Does Valve have anthing new to say about hardware?

[City17Citizen01]

Does Valve have anything new to say about hardware?

Anyone remember that vid with gabe talking about HL2 on Ati VS. Nvidia cards, around about the time of the ati bundle. That vid made it sound like Nvidia was hard to write paths for. I got the impression that either they were not going to spend the time to do it (by talking about toggleing dx levels for perf) or they were going to leave it up to driver makers to deal with. Have they anything new to say about the latest batch of cards, from either vendor?

Honestly I'd like to know, I'm in the market for a new card and my eye is still set on a 6800GT, but will it offer teh price/perf balance with HL2 as some other comepeting ATI card, I'm not even sure if something entirely new will pop up by the time I actually get to play HL2, and I say this being a guy who is pretty up to speed on hardware. :/

 

[fragShader]

gf 6 series works good. CS:S runs great on my 6800GT.

gf 5 (FX) series has poor dx9 performance so hl2 defaults to dx8 mode for those cards.

 

[P43.2/1Gig/X800P]

Get the x800 Pro 256 mem Its worth it!

 

[Dirk Pitt]

an x800pro is a step down from a 6800GT. Either one will provide a kick-ass gaming experience.

 

[blahblahblah]

an x800pro is a step down from a 6800GT. Either one will provide a kick-ass gaming experience.

I wouldn't say step down. I would say it is tailgating the 6800 GT. Future driver improvements may have the X800 Pro becoming faster than the 6800 GT. My point? Both are amazing cards.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Get the x800 Pro 256 mem Its worth it!

Enough of you, you WERE on lan and looking at a place in the map that has no graphical stress, I've noted this with my X800 Pro. Enough with that pic.

 

[City17Citizen01]

Get the x800 Pro 256 mem Its worth it!

Kinda misleading pic, don't know if your standing still or what setting with that pic.

I topped out at around 189fps (just walking around) while testing a 6800gt on my machine, thats @ 1024x768 with every setting turned to max including aa and af. it would go from the 180 down to the mid 30s during heavy online battles. Iv'e seen reviews and done my own testing to know the pro is out of the pic. Right now i'd really like to know how a xt plat would run. The waterblocked oc ultra is a little to heavy handed for my tastes right now, and I'm not comfortable with running water to 500 dollar componets just yet.


All this aside, I reallly want to know if the issue Gabe was talking about has been cleared up with this latest batch of cards.

 

[fragShader]

the x800 pro might be better for HL2 (might), but it's worse for everything else out at the moment.
plus, as more games start using DirectX9.0c features, x800 will be left behind in terms of features (6800 capabilities exceed DX9.0c level in some areas)

EDIT: i think the issue he was talking about was poor DX9 implementation on the FX cards. so yes, it has been cleared up.

 

[blahblahblah]

the x800 pro might be better for HL2 (might), but it's worse for everything else out at the moment.
plus, as more games start using DirectX9.0c features, x800 will be left behind in terms of features (6800 capabilities exceed DX9.0c level in some areas)

DX 9.0c has no features. Only speed improvements.

 

[Homer]

the new drivers gave the x800 pro a huge boost. it is most likely the fastest card for hl2 at the moment.

That said, this isnt doom 3. your not gunna need every single fps, a 9600xt will be plenty to run it on high detail.

 

[fragShader]

DX 9.0c has no features. Only speed improvements.

you are wrong.
what about-
shader model 3?
geometry instancing?
Effect system mprovements?

 

[blahblahblah]

you are wrong.
what about-
shader model 3?
geometry instancing?
Effect system mprovements??

Shader Model 3 is pure performance improvements. The X800 Pro can do geometry instancing (better than the 6800 GT in fact). What are effect system improvements?

 

[Alientank]

you are wrong.
shader model 3?

Which is nothing. There's no visible difference between sm3 and sm2, AT ALL. And before you call me an ati fanboy, check the card in my sig. I wanted something ballsy for HL2 and D3, and this is what I went with, XT PE's are impossible to find, and this overclocks to 6800 Ultra speeds no problem.

 

[fragShader]

vertex texture fetch is the first thing that comes to mind

Alientank:

there is no visible difference running the same shaders becos it's a features difference. use the new features and u will see a visible difference.

blahblahblah

Effect system improvements are changes to the HLSL compiler.
makes no difference as far as x800 vs 6800 most likely.

 

[johnnypoopoopant]

yea and if you go to outpost.com they have an x800 pro for 329.99 dollars im waitning and saving up money for one of those

 

[Ownzed]

I wish I had the 6800 Ultra or the X800 XT. But as you can see my card is fine but I still want to max everything. I love the max everything.

 

[City17Citizen01]

Now that HL2 has gone gold, has anyone seen any new info on what Valve thinks of Nvidias latest core?

 

[Wicked Spider]

any idea when the 6600 GT/X700 will be out and if they agp?

 

[LeXo5]

i think gabe was referring to the FX (EXAMPLE : FX5600) series cards, not the newer 6x00 cards

as for 6800GT vs. X800 Pro ........ the 6800GT is faster in CS:S and in most other games

 

[City17Citizen01]

any idea when the 6600 GT/X700 will be out and if they agp?

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce6_techspecs.html
6600 in pci x only, from nvidias site, not to say an AIB partner won't change that in the future.

I think the x700 is pic x only too, right now. http://www.ati.com/products/radeonx700/radeonx700series/index.html

They both are out already and can be found online.

http://www.gamepc.com/index.asp

 

[Alientank]

Got my system ready to go

2.4 HT P4 @ 3 ghz, 1 gig hyper-x pc3500 ddr, 6800 GT, Audigy 2, sweetass 19 inch crt monitor, Creative S700 5.1 surround sound system.

 

[City17Citizen01]

i think gabe was referring to the FX (EXAMPLE : FX5600) series cards, not the newer 6x00 cards

as for 6800GT vs. X800 Pro ........ the 6800GT is faster in CS:S and in most other games

Based on the Video, I would agree, thats why I want to know what they think of the 6series. I have a 6800GT and hope it's going to fit my needs, I'd buy an ATI x800xt plat, if I could find one for sell that wasn't outrageously priced by an AIB vendor.

 

[Prince of China]

Does Valve have any new at all? I want some new damn screenshots to hold me down until Nov. 16.

 

[City17Citizen01]

yeah, where is the pinata breaking vid, anything....damn..