x850xt vs geforce 6800 ultra.. help.

[kaklas13]

x850xt vs geforce 6800 ultra. wich one would you pick in the same price and why?
please help i have to deside fast..

 

[sonnyisthinkn]

x850xt vs geforce 6800 ultra. wich one would you pick in the same price and why?
please help i have to deside fast..

whats the "same price?"

 

[pauldh]

The two cards trade blows with the X850XT winning the majority of benchmarks/games, especially with FSAA enabled. But it's very close and depends on the games you play. I don't think either is a bad choice.

Here is one comparison:
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/index0507.html

Here is a crossfire review, but if you look over the benchmarks for each game, they give the single card performance numbers for the 6800U and X850XT also.
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=ODE1LDEsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

 

[swifty_morgan]

I know i'm gonna here a lot of crap about this because too many people here are ati fanatics, but, the 6800 will let you see things in the game the ati will not, because the 6800 supports 3.0 architecture. You'll see the heat rising off the desert in cod2, along with the added goodies associated with the explosions. In FEAR, you will see the amazing physics of the walls warping when explosions going off, not to mention the heat effects and bullet time graphics/warpage. I own both these cards, I know......but I would hold off and buy one of the 7800 cards...they are getting cheaper, play smoother, and are a little faster. The 850 will not let you see the effects the game makers put into the game.................your choice !

 

[swifty_morgan]

Prozak...you better read up. This is the 21st century, games that don't support it are going by way of the wind. Look to the future and what awaits. All games are going to be "physics" oriented to one extreme or another.

I'm sure anybody who's gonna spend hundreds of dollars on a product, are going to want the most from their money.

 

[shinigamiX]

The 6-series may support ShaderModel 3.0, but can't really render the effects at playable frame rates. Besides, I doubt many people will stop to enjoy the view in CoD2, they'll be too busy fragging.

 

[Vokofpolisiekar]

Heat Blur isn't the demise of SM3.0 - my 9800XT could do heat blur.

Physics also isn't a concern - the CPU handles physics (correct me if I'm wrong).

And I have yet to see a distinct difference between SM2.1 and SM3.0 - the only plausible evidence I have seen is on AOE3 - but I don't park next to the beach the whole day - so the water effects are cool, but it applies in the same way as I see Softshadows - it's action games, not damn freekin yoda classes on crack.

 

[kaklas13]

thanks everyone. i have them both in my house for about 3 hours now and ithink i ll keep the 6800 ultra. its better in quake and doom and in all other games its about the same.. great cards both. although its a bit noisy(the 6800)..
in quake when i play in ultra settings and i load a game, the first 2-3 minuits, the game is kinda sticky (if its the actuall term)
.its not a fps drop.
anyone know why?
oh, and the final prices are 6800u: 270$, x850xt: 300$.
thanks for your help..

 

[Vokofpolisiekar]

RAM maybe? I think the 6800U has 512mb memory 8O ?? If not, it may be because the Ultra setting requires 512mb memory.

 

[kaklas13]

no its albatron 6800 ultra 256 mb pcie.. u are right. thanks.
although its not a problem because its fixed in a couple of minuits.
i have 1 gb ram. if i upgrade to 2 gb will it help.
or it doesnt have anything to do with it?

 

[Vokofpolisiekar]

That I can't say for certain. The 512mb on the gcard relates to normal maps being used in memory - so it's a case of larger maps being loaded into gcard memory, at ultra it uses above the 256mb. Although, I have read that some people experience smooth play using ultra on a 256mb cards. Who knows?

Maybe a config file edit can help?

 

[PX7800GT]

Go For The 6800 Ultra , Its Really Better , Remember nvidia is always wins !!

 

[kaklas13]

thanks man. and if i am not troubling you too much how can i do that?

 

[Vokofpolisiekar]

That might take a day or two to find out.... :lol:

In one of my magazines there was a article on how to fine tweak Doom3, but Quake4 I don't know of any tweaks - haven't played the game yet. Try Tweakguides.com, he has an article on Quake4 tweaking (just checked it)!

 

[kaklas13]

thanks a lot. i m doing it right now.. 😛

 

[Vokofpolisiekar]

It looks like a lengthy article before the good stuff is discussed - just hang on in there.

If it doesn't help much, try Doom3 guide on same website - it's the same game engine.

 

[pauldh]

thanks everyone. i have them both in my house for about 3 hours now and ithink i ll keep the 6800 ultra.

I have both also; Actually a BFG 6800U OC, and a X800XTPE (basically identical but slightly faster do to higher clocks compared to the X850XT non platinum).

There are some games like NFSU2 and farcry where the ATI has a clear advantage, but I ended up just keeping the 6800U in my main gamer and the X800XTpe in a spare machine that's used about 1/2 as much. Believe me, if I had seen a huge reason for using the X800XTpe, I would have kept that in my main gamer.

I am however, very much against those who claim SM3 is a huge advantage for the 6800U. It is not. You can play around with SM3 eye candy like HDR and soft shadows, but the performance impact is too high; the GF6 series doesn't have the power to make it a gameable advantage for it IMO. You can run all the tests in 3dmark06, and see NV demos, try out HDR and soft shadows at 1024x768 or lower res; but big whoop really. That's why really in my opinion pick either card that meets your particular needs, there isn't a universal right/wrong choice between the two.