What is this $299 6800GT

[housecat]

Of course you'd love that be a sticky and "case closed" then ATI could at least have a win somewhere.
But the PCIE choice is completely, and utterly debatable still.
There is no clear win for ATI across any of the product lines, unfortunately.

From the 6200 to the 6800s, its just to formidable.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: INGlewood78
ATI cards = AGP cards more expensive than PCI-E (x800xl)
nVidia cards = AGP cards are less expensive than PCI-E (6800GT)

go figure

that is absolutely right, and very odd.

sorry I didn't read your post correctly. ignore what was previously posted.

 

[Creig]

It's pretty clearcut right now in the mid-level gaming card arena (prices taken from pricewatch).

PCI-E - $254 X800XL is a much better value than a $355 6800GT.
AGP - $309 6800GT is a much better value than a $309 X800XL.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: dfedders
SM3 is marketing hype right now.

Hmmm......yeah..........no need to start another Video flame war :roll:

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: dfedders
SM3 is marketing hype right now.

Unless of course you're one of the millions of people who want to play Splinter Cell Chaos Theory at higher than SM1.1?

 

[StrangerGuy]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: dfedders
SM3 is marketing hype right now.

Unless of course you're one of the millions of people who want to play Splinter Cell Chaos Theory at higher than SM1.1?

1. Not everyone wants to play that game.

2. That is most probably because of Ubisoft incompetence of providing a Sm2 rendering path, for poltical reasons.

 

[housecat]

political reasons?

more like financial!
and dont attack the weed growing, kill the root of the matter.. you hand free dev time to ubisoft so they cater to ATI cards instead of NV.. then you can speak.

NV paid, now WE play.
either get on the DX9C bandwagon, or get left behind.

 

[Megatomic]

I don't have one game in my collection that supports SM3.0. I'm feeling left behind all right.

 

[housecat]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
I don't have one game in my collection that supports SM3.0. I'm feeling left behind all right.

You will more and more over time.

Buying your X800 or whatever ATI card you have over SM3 hardware was not the wisest decision in 2005.
Even the ATIs will support SM3, so even MORE games will implement it than already have.

So if you dont plan on upgrading to a R520 or NV40 right away, you will become more and more obsolete. Much faster than the guy with the NV40 based card.

 

[Megatomic]

I plan to upgrade in 2006 to a dual core AMD/PCI-e system. In the meantime the X800XL I bought will serve well.

Just think about all the GF4 gamers out there still hammering away at their games, they don't even have SM2.0. And I remember all the R300 adopters saying all the same things about them and their choices as you NV40 adopters are saying about the R420/430/480 users.

Gaming won't end for people not using NV40 cards. Game developers aren't stupid, their games are not going to exclude a huge segment of the gamers out there. That would be financial suicide. No, I'm sure I'll be able to play all the same games as you, even with decent resolution and quality settings.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
I don't have one game in my collection that supports SM3.0. I'm feeling left behind all right.

No Far Cry, Painkiller, or SC:CT? Must not be a shooter fan.

 

[Megatomic]

None of the above. I do have UT2K4. I tried Far Cry and didn't like it. I did have Painkiller and BooH (and loved them both) but I just traded them for Battle for Middle Earth. And I dislike the SC games, not one did I ever want to buy. I do have Half Life 2 and I understand that some new stuff is coming out for it soon. I can't wait to see it.

But yes, I guess I have started losing my zest for FPS games. I'm playing RPG type games more lately, even one MMORPG.

 

[housecat]

Painkiller owns.
Heck its played in CAL, alongside with CSS.

Painkiller is bigtime, I think it deserves all the attention instead of FartCry. Probably the best game that never got the attention it deserves.

But what am I saying, the noobs dont like Doom3 either.. prob because they are indeed noobs and dont understand DOOM is Doom.. not HL2 or Battlefield 1942.

For an in-your-face deathfest, PK cannot be beat.

There is one that will rule them all though:

QUAKE 4.
The day of reckoning is coming.. supposedly this summer for Quakecon.

But Q4, and the other blockbuster games were part of my decision. In DX9, the ATI and NV cards are pretty much equal (not counting SLI performance, or their ability to work in SLI... we'll pretend that doesnt exist right now, as some would wish ).
But in OGL its nice to have much better performance in the Doom3 engine (Quake4 more specifically). Toss in the ability to have better Linux/64bit support and I was sold.

 

[Megatomic]

Like I said, I did love Painkiller. Hell, I pimped that game here when everyone else said it was meh. But it was just sitting there unplayed so I traded it for a game I hadn't played yet. I love Tolkien, BFME has to rule.

But I'm not sure about Q4. I wasn't a big fan of Q3, I was a UT guy back in those days. I'm waiting to see how Q4 looks before I cast final judgement though.

 

[housecat]

Emphansis again on

There is one that will rule them all though:

I love games like Painkiller, and its a great one to carry the torch after Quake3 for fragfests.

Alot of ppl just dont like those kinds of games (Doom inspired games) anymore. Games are evolving.. but I think Doom3 was a great example of a pure shooter that no one here can say didnt scare the bejeezuz out of them when playing in the dark!
Great game, just not the best even IMO.

I like UT as well, I have UT04 installed right now, I just dont play it much with CSS now.

I pimped UT04 for awhile, it still has gameplay and features that no other games have. Its like PK, overlooked by the crowds who only cared about Doom3/HL2s launch because of their names.

For fragfests, I think PK is untouched even today. Its def the King.

Just as Warcraft3 is def still the king of RTS.. another waning genre.. but still deserves its respect as PK does.

 

[Pete]

Originally posted by: Rollo
Nonetheless, supply/demand sets the price and when X800XLs came out they were more than 6800GTs. If the demand was there at that price, they would still sell for that. Retailers care about themselves, not us. They sell for what they can.

Yes, I'm sure NewEgg will make a name for itself by selling X800XLs for more than the local CUSA charges. After all, that's how they became so popular in forums like Anandtech, right?

I can understand that SM3 is more desirable than SM2, but I think it's stretching it to say that XLs are cheaper than GTs (edit: simply) because they're less in demand. The fact remains that the XL's retail price is lower than the GT's, and that will guarantee that XL prices remain low.

Or should I assume that the reason I can find an AGP 6800GT for slightly less than an AGP X800XL is because people want the XL slightly more?

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: Megatomic

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: housecat
Looks like the official death of the x800xl!!!!

Definately for AGP, not for PCI-E.

Not for this AGP user. 6800GT didn't work well for me so I went with an XL.

There is an XL AGP?

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Pete

Originally posted by: Rollo
Nonetheless, supply/demand sets the price and when X800XLs came out they were more than 6800GTs. If the demand was there at that price, they would still sell for that. Retailers care about themselves, not us. They sell for what they can.

Yes, I'm sure NewEgg will make a name for itself by selling X800XLs for more than the local CUSA charges. After all, that's how they became so popular in forums like Anandtech, right?

I can understand that SM3 is more desirable than SM2, but I think it's stretching it to say that XLs are cheaper than GTs (edit: simply) because they're less in demand. The fact remains that the XL's retail price is lower than the GT's, and that will guarantee that XL prices remain low.

Or should I assume that the reason I can find an AGP 6800GT for slightly less than an AGP X800XL is because people want the XL slightly more?

Where do you live Pete? I live in America, where price is set by supply/demand only?

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: housecat
political reasons?

more like financial!
and dont attack the weed growing, kill the root of the matter.. you hand free dev time to ubisoft so they cater to ATI cards instead of NV.. then you can speak.

NV paid, now WE play.
either get on the DX9C bandwagon, or get left behind.

I do kinda have to agree with that.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: XBoxLPU
There is an XL AGP?

Yes.
NewEgg
BestBuy

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Megatomic

Originally posted by: XBoxLPU
There is an XL AGP?

Yes.
NewEgg
BestBuy

That BB deal has got me hovering over add to cart! One question though about the following

VIDEOSHADER HD advanced shader processing engine offers user-programmable video effects, video quality enhancement and multiformat encoding/decoding, including MPEG-1,-2,-4, Real Media, DivX and WMV9

How much of that has driver and any other necessary support? TIA :beer:

 

[ponyo]

Or should I assume that the reason I can find an AGP 6800GT for slightly less than an AGP X800XL is because people want the XL slightly more?

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: Megatomic

Originally posted by: XBoxLPU
There is an XL AGP?

Yes.
NewEgg
BestBuy

That BB deal has got me hovering over add to cart! One question though about the following

VIDEOSHADER HD advanced shader processing engine offers user-programmable video effects, video quality enhancement and multiformat encoding/decoding, including MPEG-1,-2,-4, Real Media, DivX and WMV9

How much of that has driver and any other necessary support? TIA :beer:

AFAIK DP ATIs WMV9 is a shader based workaround that is not currenty enabled.

 

[Megatomic]

I can't completely answer your question DAPUNISHER but I can say that my CPU usage hovers around 75% while playing SIL 1080p whereas it was in the high 90s with my 6800GT.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: Rollo
AFAIK DP ATIs WMV9 is a shader based workaround that is not currenty enabled.

This is true. ATI users are waiting on the magic files from MS also.