Three video cards I am deciding upon for my next PC..... (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Which do you guys think is the best and/or better
value for the buck?

NVidea GeForce 6800 Ultra
NVidea GeForce 6800GT
ATI Radeon X800

..and what exactly is PCI EXPRESS?

Is there any real worth in paying extra for
this technology?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Joe D]

Not sure on the video cards. I just built a computer and I choose the GeForce 6600 and overclocked it a great deal, but those video cards would still smoke mine.

PCI Express is the latest BUS technology. It sounds like it is cheaper to produce / more efficient on Motherboards but it offers a dual channel path for sending and receiving information. So basically you've got an 8X path for sending information and an 8x path for receiving information.

The merits of PCI Express over AGP 8X are little in terms of real world performance, but since PCI Express is the the new technology we'll see more and more cards being only PCI Express.

All of this could be wrong because I just did casual research, but it's what I know.

Ohh, and Ron, stay away from Macs.

 

[Scott L]

What games do you play Ron?

 

[Shane Martin]

Theoretically is a better technology but as far as benchmarks go, it hasn't shown to be worth a crap. For Nvidia cards, it allows you to go SLI and combine 2 cards together(expensive) otherwise I really don't see a value in it at all. The 6800GT card I bought was easily $150 cheaper than the PCI-E equivalent.

 

[Nathan_F]

Extremetech just did a "bank for the buck" comparison and the 6800GT won handily.

While PCI Express offers no true benefit today, it is the wave of the future and the added bandwidth will inevitably be utilized in ATi and nVidia's quest to outduel each other in the graphics market. I.e., PCI Express will future-proof you more.

 

[Glenise]

Nvidia all the way!