Choosing A New Gfx Card - Need Some Feedback/Input

[Vladamir]

I'm investing in a new pc and money's no object . I'm torn between the new Geforce 6800 Ultra 256mb or the Radeon X8000 XT Platinum 256mb. Now, i recently read in Pcf that the Radeon was faster than the Geforce, although another source listed that the Geforce handled Doom3 better on the same settings. Also, i've heard that Nvidia drivers are crap, in comparison to Radeon. Can anyone give me some advice on which to go for?.

/Vlad

 

[behatch]

i wouldnt buy nvidia again......drivers are slow and crap

 

[Urme the Legend]

Buy a FX5200! Great card!

Hehe joking, I got no clue

 

[kriBBz^Baybaen]

hmm, get the gforce ultra it rockz..

 

[Invisibul]

or wait a couple months till the Radeon X800 PCI-E comes out, u'll need a new motherboard ofc, but PCI-Express is 16x where agp is 8x

 

[Moriath]

but games atm dont use the 8x to full extent so 16x dont mean nothing

 

[oblimov]

ive used nvidia a lot and the new 6800 gets some impressive results

saying that the radeon handles just as well

tbh theres not going to be uber loads of difference, the one thing is that the detonator drivers for nvidia are pretty piss poor and can cause all sorts of performance problems

pci express is where its at mind u if u can wiat for it

 

[oblimov]

but games atm dont use the 8x to full extent so 16x dont mean nothing

if im right (which is rarely lol) will it not access the memory way faster at 16x?

which coupled with the DDR memory should make it fast?

 

[Alan]

or wait a couple months till the Radeon X800 PCI-E comes out, u'll need a new motherboard ofc, but PCI-Express is 16x where agp is 8x

Very wise words here, PCI-Express is out (or due out very soon) new GFX slots, so new GFX cards none of this AGP stuff, would be a shame to spend all that money on a GFX card to be out of date within a month or two.

If money was no object for me, id still get a run of the mill card now, and wait till PCI-E is a bit more mainstream then get the dogs bollocks PC

 

[Danya]

if im right (which is rarely lol) will it not access the memory way faster at 16x?

which coupled with the DDR memory should make it fast?

Most stuff sits on the video card's onboard memory which isn't accessed over AGP or PCI-E. It might make level loading a bit quicker because the textures and geometry can be uploaded faster, but generally games try to avoid using the AGP bus much because it's too damn slow. For reference AGP 8x is 2.1GB/s (which is faster than many computers' memory in any event), typical bandwidth to video RAM on a 6800 ultra or X800 pro is over 30GB/s.

 

[Flippant Desires]

I'm investing in a new pc and money's no object . I'm torn between the new Geforce 6800 Ultra 256mb or the Radeon X8000 XT Platinum 256mb. Now, i recently read in Pcf that the Radeon was faster than the Geforce, although another source listed that the Geforce handled Doom3 better on the same settings. Also, i've heard that Nvidia drivers are crap, in comparison to Radeon. Can anyone give me some advice on which to go for?.

/Vlad

There's really isn't much difference between the two. The nVidia cards are not as good tho (imo), simply because the power supply you need is sooo ott for most ppl. I also don't have much patience for cards that take up nearly 3 slots because of over-sized heatsink/fans.

What may be the deciding factor is 'do the shop/vendor' have the nVidia in stock - seems ati are doing slightly better here. I know ppl in UK who've been waiting 8wks plus for their nVidia 6800.

 

[LordjOX]

I would recommend ATI Radeon series for any other game than daoc.... having lots of problems with stability and shit
Got a Radeon 9800 PRO

 

[Danya]

My 9800 pro is like a rock - never had daoc crash, only the server disconnecting me / LDs.

 

[Loki]

My Asus x800 pro/TVD, flashed to a x800 xt platinum runs like a dream

 

[nick]

What does flashing it from a pro to a platinum do exactly? Does it actually enable the other 4 pipelines or just up the clockspeed.