Curse

Seron · Jul 24, 2005, 07:30 PM // 19:30

i'm wondering if it's just the bfg 6800gt that is on par with x800xl from ati, or if the other (non pre-overclocked) 6800gt's is on par with x800xl and the bfg (pre-overclocked) 6800gt is better than the x800xl.

i'm wondering, because the plain, non-overclocked versions of the 6800gt is now cheaper than the x800xl, whereas the bfg one is still $350+.

AceSnyp3r · Jul 24, 2005, 09:42 PM // 21:42

The 6800GT and x800XL perform just about the same in the benchmarks I've seen. Usually one or the other gets a few more frames in different games, but they're pretty close really. If you want to overclock though, you can do that yourself without paying BFG extra to do it for you, though overclocking voids the warranty I believe.

Sarus · Jul 25, 2005, 02:10 AM // 02:10

A little off topic but ...

I'd go with the nvidia card. In my experience Nvidia cards are better supported and less buggy in games. I'm using an ATI x800xt and it's been nothing but problems with battlefield 2. My brother has a 6800GT and he has no problems at all. To be fair it could be something like my mobo but I seriously doubt it.

silentcid · Jul 25, 2005, 02:22 AM // 02:22

I play battlefield 2 and guildwars and I don't have that problem while using my x800 XT.

Sarus · Jul 25, 2005, 03:40 AM // 03:40

Quote:

I play battlefield 2 and guildwars and I don't have that problem while using my x800 XT.

doh .... I guess it's something else then =/

Algren Cole · Jul 25, 2005, 02:30 PM // 14:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by AceSnyp3r

The 6800GT and x800XL perform just about the same in the benchmarks I've seen. Usually one or the other gets a few more frames in different games, but they're pretty close really. If you want to overclock though, you can do that yourself without paying BFG extra to do it for you, though overclocking voids the warranty I believe.

overclocking voids the warranty on video cards...if you buy a BFG card you get the overclock and the warranty. It's worth the extra money as teh BFG cards generally pull noticeably higher frame rate....I've purchased BFG cards exclusively for about 2 years now.

<3 BFG

lord_shar · Jul 25, 2005, 03:53 PM // 15:53

I have a 6800gt and 6800Ultra, both from BFG. If given a choice between the X800XL vs. the 6800GT, I'd probably go with the nVidia for several reasons:

1) the 6800gt supports full DX9.0c, while the ATI X800 only goes up to DX9.0b. This doesn't matter with today's games, but DX9.0c might become a requirement for some future titles.

2) ATI's drivers tend to perform dynamic texture quality adjustments during high stress video movement, lowering image quality in order to maintain fps. While this is an intelligent way of managing hardware resources, it doesn't allow accurate measurement of the hardware's performance until the feature is turned off. When it is, more than a few titles bench lower on ATI boards vs. nVidia.

However, the nVidia 6800 series, especially the Ultra, are huge power hogs. If you don't have a sufficiently beefy power supply, you may encounter some system stability issues if you go with one of these power-hungry video cards.

MadeInChina · Jul 25, 2005, 06:59 PM // 18:59

x800XL seems to have better performance on the benchmarks I've seen.

Algren Cole · Jul 25, 2005, 07:24 PM // 19:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadeInChina

x800XL seems to have better performance on the benchmarks I've seen.

refer to the second bullet in the post made by lord_shar...that's the reason why.

MaglorD · Jul 26, 2005, 02:01 AM // 02:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by lord_shar

2) ATI's drivers tend to perform dynamic texture quality adjustments during high stress video movement, lowering image quality in order to maintain fps. While this is an intelligent way of managing hardware resources, it doesn't allow accurate measurement of the hardware's performance until the feature is turned off. When it is, more than a few titles bench lower on ATI boards vs. nVidia.

Do you have a link from a reliable source to back up what you're saying here?

cannonfodder · Jul 26, 2005, 07:27 AM // 07:27

I have both, an XFX 6800gt and a sapphire x800xl, they are both equal in my experience, in benchmarks the 6800gt scores higher than the x800xl in 3dmark03, but in 3dmark05 the x800xl scores a little bit higher.

It really all goes down to preference, in the UK where I am the x800xl is about £50 or so cheaper than any of the 6800gt's so for that I would choose the ati card over the nvidia..

But both are excellent cards with performance on par with each other

lord_shar · Jul 26, 2005, 03:37 PM // 15:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaglorD

Do you have a link from a reliable source to back up what you're saying here?

Yep, here's the link from Tom's Hardware Guide:

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/gra...603/index.html

The article from June 2004 found that the X800's catalyst drivers dropped the texture filtering mode from trillinear to bi-linear mode during high load situations, but ramped up to trillinear mode once GPU load went down. Although ATI insists that the X800 is still performing tri-linear filtering, it's actually "bri-linear" since it's mixing the two filter modes. This filtering could not disabled until many several driver revisions later. As far as I know, it is still present in the current ATI catalyst driver set.

Although the technique does have its merrits, it is completely software driven and doesn't paint an accurate portrait of the hardware's normal performance when benched against a "non-driver-optimized" video card.

MasterQu · Jul 26, 2005, 04:01 PM // 16:01

If your looking at that much cash on a card just go for the new 7800 nvidia. 1 7800 pushes what 2 6800 or x800 in sli mode can do. Want stats go to nvidia's website and get the specs and benchmarks.

lord_shar · Jul 26, 2005, 04:37 PM // 16:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterQu

If your looking at that much cash on a card just go for the new 7800 nvidia. 1 7800 pushes what 2 6800 or x800 in sli mode can do. Want stats go to nvidia's website and get the specs and benchmarks.

Agreed, this is currently THE video card to beat. However, the 7800GTX is PCIe only, so you're SOL if you only have an AGP-equipped motherboard.

MasterQu · Jul 26, 2005, 05:43 PM // 17:43

People are still using agp? jk

Algren Cole · Jul 26, 2005, 08:46 PM // 20:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterQu

People are still using agp? jk

I built my machine just a couple of months ago...and unfortunately my ASUS A8V Deluxe uses AGP

....I gotta upgrade already

Teklord · Jul 26, 2005, 08:47 PM // 20:47

I'm just going to wait and build a Crossfire solution: out of the box support for any application without the need for special profiles!

I've been on both sides of the fence, but lately its been ATI and the features of Crossfire definitly have me leaning that way.

MasterQu · Jul 26, 2005, 09:06 PM // 21:06

Couldn't catch me using ATI. Nvidia sold me when I had to call them for driver support. As I was talking to them they rebuilt the driver, I was using on a (i think) 5700 card at the time that was having issues with UT2004, and emailed it to me before i hung up the phone. Thats service and it bought my loyalty. Never mind the fact that everytime ati comes out with some thing nvidia reciprocates a pwns ati a$$.

Algren Cole · Jul 26, 2005, 09:10 PM // 21:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teklord

I'm just going to wait and build a Crossfire solution: out of the box support for any application without the need for special profiles!

I've been on both sides of the fence, but lately its been ATI and the features of Crossfire definitly have me leaning that way.

I don't know how much research you have done into the Crossfire series...but alot of websties that I consider reputable sources are stating that the nVidia series is going to maintain it's crown even when the Crossfire series is released.

here's an excerpt from slashdot.org....

Quote:

Kez writes "While at Computex in Taipei HEXUS.net grabbed some benchmarks of an ATi CrossFire powered system. They have since had the chance to reconstruct a similar system and perform the same benchmarks with other cards and configurations to give us an idea of how CrossFire will perform. Obviously, CrossFire's performance will almost certainly change before release time, but in the very least the article provides an idea of what to expect. Interestingly, from these tests it looks like Nvidia's SLI may remain top-dog for graphics performance."

Slashdot Forum

I haven't done a whole lot of research into this series aside from reading what other posters have to say about it....so I can't add much of my own valid input...but I do trust the people at slashdot.org and the numerous other sites where I've read that the crossfire series isn't going to dethrone nVidia.

but here are the benchmarks done at Computex on a DFI LanParty Board.

Dirkiess · Jul 26, 2005, 09:25 PM // 21:25

Algren, I read something just recently regarding the Crossfire series. I'll have to see if I can find the article, but it was related to the same thing, but it also mentioned that the drivers were only in Beta and not the final release.

Whether this was true or not, I don't know, but it's either plausible or a possible side step for ATI until they can get the drivers up to speed.

To be honest though, I think there may well be pro's and Con's for both ATI and NVidia.

These could all be related to the systems that people have and a prime example of this, was a news article I read today that says NVidia's own NForce 3 motherboards cause problems with there own 6800 series of cards. Now how is that for compatibility?

I'll see if I can find either of the links to the above articles. I've read a lot of articles today.