[NTLUG:Discuss] Re: pci-e and linux ( and radeon -vs- nvidia )

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Wed, 2004-12-22 at 11:05, Chris Cox wrote:
> Well not anymore of course...
> http://www.bfgtech.com/news_12.20.04_2.html

Again, note the quoted "native":  
  The 6600GT is the fastest "native" PCIe card from nVidia.

As someone else pointed out, the 6800 series is AGP.  A _bridge_ is
required for PCIe.  This adds cost.  Unfortunately, it _really_ seems to
"add cost" when it comes to the 6800 series -- even just the
non-GT/non-Ultra versions.  I can only assume nVidia sees PCIe as "low
priority" for 6800.

So to summarize again, the "price/performance" right now for nVidia
depends on if the IC is _native_ to the slot.

So ...
- If you've got AGP and dough, go with a 6800/GT/Ultra series on AGP
- If you are building new, and want to save, go 6200/6600 on PCIe
- If you want to move to PCIe, and want decent, go 6600/6600GT
And if you just want a better video card, but only want to spend $50-60,
go GeForce4 Ti series.  The Ti4200/4200-8x or Ti4800 are about the same
card.  The Ti4400/4600 were earlier versions (prior to the Ti4200) with
slightly higher clocks/memory, more layered PCBs but not much faster.

> I'm agreeing with Bryan, the Ti4600 plays doom 3 with very acceptable
> frame rates.

The NV25/28 (Ti4x00/4800) are previous-gen cores.  Without a lot of
FSAA, they are quite good.

The NV3x (FX series) add new features, but unless you go with a FX5750
or higher, with those features disabled, the NV25/28 wins _hands_down_. 
And if you enable those features on "cheaper" NV3x cards like the
FX5200, 5500 and even the FX5700"LE" -- you're looking at sub-10fps to
"match" the NV25/28.

The new NV4x (6000 series) are now the best balance.  You get raw
performance with the new core features.  There is _nothing_ that beats
even just the 6600 in the previous NV3x/2x series.  And the 6200
probably near-matches the upper FX5900 series.

But the "cheapest" 6000 series on AGP right now is the 6600GT.  Normally
the 6600GT is $200 list, as low as $170, on PCIe -- but almost $250 on
AGP!  So it's not really worth it unless you have AGP.

> I now have a 6600gt though, and it does very, very, very well.

Exactly.  It will _toast_ anything short of a 6800 series.

-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                    b.j.smith at ieee.org 
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