video card comparison

[smiling bandit]

Errrr, anyone got a bead on the best PCI express video cards out there? How do the ATi X600's compare?

[Harmonix]

ta da! (http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/index.html)

thank Tom's Hardware

[smiling bandit]

That has no relevant information.

[Harmonix]

whups, you're right. the x600 isn't on that. I did a quick search on google and it seems the x600 is really just a juiced up 9600xt running PCI-E(performance only slightly better, same feature set). For the money i'd buy a 9800 pro. I don't know if they come in PCI-E though.

[smiling bandit]

Heard anything about the x700?

Ati has only the x7 and x6 AFAIK

[Whack-a-Mole]

Here's some info:

Comparing the ATI Radeon X600XT to the GeForce PCX5750 really is no comparison. The ATI Radeon X600XT performed better in every game, allowing us to run at higher quality settings. Still, the ATI Radeon X600XT is nowhere near the performance and quality settings we experienced with the GeForce 6600GT, which will be at the same price point currently as the Radeon X600XT.

So what type of person do these video cards satisfy? It is definitely not the hardcore gamer or the enthusiast looking for the best price versus performance. These video cards are literally at their peak of performance in current games, and as newer games are released their playability will be lessened as new games employ more intense shaders and graphics.

<snip>

Apparently PCI-Express is not the miracle worker many people thought it would be when it comes to game performance on video cards. The simple fact of the matter is that PCI-E will be something special when we have games that will actually utilize the bus, but that will be some time to come. With these X600XT based video cards it is all about the performance of the VPU and the local video card memory bandwidth, not the bandwidth that PCI-Express offers. These gaming content shown on these cards is not even coming close to being able to saturate an AGP8X bus let alone a PCI-Express one.

There is no performance advantage having 256MB of RAM on an X600XT versus a 128MB card, as the Sapphire Radeon X600XT 256MB card has proven to us. These video cards are limited in other areas that bottleneck the card enough that RAM size is not an issue. They are not capable of running the latest games at the high resolutions and AA settings where 256MB of RAM would help.

SOURCE: Hard|OCP (http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjY0LDE1)

[Whack-a-Mole]

More info you might find interesting:

There is no technical reason to opt for a PCI Express enabled platform right now, but the technology will become more and more important over the next couple of months. While upcoming generations of graphics cards will certainly be available both for AGP and PCI Express, we expect the latter to become predominant in about a year, if not sooner.

<snip>

While this is definitely one of the most important steps in bringing the Athlon64 architecture forward, it does not have a direct impact on performance today. The simple reason is that AGP 8X bandwidth is currently fast enough for the volume of textures copied from today's graphics accelerators to main memory.

SOURCE: Tom's Hardware Guide (http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20041020/nforce4-16.html)

[The_Llama]

Heard anything about the x700?

Ati has only the x7 and x6 AFAIK

x800xt platinum is the fastest ATI offers. It has a core clock speed of 500mhz if I remember. It is, however, very pricey. $400-$500 US.
the x600 is, in my opinion, a waste of money. I agree with buying the 9800 and/or just wating for the prices to come down. As was also already said, PCI Express is in its infancy, and in a year, I have a feeling we'll see some pretty hefty improvements that will hopefully either bring the price of the x800 waaaay down, or offer us something so ridiculously fast that it'll be woth the $500 price tag.

For what it's worth, I run a 256MB 9600 pro, and I can play Doom 3 on Ultra mode with no problems what so ever. The only game out there that may give me a problem is Half Life 2, but we'll see when that comes out. Even so, I think I'd still buy a 9800 before I went with the x series just yet.

[smiling bandit]

OK, thank you all for the general information. However, I know that part. I was just asking if anyone has a straight comparison. I know selection is limited. I have a radon 96 and it worked just fine. But since I got a real bargain on my PC I now have PCI express slot but not an AGP slot (which vaguely irritates me, but whaddayagonnado). So I have to upgrade. I know the PCI express isn't particularly better. I just need to know which cards for perform best right now - or if good ones will be coming out within the nest few months.

I don't believe the x800 comes in PCi express, or at least I can't find that for sale anywhere (its also a bit more pricey than i want). I'm willing to spend up to about 200$ on it. That should net me an x6 or x7 256, or a decent geforce.

[Harmonix]

PCIe Ramps Up : Seven PCI Express Graphics Cards Compared (http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=pciegpuso&page=1)

I flipped through the pages it shows x6,7,800 and some geforce cards...

[smiling bandit]

Thank you!