nVidia 6800GT or ATi X800 XT

[Taz]

For DirectX 9.0 gaming, DVD playback and general Windows XP usage, which card would perform better: a 6800GT, an ATi X800 XT or ATi X800 PE (all on PCI-Express)?

Secondly, which one would you buy ? I'm also looking for value for money.

[mike_w]

For value for money, I'd go for a 6800GT - I don't think the performance increase is enough to justify the extra you'd spend on the very top range.

[atomicjeep]

6800GT, I agree with mike not enough performance gain for the bucks with the X800

[muddyfox470]

is the card for just games? if so 6800gt

if you want to watch a few dvds (full screen), and movies etc go for ati, the 6800's are crap with dvd's seriously, u will notice skips, lines appearing and problems playing back dvds and the like!!! so if you are gonna use it for mult-purpose - go for ati x800 xt

[MD]

that has to be driver version related, I get no problems at all with my XFX 6800GT on DVD playback.....

m@

[Taz]

muddyfox, this was my thinking. I mainly play FS2004 (DirectX 9.0 game). I also do a lot of graphics work (editting high-resolution JPG images from my digital camera) and video editting (capturing DV video from my camcorder and using products like Pinnacle Studio) to create DVD's.

[Stewart]

If value for money is important, 6800GT, if you just want the fastest no matter, X800XT.

Still, some will be faster in some games, and others in others. Doom III and Half Life II favour different brands of cards (Doom III - nVidia, Half Life II - ATi)

[Taz]

Vaul, thanks for your response. I've looked around at many online retailers and the 6800GT cards are around the same price as X800 XT cards. My understanding is that, in general, the X800 XT performs faster than the 6800GT (but not in all cases). Thus, if the cost is the same at the moment then surely the X800 XT is a better buy?

Of course, I will have to forego the SLi capability if I went for the X800 XT, and I also realise that this is 'old' technology now but for pure 'bang for bucks' the X800 XT looks a good deal at the moment (if you can find one in stock!). In fact an X800 XT PE can now be picked up for £312, the same cost as many 6800GT's. Decisions, decisions...

Taz

[Stewart]

Without getting into the details, if you can get an X800XT or X800XT-PE for the same price as a 6800GT, I'd go with the X800, yes.

[Rcb]

6800GT, I agree with mike not enough performance gain for the bucks with the X800

Ye

[SilentDeath]

dont know if this is relevant, might be worth a read before you choose:

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=34033

[Taz]

dont know if this is relevant, might be worth a read before you choose:

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=34033

I've been following that thread for a while. I was even more worried about this thread. There's also a few '6800GTO' models floating around. One can quite easily assume this is a proper 6800GT but it's not. Scan sell one such model and I phoned them up to clarify, and to be fair to the sales rep, he did explain that this was not a full 6800GT.

[SilentDeath]

If your considering buying from scan, make sure you read there T&C first, they go a bitfurther than you would expect from a UK shop imho.

Having read a few threads, I think im waiting for the X850 XT or whatever itll be called. Does anyone knwo if they will have dual DVI? as I might end up with 2 tft's..

[myth]

is the card for just games? if so 6800gt

if you want to watch a few dvds (full screen), and movies etc go for ati, the 6800's are crap with dvd's seriously, u will notice skips, lines appearing and problems playing back dvds and the like!!! so if you are gonna use it for mult-purpose - go for ati x800 xt

Well, that wont hapen with most of us, while the card does practicly nothing to aid in the decoding the CPU should be able to handel it... Yours is too slow so thats why you loses the frames and are having such problems...

As for what I'd recomend, personaly I'd go for the GT simply cause it suports advanced features and is cheaper... While the XT is faster Its not more advanced and I'[m shure its not worth the extra cash...

[JimmyBoy]

but isnt the picture sharper / better with the ati card ??
also, its scary the amount of people complaining that their 6800's are playing up etc...