X800pro or 6800GT??

[BoboKatt]

Hey all.. I know we've probably beaten this subject to death and results are mainly subjective... but I recently got a chance at a Sapphire X800 pro 256Meg VIVO for a great price. I currently have a 9800 Pro 128. Game wise all I really play are EQ, EQ2 and maybe the occasional racing game. I work mainly with my rig and need great crisp graphics and especially dual out. I currently have my browser going on one monitor and my html coding or graphics program on the other on my 9800 pro.

I have been checking the results on Anandtech and TH for the x800pro and Geforce 6800GT... and it seems the 6800 GT wins hands down in most application (game wise). Graphic quality I always figured ATI ruled and I hope now with dual out they still have a better product. Thus if the price was the same for both cards.. which would you all recommend? I also have to keep in mind maybe that the X800 and 6800GT wont even do me any good in games like Eq or Eq2 or WOW as I've heard they are currently still having issues with the drivers and the way those games were made to take advantage or graphic engines. Anyhow any help will do. I am also considering that maybe if I am lucky the x800 Vivo from Sapphire can me softmoded... or has a good chance to actually work so that is a consideration.

Thanks

 

[LTC8K6]

I would still go with the guaranteed 16 pipe card if the price was the same. That is, the 6800GT.

I have read about the inoperative video encoder part of the 6800 cores, and it bothers me since I will be encoding video, but I can't seem to make heads or tails out of the issue when I go over the threads and discussions about it.

 

[SaberDicer]

With the sapphire pro vivo, the 4 additional pipes are still there, they're just locked. So if you unlock the pipes and flash the bios, you can get an x800xt at a good price, and the xt > gt

 

[LTC8K6]

Yeah, but I might need that warranty.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Definitely go for it. Even if it doesn't unlock, it'll be a good performer and do well in EQ/EQ2. You won't have issues playing video like with the GT and chances are you can unlock it.

 

[edmundoab]

plan to run it at stock speeds? then GT is better.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Definitely go for it. Even if it doesn't unlock, it'll be a good performer and do well in EQ/EQ2. You won't have issues playing video like with the GT and chances are you can unlock it.

Umm, what video issues? You mean that it doesn't offload cpu cycles? Does that mean it plays video any worse than a ATI card? No of course it doesn't.

To the OP, even if the 6800GT is 50.00 more, its still worth getting it over a X800pro. Now if all you are ever going to play is EQ/EQ2, and nothing else, go for the ATI card because there is a bug with nvidia's drivers or the game code causing miserable performance in EQ. I don't have any doubt NV is working on a fix, but you never know.

If you only play EQ/EQ2 and nothing else EVER = X800pro
If you are going to play other games as well = 6800GT

 

[CaiNaM]

having used both cards, while the GT is faster overall, the only time the PRO felt slower (at same aa/af/resolution) was in doom3; i had to run it one resolution lower than what the GT would run to get "fluid" framerates. if you can find a pro for a good price, i wouldn't hesistate going with a PRO (even better if it's a VIVO).

as for eq2, i can't comment as i've only played WoW and DAoC, but i'm sure an earlier driver or a later fix will deal with the issue. i can say that neither card gave me problems (tho the ati won't run sacrifice right, but r3xx didn't either) in a couple dozen games, but again, i have no exp with eq2.

 

[DEredita]

How about the X800 XL?

$299 - quicker than the 6800GT

- Mike

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: DEredita


How about the X800 XL?

$299 - quicker than the 6800GT

- Mike

Really? Where can you buy an X800XL?

Oops. I meant "when"?

BTW - the other problem with this is that X800XLs aren't "quicker than 6800GTs"- it would be more accurate to say "as quick".

 

[CaiNaM]

funny... after i made my comment above, i took a quick look at pricewatch. to my surprise, the least expensive x800p was $380.

as msrp for these cards are supposed to drop when the faster $300 x800xl is released, i wouldn't hold my breath for a quick release of the xl....

 

[Brian48]

I would only get the x800pro if the price was appropriate in comparison to the 6800GT, ie. $299.95 or below. Since they're priced the same, the 6800GT is the better deal by a long shot.

 

[impemonk]

i thought the x800 XL was going PCIe... someone shed some light on this please!

 

[slash196]

It is. And to OP, I'd say GT. The chance that you could softmod it into a better card is not worth staking 400 dollars on. And nothing ruins a day like a bad BIOS flash.