I hate the feeling it does when your TopEnd Card (9800pro) then hit the dirt vs the new card .... i am gonna cry
Friend, there is no reason at all to feel bad. The truth of the matter is simple: While the nV 6800 is MUCH faster than ATI 9800, the 9800 is still VERY fast.
Think about it: at 1280x1024 + 4xAA and 8xAF it still gets you 40+ fps in every game you throw at it. Moreover, 6800 AA and AF look worse than 9800 in most titles (at least with current Detonators). Don’t believe me? Read THG review carefully.
What does this tell you? Your ATI has <font color=red>at least 12</font color=red> month of very productive life left in it. And remember the truest of truths about frame rates: MOTION PICTURES (as in *FILMS*) are shot at 30 (<font color=red>ONLY</font color=red> thirty) frames per second. Seen Terminator 2? Looks VERY good. Right? 30 frames per second!
Hey, 99% of the most demanding games of today and the immediate future are VERY playable even at 20-25 fps. As long as you are not dealing with a 10-15 fps slide show YOUR VDIEO CARD RULES. Forget about 250 fps benchmarks. Forever. End of story.
Last but not least, if 12 months from now you feel that your ATI 9800 is suddenly a bit sluggish, reduce your AF from 8x to 4x. and you are back in business. Believe me, unless you examine your monitor with a magnifying glass you will NOT see any noticeable deterioration of image quality. Just play your games and have fun instead of fixating on all this bull$hit hype.
Yes, I am an nVIDIA fan, but it does not at all mean your card is bad.
I have an nVIDIA FX5700 Ultra with GDDR2 overclocked to 550/1.03. Your card is 50-60% faster than mine, but my 5700 gives me around 30 FPS in all games I have (including some of the latest ones) with most options enabled and 2xAA / 4xAF. And you know? Everything looks pretty damn good. I see no pressing need to upgrade my card. Do you really feel bad about yours?
<font color=green>Stingy people end up paying double. One kick-ass rig that will go strong for three years or one half-decent one every year?</font color=green>
😎