*UPDATE* What's the best video card out there in the $400 range?

[yukichigai]

So yeah, I bought the x800 Pro through Fry's Outpost on the advice of a trusted friend. Now this guy knows his computers, but he isn't a complete video card specialist. (close though) I've heard that the 6800 GT outperforms the x800 Pro and for only a few dollars more, and now I'm having a little buyer's remorse.

So I ask you, denizens of the Video forum, to espouse your opinions on the topic. Did I spend $349 (plus tax and shipping) wisely on an x800 Pro? Or should I have gotten something else?

Discuss.

*UPDATE* Hot Deals linkage

Now should I be having buyer's remorse?

 

[PrayForDeath]

The GeForce 6800 GT seems better than the X800Pro so far, especially in Doom III, but you can never have it for less than 400$ I guess (plus tax and shipping), so it depends on you, if you wanna pay ~50 more dollars for a 2-10% faster video card go for the GT, if you don't, then stick with your Pro.

 

[xboxist]

6800 GT. It has four more pipes, correct?

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: xboxist
6800 GT. It has four more pipes, correct?

and slower clock speeds, among other things.. pipes don't mean anything by themselves; you have to consider the rest of the architecutre as well. also an x800pro VIVO is worth considering as you can run them with 16 pipes.

that being said, to the OP i think the GT has an overall advantage over the PRO, however perhaps with the exception of Doom3 (where it's likely still minimal; will have to test and don't have the game yet) there isn't a noticeable difference in the gaming experience.

while ati has 'hinted' at better d3 performance in future driver revisions, the PRO is the weakest in direct competition between nv40 and r420, but it's still a damn fast card and i doubt you would notice any difference except in benchmarking - or possibly in d3 where you might have to lower aa/af. in most d3d games it's near as fast as the GT or even a bit faster in some cases when aa/af are included.

go with whatever makes you happiest; i doubt you'd be disappointed with either.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

You got a good deal, I'd squash the buyer's remorse and get to enjoying that pro, overclocked of course

 

[yukichigai]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
You got a good deal, I'd squash the buyer's remorse and get to enjoying that pro, overclocked of course

Oh of course, wouldn't have it any other way. Part of the reason I'm upgrading is that I can only overclock my 9600np's Core Clock a whopping 32mHz before I get software artifacts. (That and 9600s have really bad FastWrites problems since Catalyst 4.0)

Thanks for the reassurances. I'll sit back and enjoy my card. Well... when it finally ships.

 

[Corporate Thug]

6800 GT and please sticky this thread

 

[Genx87]

Depends on how much you paid for the Pro. If it is 350 or more then the GT is the better buy imo.
Pro just cant really hang with the GT in most situations. And if you are paying roughly the same cash the GT is the better buy.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

Originally posted by: Genx87
Depends on how much you paid for the Pro. If it is 350 or more then the GT is the better buy imo.
Pro just cant really hang with the GT in most situations. And if you are paying roughly the same cash the GT is the better buy.

"most situations"? you mean one game (Doom3). and upgrading an expensive card for one game is silly unless that's the only game you plan to play on that box.

your x800pro is blazingly fast. keep it.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion

Originally posted by: Genx87
Depends on how much you paid for the Pro. If it is 350 or more then the GT is the better buy imo.
Pro just cant really hang with the GT in most situations. And if you are paying roughly the same cash the GT is the better buy.

"most situations"? you mean one game (Doom3). and upgrading an expensive card for one game is silly unless that's the only game you plan to play on that box.

your x800pro is blazingly fast. keep it.

No its most situations being "most games", unless you like aniso banding, then ATi is clearly faster :brokenheart:

 

[Schadenfroh]

doom3 6800gt versus x800 (XT/Pro), in doom3 the gt runs with the XT platinum edition, see here. add SM3.0 support, i know it does not do much for farcry, but its a handy feature, considering DX9C specs call for it. It is IMO a superior card to the 12 pipelined x800 pro

 

[Pete]

Here's your answer, yukichigai.

 

[FluxCap]

I was about to post the same thing Pete. The reason I am selling my x800 Pro now and keeping my 6800GT is this:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/graphics-cards-2004_26.html

Half Life 2.

 

[Pete]

Well, keep in mind that those benches are from a leaked alpha version of the game. I wouldn't trust them too much, particularly since I don't think Xbit specifies if the nV cards are running in DX9 mode (as opposed to DX8 or 8.5, as explained in Anandtech's HL2 preview).

I think the GT's far superior D3 and more consistent overall performance would be better reasons to choose it over the X800P.

 

[Marsumane]

if you can find a GT within $30 then get the GT. Otherwise keep the x800pro because its also a fast card, just arguably slower in many games in comparison to the GT. In any case, you got a good deal, better then most people on here have gotten. You cant go wrong with either choice, they are both good cards

 

[CaiNaM]

hmm.. it's funny.. while for the same price i feel the GT is the better buy, i can't imagine what is so bad about the PRO, especially considering what the article everyone is linking to says:

.."the RADEON X800 Pro offers effective anisotropic filtering and full-screen anti-aliasing algorithms, which often help it to surpass the GeForce 6800 GT in tests. However, this is still not enough for us to say that this GPU from ATI is overall better than its rival."

the PRO is a great card, and it's performance is nothing to sneer at - it's just the GT happens to be a damn fine piece of hardware. imo the GT gets the nod, but i still can't see being unhappy with either....

and Acanthus, while i've been outspoken about this 'banding' since the very beginning, it's only noticeable in certain games, and even then only in specific situations... your 'claim' is at best an overexaggeration...

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: FluxCap
I was about to post the same thing Pete. The reason I am selling my x800 Pro now and keeping my 6800GT is this:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/graphics-cards-2004_26.html

Half Life 2.

latest info according to valve themselves state 30% faster on ati hardware:
Half-Life 2 at G-Phoria August 02, 2004

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: FluxCap
I was about to post the same thing Pete. The reason I am selling my x800 Pro now and keeping my 6800GT is this:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/graphics-cards-2004_26.html

Half Life 2.

latest info according to valve themselves state 30% faster on ati hardware:
Half-Life 2 at G-Phoria August 02, 2004

not that i trust anything that gabe and the boys say but, i would bet that the release will probably be followed by updated nvidia drivers that even the score a bit

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Pete
Here's your answer, yukichigai.

Wow, now that's a video card review!

54 pages of good reading.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: FluxCap
I was about to post the same thing Pete. The reason I am selling my x800 Pro now and keeping my 6800GT is this:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/graphics-cards-2004_26.html

Half Life 2.

latest info according to valve themselves state 30% faster on ati hardware:
Half-Life 2 at G-Phoria August 02, 2004

not that i trust anything that gabe and the boys say but, i would bet that the release will probably be followed by updated nvidia drivers that even the score a bit

true, but the same theory could/should be applied to ati/doom3

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: FluxCap
I was about to post the same thing Pete. The reason I am selling my x800 Pro now and keeping my 6800GT is this:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/graphics-cards-2004_26.html

Half Life 2.

latest info according to valve themselves state 30% faster on ati hardware:
Half-Life 2 at G-Phoria August 02, 2004

not that i trust anything that gabe and the boys say but, i would bet that the release will probably be followed by updated nvidia drivers that even the score a bit

true, but the same theory could/should be applied to ati/doom3

Unless you site that ATi hasnt updated their openGL drivers for anything but crash bugs in the last 2 years.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion

Originally posted by: Genx87
Depends on how much you paid for the Pro. If it is 350 or more then the GT is the better buy imo.
Pro just cant really hang with the GT in most situations. And if you are paying roughly the same cash the GT is the better buy.

"most situations"? you mean one game (Doom3). and upgrading an expensive card for one game is silly unless that's the only game you plan to play on that box.

your x800pro is blazingly fast. keep it.

No, he meant most situations Mr. Twistit.

 

[NJDevil]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: FluxCap
I was about to post the same thing Pete. The reason I am selling my x800 Pro now and keeping my 6800GT is this:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/graphics-cards-2004_26.html

Half Life 2.

latest info according to valve themselves state 30% faster on ati hardware:
Half-Life 2 at G-Phoria August 02, 2004

Wow. Good article. I am still waiting for actual benchmarks to be released until I get a new card (either the x800 or the 6800 GT; maybe even the x800 GT if that comes out in our lifetime). If the x800 is 30% faster than the Ultra, then there wil be no contest!

 

[NJDevil]

Originally posted by: yukichigai
So yeah, I bought the x800 Pro through Fry's Outpost on the advice of a trusted friend. Now this guy knows his computers, but he isn't a complete video card specialist. (close though) I've heard that the 6800 GT outperforms the x800 Pro and for only a few dollars more, and now I'm having a little buyer's remorse.

So I ask you, denizens of the Video forum, to espouse your opinions on the topic. Did I spend $349 (plus tax and shipping) wisely on an x800 Pro? Or should I have gotten something else?

Discuss.

Keep the card, 349 is a great deal and unless you play only openGL games, you don't have anything to worry about. Plus, hl2 will probably run better on the x800 pro, and we all know HL2 is more important than Doom 3. (I like my games with multiplayer)

 

[Keysplayr]

Its a good card. I would just keep it.