need to buy one of the following cards... will be used with Vista Ultimate. nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX nVidia GeForce 8800 GTS ATI Radeon X1950 from what i gather, the ATI card wont run DX10, and the nVidia cards will. however the ATI card uses GDDR4 and the nVidia cards use GDDR3. based on what you guys know and feel, first, would you choose the ATI card or one of the nVidia cards? second, if youd go with an nVidia card, do you feel there would be a big enough difference between the GTX and the GTS to justify the extra cost of the GTX?
The X1950 is set to compete with the GeForce 7900's, and the GeForce 8800's are nVidia's successor, so you're not comparing same generation technology with one another. The 8800's are superior to the X1950. Look around at some reviews and you'll see that the 8800 mop the floor with anything else out there. The 8800GTS typically whomps on the X1950XTX, and the 8800GTX has a good stride above the GTS, not to mention the ability to turn on even higher detail, anti-ailasing and anisotropic filtering levels while doing so. If your buying now, the 8800GTX is the best you can get by significant strides. However, AMD/ATi is supposed to have a DX10 and 8800 series competitor ready to go at the end of January. While there's no data to suggest the DX10-class Radeon lineup will best the 8800's, at this point, if you can hold off another month, you might see who has the better value. Right now, the 8800GTX is what I'd get. The X1950XTX, the top X1950 card usually isn't even close to the 8800GTS, and if you're going to drop that kind of cash on a video card, you're simply better off with either 8800.
thanks a lot for that info! so then... GTX or GTS? Assuming money isnt the issue, is the GTX REALLY that much better than the GTS as far as real world, noticeable differences?
Yes. It's usually at least 10 frames per second faster at it's top settings, all other factors being equal.
