8800 (NVIDIA) vs R600 (ATI) (Im so confused)

[Alchemist023]

Hey everyone,
For past month i have been reading a great deal about windows vista as i plan to build a pc as soon as its released at the end of Janaury. My focus has been especially on directx10 and its new features.

What i dont understand however is if there is any significant difference between the two only so called direct x 10 GPUs produced by rival companies ATI and NVIDIA. Obviously the 8800 has been out for a little while now and claims to be dx10 compliant however i have read reviews which seem to indicate that it cant utilize all of dx10 features. On the other hand the R600 is yet to be released (due when... anyone know) and i have no idea whether it will blow the 8800 out of the water for performance or just match it.

I figured that TOG would have a good knowledge base in its members and someone may be able to clear this up for me. Basically i wanna know if i should race out and buy a 8800 or wait for the R600?

One other thing also is when can we expect games to utilize dx10 as at vista's release i can think of any games which take advantage of its features.

[Alchemist023]

ok i found a article at Sudhian website which says...
The gang over at The Inquirer report that sources are indicating AMD/ATI will be forced to re-spin the company's upcoming R600 GPU, resulting in yet another delay for the flagship graphics chipset. This must be especially painful for ATI as NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 series is enjoying its spot on top of the performance charts and does so without any other challenger. Some "preliminary" benchmarks which were leaked last week suggest some exceptional performance from the R600 GPU and seems to indicate ATI will retain the performance crown. However, with critical issues still plaguing the GPU it is hard to put any faith in the numbers until we can get our own hands on some stable silicon. Regardless, ATI fans will now likely be waiting until early March to see what new tricks the company has up their sleeves.
The last revision of the prototype chip - upon which a certain "pre-review" is based - also suffers from problems which are serious enough to get another re-spin, sources tell me. This re-spin puts a hold on the launch for another couple of weeks, and now R600 is looking like an early March launch, probably the week before SnowBIT in Hangover. However, AMD/ATI is making severe changes to the whole line up and we can say that this launch, when it happens, will be very, very shocking for the 3D industry.

[OldnBold]

Griffey mate .. this should be in the "Laboratory Forum" .. perhaps a kind admin could move it there

[Alchemist023]

oh i might not have access to lab forum cause im just registered with TOG but not a member (only 21 not old enough).

[OldnBold]

Ah okies. I would not race out and buy anything at the moment.

There are limited things that have been deveoped for DX10 at the moment and because graphics cards have just been released (Nvidia) costs are high.

Your DX9 card will run on Vista. So my advice would be to wait and see what THE ATI offering is. When ATI release their card the cost of Nvidia cards will come down. So I advise waiting and keep looking for reviews on the ATI card

[Alchemist023]

ty i appreciate the feedback. Will the 8800 be able to play the first dx10 games which are released mid this year do u think?

[Wongdai]

I hope so - I just bought one.

[Alchemist023]

i only have a crappy palit x700 and it would stuggle. So im in need of a new pc. Just not sure if i should get a 1950 or something close or spend on dx10 one and not have to worry about upgrading as soon

[Clint]

Depends what you can afford. I'd go for the 8800 if you're upgrading now.

There has only been fake reports on any kind of performance for the r600 to date.

Or be patient young padawan and wait for the r600 release if it ever happens

[Alchemist023]

Ok so i have finally made my decision. I will build the following pc...


- ASUS P5N32-E SLi M/Board – 680SLi, 1333mhz FSB, Dual channel DDR2-800, 2xPCI Express x16, SATA II RAID, Dual Gigabit LAN, 8ch Audio, ATX
- VIEWSONIC VX2235WM, 22 inch wide screen

http://www.viewsonic.com.au/pr/show.php?id=28
http://www.techtree.com/India/Viewsonic_VX2235WM_22/551-76456-630.html
http://www.pricegrabber.co.uk/rating_getprodrev.php/masterid=22114488/id_type=masterid


- LITEON 16x DVD+/- R RW DRIVE
- 250 GB SATA SEAGATE HARD DRIVE

http://compreviews.about.com/od/storage/gr/Barracuda72008.htm
- Thermaltake Armor Black

http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-280-1.htm
http://www.xoxide.com/thermaltake-armor-case-black.html
- Corsair TWIN2x 2048-6400 2Gb (2x XMS2 1GB) Twin 2x PC-6400 DDR2 RAM, 2x240 pin – DIMMS
- Microsoft windows vista home prem 32 bit DVD
- Core 2 Duo E6700/ 2.66Ghz/$mb cache/ 1066FSB/ LGA775
- Inno3D GF 8800Gtx 768Mb 384 bit DDR3, HDTV, Dual DVI, PCI Express x16 interface 575mhz core clock, 1800 Mhz memory clock

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/taxid;2136212627;pid;2864;pt;1
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/100173/inno3d-8800-gtx.html

- Black floppy disk drive 1.44mb

Can anyone see any potential problems with me machine i wanna get built. I appreciate critism. One thing i am unsure of is that i was under impression vista would be available in 32 and 64 bit versions. Is this true and if so i should go 64 bit?