Originally posted by: Marsumane
Originally posted by: Rollo
Originally posted by: EngenZerO
I was actually in the same situation you were in.
I had an x800xt on order from compusa and then for some odd reson, I decided I would rather have the nvidia card this go around. I cancelled my order from compusa and ended up purchasing the BFG 6800 Ultra. Granted I spend an extra 100 dollars I personally believe nvidia will win this round in the long run. It will take them a few months to iron out the driver issues but I am a hoe for new technology. Dunno, I could have made the bigged mistake but what is done is done.
Err, I don't know how you could have made "the biggest mistake":
1. There are no games a 6800U won't perform well enough on that you will miss the difference in performance of an X800XT
2. If you turn off the brilinear filtering that compromises IQ in some situations, the cards should be about equal
3. The impact of SM3 over the life of the card for you remains to be seen, and you wouldn't have it at all with the X800XT. ATI couldn't figure it out and is stuck with the limited features of DX9b, which they've had for 2 years.
I dont think that they couldnt figure it out, its more that they cidnt bother figuring it out or started to work on it too late after finding nv having it already implemented in ther new cards. Afterall, ati expected nothing more then a 12 pipe card from nv that was modified from their 5900 core. That is y ati had to pull out their best offer (the xt oced to the xtpe) at the same time they released the pro.
And Nvidia has never had to invent or pull a trump card out early before (and sometimes prematurely)? *cough* FX5800
Ultra with the DustBuster FX cooling, *cough cough* 59
50, etc. That is the nature of the industry.
Honestly, both companies have faster and faster cards waiting to be released if/when the market demands them and if/when their competitor releases something faster.
It is exactly the same situation in the CPU market. Why do you think Intel held strong at the 3.0 GHz mark for so long, when 3.2 GHz was clearly a possibility earlier? Why did Intel not standardize hyperthreading on the lower end chips until much later than the 3.06 with HT was released, and even then hesitantly? Why was the EE series even released/sent for testing? It was in response to market conditions. Intel didn't do 'value' hyperthreading for a long time because they didn't have to - AMD was behind with the AXP at the time. Intel was then planning to just slap HT on their 533 bus chips for the masses, but in response to all the hype of AMD's 64 bit 'Hammer' lineup (and internal delays to Prescott), they put Prescott's 800 MHz FSB on their whole line of Northwood P4's.
Same thing for the EE, AMD released the A64 series and just whooped intel's arse in benchmarks, so Intel had to get something out the door to make them look like the market leader again.
To say that either Nvidia or AMD have been caught
totally off guard in the past few years is pretty ignorant. The only time when it seems one company was truly caught by surprise was Nvidia after the surprisingly powerful and feature filled 9700 Pro debuted several years ago, and that was only because ATI was just then transitioning from the old mediocre company they were to the sharp new company they are today under the direction of ArtX brains and management.
Since then neither company has truly been floored by a competitor's product - they know what to expect from one another.
Did ATI plan to hold back the X800 XT? I think it's pretty obvious they did. However, were they ready to launch it if need be? Of course they were - it's hitting the channels in the same quantities as Nvidia's new cards are right now.
And to dismiss the X800 XT PE as just an 'overclocked XT' - well geez, which company is truly selling overclocked chips? The one who releases faster cards on a whim, or the one who slaps gigantic CPU-style HSF's onto dual-slot power hungry GPU's?
Both companies are doing a smashing job right now. I mean, check the benchmarks - they're neck and neck for chrissakes!