The video card dilemma...

As most of you already know I'm in the process of upgrading my pc. I've pretty much ruled out ATi in this graphics card generation, so I'm left with the AGP versions of the 6800 GT/Ultra series. I know there's some people here running these cards and I'd like to get your input on the different manufactures flavors of GT and Ultra cards. Of course I'll be buying these from ebay, nobody in their right mind would pay $450+ for a video card! I'm not even going to mention the guys droping the bank for 512mb ultras in SLI... The cards listed all have overclocking potential, even the Asus that comes running at Ultra speeds...

First, ASUS V9999GT/TD/128 128mb 6800 GT, this card is running the slower DDR1 ram; $296:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121177

Next, the ASUS V9999GT/TD/256M 6800 GT, this card is a GT at heart, but runs at the Ultra clock speeds stock making it basically an Ultra for less money that fits into one card slot. Plus it's running 256mb of DDR3 memory. I'm really considering getting this card; $392:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121188

Next, eVGA 256-A8-N344-AX 256mb 6800 GT, this is the basic GT card running 256mb of DDR3 memory, and clocks speeds of 1000mhz for memory and 350mhz core. $329:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130203

Finally, two 6800 Ultra cards. One being the eVGA 256-A8-N345-AX running at clock speeds of 400mhz and 1100mhz. $445
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130196

And the other being the BFG Tech BFGR68256UWC running at clocks of 425mhz and 1100mhz. $454
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143024

What do you think?

Curious why you ruled out any ATI cards.

Abasuto said:

Curious why you ruled out any ATI cards.

Click to expand...

because they suck.

ATi has disapointed me time and time again. As many people.

Nvidia just beat ATi's ass in pretty much every game, even in HL2 which ATi worked with Valve exclusively on... Now last generation you couldn't get me to go Nvidia for one second.

pyrokilla said:

because they suck.

ATi has disapointed me time and time again. As many people.

Click to expand...

AMEN

gamejunkie said:

Nvidia just beat ATi's ass in pretty much every game, even in HL2 which ATi worked with Valve exclusively on... Now last generation you couldn't get me to go Nvidia for one second.

Click to expand...

Show me a benchmark that proves that nvidia did better in HL2.

X said:

Show me a benchmark that proves that nvidia did better in HL2.

Click to expand...

Since we're being confrontational... what card do you think I should buy?

Yeah, I'm down with the ATI, they've never dissapointed me, Nvidia *cough, FX core, Cough*

Lashujin said:

Yeah, I'm down with the ATI, they've never dissapointed me, Nvidia *cough, FX core, Cough*

Click to expand...

I have a few friends that were running 6800GT's and one Ultra at the last lan party. They are just so damn sexy.

I went back and cross-referenced the price/performance ratios for ATi and Nvidia... I think I may now be looking at an AGP X850XT Platinum Edition.

Couldn't they come up with a better name? Anyway this card looks to be teh shiznit of the current crop, even coming within 4fps of a dual 6800 Ultra SLI setup on HL2. Plus the card just looks mean.

lol 'looks mean'

thank the lord I gave up PC gaming.

gamejunkie said:

Since we're being confrontational... what card do you think I should buy?

Click to expand...

Not confrontational I just had never heared off a Nvidia being better then ATI with HL2. Last I saw the best ATI card almost outdoes two 6800 in SLI which would be worth a grand.

ATI has gotten a lot better with their Open GL drivers. Doom 3 used to play like shit on an ATI card but now it is getting pretty close to the Nvidia cards. I also did a registry hack on Doom 3 to make it more optimized for Doom 3 but it works pretty well. At this time I have a Radeon X800 Pro but it isn't quite fast enough to suit my needs. I am going to get a Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition.

With the latest 5.5 drivers, the Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition is about as fast as a Geforce 6800 Ultra in Doom 3. I bet they will meet up with The Geforce 6800 Ultra in the 5.6 drivers coming out later this month. However, a Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition is rather expensive being around $500 right now.

If you like Nvidia, then I would wait for the Geforce 7800 GFX which will be out later this month. It will have 24 pipelines, 430 MHZ core and 1400 MHZ memory. It will be PCI-X and have a fill rate of over 10 gigapixels. I hope that helps.

Edit: Here is a picture of the Geforce 7800 GFX

Makismo said:

I also did a registry hack on Doom 3 to make it more optimized for Doom 3 but it works pretty well.

Click to expand...

That new Nvidia card looks nice, but I really don't feel like replacing my processor just to get a little performance boast. I think for this upgrade I'm sticking with an AGP setup. Plus you can get the X850XT PE for around $300 on ebay.

pyrokilla said:

because they suck.

Nvidia has disapointed me time and time again. As many people.

Click to expand...

Fixed.

kernow said:

Click to expand...

You can hack the Doom 3 registry to optimize it for ATI cards. I got this info off the Internet. It takes some time to do but it is worth it.

On another note, I would go with the BFG Geforce 6800 Ultra. It has model shader 3 so it will last you the longest. Most games are optimized for it so I would get it. I sometimes see it at Fry's for $399.99 - give it a shot.

Makismo said:

On another note, I would go with the BFG Geforce 6800 Ultra. It has model shader 3 so it will last you the longest. Most games are optimized for it so I would get it. I sometimes see it at Fry's for $399.99 - give it a shot.

Click to expand...

This is really starting to freak me out...

So does the X850XT PE not support shader model 3? If not then I will have to buy a 6800.

The Ati beats the poop out of the 6800 Ultra in everything Direct X related, and it's not far behind on Open GL.

pc gaming is fucking stupidly complicated

gamejunkie said:

This is really starting to freak me out...

So does the X850XT PE not support shader model 3? If not then I will have to buy a 6800.

The Ati beats the poop out of the 6800 Ultra in everything Direct X related, and it's not far behind on Open GL.

Click to expand...

No, the Radeon X850 XT PT edition does NOT support model shader 3.0. It has something called model shader 2.0b which is God knows what. The Geforce 6800 Ultra has model shader 3.0 support but none of the ATI Radeon cards have model shader 3.0 support as of now. ATI is supposed to bring out a model shader 3.0 card in a few months but it will be PCI-X.

It took ATI 6 months to bring out an AGP version of the X850 series so it might take them that long to bring out an AGP series of their next card. Hell, Mobo manufactures aren't making AGP boards anymore so they might just kill it off. However, I have been told that NVidia will support AGP for their Geforce 7800 series after they bring it out on PCI-X first. When and if they do put it out on AGP is anyone's guess. I would go with the Geforce 6800 Ultra to be on the safe side. By the way, a 512 MB version of the Geforce 6800 Ultra is coming out but it may only be a PCI-X release or so I have heard.

kernow said:

pc gaming is fucking stupidly complicated

Click to expand...

You don't know the half of it. It is almost like rocket science - seriously...

ATi was pimp with the 9700 and 9800 series, but they have seem to fallen off since then. I'm going to build a new PC from the ground up and the cornerstone is going to be the Athlon64 FX-55 with Nvidia GeForce 68000 Ultra 512MB

Big Shady said:

ATi was pimp with the 9700 and 9800 series, but they have seem to fallen off since then. I'm going to build a new PC from the ground up and the cornerstone is going to be the Athlon64 FX-55 with Nvidia GeForce 68000 Ultra 512MB

Click to expand...

I really can't see the reason to buy an $800 video card...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Manufactory=&PropertyCodeValue=679%3A9575&PropertyCodeValue=683%3A10557&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&description=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=48&Submit=Property

gamejunkie said:

I really can't see the reason to buy an $800 video card...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Manufactory=&PropertyCodeValue=679%3A9575&PropertyCodeValue=683%3A10557&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&description=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=48&Submit=Property

Click to expand...

I am running the latest versions of Solid Works, AutoCAD, and Matlab. Those apps are beasts and I need to use the workstations on campus. Maya, probably, in the near future.