# Which graphics card to buy?nVidia 6 series or ATi radeonX800



## bhalchandra (Aug 27, 2004)

Hi to all

I am planning to by a very high end graphics card
I am bit confused because there r so many available 
Please help me out of that

Which one is better ?

1. GeForce 6800 ULTRA 256 MB GDDR3
2. GeForce 6800 GT
3. GeForce FX 5950 ULTRA
4. ATI Radeon X800 XT
5. ATI Radeon 9800XT

and also tell which make?
Plz help me out.............


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## parimal (Aug 27, 2004)

Buy GeForce 6800 Ultra or Radeon X800XT...both are good. If you are planning to buy nVidia based card the go for Gainward or MSI. Also Hercules makes good Radeons. But if you ask me...I'll buy Radeon X800XT made by Hercules or sapphire.


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## bhalchandra (Aug 28, 2004)

what about ASUS for radeon


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## gxsaurav (Aug 28, 2004)

They are useless, if U want full COMPATIBILITY with whatever U want to run, then get a 6800  GT with 256 MB GDDR3 RAM, I  sure U , U will never need anything else untill 2006 end


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## parimal (Aug 28, 2004)

Ya....this is true....Radeons has compatibility problems....but ATi is constantly releasing good quality drivers these days.....the compatibility of these drivers is history now. I agree GeForce 6800 GT is good card. I'm owning GeForce FX 5700 made by MSI....and I'm absolutely happy with mine.


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## theraven (Aug 28, 2004)

and i reccomend asus whichever one u pick
they rock again
go in for the 6800 .. as of now its still ahead of the x800


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## blade_runner (Aug 28, 2004)

There are rumuors that Asus has fumbled again with Nvidia 6800 series. Ther arent finding favour among consumers. This however is unconfirmed. As of now only XFX has the 6800ultra and GT available in India. Not sure if any other vendor has introduced the Nvidia 6 series in India.


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## gxsaurav (Aug 28, 2004)

blade_runner said:
			
		

> There are rumuors that Asus has fumbled again with Nvidia 6800 series. Ther arent finding favour among consumers. This however is unconfirmed. As of now only XFX has the 6800ultra and GT available in India. Not sure if any other vendor has introduced the Nvidia 6 series in India.



Not quite True, Gigabyte PCI-E cards are also available


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## blade_runner (Aug 28, 2004)

gxsaurav said:
			
		

> blade_runner said:
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Who mentioned nethng abt PCI-E cards ??

@bhalchandra:
GEFORCE FX 6800 ULTRA 256MB 	33750.00
GEFORCE FX 6800 GT	25750.00

Got these today itself. These are XFX prices. If u want ATi prices u will have to wait till 1st of Sept since there is going to be a revision in prices.


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## nikhilesh (Aug 29, 2004)

buy the 6800,its a better piece of technology compared to the x800's.....


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## rakesh_1024 (Aug 30, 2004)

Well, I heard from a Hardware Reviewer that X800 could have easily out performed the Nvidia 6800 series.
But Nvidia guys sacrificed image quality for performance.
So U might get a few fps more with the 6800, but the picture quality is poorer when compared to X800 series as ATI never sacrifices picture quality.


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## nikhilesh (Aug 30, 2004)

nooooooo..... the 6800 is far better ,its even future proof,i dont think that information is correct rakesh,even if it is the difference will be abt 1%.its not visiable anyway.the 6800 supports shader model 3.0 too.......


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## theraven (Aug 30, 2004)

good image quality = performance
performance is not based on the fps
its based on fps with gr8 image quality


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## blade_runner (Aug 30, 2004)

Nvidia has been known for Image quality. rakesh whats the source of ur info ??


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## rakesh_1024 (Aug 31, 2004)

Well I heard from a guy who reviews hardware components.


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## rakesh_1024 (Aug 31, 2004)

He said that if we keep the monitors of PCs(one with Nvidia 6800ultra and the other with X800XT), then the difference can b clearly seen.


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## rakesh_1024 (Aug 31, 2004)

One more thing, as far as I know the performance of a card never considered the image quality seriously. Fps, lags and distortions are the ones which are taken seriously.


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## quad master (Aug 31, 2004)

Well my suggestion 

Both are 256 MB

1.> Gainward 6800 Ultra - Golden Sample Edition
More Info:- *www.gainwardusa.com/products/vga_2600dt.htm

2.> Gainward 6800 GT - Golden Sample Edition
More Info:- *www.gainwardusa.com/products/vga_2400dt.htm


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## theraven (Aug 31, 2004)

how can the performance of a card not include image quality??
anyways acc to a certain mag this month .. the 6800 is a clear winner for now 
doesnt matter anyways


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## nikhilesh (Aug 31, 2004)

go for the 6800GT,its a damn good card


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## anidex (Sep 1, 2004)

So, is nVIDIA really ahead of ATI in terms of image quality? You gotta be kidding me. Anyway, here's are screenshots from Far Cry. As you can see, the 6800 renders half the trees with incorrect (without?) lighting.

(ATI)
*www.xbitlabs.com/misc/picture/?src=/images/video/farcry20b/ati_pier_sm20_bg.jpg&1=1

(nVIDIA)
*www.xbitlabs.com/misc/picture/?src=/images/video/farcry20b/nvidia_pier_sm30_bg.jpg&1=1

Plus, some 6800 GT owners will be quite shocked to find out that in CS : Source Beta, the Radeon 9600 XT (yes, 9600) almost matches the 6800 GT (and the Radeon 9800 XT beats it)! And that it at the most widely used resolution of 1024x768. And of course, let's not even talk about the dismal performance of the FX cards!

*www.firingsquad.com/hardware/geforce_fx_half-life2/page7.asp

So, I suggest the X800 series (either Pro or XT PE). Well, it may not have shader model 3.0 support, but the X800 can do almost everything that the 6800 can feature wise and obviously better peformance wise.


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## blade_runner (Sep 1, 2004)

LOL ! Anidex ........stop it  man .........

The GT beats the XT by huge margins at higher resolutions. And what is applicable to nvidia is also applicable to Ati in D3 performance. Lets not start this $hit all over again.

And btw crytek still has to release the patch, the first one apparently had some bugs with rendering on Nvidia cards. 

Also at 1280*1024 and 4xAA and 8xAF the GT still does 80.1 fps while the xt barely manages 30 fps. Fx series everyone knows it sucked ! but this time i am returning back to nvidia.


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## anidex (Sep 2, 2004)

Far Cry has been an nVIDIA game all along, as has Doom 3. Plus, the point is that at widely accepted game resolutions like 1024x768, the XT CAN match the 6800. Only really enthusiast gamers will wanna run their games at 1280x1024, especially games like Half Life 2. It's a shame to see that a main stream card from last generation is matching nVIDIA's lastest high-end bad boy, even if it is only at 1024x768!


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## blade_runner (Sep 2, 2004)

Fry Cry being a Nvidia game has nothing to do with the 1.2 patch that crytek botched up man. Those pics seem to be taken from the 'crap' 1.2 patch that was released and withdrawn shortly. 

Also that 9600 having the same rates as 6800Gt has to do with the fact that the Source engine is capped at 90Fps currently. And the dismal performance of 9600XT when Af and AA is enabled @ 1280 res and even 1024 res further adds credibility to it. Dont even get to the FX series cuz i have nuthin to comment on it.


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## ganesh8 (Sep 11, 2004)

*Gainward 6800GT 256 MB *Golden Sample**

Go for the Gainward Geforce FX 6800GT 256 MB *Golden Sample* dude.  It is available for Rs. 27,750 and can be overclocked very close to Geforce 6800 ULTRA level !!!  The overclocking software is included by Gainward.  

Gainward 6800GT even beat even beat XFX 6800GT in the Graphic cards test in September issue of IC CHIP.


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## gxsaurav (Sep 12, 2004)

Gigabyte 6800GT = 32k

6800 nU = MSI  6800-TD128

If U are going for GT then go for Gigabyte, else for 6800 nU, go for MSI it is available for a dirt cheap price 24K, but U can hardly find it, extremely limited, but it has a fan while Gigabyte 6800 nU ha heatsink

6800 nU is my recomendition, not only it is cheap but the majority of useres here have 17" monitors, which can't go over 1024x768 for which the 6800nU willl be able to play any games at my settings of 1024X768 with 2XQAA & 2X Anis, fine with 85 Hz refresh rate, even if U go for 4X AA & 4X ANIS, U won't get any performance hit noticible at 1024X768, many people don't realize that even if they got really high card with really high frame rate with XP SP2, all the games are automatically capped at 75 fps max for DX9 & 60 FPS max for OpenGL, so no matter if U can score 100 fps in Doom3 or HL2, U will play with only 60 fps max when playing, & belive me anything over 45 fps contant is smooth to the eyes as butter

But again, when a new architecture comes, it's good to wait for the refresh, in this case the later to be released 6700 & 6900

6800 nU all the way, it is cheap then GT


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## gxsaurav (Sep 12, 2004)

never go for a factory overclocked card, Gainward is factory overclocked


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## ganesh8 (Sep 12, 2004)

gxsaurav said:
			
		

> never go for a factory overclocked card, Gainward is factory overclocked



I totally disagree.  If a manufacturer is confident to overclock the card and provide warranty on it, then it means the card has the best quality components and RAM and will remain stable.  It is built that way.

On the other hand if you to overclock a normal card, it voids your warranty and causes the card to burn out.  This is because the components are the regular components and not ment to be overclocked.

Bu the way i read somewhere that there is an option to run at normal mode or overclocked mode

Now you decide what is better. having a overclocked or overclockable card with better performance and Warranty or trying to overclock a card which can burn out and have no warranty for overclocking.

check the reviews mate.  gainward 6800GT Golden sample is the only card which is clocked higher than other cards and can perform near 6800ultra levels plus remain stable.  no other card can do it.  it is like buying an 6800 ultra at the price of a 6800gt with slight premium.


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## blade_runner (Sep 12, 2004)

ganesh8 said:
			
		

> gxsaurav said:
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I agree with all ur points except the ones i quoted above. nowdays most cards when they are overcloked above a certain level have a threshold at which they lock up and when u restart the clock rates are reset. ATi has the VPU recover option. Even the entry level fx5200 have this option and i have witnessed it first hand ! 

Gainwards not the only card that can go ultra levels XFX can and so can PNY, Ledtek etc. The BFG OC series for 6800 series is also factory overclocked although its a shame that BFG doesnt have a distri here. Plus these cards are available for less prices than the gainward. Although one thng can be said and that is these cards may or may not necessarily overclock to Ultra levels but the golden samples are manufacturer guaranteed overclockers. Good point though.


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## icecoolz (Sep 13, 2004)

well read this review...its quite exhaustive and I am sure it will answer most of the queries u guys have : 

*www.nordichardware.com/reviews/graphiccard/2004/r420/

enjoy! 

and yes...I am back


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## bhalchandra (Sep 15, 2004)

thanx from u r all valuable information 
So i baught ASUS V9999 Ultra card which is Nvidia Geforce 6800 Ultra 
As in india there is only 2 of the manufacturers available for such high end card and giving very good after sell service 
1. ASUS 
2. XFX 

So i went for asus 
I want to tell u it rocks 
so i am much more satisfied from what i have


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## Nemesis (Sep 15, 2004)

*graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040504/index.html

read this article....some very interesting test results....


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