Despite its slower clock speeds, the GeForce 6800 is still a good performer. This is made possible due to its NV40 graphics core, which sports 12 pixel pipelines and a 325MHz graphics core. As a result of this combination, the GeForce 6800 has just enough pixel processing power and fill rate to outperform its predecessor, GeForce FX 5950 Ultra in most situations. In some cases, the margin is hardly noticeable, a perfect example of this would be in Lock On: Modern Air Combat. In fact, with AA enabled the 5950 Ultra comes out on top at high resolutions. Performance in Call of Duty was close between the two cards as well.
In other titles, the GeForce 6800 owns a decisive advantage. This was the case in UT and Splinter Cell, as well as Far Cry for the most part.
Considering the GeForce 6800’s shader model 3.0 support and its $300 price tag, it should definitely be an option among those of you who were shopping in that price range. Graphics cards that currently reside in that space include the GeForce FX 5950 and RADEON 9800 XT, so we have a feeling that the 6800 will do well for NVIDIA here: based on what we’ve seen, the GeForce 6800 is basically a well-oiled GeForce FX 5950 Ultra with shader model 3.0. This ensures the longevity of the board through at least 2005.
The real question for enthusiasts though is GeForce 6800 GT and RADEON X800 PRO. NVIDIA has detuned the GeForce 6800 just enough that for $100 more, you can get a more powerful graphics card, ensuring excellent performance in a wider variety of applications or with higher image quality. Many gamers will likely gladly pay a premium for this. Because of this, it will be important to see final street prices for the GeForce 6800/6800 GT and RADEON X800 PRO.
NVIDIA has prepared itself for this by going with more traditional DDR1 memory clocked at 350MHz, whereas the 6800 GT and X800 PRO are both GDDR3-based boards. When you couple this with the aggressive pricing NVIDIA and its board partners have shown in the past, a $250 GeForce 6800 card would not be inconceivable a few months from now.
Of course, ATI is rumored to be ready for this contingency, should it occur. The pipelines within the X800 graphics core can be disabled without affecting the rest of the chip. Because of this, it’s believed ATI may answer the GeForce 6800 with an 8-pipeline X800 SE board of their own. For right now though, the GeForce 6800 is the king of the lower half of the high-end segment.
Batman: Arkham City PC Review Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to 2009’s smash-hit action game Batman: Arkham Asylum. As the name suggests, you will be reprising your role as the Caped Crusader and going against an even larger 'prison' filled with Gotham's criminals and villains. A textbook example on how to do a proper sequel, Arkham City takes what worked in the original, excised or improved upon what didn’t, and elevated everything to an even greater scope. The PC version suffered from a few months of delay, but in that time, Rocksteady worked closely to NVIDIA to implement some familiar technologies from the last game, such as PhysX and 3D Vision, along with new DirectX 11 optimizations. But how well was the whole package executed? Read on to find out!
Saints Row: The Third PC Review Saints Row is one of most unique series of games to build upon the open-world action template forged by Grand Theft Auto, and has met with plenty of critical and commercial success since it began on consoles back in 2006. This latest iteration, titled Saints Row: The Third promises the most outlandish fun and freedom of customization of them all, and in a much more PC-friendly package than its predecessor. Does it live up to those expectations and, more importantly, is it worth the price of admission? Find out in Will's latest review!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PC Review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is Bethesda Softworks’ latest offering in their series of epic fantasy RPGs, as well as one of the most highly-anticipated PC titles of 2011. As the Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn, prepare to take the fight to the mythical beasts that have returned to the realm after centuries of slumber, all the while exploring a huge and highly-detailed open world.
The PC version of the game promises enhanced graphical fidelity, standard RPG trimmings such as hotkeys and quick-save, as well as unbridled mod support, something we’ll all be thankful for once they release that SDK. Skyrim has already sold millions of copies and set records for play-time on Steam... Find out why in today's review, which happens to be one of the biggest and most in-depth articles on the subject out there!
L.A. Noire Complete Edition PC Review L.A. Noire, as the name clearly states, is a video game built on the tropes of one of the greatest periods of American cinema: film noir. Developed by the now defunct Australian developer Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games, this title has been out on consoles for a full six months before finally making its way to the PC. This “Complete Edition” of the game features improved graphics, keyboard/mouse controls, and every bit of previously-released DLC for free. But was it truly worth the wait? Read on and find out!
Intel Core i7-3960X Sandy Bridge-E Performance Review
Today marks the launch date for Intel’s Sandy Bridge-E line of processors, a new family of high-end Core i7 products based on the LGA 2011 platform. This new socket is poised to replace the existing LGA 1366 specification used by the more powerful Nehalem and Westmere parts from the past couple years, specifically Bloomfield and Gulftown, the Core i7-9xx+ line of CPUs.
With 6 cores, 15MB of cache, and support for quad-channel DDR3-1600 memory, the Core i7-3960X sounds like quite a catch. Want to know more about it and how it performs? Read on!
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Xbox 360 Review
The self-appointed "most anticipated game in history" launched worldwide this past Tuesday. Why, it's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, of course (of course), what else? Unsurprisingly, the military FPS debate between this and Battlefield 3 rages on, but now that both have been released, surely we can take a look and objectively evaluate them both? Luke's taken the Xbox version of MW3 for a spin this week, so to find out what he thinks of it in today's review!
Stronghold 3 Review
The latest sequel in the long-running real-time strategy franchise from FireFly Studios, Stronghold 3 is all about building your dream castle and defending it against sieging enemies. Almost exactly one decade after the first game was released, this new title promises a return to the classic and well-received gameplay that has been strayed so far from in more recent iterations. Does it live up to those expectations? Will (AKA Synchronous Failure) tells us all about it in his first official FiringSquad review, so read on!
Battlefield 3 PC Review - Single-player Impressions
One of the most highly-anticipated PC games of the year is upon us; Battlefield 3 is now available in North America! EA/DICE have finally delivered a sequel to the core Battlefield franchise, a proper follow-up to BF2. Having played through the game's single-player campaign already, ahead of the multiplayer festivities kicking off around midnight, I figured I'd share my impressions ASAP. Is it really a worthy addition to the core Battlefield series, or just another bullet point on the back of the box? Read on and find out!
Wrecked: Revenge Revisited Supersonic Software Interview
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Orcs Must Die! PC Review Orcs Must Die! is the first release from an independent developer named Robot Entertainment. Fans of classic real-time strategy games may have heard that name before, as the outfit is comprised of many veterans from Ensemble Studios, creators of the Age of Empires series.
Equal parts action and strategy, this is a tower defense game that not only puts you in command, but on the front lines of combat, as well. Slaughter thousands of orcs, ogres and other vile creatures of fantasy that invade your fortresses through 24 levels of the story-based campaign. With high levels of replayability thanks to its scoring and leaderboard functionality, multiple difficulty levels, and various styles of play, it sounds a steal at only $15. Does it deliver on all that’s promised, though? Read on and find out!
Overclocking the 6800
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