I've seen a little bit on the mid-range X*00 series, most recently the X600 was tested on Doom 3 at the HardOCP Hardware Guide. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about them, and if they're valid solutions for mid-range cards?

If so, ATi could very well beat out nVidia in the budget card range, if not the high-end gaming card range.

Anyone know if nVidia has anything planned to rebut?

Oh and one side question--does HL2 and/or S.T.A.L.K.E.R. use SM3.0?

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I looked around a bit and it doesn't look like there is anything in the works (that is public) from Nvidia. If they are holding off on their budget cards, ATI may very well have them cornered, but I seriously doubt it will take too long for them to announce additions to the 6*00 series (assuming their going to stay with that title).

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ZGPC

The X600XT is almost the same as the 9600XT, but for PCI-Express. It's slightly slower than a 9700 non-pro.

And the X300 is also for PCI-express, but much worse.

[This message has been edited by IDJunkguy (edited July 29, 2004).]

Ah, thanks. So they're pretty much just PCI-Express budget cards. That's smart of ATi.

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Except for the fact that nobody has PCIE.

Bleh

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ZGPC

[This message has been edited by finity5 (edited July 29, 2004).]

Sooo.. is PCIE > AGP in terms of speed? Finity5 is right, at least for me. I do not have a PCIE slot and I'm NOT going to purchase a new mobo for a new video card. My mobo isn't even 1 year old.

I would like to try an ATI card. I'm not hearing good stuff about FX cards. And I think I have some experience to back claims up.

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PCIE is indeed faster than standard AGP, but nobody can USE that speed yet. It's stupid, but it's going to be propietary on newer motherboards. ATi's just getting ahead of the game.

The FX series, for DX9, was horrible. For image quality (AA, AF), they were horrible. The ones that were supposed to compare to ATi counterparts, didn't (i.e. 9600 vs 5700, 9600 > 5700. 9800 vs 5900, 9800 > 5900), and they were just a crappy line of cards. The only thing I would suggest is a 5950 ultra maybe, and only because it's so cheap and gives good Doom 3 performance. Other than that, ATi 9*00 line all the way.

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PCIe is not necessarily faster than AGP. It's just capable of faster transfer speeds, but the current video cards don't make use of that yet.

It's not just transfer speed, the way the entire bus works and communicates with other parts of the system is totally different. It also provides a completely new (and easier) way for programmers to use their hardware.

So before you go calling it a gimmick, go read some nVidia or ATI developer notes, or watch the videos. nVidia has a good video explaining it.

Edit: PCI-E is also capable of SLI.

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[This message has been edited by Emon (edited July 30, 2004).]

i remember seeing some comparison shots and the nvidia shots looked better on the AF comparisons

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