6800nu vs 9800pro flashed to xt

[Spyd3r187]

I'm deciding between which one would be a better choice.

128mb 6800 non ultra
128mb 9800 pro (hopefully the r360 core) flashed to 128 9800xt
256mb 9800 pro (hopefully the r360 core) flashed to 9800xt

I'm feeling the 6800 because then I wouldn't have to risk not getting the r360 core on the other gfx cards.

Is there much difference between the 2 cards? I know that the 6800 is supposed to be a new generation and therefore they aren't really comparible. I'll probably just be playing on the resolution 1280.

Also would there be much of an image quality difference or would the 6800 look better hands down? I've seen comparisons of ATI and nVidia's cards and it seems that the ATI's have sharper detail while the nVidia's are softer.

Any help please??

Thanks.

[Zerileous]

im not sure about IQ, but i know the 6800 will perform a bit better. Personally, i got the 9800pro (128) and flashed, primarily because i didnt want to spend the extra money, partially from loyalty to ATI, and partially from my urge to tweak stuff.

[iceberg_slim]

Here's a review of the 6800 from anandtech. There's another one over at firingsquad too.

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2113

I agree with zerileous . . . 6800 gives you more performance, for less money. Pricewatch lists the 9800XT for 350 :O and 6800nu128 for 280. That would settle it for me right there.

XT flashing isn't set in stone but I've read on the forums that Sappaire 9800pro's have a good chance of being 360 core. Those cards price around 200+.

If you’re concerned about IQ read reviews about the 6000s vs. x800s on various sites (hardocp, tomshardware...etc). From what I gather everyone agrees that Nvidia is finally doing IQ right with the 6000 series. The 6000s represent a total chip redesign by nvidia to challenge ATI's 300 core.

Lastly I'd buy the card that will run the games that you want to play best. Nvidia cards are better for some games, while ATI is better for others. The only rule of thumb I can give here is that Nvidia cards run OpenGL games better than ATI across the board (although ATI is rewriting the OpenGL part of it's driver in a response to Nvidia's overpowering performance in Doom3).

If you've got 300 bones to spend on a video card I'd go with the 6800nu . . . no question. Maybe someone will figure out how to flash a 6800nu into a GT:).