New 320MB 8800 GTSs will be available next month.

Hmm.. 8800 GTS 320MB for 300$ in Feburary. The 640MB version will probably be 350$ by then, so its not worth it. The X1950XT will be 200$ if not less by then aswell, so i dont see how it can compete with it.

lol...because compared to an 8800gts the x1950xt sucks...DX10 is a big deal, and if someone can pay even $50 more to get it, they definitely will...

This is a huge deal, this will easily take the $299 price point and put nVidia in spectacular position once again. ATi had better hurry up and get their DX10 cards out before it's too late. Am I the only one having flashbacks to the 7800GTX vs X1800XT?

Thats great! But hwat amount of ram will the presumed 8900gt and gs have?

ATI has got some time to perfect their DX10 cards. How much DX10 software is out there right now. I can name a thousand DX9 items.

Yeah, and the GTS is faster than the X1950XT in all of those dx9 games too. Why blow money on last gen hardware when you can get great dx9 performance now with better image quality and the ability to run DX10 in the future for about the same about of money?

Give me one good reason for buying an X1950XT over a 320MB GTS?

Consumers believed the hype with PS 3.0 two years ago, so I'm sure nVidia will have no trouble convincing them that DX10 is a must have in their next video card...because it is.

anyone know how much it will be?

It will be interesting to see how ATI responds. They won't be able to compete at the current price point $250-$300 for the X1950XT.

Give credit to ATI though because they've done a great job bolstering their mid-range cards while Nvidia has been busy with the high end 8800 series. Nvidia felt the pressure and responded with the 320 MB GTS.

No matter what though the customer wins when these two compete.

This is whole DX10 is just a bunch of hooiee. There are NO DX10 games, and there wont be for months. Plus the X1950XT can run every DX10 game just as well as a DX10 card, except for maybe some added bits.. idk. The point is this - Crysis is running on DX9.0 right now, is it really that ugly? NO! Its the best thing in the world, i cant imagine anything better.

And so the X1950XT is STILL a good deal. The X1900 series is the BEST! And when u say "get a DX10" card, i think i would want to wait for the 8900 GTX or the X2900XT, because just like those who bought the 7800 GTX; when the 7900 GTX was released, they were dissapointed.

Oh, and abt eh 8800 GTS - the 640MB will cost only 50$ more so why not buy that instead? ur going to need at least 512MB for DX10 games (whenever they will come).

I think this is going to be just for this gen man. When the 8900's come out who knows maybe more maybe less.

How the hell can you say that you'll need 512MB for DX10 games? And anyone who buys a video card for what's available NOW is just being shortsighted. In any case, the 8800GTS is simply a better card than the X1950XT. It has better image quality, more speed, DX10 (which is a big deal, and if you don't think so, you don't know what you're talking about), better and faster AA, better AF, and it's even quieter.

Only an ATi fanboy would choose an X1950XT given the option of an 8800GTS at the same price.

geforce 8800gts is $300/400 while radeon x1900xt is $200

Its not my fault! You cant edit comments. What i meant was that u would need 512MB for high-end settings, and if u buy the 8800 (a high-end DX10 card), ur going to need 512MB.

The 8800 GTS is ofcourse a better card, but is it worth 100$ more when i dont even have the slightest clue what the benefits of a DX10 card running on DX10 are? Well.. i guess so. And i dont think u know what the benefits are either - so how can YOU know what u are talking abt?

An ATI fanboy? I used to be an nVidia fanboy (i guess i always will be), just like i used to be a Nintendo fanboy (Sorta) but the Wii flushed that out.

Bottom Line - The 8800 GTS is worth the 100$, but isnt the 640MB version worth an extra 50$ aswell? I think so.

@Track Because I understand what DX10 is, and there will be very real differences between DX10 games and DX9 games. It's worth the money even without DX10 support...with DX10, it's a no-brainer.

well i'd save up the extra 50 $ for the 640 mb version . the 320mb vs 640 mb will make a big difference when on very high settings , because they tend to consume ALOT of memory .

Well i wanna say one thing about this card. Wont it be harder for this thing to render AA with half the ram? I mean mine can render QAA 16x nice but how about this? Will it be able to do atleast 8xQaa?

@David...in a word, nope. AA craves memory bandwidth, not necessarily space.

If I remember correctly--which I may wholly not, the difference between, say, dx8 and dx9 is pretty negligible, but the difference between between 9 and 10 will be massive. Mike probably can explain this better than I can, but the processes of rendering everything in dx10 will be entirely different than in 9, so performance will not be anywhere near the same in dx10 games with a dx9 card or less. I'm holding out for the r600 (or 700, if the 600 tanks) before I get a new card for that very reason; the x1950xt at $220 after rebate is a pretty sweet deal, but not if dx10 works as well as Microsoft would have us all believe it will.

Ok thx Mike so it should be fine? Then the only thing that will be impacted is resolution right?

Well yeh, AA/AF and more pixels require more RAM, but dont forget abt the textures as they take 90% or more.

What are you talking about?

the difference between DX 9 and DX 10 is just of SAHDER MODEL i guess. X1950xt is obviously a better chice for me becoz it is priced at 200 dollars. If u keep saying that go 50 dollars more then u can buy a new 1 then u may probably end up paying up 600 dollars for the 8800gtx.

x1950xt is definitely for me.

"I understand what DX10 is, and there will be very real differences between DX10 games and DX9 games. It's worth the money even without DX10 support...with DX10, it's a no-brainer."


Indeed, DX10 is a very big deal; but perhaps not so much at the moment, considering (as has been mentioned) the fact that the number of games and applications out now and in the immediate future that take advantage of DX10's features is minimal. By the time there are a reasonable number of games/apps out there using DX10 (If I had to guess, I'd estimate about 16 months), the selection of video cards will be considerably better and less expensive.

That being said, though, a 8800GTS for $300 is still a great deal.

@anonynous: You are right, the X1950XT is the best price/performance graphics card on earth.

@ROBO-STALIN: You are also right. That is my entire argument - DX10 is good (how good we dont know) but since it wont be here for at least a few months, buying a DX10 card now isnt as good of an idea. However! If ur going to buy a whole new PC now, buying an 8800 over an X1950XT might be a better idea, cause ur not going to buy another card after the X1950XT for at least a while.

Ok here is my thought on the whole thing. DX10 is a nice ting to have, but for those who have a DX10 card how are you using that card to the fullest at this very moment? Is there anything out right now that uses DX10? Im all for getting somethings early for the future but only to a certain extent. I dont want to get something and only use a certain percentage of its full potential at its release. When i see a lot more things run on DX10 then ill consider getting a DX10 card. Right now i see nothing wrong with DX9 at this moment. Vista so far is the only piece of software that i see running DX10. There could be others so i can be wrong. I rather wait till i see more things running DX10 but for now ill stick with DX9.

Any guess as to when 8900's will be released? I'm probably going to get a new card around Summer....so i've got a couple months

February.

Jesus Christ. This article is about the 8800 GTX 320MB. When it comes out, the X1950XT is history, end of story. There is NO REASON to buy an X1950XT over a $300 8800 GTS. It's faster, quieter, has better IQ, and supports DX10. There is NO CONTEST.

Well what about physics on the rd600? Will Nvidia have something for intel like that soon?

Something tells me Sapphire knows this, thus why they're trying to move as many units as possible right now. (c:

The absolute only reason to get an x1950xt at that time will be the (likely) decreased price, somewhere around $200 or less.

February for the 8900's??!?!?

WOW THAT SOON??!??!
I wasn't expecting that. You're thinking they're going to come out with the mid-range 8800's huh?

We don't know much at all about nVidia's plan for physics except that they're definitely doing something, and it'll likely involve a third card. Physics is the last thing I'm worried about right now, I'm pretty sure it'll be a while till physics acceleration takes off.

The 8900s are NOT coming in Feburary.
The X2800s are NOT coming in Feburary.
Crysis is NOT coming in late 2006.. make that Janurary 2007.. make that March 2007.. make that May of 2007.. make that June of 2007.. make that "i''ll be happy if we release it this year" as said by the director.

So dont count ur chickens.

Physics seems to be the "cool" new thing. Everyone is talking about it and their plans to incorporate physics in the GPU, the second core of the CPU and some even try and sell u worthless physics cards that do nothing.

Personally im happy with the physics i get with my Pentium 4 and FX 5200.

Im sure to be happy with the physics i will get with my E4400 and 8900 GTX, playing Half Life 2.

So I dont personally get it, unless ur talking abt Crysis.. im all for that.

@Anonymous. Yes february is the expected launch time.

@Track. Rumors point to early march as another possiblity.

@Mike. I heard that before Amd bought ATi Nvidia had plans for some kind of exclusivity On Amd 680 Chipsets for physics(Not permanently just for awhile Just like with The early day's of Nforce4 and Sli) using the third Pci-e slot with any 7-series or up card.
And we all know why that did'nt occur.(Damn you Hector!)

DX10 is a load of CRAP right now. Why? Well, for your $$$$DX10 video card to do it's stuff you have to be running VISTA. Yep, that's right, DX10 DOES NOT WORK in XP. Never will either. So, if you buy a DX10 card to help you under XP, you just wasted your money.

If you bought a DX10 card, and have switched to VISTA, then that's another story. The early benchmarks show VISTA to be a pretty poor gaming platform right now. I'm sure that will change eventually once all the drivers get updated, et... However, that does mean for now you still wasted your money on a DX10 card.

A few months from now, when VISTA has all the drivers fixed, patched, etc.... Then having a DX10 card will be of some benefit, but for now it's a wast of money. Save your money, wait a few months, and the same DX10 card will be MUCH cheaper and also able to play well under VISTA.