Newest Video Cards

[the_music_man]

maybe u should wait cuz ati is developing a new chip with the ps3's

 

[Sazar]

ati is developing new graphics processors with microsoft and nintendo...

nvidia is working with sony prodj...

 

[Sazar]

ATI's 2004 Offerings are pretty direm, and if you thought it was hard getting a 6800Ultra ATI cant even SHIP the X800 range to its OEM partners nevermind anyone else, so even though they are okay alternatives, you cant get one.

so your choices would be a 9800Pro or 9800XT from ATI,

6800GT AGP/PCI-E, 6600GT AGP/PCI or 6200 AGP from nVidia

Personally for games I'd go with the 6800GT AGP, for home entertainment take a loko at the 6600 and for an el cheaper that is upto date but not so demanding on the wallet the 6200 but that is really fairly crippled imo.

ati has no problems filling system builders orders... so its erroneous to suggest they can't fill any orders...

the x800xt series (not the PE version) has had wider availability...

but it is a fact ati fudged their delivery...

wrt nvidia... their ultra's are more readily available than the XT PE from ati, but not many of the ultra EE's have really made it out either...

the current king of the hill for bang/buck == 6800GT from nvidia... great card all round and it oc's rather decent...

the higher end 6600's are also decent solutions for the budget...

ati will likely have an x800XL agp version eventually but once again, its a question of delivery to OEM's and e-taillers..

 

[lancer]

is the 9800xt comparable to the 6800gt? or is no where near?

 

[Sazar]

not really comparable...

they are both dx9 cards but the 6800GT has 2 times as many pipes and more vertex shaders and the like... the 9800xt can't compare... its no slouch but not really worth it unless you absolutely refuse to pay more than around $180-200 for a video card...

in that case the 6600GT is probably the route to go...

 

[Wrathchild]

Yo Sazar

Hey Sazar,

I just picked up an Intel PCX motherboard and 3.4 GHz processor. It was a deal I couldn't refuse; 250 bucks total. I just sold my AGP-based GeForceFX 5900 Ultra on Ebay for 125 and bought a 6600 256Meg PCX card until the prices come down on the 6800 Ultra PCX (600 bucks is just silly). In the interim, I'm wondering about SLI. As I understand it, you need a board which has 2 16x PCX connectors. Mine doesn't, and I haven't seen any who do. Will there be an SLI-like solution to expand over to the 1x PCX slot? My board has 1 16x and 2 1x slots.

-Wrath

check out www.hardocp.com , www.beyond3d.com and www.anandtech.com for some decent reviews...

the benches generally don't lie...

best bang for buck (if/when it makes it to the market) is the new ati card... the x800 XL running on 0.11 micron tech for pci-Express... @ $299 and with 16 pipes and being one of the faster cards out there, its a mini-monster...

otherwise the 6600 series (in future sli-mode) and the 6800GT continue to be good investments... around $399 for the big brother and its plenty fast in pretty near everything...

 

[Wrathchild]

Xbox 2

ati is developing new graphics processors with microsoft and nintendo...

nvidia is working with sony prodj...

However this time around, Microsoft is only liscensing the chip technology from ATI to build their own chips. No where near as profitable a deal as Nvidia had with MS the first time around. Microsoft will be scooping in all the revenue Nvidia raked in by selling MS the chips at a flat, negotiated fee per chip, while continuing to refine their manufacturing process to the point where they were making a 50% profit for every xbox manufactured.

-Wrath

 

[Tuffgong4]

Hey Sazar,

I just picked up an Intel PCX motherboard and 3.4 GHz processor. It was a deal I couldn't refuse; 250 bucks total. I just sold my AGP-based GeForceFX 5900 Ultra on Ebay for 125 and bought a 6600 256Meg PCX card until the prices come down on the 6800 Ultra PCX (600 bucks is just silly). In the interim, I'm wondering about SLI. As I understand it, you need a board which has 2 16x PCX connectors. Mine doesn't, and I haven't seen any who do. Will there be an SLI-like solution to expand over to the 1x PCX slot? My board has 1 16x and 2 1x slots.

-Wrath

sorry to butt into a question for sazar but until he posts I'll post some info...

there will be no way to set up sli on a motherboard that doesn't have two slot for the graphics cards...also from my understanding of sli it works by changing the usual 16x slots into two 8x slots...sounds like it gets crippled but really it doesn't since the 16x pci express cards don't use the full bandwidth of the slot yet anyway. If the 6600 card you got was hopefully a gt and not a reg 6600 you would be really set up for sli since all you would need to get is an identical 6600gt to run sli but then that would be an upgrade in the motherboard because the one you have won't allow sli set up.

I want to reread this but I'm about to fall sleep and I can't post more right now...If I made NO sense post here and tell me to rewrite this tomorrow or sometime in the near future

 

[Sazar]

However this time around, Microsoft is only liscensing the chip technology from ATI to build their own chips. No where near as profitable a deal as Nvidia had with MS the first time around. Microsoft will be scooping in all the revenue Nvidia raked in by selling MS the chips at a flat, negotiated fee per chip, while continuing to refine their manufacturing process to the point where they were making a 50% profit for every xbox manufactured.

-Wrath

nvidia's deal cannot really be called more profitable than what is present right now with ati...

consider they developed and built the products for m$... then had to go into litigation to get back monies they believed was owed to them...

ati has learnt from that and therefore is developing and licensing a product instead of building it as well...

nvidia is making money undoubtedly but the ati deal is a progression... dealing with the problems while refining the royalties part...

nvidia themselves will not make the same mistake as evidenced by their sony deal...

 

[Sazar]

Hey Sazar,

I just picked up an Intel PCX motherboard and 3.4 GHz processor. It was a deal I couldn't refuse; 250 bucks total. I just sold my AGP-based GeForceFX 5900 Ultra on Ebay for 125 and bought a 6600 256Meg PCX card until the prices come down on the 6800 Ultra PCX (600 bucks is just silly). In the interim, I'm wondering about SLI. As I understand it, you need a board which has 2 16x PCX connectors. Mine doesn't, and I haven't seen any who do. Will there be an SLI-like solution to expand over to the 1x PCX slot? My board has 1 16x and 2 1x slots.

-Wrath

in one word... nope...

sli requires 1 x 16 and 1 x 8x pci-E slots to function...

I doubt a 1x slot will afford the appropriate bandwidth for the proper amount of work to be done and processed and transferred to render a smooth img...

pci-E will progress and more and more bandwidth will be available as we go into the future...

1x slots are generally for devices such as nic cards and what not...

might have been a better idea to hold off on the upgrades and wait instead for the next gen items coming out... but the cpu and mobo sound good and the gfx card will last you for a while...

enjoy