Going from R360 9800 Pro TO either a x800 Pro or 6800GT

[codeyf]

Mainly play Everquest 2 @ 1600x1200 (native for my LCD). Right now it's playable at med quality, but is actually smooth at "max performance" setting. Which, coincidentally look lame.

Now, I've read some of the technical differences between my old card, and the 2 new candidates.

My question is, is the xtra $$ for the 6800GT worth it? Haven't been any (in stock) deals on GT's for $350, but there are some good deals in FS/FT for x800 Pros.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: codeyf
is the xtra $$ for the 6800GT worth it? Haven't been any (in stock) deals on GT's for $350, but there are some good deals in FS/FT for x800 Pros.

I think you just answered your own question. 😉

 

[codeyf]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: codeyf
is the xtra $$ for the 6800GT worth it? Haven't been any (in stock) deals on GT's for $350, but there are some good deals in FS/FT for x800 Pros.

I think you just answered your own question. 😉

ok, diff question then. Is it worth holding out for a in stock $350 GT, or getting a x800 now?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: codeyf

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: codeyf
is the xtra $$ for the 6800GT worth it? Haven't been any (in stock) deals on GT's for $350, but there are some good deals in FS/FT for x800 Pros.

I think you just answered your own question. 😉

ok, diff question then. Is it worth holding out for a in stock $350 GT, or getting a x800 now?

Probably not...if you want a new video card now, I'd just go ahead and get the X800 Pro. The 6800GT isn't really that much faster, I don't think (and I have one myself).

 

[jiffylube1024]

Get the X800 Pro unless you feel like waiting for the 6800GT. There's not much difference between the cards in any game not called Doom3 (or OpenGL games that run fast enough). It's about a 5-10% advantage for the GT on average.

 

[drpootums]

yes, the X800pro is still really good compared to the GT. It's not quite as fast, but the SM 3.0 and dx9.0c dont help too much. At least they dont really do anything for image quality, they just make it faster, or in otherwords, not a very bid deal.

Dont be afraid to buy the pro

 

[nOObBooB]

I would say the best bit and price for money is the 6800GT. At one point i had both cards to see which one was better, i concluded that 6800GT clearly has the perofrmance advanteage. Those extra 4 pipes for the 6800GT help alot. When you can get a x800pro for like 320 and 6800GT for 350 i would go with the 6800GT. The 6800GT beats or matches the performance of the x800pro.

However, if you can get a x800pro vivo its worth the flash to x800xt to unlock teh pipes. The x800xt matches the 6800U and kills all other cards.

 

[nOObBooB]

But nohting is guarentee and dont complain if your cards fu*ks up just be prepared to get a new one.

 

[d2arcturus]

zipzoomfly.com has good prices on 6800 gts and in stock...
got mine from there a couple weeks ago

actually, last time i was there they had bfgs in stock

 

[MDE]

I went from a GeForce FX 5900XT (slightly slower than the 9800 Pro at stock) to a 6800GT and the difference is amazing.

 

[ponyo]

I would pay the difference and get 6800GT. You're talking about ~$50 difference between the two cards.

 

[karlreading]

maybe its just me but i really dont like the x800 pro. its not cause its ATI, i actually think that although the nv 40 architecture is technicaly better than r420, r 420 is still really very good, and the sheer clock speed of the x800 -xt and above power trough 3d graphics really well. i had a r350 based card and it was sweet 😉
that said i just dont feel that x800-pro is a good product. i think its beacues, with a 6800GT, you are buying top end silicon, the only diffrence between the GT and the ULTRA is clockspeed. with the x800 pro, your losing 4 pipelines, its a real diffrence between high end product and the PRO. i feel its very badly positioned price wise, and, i personally would nod towards the 6800Gt everytime.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: nOObBooB
I would say the best bit and price for money is the 6800GT. At one point i had both cards to see which one was better, i concluded that 6800GT clearly has the perofrmance advanteage. Those extra 4 pipes for the 6800GT help alot. When you can get a x800pro for like 320 and 6800GT for 350 i would go with the 6800GT. The 6800GT beats or matches the performance of the x800pro.

However, if you can get a x800pro vivo its worth the flash to x800xt to unlock teh pipes. The x800xt matches the 6800U and kills all other cards.

^ He can't, and that's the issue. Also, ATI has had some significant improvements in performance in recent drivers. The Catalyst 4.9's, 4.11's and 4.12 beta all have given performance boosts to many games.

Originally posted by: karlreading
maybe its just me but i really dont like the x800 pro. its not cause its ATI, i actually think that although the nv 40 architecture is technicaly better than r420, r 420 is still really very good, and the sheer clock speed of the x800 -xt and above power trough 3d graphics really well. i had a r350 based card and it was sweet 😉
that said i just dont feel that x800-pro is a good product. i think its beacues, with a 6800GT, you are buying top end silicon, the only diffrence between the GT and the ULTRA is clockspeed. with the x800 pro, your losing 4 pipelines, its a real diffrence between high end product and the PRO. i feel its very badly positioned price wise, and, i personally would nod towards the 6800Gt everytime.

When is 4 pipelines not 4 pipelines? When there is a significant clockspeed difference. SM 3.0 is, theoretically, a significant feature that differentiates the 6800GT vs the X800 Pro. At least it might come to be used and drive a chasm between the cards larger than the miniscule gap that exists now. The "4 pipelines" issue is not a dealbreaker.

ATI Radeon X800 Pro - 12 pipelines @ 475 MHz (ie 5700 Megapixels/second fillrate)
Nvidia 6800GT - 16 pipelines @ 350 Mhz (ie 5600 Megapixels/second fillrate)

The clockspeed difference makes up the pipeline gap; the X800 Pro actually has a bit more fillrate than the 6800GT. It's the 900 Mhz GDDR3 memory vs the 6800GT's 1000 MHz GDDR3 that is responsible for the main reason for the performance gap.

Also, ATI uses 1.6ns and 2.0ns RAM in the X800 Pros at 900 MHz (1.6ns on the ones that will softmod to XT). ATI is actually underclocking both types of memory.

Nvidia uses, get this, 1.6ns and 2.0ns RAM on their 6800GT's at 1000 Mhz. Some cards have 1.6ns others have 2.0ns.

 

[codeyf]

Hmm, very interesting, and good info/points on both.

My main use is for EQ2, which, from what I've read, is "heavily" optimized for nVidia cards.

I've played it on both my 9800 Pro (R360) and my 5900NU. As expected, I'm able to go a lil' higher on detail with the ATI card and get the same performance. But IMHO, with higher quality settings, the game just blows me away. Hence the desire for a better card.

I think I'll have to sleep on this one....

 

[Tiamat]

I know you prob dont wanna hear this, but what happens if you max out teh quality @ 800x600? What does it look like compared to 1600x1200 no AA no AF? I say 800x600 only because there would be theoretically less pixel interpolation since its exactly 1/4 the area.

 

[codeyf]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
I know you prob dont wanna hear this, but what happens if you max out teh quality @ 800x600? What does it look like compared to 1600x1200 no AA no AF? I say 800x600 only because there would be theoretically less pixel interpolation since its exactly 1/4 the area.

I will have to try it. What am I looking for?

 

[chinkgai]

i have the x800 xt and i've had 3 pny 6800 GTs

all 6800 gts have been able to hit ultra speeds, that match the xt pretty well in performance when the xt is at stock speeds

but then again, the xt goes higher than PE speeds, so the xt wins anyways

my point is, an overclocked gt will probably beat an overclocked pro in most cases, doom or not

you've waited this long, whats another couple weeks? im sure there will be a few of these springing up the day after thanksgiving

good things come to those who wait

 

[codeyf]

The reason for getting something now, is that I had a buyer for my 5900.

So, I ended up buying.....(insert drum roll here)

An ATI Built x800 Pro!

Haven't had a chance to really put it through the paces yet. I logged in to EQ2 and was very playable in the "Balanced" graphics option in EQ2, and it looked mighty fine as well.

Might play with RivaTuner or ATI Tools to see how high I can clock it. So far, I'm not blown away, but not dissapointed either.

Still have to try out HL2 on it.....😀