• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Firing Squad takes on CS:Source w/ the latest Video Cards

R

Rage187

Lifer
Firing Squad

In the meantime, NVIDIA?s high-end GeForce 6800 Ultra and 6800 GT currently hold the lead over ATI in our testing, although in Italy, we had a virtual tie at max settings, as the 6800 Ultra and X800 XT PE finished within 2% of each other, while the 6800 GT and X800 XT AGP were separated by a margin of just over 1%! That?s about as close as you can get folks.

With both ATI and NVIDIA?s cards performing so closely to one another in today's games, other aspects such as cooling and noise, driver quality, and arguably more importantly, price and availability will likely play the most important roles in determining which card you purchase. In the latter two areas, NVIDIA clearly has a decisive advantage over ATI, their X800 XT cards are still extremely difficult to find at retail months after launch, only the RADEON X800 PRO has shipped to retail in significant quantities. ATI needs to get their supply problems nailed down quickly if they want get this resolved before the crucial holiday buying season. For now we'll give this round to NVIDIA, but there's still one more Valve release that we're eagerly awaiting: Half-Life 2 itself.
Click to expand...

 
Looks like ATI better start praying Nvidia doesn't do nearly as good in HL2 or they are going to be in the same position nvidia was in with the 5x00 series once Doom3 based games start coming out.
 
I dont think they were using the RAM bug fix which is supposed to increase performance by 15% or something like that, thats of course only with the 256Mb cards tho.

I dont think he was right in saying that the XT cards are hard to find as in over in the UK we have quite a few PCI-E and AGP XT cards available in stock...
 
I trust FS to do their homework. So it would be safe to assume that they did use any legitimate fix.


I have never seen an XT in person, ever. Hell I have never seen a pro either except an empty preorder box at BB.
 
interesting numbers, the numbers for source are alot closer then i expected, i thought ATi would have run away with it a little.
 
It says that they were using the catalyst 4.9 drivers, so that does not include the fix. Still, this is very interesting, and it makes me feel even better about picking up a 6800 GT (hopefully in the next week). Time after time, it is the best bang for the buck, nuff said.
 
The fix is still in its beta stage, so i suppose thats why it was left out.

Xbit has also done a benchmark also, but they left out the fix also as it was beta, so we dont know the full potential yet of this bug fix.

And anyway an unoccupied map of the CS:S game, its not really indicative of the real HL2 game. Its a good preview tho
 
Looks to be basic parity in desktop graphics now much as in the desktop microprocessor market :beer: Looks like nV may have a slight edge overall just as AMD does, but intended usage and comparative performance in a given price range still should be significant factors. In the end, you can't truly go wrong either way, and that's the way I like it 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Rage187
I trust FS to do their homework. So it would be safe to assume that they did use any legitimate fix.
Click to expand...

Your trust is missplaced, they didn't used the cat4.9s and not the fixed 8.07 drivers.

I also doubt they dissabled any of the AA/AF optimzations in the 65.76 which would lower Nivida's scores but also get rid of some pretty nasty artifacts.
 
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Originally posted by: Drayvn
The fix is still in its beta stage, so i suppose thats why it was left out.
Click to expand...

Yet they used beta Nvidia drivers?
Click to expand...

they sure didnt use the 66.xx series of drivers, which are Nv's latest Betas(66.81's last time I checked.)

test says they used the 65.73's
 
Naww i think it has alot to do with the way the card was designed. I think ati made a big mistake in making the x800pro only 12 pipelines compared to the 16 pipes in 6800GT. Those 4 extra pipes make a big difference in performance. I think that is how nvidia was able to catch up to ati in image quality in directx games. The cards are marked up by teh manufactures as the same price however the x800pro is lacking in features such as those 4 pipes.
 
After several years with ATi, if I was buying today I would definately go back to nVidia. I probably will anyway's seeing how I usually buy used when people upgrade to the latest and greatest next gen stuff. And one of you guy's will no doubt be selling me your 6800GT within 6mo or so 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Marsumane
Basically they used the newest non-beta drivers. Seems fair to me.
Click to expand...

No, the latest offical nvidia drivers are the 61.77s, FS used 65.73 which are not avalable on Nvidia's driver page.
 
Where are the 65.XX and 66.XX drivers? I only see the 61.77 available on Nvidia's web site. Are the 65 & 66 betas? When will Nvidia have new drivers, the 61.77 have been out for quite a while now!
 
Originally posted by: jrphoenix
Where are the 65.XX and 66.XX drivers? I only see the 61.77 available on Nvidia's web site. Are the 65 & 66 betas? When will Nvidia have new drivers, the 61.77 have been out for quite a while now!
Click to expand...

The 61.77 drivers are good, the newer ones are just leaked drivers and have various bugs like missing shadows in Splinter Cell 2 with a few I tried. Not to long ago Nvidia said they were hope to only have to release one new offical driver each year, so it is hard to say when we will see something to replace the 61.77s. I'm not sure why so many sites insist on benchmarking Nvidia cards with unoffical drivers.
 
Here is my take on this whole thing: I think it is pretty early to come out and say that ATI will always be WAY ahead of nVidia. Everyone is talking about the future ATI drivers and how they will fix it, but what about the future nvidia drivers? No one seems to think that nvidia will work on improving their framerates in a game as big as Half-Life 2. Sure, Half-Life 2 has the ATI logo all over it, but how many games have nvidia "the way it is meant to be played" logos on them that still run better on ATI hardware? The 6800 series is a SOLID line, and although I am an ATI owner, I do have to give nvidia credit for redeeming themselves after the disaster that was the 5x00 series (chills just thinking about it). I guess we will just have to wait and see when the game comes out. I am upgrading to a GT, basically because you get great performance in both Half-Life 2 and Doom 3. I think we should just wait and see, nvidia will no doubt work on drivers to get the best possible everything out of Half-Life 2, and so the race could really be as close as FS made it out to be.
 
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Originally posted by: Marsumane
Basically they used the newest non-beta drivers. Seems fair to me.
Click to expand...

No, the latest offical nvidia drivers are the 61.77s, FS used 65.73 which are not avalable on Nvidia's driver page.
Click to expand...

Maybe you don't go there very often, but nvidia is terrible at getting their drivers up on their home page. Usually you can find the latest "officially released" drivers on any page other then theirs. Maybe that is just my experience though.
 
Originally posted by: TheSnowman
Originally posted by: jrphoenix
Where are the 65.XX and 66.XX drivers? I only see the 61.77 available on Nvidia's web site. Are the 65 & 66 betas? When will Nvidia have new drivers, the 61.77 have been out for quite a while now!
Click to expand...

The 61.77 drivers are good, the newer ones are just leaked drivers and have various bugs like missing shadows in Splinter Cell 2 with a few I tried. Not to long ago Nvidia said they were hope to only have to release one new offical driver each year, so it is hard to say when we will see something to replace the 61.77s. I'm not sure why so many sites insist on benchmarking Nvidia cards with unoffical drivers.
Click to expand...

I guess I was spoiled with ATI. I upgraded from an 8500 64Mb to a 6800GT (now Ultra)... ATI had new drivers on their website every month, like clockwork. It does seem unfair for any sight to use unofficial or beta drivers from either company..... Heck, as long as the driver isn't official anything can be temporarily tweaked for higher frame rates... even if things may be broken.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top