ATi Radeon HD 2900XT vs. Nvidia 8800 GTS 320MB part II
Frame rates get closer for ATi, but that image quality needs some work

e are going to make this evaluation short, sweet and to the point since we have already performed a major evaluation of the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT. Please read that evaluation first to get the lowdown on the new ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT video card and all the specifications therein.

In our initial evaluation we made comparisons with a 640 MB GeForce 8800 GTS as well as a GeForce 8800 GTX. We found the performance of the 640 MB GeForce 8800 GTS bested the Radeon HD 2900 XT in everything we threw at it. Our conclusion was that the 640 MB 8800 GTS was the better value, you simply get more for your money. What if there is an even better value now?

The ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT is closer in price to the 640 MB GeForce 8800 GTS. At the time of launch we did not feel it was explicitly needed to compare the Radeon HD 2900 XT to the 320 MB version of the 8800 GTS, after all the only difference is memory capacity between the two 8800 GTS configurations. However, prices on the 320 MB 8800 GTS have fallen drastically since that launch. You can find video cards such as this factory overclocked Leadtek for $259.99 with all the rebates, or this standard clocked EVGA for $289.99 before rebate and $269.99 after rebate.

When you compare this to the lowest price we could find on Newegg of the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT, $409.99 you will see a very large gap in price. What is surprising though is the large gap in performance as well, and it doesn’t swing the way you would typically think. In our minds we are taught that you get what you pay for, the more expensive item will be the better item, but in this case, we might be seeing a complete reversal of that!

We know from testing that there is little performance difference between the 320 MB and 640 MB GeForce 8800 GTS video cards. The GPU is exactly the same between both, same clock speeds, the only difference is the amount of RAM. With the performance of the 320 MB 8800 GTS being close to the 640 MB 8800 GTS, and prices being so low, we had to see how this compares to the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT which is more expensive.

We are going to jump straight to gaming on the next page. For system setup specifications look here. We are using the latest drivers officially supplied by ATI which are known as 8.37.4.2, these drivers have all the performance tweaks that are found in 8.38 which have been rolled up into Cat 7.5.

Read all about it here, courtesy of HardOCP.com

Eric