ATI or nVidia???

[Platinum]

Which next gen card do I buy??
At the moment the ATI X800 XT Platinum looks the one to go for but the nVidia has PS3.0 and DX9c appears to give it a very nice performance boost and future drivers could also help, so help me pick a card people

[robg1701]

Faced with the same choice....im gonna wait till the XT and Ultra are both out and doing the rounds though, see how thigns pan out a bit.

[0iD]

Ati for me, more bang for your buck imo.

[directhex]

i'd buy nvidia for the better linux support.

until ati sort themselves out their cards don't offer much more than an s3 trident for the average linux user

[Jonty]

Hi

At the end of the day, you wouldn't be disappointed with either card I've been weighing up the two myself (Pro/GT), and these were some of the things I was thinking of (naturally not an exhaustive list) ...

Radeon X800 Pro

Pros				Cons

Availability			Shader Model 2.x
Lower Price			Only Evolutionary Design
Smaller Size			Comparative Hardware Specifications (Relatively Speaking)
Lower Power Consumption		Drivers (Only Personal Experience)
Half-Life 2 Performance		24 Bit Precision

GeForce 6800 GT

Pros				Cons

Shader Model 3.0 (Debatable)	Availability
Forward Looking Design		Higher Price
Comparative Hardware Specs	Larger Size
Doom 3 Performance		Greater Power Consumption
32 Bit Precision		Performance (Only Very Slightly)

Naturally everyone's pros/cons are different. For instance, I know people who have never had a spot of trouble with ATI's drivers (unlike myself, sadly) etc. In the end I tipped towards the GT, but the two are so closely matched it could have gone either way.

Kind Regards

[chrisf6969]

The 6800GT looks to be priced similarly to the X800 Pro.
Then the 6800 Ultra will battle it wout with the X800 XT.

I think I'm going to get the 6800GT in a few months when the availability goes up and the price comes down a little.

Though the next few months will probably be a great time for people with old GF4/ATI8500 or earlier/slower cards to have a great buying opportunity on the Geforce FX5900 or ATI 9800 Pro as they should drop in price considerably.

[0iD]

i'd buy nvidia for the better linux support.

until ati sort themselves out their cards don't offer much more than an s3 trident for the average linux user

Good point, & their 64 bit drivers are pants

[Platinum]

Well it will be the top of the line card for me, no need to suggest the lower end cards.

[klarrix]

from what murphy has been telling me, ati are the better choice.

[Jonty]

If you're thinking of nVidia, and you don't mind overclocking, then the GT may be worth considering. Feature-wise, all 6800s are identical (CineFX 3.0, UltraShadow II etc.) and in terms of hardware, the core and memory clocks are only marginally below that of the Ultra model. Gainward's Golden Sample versions are probably closer still. That said, if money is no object, go for the Ultra

Kind Regards

[Platinum]

Ive just orderd the 6800 Ultra Hexus deal, gonna be weird going back to nVidia...

[StarkMjolk]

nVidia is the way for me. I'm using dual boot, linux and windows. And using a ATI card in linux is really pointless. And about the next-gens, I'm aming at the GT, or if I feel really really rich later this summer, Ultra

[Platinum]

I should go for the ATI card given the reviews but somethings telling me that nVidia is the way to go, lets hope ive made the right choice

[StarkMjolk]

The XT PT is supposed to be the fastest of all cards. But I don't think that percentage in speed is as important as all the new flashy features the 6800U has. And it looks like the 6800U will reach retail first (already been seen in Japan according to the inq) and we have the whole old driver story, so I believe you've made the right choise

Hope you'll enjoy your new card

[Korky]

drivers are only a con to some for ATi and the same can be said for Nvidia really so i dont think it fair putting that as a general alround con for ati.

[Agent]

I wish ATI would blinking sort out their Linux support