Conclusion

After looking over the performance results, you probably noticed that there’s a world of difference between the $300 GeForce 6800 GT/RADEON X800 XL and the less expensive mainstream offerings such as the RADEON X800 and GeForce 6800. As a result, you probably really want to spring for a GeForce 6800 GT or X800 XL right now don’t you?

Between the two cards, NVIDIA’s GeForce 6800 GT comes out on top, which holds up with the results we first showed you in our first 3D Performance with F.E.A.R. beta article back in June. The GeForce 6800 GT generally ran between 8-15% faster than the RADEON X800 XL (although there were a few cases when the margin separating both cards was greater than that), with the result varying based on resolution and amount of AA/AF tested. The RADEON X800 XL trailed the GeForce 6800 GT pretty significantly under base and maximum quality settings without AA/AF, but the margins narrowed once those settings were turned on. We didn’t see any performance benefit from the 512MB RADEON X800 XL however. In fact, it generally fell slightly behind the 256MB X800 XL in performance. We attribute this to the added latency that the additional memory brings.

At the ~$200 price point, the GeForce 6800 and RADEON X1600 XT compete fiercely, with the GeForce 6800 winning early testing without AA/AF, and the X1600 XT generally pulling even of the GeForce 6800 by the time AA and AF are turned on (in fact, it pulls slightly ahead in a few cases). We’d call this one a draw in F.E.A.R. performance.

Of course, the difference here is that the GeForce 6800 can be found at retail now, while the X1600 XT won’t hit shelves for another month (according to ATI). ATI’s also listed an MSRP of $249 for the RADEON X1600 XT, making it more expensive than the GeForce 6800. Factoring all this in, we’ve got to give the nod to the GeForce 6800 at this point.

Keep in mind that we tested a 256MB GeForce 6800 today, the 128MB GeForce 6800 SKUs can be found for about $20-$30 less in general, but we’d recommend spending the extra money and getting the 256MB card as F.E.A.R. becomes pretty choppy on 128MB cards, especially once you crank up the texture resolution setting in the game. This is probably one of the first settings you should adjust when you’re tweaking F.E.A.R for more performance.

The GeForce 6600 GT continues to put up a strong showing, delivering better performance than the 12-pipeline RADEON X800 for the most part, but with the lowest prices hovering at about $150, it’s beginning to be priced too closely to the GeForce 6800. The $100 gap between the two cards that existed just a few months ago has eroded to about $10 or $20 at most e-tailers, as NVIDIA’s had to make room for price cuts to their higher-end GeForce cards with the introduction of the 7800 GT and 7800 GTX.

In fact, the 7800 GT can be found for about $360 pretty easily online, making it a tempting solution if you want to splurge for a little bit more than a 6800 GT. By comparison, one GeForce 7800 GT runs about as fast as two GeForce 6800 GTs, making it a substantial upgrade in performance.

We’ll be taking a look at this in our next F.E.A.R. performance article. Stay tuned…