Other Issues
Power
One issue we encounter when testing various GeForce 6800GT is power. Since it draws power from the 12 volt rail not to mention the PCI Express slot, it's very sensitive to power fluctuations. Those with lots of 12 volts peripherals (hard drives, DVD / CD-ROMs) would have to make sure their power supply can withstand the additional load and provide stable output (in amps, not voltage). We actually used two power supply in our GeForce 6800GT round up because of this. With the default power supply we've used, whenever we try to access more than two IDE devices (two hard drives and a DVD-RW dual burner) at the same time, the additional drain from the DVD-RW spinning up would cause a blue screen and forced a restart with all of the GeForce 6800GT. However, this problem did not occur even once during our long hours of gameplay and testing. None of the Radeon X800XL cards we tested is affected by this problem.Noise
Unfortunately, we don't have a sound meter device, so we can't show you noise test results from these cards. However, overall the Radeon X800XL emits a more noticeable noise than the GeForce 6800GT. It's not loud, just noticeable in an open case environment, if you're using a closed case, the noise would not be as noticeable (except for the GeCube Uniwise - it did have a higher pitched noise).Some Forward Looking Statements
If increasing processor clock speeds by 400 MHz (roughly between 1/4 to 1/5) or performance rating from 3000+ to 3500+ nets us an average increase of 11 to 14 % increase in frame rates only on the minimum side, we can safely assume that most games are system limited on these cards. The best processor to pair these cards with are those with 10 % higher clock or performance rating (an Athlon 64 or FX) running at 2.4 GHz or about 3800+ to 4000+. Of course, this makes us wonder - what's the point of buying a faster graphics card like the GeForce 7 or Radeon X1K series? Even with the fastest processor available today, these cards will be system limited, at least until new, faster clocked processors arrive. Unfortunately, both Intel and AMD will likely focus more on dual core and multi core solutions than higher MHz in the future.Well, since we are undoubtedly system limited with cards such as the GeForce 7 and Radeon X1K series, the deciding factor would be higher frame rates with AA and AF enabled and / or higher frame rates with games that are graphically limited, quite possibly shader heavy. In this sense, AA and AF are 'free' because we can't push frame rates any higher (sans overclocking the processor). Developers are more aware than this, so newer games are making use of effects and shaders more heavily than they did a few years ago. That's why shader and AA / AF efficiency is more important than ever with these games. In respect to the GeForce 6800GT and Radeon X800XL, they are on opposite sides of this issue - the GeForce 6800GT with SM 3.0 support and the Radeon X800XL with less hit when running with AA and AF.
While this is good (new, more detailed graphics from games) a long term solution is badly needed to address system limitations on next generation graphics cards. Not only do they have to be very shader efficient and have less performance hit with AA and AF, they must also scale with dual and multi core processors. Thankfully, both ATI and NVIDIA have begun researching ways to multi thread their drivers on dual core processors.Both vendors have release beta versions of multi threaded drivers. However, note that these drivers are beta and it will take some time before they are ready for widespread use and provide tangible, significant performance compared to current drivers.
Conclusion:
Both cards offer the same level of performance, each with it's own advantages and disadvantages. If you don't like playing with AA and AF, the GeForce 6800GT should be your choice. Even if you decided to change you mind, the 6800GT can still provide playable frame rates with AA and AF with new games. For gamers who fuss more about image quality, compatibility and frame rate consistency, the Radeon X800XL is more appropriate. You get more effective anti aliasing - thus overall better image quality and with less of a performance hit. An added bonus is the tendency to scale even with AA and AF - something the GeForce 6800GT also lacks.[Previous Page]
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