GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme or Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition

imported_BlackMagic

Junior Member
Jul 5, 2004
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I'm building my very own Ultimate Computer Gaming System, and the magical words are... Money is not an object. I'm still not sure about the Motherboard I'm getting but I know I already bought a AMD Athlon 64 FX-53, Socket 939. 2 GB of Cosair Memory, 2 WD 74 GB Raptor 10,000 RPM, Sound Blast Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro. Now it comes to the Video Card, so the question is... GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme or Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition? Should I wait for the AGP 6800? Monitor will be a 19" Samsung Flat Panel Monitor...
 

Mik3y

Banned
Mar 2, 2004
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well, performance of the gpu's are so close taht you can only pick one based on brand bias IMO. i personally would pick the 6800 Ultra extreme for its extra features.
 

klah

Diamond Member
Aug 13, 2002
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X800XT's are almost non-existent. If you really want one plan on $800+ at ebay.

The 6800 Ultra Extreme was supposed to be 460MHz-capable gpus that NV would sell to card makers, but I haven't seen it in use yet.

The 6800 Ultra is probably the only one you will find in stock. Try Zipzoomfly.

edit: what do you mean by "AGP 6800"?
 

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,281
4
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Seeing as money is no problem, get whichever you can find easiest.

The 6800UE's kinda don't exist yet though, as has been mentioned.

The X800XT PE would likely be my pick, but if you can't find one, grab the 6800U.
 

Cawchy87

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2004
5,104
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Originally posted by: klah
X800XT's are almost non-existent. If you really want one plan on $800+ at ebay.

The 6800 Ultra Extreme was supposed to be 460MHz-capable gpus that NV would sell to card makers, but I haven't seen it in use yet.

The 6800 Ultra is probably the only one you will find in stock. Try Zipzoomfly.

edit: what do you mean by "AGP 6800"?

There is also a pci express version of the card.
 

imported_BlackMagic

Junior Member
Jul 5, 2004
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Well... Think of it this way, There both available and I can get ahold of any of them. Same Price. Which one is better, I don't care if one is only better by a significant spec. I'm usually a fan of ATI but I'm going for performance and quality. Both being AGP as well...

Also, Acanthus all Radeon X800 XTs are not Platinum.

ATI Radeon X800
ATI Radeon X800 XT
ATI Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition
 

Cawchy87

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2004
5,104
2
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i belive the platinum edition was disconntinued for agp. I would go for the ATI tho, they seem to have more promise in their drivers. "PROMISE" is the key word. If they come through on their completely new openGL driver then they could be on par with nvidia in open GL and still have the edge in direct X. As of right now, i would get the ATI due to brand loyalty. In the future i think the XT has more potential, but if they don't come through on their driver promise then the ultra O/C is the way to go. Basicly, right now... toss a coin.
 

Selso2109

Member
Jun 20, 2004
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I have the same system your building cept i only have 1 GB corsair RAM. I went with the X800 XT Platinum.. its a great card do a search for my posts and you can see my benchmarks in far cry doom3 and other games... i paid 780 for my card on ebay.
 

magomago

Lifer
Sep 28, 2002
10,973
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Nvidia seems to be the winner this round~ I would go 6800Ultra if you can find it. I would NOT buy a card because "drivers have more promise". That is just a way of saying "Their opengl implenation has always ben inferior that of Nvidias since dinosaurs roamed the earth...so that means they can only go up" and it a poor rationalization as to why you should get a X800 vs 6800

But look at Doom3 benchmarks and realize this game engine will power a LOT of future games...Id, in my business, is in the engine creation business~ create an engine, and then sell it to manufactorers by creating a game that is okay but has a LOT of eye candy. And it works well ;)
 

Mik3y

Banned
Mar 2, 2004
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doom 3 was rigged so that nvidia would be the stronger performer, as has been recently found out. some hardcore gamers found how to "unrig" the game and was able to perform 30% better with their x800 pro's then origionally. ATI is expected to do better in half-life 2. dont forget that in the original benchmarks between the x800 xt and the 6800 ultra, ati won supremacy. i'm still on the 6800 side tho.
 

Pixle

Senior member
Apr 9, 2004
435
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Mik3y where did you read this?

Back on topic,

I would pick the Ati x800 Xt PE because of its 1 slot | less heat | and it seems to be a more viable company to not lie. It also performs better in some of the other games. Half Life 2 is to post to be Ati's territory and it is a highly anticipated game.

Personally, both cards would perform great - I'm picking due to the 1 less slot :)
 

Mik3y

Banned
Mar 2, 2004
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this was posted in the video forums just several days ago. they linked it to a an article about it also and about how carmack made the game run slower then the nvidia cards when it technically should have done better because of the better shader effects. i'm trying to look for the article, so i'll post back in a bit.
 

Mik3y

Banned
Mar 2, 2004
7,089
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d@mn, i cant seem to find taht thread or article, i'll post back about it if i can find it again.
 

Cawchy87

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2004
5,104
2
81
quite honestly, after thinking about it, buying one of these cards for half life 2 or doom 3 is just stupid. Either of these cards will proform great in them. What comes after that (ie.new Unreal engine) is what is going to define which is the better card. But we really can't speculate on that yet. so go with whatever is in stock.
 

campisia

Junior Member
Aug 15, 2004
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If you want a video card, you would be better off with an Nvidia Geforce 6800 Ultra. Once purchase, you can run a cool registry hack called coolbits to overclock the card's default 400Mhz to 410Mhz or 425Mhz. ATI has nice cards as well, but their drivers suck, I mean just look at each driver release and you see the amount of games fixed in all of the drivers. Totally pathetic if you ask me. Just think, finally purchasing DOOM3 and waiting for a month for ati to release a fix for it, ATI is pathetic.
 

Cawchy87

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2004
5,104
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almost all ati cards proformed fine in doom 3. The new driver release improved proformance in the game up to 30% for ati users. it wasn't a patch for something not working, it was a driver enhancement for the game. Lets wait till half life 2 and see how pathetic ati as a whole is.
 

Cobalt

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2000
4,642
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Good luck finding either. You CAN get a UE from e-VGA but you need to get on a waiting/drawing list. Only 5 people per month can buy one.