Performance Mainstream Graphics Update

another thing i noticed about IQ with the two different companies is that ATi's later drivers help the older cards produce better images while nVidia either ignores or hinders the older cards in order to get better frames with later drivers. My 6800GT is producing more frames and lower temps on a lot of my older games (went from 50 something fps in HL2, Doom3, Riddick to the high 70 fps, temps went down too) but the image quality (especially shadows) on all of them has gone to pots where as my 9600XT has had increased frames and better image quality to the point where even at slightly lower settings, it produces more pleasing images than my 6800 rig in a side-by-side comparison. Heck, the images are better than on my 8400 GS on my laptop.

Call me paranoid, but I think nVidia is purposely doing this to get better numbers because they know that framerates sell cards and not image quality.

Originally Posted by rupbert
I'm thinking of buying a second XFX 9600GT to run in SLI, how do I go about getting a connector?

There should've been one with your motherboard if it supports SLI. :?

Originally Posted by Tim S
There should've been one with your motherboard if it supports SLI. :?

That's what I thought, I didn't receive one with my Asus Commando.

Ah, that board doesn't support SLI - it's a P965 board.

Originally Posted by Tim S
Ah, that board doesn't support SLI - it's a P965 board.

Indeed, I was confused by another board that I used previously.

Looks like I'll need to buy a new motherboard along with the second card.

Can't you get a BIOS of Xtreme Systems that allows SLi? (I thought there was one)

Originally Posted by rupbert
Indeed, I was confused by another board that I used previously.

Looks like I'll need to buy a new motherboard along with the second card.

:(

The drivers that the 9600GT used is the latest one, which could give edges to 9600GT in performance.

Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT 512MB – operating at 650/1,625/1,800MHz using Forceware 174.12 beta
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 512MB – operating at 600/1,500/1,800MHz using Forceware 169.28 beta
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS 384MB – operating at 550/1,375/1,600MHz using Forceware 169.32 WHQL
BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB – operating at 675/1,674/1,940MHz using Forceware 169.28 beta

They were the latest available drivers for each particular card at the time of testing.

Question for the staff : -

Why do you use Vista 32bit on all the test rigs when it appears on the forums that Vista 64bit is the Vista OS of choice?

Originally Posted by hawky84
Question for the staff : -

Why do you use Vista 32bit on all the test rigs when it appears on the forums that Vista 64bit is the Vista OS of choice?

For the time being, Vista 32 is more stable when it comes to early drivers and what not... I've tried moving to Vista 64 for testing, but there are a lot of headaches involved with early drivers. We've already transitioned CPU testing, but we're still not comfortable with graphics and motherboards.