ATI Radeon X800 XL - A $299 6800GT Competitor
by Anand Lal Shimpi on December 15, 2004 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
As a side note, before we talk about the comparison at hand, at $199, the Radeon X800 does a good job of competing with NVIDIA's GeForce 6600GT. However, it lacks SLI support and isn't available today, so our mid-range recommendation is still firmly planted on the 6600GT if you're buying a card before the end of the year.Once it was launched, we knew that the X800 XL would be an interesting competitor to NVIDIA's GeForce 6800GT, and indeed it is. As we mentioned earlier in the review, ignoring Doom 3, the X800 XL is quite competitive with the 6800GT and should be $100 cheaper when it hits the streets. At a high level, the X800 XL is a more affordable alternative to the 6800GT that offers similar performance in most areas. Unfortunately for ATI, Doom 3 is a big deal and it somewhat complicates our recommendation.
If you are looking for an AGP card, your only option at this price point is really the 6800GT. There are cheaper alternatives, but not better performing AGP alternatives at $400 or less.
ATI informed us at the X850 launch that the X800 XL would be available sometime in January. If this is indeed true, then in January, we'd be foolish not to recommend the X800 XL, not because it offers a huge performance advantage over the 6800GT (which it does not), but because it holds a $100 price advantage over the 6800GT.
If ATI is able to bring out the X800 XL at its suggested street price of $299, then most users won't have a problem glancing over the lower Doom 3 performance, given that the X800 XL is quite competitive in other titles. If ATI can ensure that their only blemish is Doom 3, and should they continue to work hard to reduce that blemish through further driver optimizations, then the X800 XL won't only be the more affordable solution, but it would become the clear solution.
For now, ATI wins because of price, which is something that we're able to live with. Now, if this thing is actually available when it's suppose to be, then we'll be happy. However, if it's not, then ATI will have succeeded in delaying holiday sales of NVIDIA's GeForce 6800GT. If you are at all worried about ATI bringing out the X800 XL on time, then the 6800GT is still a good option, just a potentially more costly one. We can't predict the future, but for the sake of keeping competition cleaner, we're hoping that come January, we won't regret recommending the X800 XL today.
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Questar - Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - link
Hey nVidia fanboys that want to compare this card to a 6800NU.How bad do you want to lose? That's a 12 pipe card.
flexy - Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - link
21:>>>
The only silicon parts available for my system are the AMD 3500+ and OCZ Platinum memory.
>>>
same here :)
flexy - Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - link
#16:>>>
Another famous hardware review site with the name tom in it has taken a stand for several months now, refusing to review non-existing products. You should elevate yourself to their level in that regard; everyone will respect you for doing so.
>>>
i might agree with you there !
This reviewsing of non-existant products ALSO will greatly contribute to the price-hiking which we see right now. X800XT PE card for $899, anyone ?
Also...recent reviews (eg: Nforce 4) VARIOUS sites, not only AT, reviewed it based on Beta bios which did NOT even yield information about
STABILITY
OVERCLOCKABILITY
PCI-LOCK YES/NO
all these reviews were based on such early products that for the enthusiasts it still remains to guess whether these products actually meet their expectations.
IRONOCIALLY, people seem to be willing to spend $350 on MSRP $180 boards (say: ASUS NF4 SLI)....not even knowing whether these boards, for example, would even be capable of providing a stable FSB/HTT over 217. (If you want these boards to overclock).
From this point of view these reviews are really *worthless*. I could get the same information off a nvidia press-release, just reading the advertized specs.
Aquila76 - Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - link
These friggin' paper launches are killing me. I want to build a nForce4 SLI with twin 6800GT's. I was hoping to have some of my wishlist of parts 'Christmased' to me, but looks like that ain't gonna happen. The only silicon parts available for my system are the AMD 3500+ and OCZ Platinum memory. What's the point of there's nothing to plug them into?My other question on this is how are these companies keeping on track for their fiscal projections if they have no available new products?
Keyser0804 - Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - link
How come they did not compare it against the 6800 vanilla? Isn't that the competitor or am I missing something?Momental - Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - link
Has ATi ever given a reason as to why their cards are in such short supply? Is it really just a matter of, "the demand far exceeded our production schedule!"? It's not like they, or nVidia, are new to the whole phenomenon of people like us clammering for their product.It just seems as if this time around, both companies have completely dropped the proverbial ball when it comes to making GPU's available to us. Susan, back over to you in the studio. :)
cnq - Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - link
Yeah, you're right. But the tom folks at least kept their original stand, which was not to review the nvidia 6200 when it was paper launched.LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - link
Note that the "famous hardware site" that took the stand is reviewing the same ATI products today...and like Anandtech, they left the vanilla nVidia 6800 off the benchmarks.It seems that everyone who wishes to "take a stand" does so with words...but their actions fail to back them up.
cnq - Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - link
Anand,Congrats on your intro. It's ABOUT TIME you took a stand against paper launches. But then, you didn't take a stand, did you? You still did the review on a non-existent product, with bugs everywhere (couldn't overclock). This does the buyer absolutely no good.
Another famous hardware review site with the name tom in it has taken a stand for several months now, refusing to review non-existing products. You should elevate yourself to their level in that regard; everyone will respect you for doing so.
DeathByDuke - Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - link
X800 at $200/£170-200. killer. specially GF6600GT killer... be prepared to watch 9800 Pro/XT prices skydive when AGP X800 comes out in Jan (a few other sites stated that fact). most are still near £160-200. oh, yeah, I bet nvidia panic price drops as a response if they _did_ cancel NV48. If they didn't, well.... gotta love compettition ;)