6800gt and x800xl at the same price

Oh dear... Do you get personally insulted everytime somebody purchases an Nvidia card or something? This magnificent difference in AA quality isn't being evangelized by respected reviewers online and that's what I'm going with. As far as 6xAA vs SM3.0 goes, I'll take 4xAA on the SM3.0 path over 6xAA on SM1.1 any day for those games that have SM3.0 support - re. AOE III and SC:CT. Simply my opinion - you can enjoy your superior AA all day long.

 

Well it's a tough choice. Only the future can tell for sure if you made the best decision but good luck!. Let us know how it turns out.

 

No, but I could see getting pissed at someone trying to twist my words out of context to fit their own agenda.

Which "respected" reviewers would that be? The ones who said there wasn't any difference between the FX & R300 AA too?

 

Twist? He said that side by side there is a difference. How did I twist anything. Unlike with NV3x where you could go to a friend's house and notice it immediately.

Speaking of agendas, maybe you should talk to your boy martrox about that too.

Well I wouldn't know since I don't keep a log of who said what about the FX and R300. Now go find me a recent review that demonstrates this vast AA difference.

Anyway, the purpose of this thread has been fulfilled. Maybe some non-crazed mod will see fit to close it.

 

I do, tell me who you're basing your statement on and I'll be happy to inform you of what their stand was during the FX fiasco and point you out plenty of examples of it.

 

I missed that the first time, you dissing Martrox?

 

dig, we know you would be happy to inform everyone what their stand was, especially since you are still doing it! My opinion, maybe you should read twiniboy's posts and learn something. He doesn't show extreme bias yet he speaks his mind about what he likes. He is also willing to actually listen to the fabnois which is showing way more patience than I ever could exhibit.

 

You want me to list all of the reviewers that have NOT demonstrated significant differences in AA quality? No fair. I think it will be much easier for you to find one that has.

 

My 2 cents.

If I had a choice today and assuming performance/price was pretty even, I might lean towards ATI.

My 6800GT (XFX) is a nice card. No doubt. I'm very pleased with it. And while FSAA is better than past Nvidia generations, it still isn't as good as what my friend has with his X800 card. The biggest issue for me is the aliasing that others are bringing up. On certain games it is more noticable than others--generally being a horizontal band aroudn 1/3-1/2 up the screen on most shooters (Doom3, etc.). Of course, many times I don't notice it, but when I do it gets irritating because it keeps catching my eyes.

I would think Nvidia would have fixed it in the drivers by now if it was simply a driver issue.

Finally, having SM3 is nice, but I also am realistic to recognize that I doubt this generation will ever be a serious SM3 contendor.

Anyway, that is my 2 cents.

 

Thank you, Windfire....but I guess trinibwoy will now consider you an ATI fan too.... Anyone that's openminded and has spent time with both cards knows what I have said is true. It's not that I'm a fan of ATI nor a detractor of nVidia - hell, I own both. It's that the ATI , at the moment, has visably better IQ. Again, that's not to say nVidia 's IQ sucks, it doesn't. But it's not as close as many would think. Those that deny the differences either have no first hand knowledge of BOTH products or are blinded by their own agendas.

 

I wouldn't expect reviewers to catch IQ differences without an interested party pointing it out to them, trinibwoy. I also wouldn't expect them to be as explicit about the differences, as they're still dependent on IHVs for early review samples. There's no real incentive for them to get too in-depth, IMO. This is not to say that they're bad people or even shills, but I expect neither independence from someone who doesn't buy a product off the shelf, nor depth from someone (who may not even have a critical eye) who doesn't have time to spend weeks living with a card.

I believe multiple forum-goers who have used the products for weeks and months at a time moreso than reviewers who spend most of their time running benchmarks, but obviously everything includes a grain of salt.

But the bottom line for me is still framerate, and I'm willing to sacrifice IQ if it means greater playability. I also think a 6800GT has a chance of offering playable SM3. I may be looking too far into the future, though. It's possible that--as with the R300--the 6800 is ahead of its time WRT SM3, and may not be that fluid with SM3-oriented titles (witness the large framerate hits with FC's HDR, SC:CT's HDR, and Riddick's shadows).

 

Hey, you wouldn't be at all unhappy with a 6800GT....it's a freaking great card.

But we were asked to compare the two and we did, sorry for trying to be honest.

 

No I don't think so in the least (and I don't recall calling you an ATI fanboi even though you are one ). Windfire's post was very lucid and I respect his/her opinion. On the other hand the tone of your response to my post (which was simply me providing my opinion on the thread topic) was utterly fanboyish. It was not even directed to you, it just looked like you were offended that your name appeared in a post recommending an Nvidia product as if it were some personal insult. Read this again and tell me if the tone of your post was warranted.....

 

You'll be able to see a difference in IQ between NV4x and R4x0 only if you have lots of time and a very good magnifying glass. Side by side, the difference is really negligable.

 

maybe for you



it is not really, R4xx can run 6xAA and Nvidia cannot, I guess most of the people can see that difference. (even reviewers ) As for texture aliasing - heh I am glad I cannot see it on my 6800GT

I won't even try to look for it as once I find it, and know what it is, I'll really have a problem, this way it is too small to care for my eyes.

 

So what's the speed like if you turn 6xAA on in games like D3, HL2, FarCry etc.? I guess it's pretty unusable there.

 

In D3 I don't use it, high rez works better. The game is so dark it doesn't matter that much. I use it in FarCVry at 1280x1024, and believe it or not, I can run at 1600X1200 in HL 2 with only an occasional noticable drop....and I can live with that. Everything is run at 16x AF. Now, thats with the XT-PE . With the XL I run D3 at 1280X1024 in D3, FarCry I run at 1280x1024, 6x FSAA & 8x AF. HL2 I run at 1600x1200, 6x FSAA and 8x AF. The XT-PE are run on an Athlon 64 3000+ 754, O/C'ed to 2350. The The XL runs on a Athlon 64 3000+ 939, O/C'ed to 2350 also.

So your guess would be wrong!

 

Depends what kind of framerate drop you consider as "acceptible", I guess. I'm very bitchy about that.

 

And that's the rub! I can live with an occasional drop in framrates much easier than I can live with either texture ailising and jaggies. And that's also why choice is a good thing. I play next to no FPS's - at 54 I'm just too slow, what can I say? I'm a self admited eye candy whore, and I have no problem owning both ATI and nVidia. I buy both - because I want to see the difference myself. I can no longer trust reviews, as everyone tends to have their own agendas. Yours is speed, Mine is eyecandy. While some come here and diss a manufacturer armed only with second hand info (and it goes both ways), I know what my eyes see, because both products are here right in front of me. Look at those in this thread that agree with me. They are stating it from first person knowledge, for the most part. Look at those that don't..... Need I say more?

BTW, if the speed on the ATI bothers me, I do have the choice to turn the IQ down .......or...... just use my 6800GT! And I do use the GT (it's O/C'ed to 450/1150) for mainly one thing at this point. Flight sims on a DLP projector! At 4x FSAA, 16x AF at 1024x768 on a 120" screen 10 feet in front of me, it runs flight sims to (almost) perfection! In a 24x16 room (my theater/sound room!) lights off, Dolby digital 5.1 sound through a high end audio system - thanks to soundstorm - it will positively give you vertigo.......