6600GT vs X800XL

[sellmen]

Originally posted by: mooncancook
Ok I ran 3Dmark05 last night and here's the result. Everything stock and default.

Leadtek 6600GT ........ 3264
ATI X800XL ............... 4674

Summary: Basically a 50% more in cost for a 40% gain in performance, which is really good. It's not quite 1:1 but it's close enough for me to justify. only if X800XL would' came out couple weeks earlier then i wouldn't have to sell my 6600GT at a loss...

The stock X800XL turbine fan is not loud, but still too noisy for me, so I took the Zalman VF700 from my 6600GT and installed it on X800. Now it is whisper quiet

X800XL really shines with AA/AF or at higher resolutions, where the 6600GT doesn't have the fillrate or RAM to complete. Here are some Techreport HL2 benchmarks:

10x7 - X800XL approximately 25% faster
12x10 - X800XL approximately 57% faster
16x12 - X800XL approximately 64 % faster

add some AA/AF, and the differences become larger

10x7 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 54% faster
12x10 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 78% faster
16x12 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 109 % faster

So yeah, I'd say that performance gap is worth the 50% price premium

 

[gobucks]

I had the same idea, man, but then I remembered that a new core is on its way, and will likely bring an even better $300 card (X900XL?) or push 6800GT/X800XL performance into the sub-$200 range. R520 is supposed to have PS3.0, SLI, and even 512MB buffers, so then ATI and nvidia will be dead even on feature set. Besides, the way ATI (and soon nvidia, I'm sure) are focusing on the $300 range, I imagine the $300 R520/G70 parts are gonna be worth the wait. So far, I haven't seen a game I haven't been able to play well at 12x10, even with 4xAA on, so I'd rather just get some mileage out of my 6600GT, sell it to a friend later, and get a worthwhile upgrade.

 

[mooncancook]

well i am going to get a Dell 2001 or 2005 soon, and i want a card that can get the most out of those resolutions, that's why i don't want to wait. I'm betting on the X800XL can last at least a year in term of gaming

 

[classy]

Originally posted by: mooncancook
well i am going to get a Dell 2001 or 2005 soon, and i want a card that can get the most out of those resolutions, that's why i don't want to wait. I'm betting on the X800XL can last at least a year in term of gaming

A year? I would at least 2 years. Hell people are still doing quite well with 9500-9800 series cards. The only game that really requires top flight cards is Doom 3. And personally I think Doom 3 sucks.

 

[Gamingphreek]

The only game that really requires top flight cards is Doom 3.

Umm... try Far Cry, HL2; also imagine what Quake 4 is being based off of a tweaked DIII engine. There are a lot of games that are out or are coming out in the near future that can use this. Even 256mb is starting to become necessary. Look at the latest benchmarks for the Acer laptop on AT Homepage. The 128mb gets crushed by the 256mb (unless im misinterpreting the graph )

-Kevin

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: sellmen

Originally posted by: mooncancook
Ok I ran 3Dmark05 last night and here's the result. Everything stock and default.

Leadtek 6600GT ........ 3264
ATI X800XL ............... 4674

Summary: Basically a 50% more in cost for a 40% gain in performance, which is really good. It's not quite 1:1 but it's close enough for me to justify. only if X800XL would' came out couple weeks earlier then i wouldn't have to sell my 6600GT at a loss...

The stock X800XL turbine fan is not loud, but still too noisy for me, so I took the Zalman VF700 from my 6600GT and installed it on X800. Now it is whisper quiet

X800XL really shines with AA/AF or at higher resolutions, where the 6600GT doesn't have the fillrate or RAM to complete. Here are some Techreport HL2 benchmarks:

10x7 - X800XL approximately 25% faster
12x10 - X800XL approximately 57% faster
16x12 - X800XL approximately 64 % faster

add some AA/AF, and the differences become larger

10x7 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 54% faster
12x10 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 78% faster
16x12 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 109 % faster

So yeah, I'd say that performance gap is worth the 50% price premium

Good god can you get any more biased, your posting a game that is optimized 100% for ATI. That would be like me taking DIII for the 6600GT. How about you pick a range of games not just one centered around the performance of one card.

-Kevin

 

[mooncancook]

yeah i suppose it can last 2 years. by then i'll probably have to play games at 10x7 which should still look fine.

btw anyone know how to OC the X800XL? and how can I check the GPU temp? the nView monitor won't show GPU temp for the ATI card.

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: mooncancook

I still can't understand why the demand for $400 graphic cards is so great. it's not like buying a BMW M3... or is it?

I think it's because people are starting to realize that the video card is about the only component that affects ACTUAL gaming performance these days.

I, for example, spent as much on my card as on my CPU + MB + RAM. I can overclock my CPU (A64 @ 1800 to 2340 MHz ~30% ) and I exeperience NO DIFFERENCE in actual gameplay. I can't turn on any other options, or use a higher res. I get exactly the same framerates at either 1800 or 2300 in the games I play. However, I overclock my x800 pro from default to 550/550 (closer to a 20% difference) and there is a clear perceptible difference in several games I play.

CPUs used to be the performance enabler, but now it almost doesn't matter what CPU you have, your limit is going to be the graphics card. Because of this, it actually makes SENSE for people to be paying out for a graphics card.

To me what doesn't make sense is people paying 2-5x for high end CPUs or 2x for high end RAM. These have a horrible $$$ to actual perceivable performance gain ratio.

 

[sellmen]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: sellmen

Originally posted by: mooncancook
Ok I ran 3Dmark05 last night and here's the result. Everything stock and default.

Leadtek 6600GT ........ 3264
ATI X800XL ............... 4674

Summary: Basically a 50% more in cost for a 40% gain in performance, which is really good. It's not quite 1:1 but it's close enough for me to justify. only if X800XL would' came out couple weeks earlier then i wouldn't have to sell my 6600GT at a loss...

The stock X800XL turbine fan is not loud, but still too noisy for me, so I took the Zalman VF700 from my 6600GT and installed it on X800. Now it is whisper quiet

X800XL really shines with AA/AF or at higher resolutions, where the 6600GT doesn't have the fillrate or RAM to complete. Here are some Techreport HL2 benchmarks:

10x7 - X800XL approximately 25% faster
12x10 - X800XL approximately 57% faster
16x12 - X800XL approximately 64 % faster

add some AA/AF, and the differences become larger

10x7 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 54% faster
12x10 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 78% faster
16x12 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 109 % faster

So yeah, I'd say that performance gap is worth the 50% price premium

Good god can you get any more biased, your posting a game that is optimized 100% for ATI. That would be like me taking DIII for the 6600GT. How about you pick a range of games not just one centered around the performance of one card.

-Kevin

Far Cry:

10x7 - X800XL approximately 26% faster
12x10 - X800XL approximately 54% faster
16x12 - X800XL approximately 64 % faster


10x7 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 90% faster
12x10 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 100% faster
16x12 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 141 % faster

Happy?

edit...and lets do Doom III as well. Since it's the one game that clearly favors Nvidia's cards.

10x7 - tie
12x10 - tie
16x12 - tie


10x7 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 16% faster
12x10 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 41% faster
16x12 4XAA/8XAF - X800XL approximately 48 % faster

And remember, this is the one game that the 6xxx series kills ATi's x8xx series. HL2, despite being "100% ATI optomized" according to you, is much closer between the two.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Yep

 

[Munky]

Isn't the x800xl supposed to compete with the 6800? I thoutht they made the x800 (regular) to compete with the 6600gt, and I've heard it beats it too most of the time too, except in D3. The x800 is supposed to be like $200 retail.

 

[mooncancook]

Originally posted by: munky
Isn't the x800xl supposed to compete with the 6800? I thoutht they made the x800 (regular) to compete with the 6600gt, and I've heard it beats it too most of the time too, except in D3. The x800 is supposed to be like $200 retail.

i don't think there's anything in nVidia line up that competes directly with X800XL right now unless they change their pricing. I think X700 is supposed to compete against 6600. If i read it correctly, AT reviews showed that X800XL is even faster than the more expensive X800 Pro.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: munky
Isn't the x800xl supposed to compete with the 6800? I thoutht they made the x800 (regular) to compete with the 6600gt, and I've heard it beats it too most of the time too, except in D3. The x800 is supposed to be like $200 retail.

The X800XL was meant to be direct comptetition for the 6800GT perfomance wise yes.
Cost wise it is meant to steal sales from the 6800nu. As long as ATI can keep up the supply, thats exactly what the X800XL will do.

 

[ZimZum]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: munky
Isn't the x800xl supposed to compete with the 6800? I thoutht they made the x800 (regular) to compete with the 6600gt, and I've heard it beats it too most of the time too, except in D3. The x800 is supposed to be like $200 retail.

The X800XL was meant to be direct comptetition for the 6800GT perfomance wise yes.
Cost wise it is meant to steal sales from the 6800nu. As long as ATI can keep up the supply, thats exactly what the X800XL will do.

Cost wise it will steal sales from both. . Especially with the upcoming AGP version of the XL coming out. Its hard to justify paying $100+ more for a card with basically the exact same performance of the XL.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: ZimZum

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: munky
Isn't the x800xl supposed to compete with the 6800? I thoutht they made the x800 (regular) to compete with the 6600gt, and I've heard it beats it too most of the time too, except in D3. The x800 is supposed to be like $200 retail.

The X800XL was meant to be direct comptetition for the 6800GT perfomance wise yes.
Cost wise it is meant to steal sales from the 6800nu. As long as ATI can keep up the supply, thats exactly what the X800XL will do.

Cost wise it will steal sales from both. . Especially with the upcoming AGP version of the XL coming out. Its hard to justify paying $100+ more for a card with basically the exact same performance of the XL.

I wouldn't worry too much about the 6800nu/GT. TSMC will be fabbing the .11u version of the them and that will allow the them to become more affordable to make for Nvidia. So, its the same old cycle. One company will always come up with an answer to the other company's marketing strategy. The XL should have came out "centuries" ago because now it's a little late in the game. Not saying they won't do very well in sales, it's just ATI lost so many sales because they never had something to compete with a 6800GT til now in both price and performance. The X800pro was too expensive for the performance it gave and still is. It will all work out in the end.

 

[MTSteel]

Damn more things to think about, I was set on a 6600GT, but now I think I should look at a x800XL, unfortunatley I have not seen one for under 499 Canadian...ick! But my thinking is buy a 6600GT now for $250, get a year out of it, sell it if I can for $100, maybe a x800XL drops to say $300. Do some quick math and I end up paying $150+300=$450. May as well bite the bullet and buy the damn x800XL for $500 now and enjoy it immediately for the $50 differnece! DAMNIT, I cannot believe I am about to spend $500 on a friggin card!!!!

 

[0JK0]

Cost wise it will steal sales from both. . Especially with the upcoming AGP version of the XL coming out. Its hard to justify paying $100+ more for a card with basically the exact same performance of the XL.

when is that??!!

 

[RacerX]

my X800 XL scores 6200 in 3dMark03 @ 1280x1024 4x/4x .... not sure if I have my numbers right but I think the 6600gt it replaced got about 3400 in the same test. There is a very noticeable difference once you move into 1280 levels.

 

[ronnn]

Originally posted by: MTSteel
Damn more things to think about, I was set on a 6600GT, but now I think I should look at a x800XL, unfortunatley I have not seen one for under 499 Canadian...ick!

Compusmart has the ati retail version for $400.00 Canadian. Text Maybe not the retail version, not sure. Off topic I know, but the shock of seeing anything available in Canada was too much.

 

[cubeless]

folks keep talking about all the prices coming down, but a 9800 is still around $200 it seems to me... woulda thought it should have dumped in price vs. the 6600... i have an 800xl coming in the mail as we speak... and it's 'cuz i'm building a new box for my kid (not to improve my eweenie)... doesn't make sense to go agp and a 6600gt is a good card, but the 800xl is worth the extra bux since he uses high res and we keep the things for a while...

i agree with the poster who brought up the cpu vs vid card issue... i am going low end cpu/mobo/mem (but will oc it however far it will go!) and spending the xtra bux on the vid since that really is where the difference is...

 

[mooncancook]

Ordered the Dell 2005FPW today! Can't wait to play HL2 with my 800XL in 16:10.
Also put my 6600GT on sale and hope for a decent return.

 

[MTSteel]

Went with a $230CAN Gigabyte 6600GT with my new PC. Could not wait forever for the x800xl here in Canada. When I did see one it was $499!! Not paying twice the cash for that card. lad to se you guys are happy with the x800xl, I would be too if I could get it for around $360CAN.

BTW, the 6600GT sure kicks butt though!! Cheapest video card I have bought in 6 years, and the fastest!!
Both my 8500LELE and 9800Pro were $300!! (still got $250CAN for my 9800Pro when I sold it a month ago(Future Shop still wants $349CAN OMG).