and I (along with Cleeve) made the assertions that the 5900NU/XT/SE
Remember that I was the one who posted the TechReport Review review in here in <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=381319#381319" target="_new">this thread</A>, because it made sense, genuinely I have felt it deserves it's place. And remember I posted this despite the previous 'misunderstanding' about the buyer's guide.
But let's not forget that as prices come down ALL cards move. Should the R9800 have been in greater and more current production at that price level you'd have a different issue on your hands. I can respect the advanaces with the run-time compiler but I still have my reservations because it needs to be coded for each game. But at least it is a solid working solution.
The thing about the FX5900SE/XT versus the R9600Pro is that they are still fairly wide apart price wise, and the R9600P is still continuing to fall, making it still an attractive solution at the low end of the middle class, and it's strong shader performance cannot be overlook. The only one that is now an orphan in the region is the FX5700U. It was a great design triumph, but with the lowering of the cost of the 5900SE it has be sideswiped by it's own team. I would've thought that would have brought down the FX5700U's price more, but it didn't and now it's in limbo without really a target market. It doesn't have the benifit of not needing a power connector, it doesn't run cool, and the XT does beat it it enough items to make it an arguable ties at best. So you have a much better card than the segement for a handful of dollars more, and a slightly lesser card (in older games, and better in newer games) for a handufl of dollars less. I just wonder how the revnue from that move is going. The R9500Pro was sold at almost a loss in order to put something in that segment against the GF4tis, this seems to be a similar action from nV, I'd love to see what it costs them per unit for the FX5900SE versus an FX5700U.
Like I said in a post to Cleeve a while back before Xmas talking about Anand's middle range list (which I don't think included the XT/SE); There has never been a better time to buy a middle-range card, especially since the perfromance isn't so 'mid-range' anymore.
Just wait til the next cards come out you will see a big shift in the current cards, and then likely another set of pricing strategies and performance charts to deal with. Expect the agp-pciex bridge vs on chip issue to also create interesting pricing dilemas one way or another.
The main thing is to make something workable, but by the same token realise that Spitfire's still got a life and it's going to be updated as it can be. It's still better than that glaring mistake of a VGA Buyer's Guide that's on permanent display in the Graphics Card section of the THG museum.
Now I'm going to post my results of the NEUTRAL drivers. I'd love to do an FX review, but I'm not going to spend my money on this line. :tongue:
Maybe that guy looking to sell his FX5200U could simply send it to me out of goodwill.
- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK
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