10 fps! I can tell the differnce between a 80 and 90 fps average" rants are tiresome and pointless.

BTW- In ATs Far Cry SM3 analysis article, the 6800U is doing very well against the XT PE.

 

[RussianSensation]

I think this should be a fair solution:

By you waiting until both manufacturers (at least ATI) will release their refreshes (ATI should have benchmarks by Dec 1st), you will know what to expect.

Since A64 is the best solution for gaming, longetivity is a bonus, socket 939 should suit you favourably. Socket 939 also has PCIe. By getting 6800GT, you leave yourself with an option to buy a cheaper 6800GT PCIe in the future to increase your performance by up to 80%. There is no way that any refresh product will ever achieve that at this present time (by a refresh I mean a simple bump in clock speeds). 6800Gt retails for around $380 and shouldn't be much more for PCIe variety. If in fact you do become unsatisfied with 6800Gt's performance, you could always sell it for $200 in 6 months, and acquire the new R500 or NV50 series (esp since your motherboard will let you upgrade to PCIe). In the worst case scenario, the top of the line card today will deliver roughly 20% better performance than 6800GT. With that in mind, as rollo pointed out, this translates to minimal losses in performance. In worst cases this would mean decreasing to a lower resolution level or slightly lower AA/AF settings. Even logically, a $200 6800 derivative (6600GT) is faster than last year's 9800xt/5950Ultra products. A mid-range videocard, come August on new cores, will most likely deliver better performance than 6800GT does today. So that would still put you at $380 now + $200 (new midrange replacement on R500/NV50 core) in say 10 months from now. Of course again, the cheaper 6800GT option in SLI mode makes things even that much more appealing since we can only hope that ATI/Nvidia again double the generational speed like the last time (it could be less than 100% too).

So get Nforce 4, 90nm 939 cpu, 6800GT and SLI that thing. Even if you don't, many customers who can afford it will be willing to pay for your 6800GT for say $200 to upgrade their dual setup. This increased demand won't be there for (by that time "old") x800xt since you cant SLI it. This adds an extra flexibility factor to this solution (from upgradability and liquidity perspectives). Now I am sounding like I am making a sales pitch....just decide yourself

 

[darkswordsman17]

If you can tell a difference in any game between those two cards then you've got problems. Both run all games very well.

I don't know about anybody else, but I can run every game, including HL2 at 1600x1200 with 4xAA and its perfectly playable to me, and my card is at Ultra speeds, which most people who own an Ultra are running higher speeds and/or a faster processor (I have a 754 A64 @ 2.4 GHz).

And, for now, you can't play Far Cry with the HDR lighting on an ATi card.

Both are exceptional cards for games right now.

 

[caz67]

6800 Ultra, PS3.0 DX9C support, more games are going to be using this standard. X800XT, old tech , no PS3.0 or DX9C support..It very obvious choice to me.

 

[LTC8K6]

PS3.0 support should not really be a factor in the decision.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
PS3.0 support should not really be a factor in the decision.

Why not? PS2 was a big factor in people's 9700P purchases a year before there were games.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
PS3.0 support should not really be a factor in the decision.

Why not? PS2 was a big factor in people's 9700P purchases a year before there were games.

Cause there is a difference between games with PS1 and games with PS2. Games with PS2.0 and 3.0 are similar. Incremental upgrade.

I'd still go for the 6800 series myself, I've got a 6800 GT in my system right now and it performs extremely well. Should last me a good year or more at least.

 

[Slappy00]

err nm