Custom-built Computer

[Roland]

'Cept gaming. smile.gif 6800 beats out the X800 in only one game that I am aware of, Doom 3. This is because of a badly coded shader that only affects ATI cards. ATI has also released official drivers that drastically improve X800 performance in Doom 3.

Where did you read this?

Unreal Tournament 2004 - the GeForce 6800 GT, the MIDDLE card in the 6800 line, even beats out the X800 in UT2004. The 6800 Ultra would have left the X800 flat in the dust.

Call of Duty - Once again, the 6800 GT beats out the X800 - this time with a VERY commanding lead that only increases as the resolution and settings get bumped up. Looks to me like the 6800 Ultra would be just about TWICE as good as the X800 at Call of Duty.

Doom 3 - Same story. 6800 GT beats out the X800 by over 13 FPS at highest settings. The Ultra would probably beat THAT by another 10+.

Farcry - FINALLY the X800 is in the lead - but that lead DIMINISHES as the settings increase! And remember: this is the 6800 GT, which for all its power cannot compete with its older brother, the 6800 Ultra. You can be guaranteed the Ultra would beat the X800 in ALL settings.

Flight Simulator 2004 - A minor lead of ~2 FPS at all settings, the GT is only a hair behind the X800 - ATi's flagship. The 6800 Ultra, NVIDIA's flagship, would beat the X800 to pieces.

Joint Operations - The only REAL proof of the X800's "superiority" - and even THG has to admit it's most likely bad drivers for NVIDIA. And, once again, keep in mind that these are comparisons between the 6800 GT, which is NOT NVIDIA's flagship model.

Battlefield: Vietnam - Once again, the X800's lead can only be attributed to bad driver support for the game. The Ultra would easily match the X800 in this game, even with faulty driver support; the lead is not that severe, especially at higher levels.

DTM Race Driver 2 - Once more, horribly faulty driver support on NVIDIA's end. As THG sums it up nicely: How else can NVIDIA's performance drop so drastically, especially at higher resolutions? Chock up another supposed "victory" for ATi - at least in the marketing departments eyes.

So, what have you got? 4 games that the X800 beats out the 6800 GT, only 1 of which was NOT the result of faulty drivers. But wait - the 6800 GT is NOT NVIDIA's flagship model; the 6800 Ultra is. So, you mean to tell me ATi's flagship model can't even compete with NVIDIA's second-highest card? Gee, I guess they better not start cranking out their 6800 Ultras in massive quanities, or ATi's gonna be out of business by Christmas. :P

I don't know where you get your information, but ATi dropped the ball on this one. Or, rather, to be more accurate (and fair) - NVIDIA came back strong and hard, and simply surpassed ATi in every respect. It's not that ATi fumbled - just that NVIDIA knocked the crap out of them. ;)

The 6800 Ultra has been out for many months, right? It came out around a month before the X800, which is definately out.

Yes, but if you'll note, the motherboard ONLY supports PCI-Express. NVIDIA has yet to come out with ANY PCI-Express boards for retail in their 6800 line, or even their newest 6600 line. Only the 5750 and 5900 can be found in PCI-Express form, and they are FAR below the 6800 / 6600 AGP line in terms of performance. The PCI-Express line will be even better.

I just searched for about ten minutes and found many distributors who have the 6800 Ultra in stock.

See above. While the 6800 Ultra AGP might be in stock, the 6800 (insert model here) has NOT been released under PCI-Express format as of yet. NVIDIA really dropped the ball on this one. I'm disappointed in them for that, but I still have to give them props for having the BEST hardware out on the market - ATi isn't even competition at the moment. They're gonna have a tough time fighting their way back to the top - doubly so since they REALLY fumbled by not supporting DX9.c nor Shader Model 3.0.

By the way, good to see you again Roland. (Book 7 soon!)

Good to see you too. As for Book 7, I've been disappointed with the last 2. The final chapter looks to be the ultimate conclusion to a rapidly failing story. Just check out Doc's post over at RBD. I can't say I'm surprised - SK has really fallen lately. I wish it hadn't taken this turn, but so it goes. We'll see what happens.