XFX GeForce 6800GT Review

Today we bring you one of XFX’s latest graphics cards, their GeForce 6800GT. Running on a 16 pixel pipeline architecture and using a single slot cooling solution, does the card have what it takes to take on the ATI Radeon X800 Pro? Come and take a look.

Introduction:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the video card sector is one of the most competitive and ever changing in all of the computer industry. We’ve seen ATI and NVIDIA battle for market dominance over the past three years, presenting a level of competition that this market has never seen before. Both companies have millions to spend on research and development, and their latest offerings, the NV40 and R420 series released earlier this year have proven ATI and NVIDIA’s desire to have their name on the fastest graphics card currently available.

A problem we’ve been seeing lately from both companies is product availability. The GeForce 6800 series was launched in April but only started to hit store shelves in large numbers early August, while the Radeon X800 series was launched in May and only became widely available to consumers in late July. Since then, we’ve witnessed the release of Doom 3 and while we still await the release of Half-Life 2, we’ve already taken a look at how every current graphics card architecture performs in the Half-Life 2 Stress Test, here.

Not only are we seeing many new games hit the market this year, we’re also seeing games like Far Cry being patched to include new features like the Shader Model 3.0 that the NV40 series uses. This coupled with constant driver updates from the Detonator and Catalyst driver teams make the playing field very different than what it was back earlier in the year when the NV40 and R420 architectures were first announced.

So with today’s drivers and today’s readily available games, will the 12 pixel pipeline based Radeon X800 Pro be able to outperform the 16 pixel pipeline based GeForce 6800GT? Let’s take a closer look…

Specifications:

Package Contents:

•User Manual
•Drivers Disk
•Moto GP 2
•X2: The Threat
•Commandos 3
•Doom 3
•S-Video Cable
•RCA Cable
•DVI to VGA Adapter
•S-Video to RCA Adapter

When XFX first released their GeForce 4 Ti 4600 graphics cards three years ago, the company knew it would have to differentiate itself from the competition. It did that by putting together a unique package in terms of looks and software bundle. Since gamers are going to be the ones buying their graphics cards, XFX decided to bundle games that people will actually play with their products. This philosophy continues with the XFX GeForce 6800GT, a card that has a great bundle that includes Moto GP 2, X2: The Threat, Commandos 3, and of course Doom 3. XFX put in the extra effort to make this card very attractive to the consumers that would be buying it, rivaling only MSI as the company with the best graphics card bundle.