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Written by Mavke
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Thursday, 07 October 2004 |
A new review on the Gigabyte X800 Pro has been published on Dev Hardware. A new era is upon the gaming community, where some games finally utilize so much processing power that the need for a P4 3GHz+ or equivalent processor and $400 video card is actually somewhat sound. It feels like it was just yesterday when the 5950 Ultra, 9800XT, and lesser cards modified and overclocked to match the former, reigned supreme as the top graphics accelerators available. But as the latest title from id Software shows, greater power is required and both nVidia and ATI have answered.
 Gigabyte X800 Pro Review
The Gigabyte X800 Pro tested was extremely overclockable. Although it came with an overclocking utility named V-Tuner, I opted to use ATITool to change clock frequencies and with Rthdribl in the background, test for stability and artifacts. The maximum core and memory overclock was 550MHz core and 1100MHz memory. This is an increase of 75MHz core and 200MHz memory over the 475/900MHz stock speed! The X800 Pro's strong overclocking provides value that the 6800 does not, because the 6800 is not much of an overclocker.
Overall, the X800 Pro is a very strong DirectX8 performer. It beat the 6800 in X2 Threat, Splinter Cell, and UT2K3. DirectX9 however, is a different story, as the 6800 becomes much more competitive, often taking the lead by a small margin. The 6800 is the better performer for Halo and Far Cry while the X800 Pro takes the lead in NFSU. Judging by our Call of Duty results, the 6800 is better for Quake 3 based games. The X800 Pro performs just fine however. In Doom 3, the 6800 is significantly faster than the X800 Pro. There is not much ATI can do about this, considering how closely nVidia worked with id software on the game. The X800 Pro had a tremendous advantage over the 6800 in the HL2 video test, but lost this advantage in CS Source. Time will only tell if the X800 series is to HL2 as the 6800 series is to Doom 3.
Gigabyte has put together a very strong bundle to complement their X800 Pro consisting of three full version games. The inclusion of Counter-Strike Condition Zero is my favorite because it has enabled me to look at CS Source and the HL2 video test. Fans of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six series as well as newcomers will appreciate Raven Shield. It is a beautiful game that shows the graphical power of the X800 Pro. The third game is SpellForce. >Gigabyte has also included all the necessary accessories like a s-video cable, s-video to composite converter, component video cable, etc. The cooling solution is quiet and effective, and overall the card is a strong overclocker. The use of 2.0ns Samsung BGA memory accounts for this partially. If paired with an even stronger cooling solution, I'm positive the X800 Pro can overclock even greater. The only drawback specific to the Gigabyte X800 Pro is the lack of hardware monitoring, or Overdrive. I found no Overdrive tab in the advanced display properties, and Gigabyte's website shows that the card does not support hardware monitoring (which is part of Overdrive). ATITool did not find a temperature monitor either.
Currently, the 6800 is approximately $299 while the X800 Pro is $75-100 more. Much of this cost difference is because the X800 Pro has 256MB DDRIII memory while the 6800 has 128MB DDR memory. Both are 12 pixel pipeline video cards. The 6800 supports SM3.0, but we have yet to see any games utilize this. Each video card has its strengths, and it is difficult to recommend one over the other. For example, the 6800 is much stronger in Doom 3, but that is only important if you play Doom 3. The X800 Pro is a strong overclocker - but not everyone overclocks. Nor may you still be interested in DX8 games where the X800 Pro is stronger. The final verdict as to which video card is best for you depends on what kind of gamer you are. If you are interested in an X800 Pro, Gigabyte's solution is very strong, one you would not regret choosing.
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