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Which card would you go with?

[BB] Rick James

[H]ard Dawg
Joined
Apr 4, 2004
Messages
2,810
I'm confused by the most recent benchmarks with the new nVidia drivers. Ok so as it stands right now which card would you go with; 6800 Ultra or the X800 XT PE? Right now I have the XT PE pre-oredered at www.cdw.com. I just don't know which card to get.

What do you guys think?
 
Dude there are 1,000,000,000 threads that discuss the performance between the 6800 series and the X800 series right now. Everyone has a different opinion which card they like. Personally i'm going with a 6800GT. I dont see any purpose in throwing down the money on a 6800 ultra or X800XT PE unless you just have money to burn because the cards right below them will overclock really well and perform as well or better in nearly every game.

It doesn't matter what we think you should get. It only matters what you think you should get.

I guess people are going to just keep posting these threads over and over again asking which to buy lol.
 
Yeah. The early X800Pro's could be unlocked easily, but not anymore :(. The 6800GT comes with 16 pipelines already, all you have to do is overclock it :).
 
burningrave101 said:
Dude there are 1,000,000,000 threads that discuss the performance between the 6800 series and the X800 series right now. Everyone has a different opinion which card they like. Personally i'm going with a 6800GT. I dont see any purpose in throwing down the money on a 6800 ultra or X800XT PE unless you just have money to burn because the cards right below them will overclock really well and perform as well or better in nearly every game.

It doesn't matter what we think you should get. It only matters what you think you should get.

I guess people are going to just keep posting these threads over and over again asking which to buy lol.

I understand that I do. You have to understand that I've been off the nVidia wagon for sometime now. I don't know how well their drivers are; things like that. It sucks that my legit question needs to get shot down becuase of others posting stupid things about the card that has probably already been answered. Everything I have read has been with the old drivers and how the 6800 Ultra kept up with the X800 Pro. I have seen nothing that compares the new 4.7's with the 6800 Ultra. You could have all the pipelines in the world and still have a shit card. I'd like to get the X800 XT PE but will the 6800 Ultra run the future games better?
 
Yea I am going with the 6800GT too, I'm just waiting for that good deal to come around. So far I've seen nothing..
 
Nvidiots would says that you need to get the 6800U to get a real future proof card, but in reality you will buy a new card when all of its new features are implemented in every game

both cards will last you years, get whichever is sexier to you
 
I use both brands of cards regularly. ATi at home and Nvidia at work. I find their driver sets to be roughly equal in almost all respects.

Personally I think the 6800 Ultra is the way to go. You've got a few more features which may or may not get used during the time you own the card. However, they are nice to have if something gets done with them. If the performance of the cards and image quality are equal, then why not get the better featured product? Especially since the target price points are the same. Although right now 6800Ultras go for more than $600 in many cases if you can find them at all.

However the Nvidia has a down side. The Nvidia cards use alot of power. Two molex connectors and the card is very large. So depending on your case configuration this could be a problem.

OpenGL is favord on Nvidia cards while D3D is on the ATi cards. However neither brand does either API badly.

Nvidia Pro's
Very advanced feature set.
Very fast performance
Good drivers

Nvidia Con's
Retarded power supply needs
Poor availability at the time of this posting.
Higher cost at the moment.

ATi Pro's
Nice feature set although nothing ground breaking over the previous generation.
Good availability
Lower cost.
Lower power requirements
Smaller form factor of card makes it workable in small systems and cramped cases

ATi Con's
Less advanced feature set. No PS 3.0 incase it does become a reality in a year.
The higher end X800XT-PE model's availability is somewhat limited at this time.

That's how I think it breaks down.
 
You will be very very very happy with either card, go with whatever name sounds the coolest :D j/k j/k

But seriously you will be extremely satisfied with either card, if there was a clear cut winner there wouldn't be millions of posts debating which card is better.
 
Brent_Justice said:
the X800XT PE is still faster right now

And wheres the benchmarks comparing the nVidia 6800 ultra with the NEW drivers to the X800XT PE? I havn't seen any yet. These new nVidia drivers make all the difference in the world. The 6800 ultra isn't even hardly the same card as it was when HardOCP benchmarked it against the X800XT PE using the old drivers.
 
6800GT is honestly the best deal. It gives you near 6800U/x800XT performance for $100 less. Unlike the 12x1 X800PRO, the 6800GT actually has a 16x1 pipeline just like the 6800U and x800XT.

As for 6800U vs X800XT, its really personal preference based on their drivers and features. With the latest drivers, they both offer similar performance. I prefer the 6800U myself for its SM3.0 support and other features, just seems like more of a card. However I have the 6800GT on preorder from Best Buy since its in the same league as the 6800U/X800XT and its $100 less.
 
Yeah I agree; both cards are just amazing. I think I might go with the 6800 Ultra! I was thinking about going with the BFG 6800 Ultra; but really it doesn't matter much to me. Any particular brand name you can recommend? Like I said I've just been buying Built By ATI cards for the past 2 years so I'm kind of out of the loop on which maker is better...
 
[BB] Rick James said:
Yeah I agree; both cards are just amazing. I think I might go with the 6800 Ultra! I was thinking about going with the BFG 6800 Ultra; but really it doesn't matter much to me. Any particular brand name you can recommend? Like I said I've just been buying Built By ATI cards for the past 2 years so I'm kind of out of the loop on which maker is better...

For Nvidia cards, the best brands are generally BFG and eVGA.

The most reliable places to order them are backordered on all of em except the BFG 6800GT though:

BFG
-
6800U
6800GT

eVGA
-
6800U
6800GT
 
FYI the first batch of 6800Us it shouldn't matter too much on brand, as they will all be using the Nvidia reference design. It's mainly a case of which brand has the best support (BFG and eVGA are great in this category, and they also use excellent components in assembling the card). BFG gives you a lifetime warranty, if your card dies (assuming you have not abused it), they will repair it or replace it with a similar performance card. If you have a BFG 6800U and it dies and cannot be repaired, and they don't make the 6800U anymore, BFG will give you a new card from the 7xxx series that matches or beats the performance of the 6800U. That's a pretty awesome policy. :)
 
^ yeah, i just hope the asus 6800 ultra doesnt perform any worse just cause its a 1 slot. depending on what happens within the next few weeks i have my eye on this card and the HIS iceQ x800xt :D
 
Still waiting on whichever can bring lower priced dual-dvi designs into the mainstream. I'm personally looking for the $350 bracket that the X800 Pro and 6800GT should fall into and compete in when all cards are dealt. Doom 3 performance is a must- and that is still very uncertain- so I am going to sit on my thumb and wait. I may just wait until we get the S939 SFF's with PCI-E in them, and make a little screemer for myself with a pair of beautiful displays :).
 
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