I know, but Nvidia didn't deny or confirm that there's any problem with NV40, so the rest are just speculation. I know drivers will not just solve the problem. Maybe it's just faulty driver in the past? Who knows? Well to be honest, I would get 6800, since it's a better card. Of course I didn't take TV Out quality and video acceleration support into the equation.
the 6800GT might be a slightly better card only as far as gaming is concerned... but as i mentioned in my other post... having such an important thing as video acceleration broken in such a high end (and expensive!) card is simply unacceptable besides... we all game alot (who doesnt!?) but I definitely spend more time watching video clips/shows/movies on my computer because i barely ever have the solid block of time that I need to appropriately play a game you can imagine my frustration last week when my friend came over to watch the new simpsons and the damn thing skipped every ~20 sec..... i marched right over to compusa and forced an exchange
Hey, good work on the review. I have been looking for one like this. I think the only thing you kinda have left out is that the drivers you used (I know they are the LASTEST offical ones) are from may/june. And as to what is offical?? The 66.81's have been WHQL approved and Futuremark approved too I think. If it is WHQL approved and people want to get better proformance in their games, why not try it? Nvidia have it released on their Nzone site. I find that the 66.81 Driver set from Nvidia are much faster in alot of games. I know that people dont really rate 3Dmarks anymore but in 3Dmarks05 I got a 30% increase, in other games I had a similar proformance gain. If you have time could you do a Update with the Newer drivers please? Because I think that they give a truer representation of the BFG's proformance against the X800pro (with ATI's drivers being made only a month or so ago). This will also help people make better decisions about what card they should buy. Then again like you said, why would you buy a 12pipeline card when you can get a 16pipeline card for the same price? If not cheaper. http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_winxp_2k_66.81.html
Oh and I have no video problems with my BFG card at all. My CPU usage is less then what it was when I have my 9800XT. It is either something wrong with the earlier cards or driver issue. Also I was under the impression that is was just for Video Encoding, to help take the pressure of the CPU. Is it for just normal video play back as well? And hell if it is, why cant a normal CPU handle that anyway? Not like it really matters if it works or not?? And Nvidia did release a statement about the Video accelerator and said something about newer driver version will fix it. However the 6600's and other newer PCI-x cards will be fine?? I think, dont really remember that well.
Hi Faster. Welcome to the ARP Forums! I kept with those drivers because although the 66.81s are WHQL certified, they are still regarded as Beta Drivers. It even says so on the link that you gave me. So I will hold out on the time being. Very very true...
yes it was a defect in the earlier chips, they fixed it with the newer chips such as the ones in the 6600 and the 6200...... in regards as to whether a driver fix is possible... i think nvidia has given the community way too much runaround, nobody has been able to get a reliable answer so far, ive even heard of nvidia wanting people to buy the dvd decoder for an extra $20 to make the video acceleration work... all this dodgy business was more than enough to make me go back to ati once again.
Hey, come on Beta or not beta they are avaliable to everyone?? So why not do a review or test run?? maybe you could find bugs in them?? I didnt find any though? lol. Maybe in the Future hey
There are new offical drivers out on the Nvidia site now. 66.93 Driver set. I really think you need to do a test run with them and see if they are any better then the old 61.77 Set.
OOh, Thanks for the heads up on the new drivers . Will see what kinda differences they give. However, I cant perpetually update the comparison article. Because if I was to do that, it wouldn't be an absolute comparison because the current status of my hardware configuration has changed (been tweaking) and I would also have to use a newer Catalyst. I would also have to pester my bro back for the X800Pro. So with that, I'll just leave it as is.
