It sounds as though AMD/ATI's R600 is going to be trounced by the 8800 GTX (let alone the 8800 Ultra). Given the precarious position AMD is in, this is a really scary development if these benchmarks are correct. We better hope for the sake of competition AMD's Barcelona class CPUs are really something, otherwise we are going to be left with monopolies in both the CPU and GPU markets.http://www.dailytech.com/ATI+Radeon+HD+290...article7052.htm

I can't for the life of me think why anyone would even be thinking about changing a graphic card at this precise moment in time, short of having to because the old one was toast!Nvidia pricing is about to be realigned. ATi have yet to officially bring the R600 cards to market. NEITHER has yet been properly tested against a viable DX10 game, and both are running under (coff, spit) Vista, which means you have beta hardware running beta drivers under a very beta Operating System.Sit back, watch and wait. I've no doubt things will be clarified nicely by the tail end of the year. While benchamrks are interesting, they tell us zero, nada,zilch about the only issue we concern ourselves with here - Flight Sim performance. And on that, I harbour a suspicion that the different architecture of the R600 might just have a medium to long-term edge over the Nvidia solution - especially if Nvidia can't deliver decent drivers to use with the Vista OS.Allcott

Agreed with allcott...I have heard exactly the opposite claims, that R600 will in fact trump the 8000-series. So who knows?And regarding our very specific situation (FS), again, who knows? I can't even venture a prediction, it's so wide open right now. (with DX10 update and all of that).Actually, if I had to venture a prediction...nah...I won't do it :)RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

Oh goody... now we'll have another DX10 compatible card to maybe compete with the other DX10 compatible card. Hopefully one of the manufacturers will be able to put up a driver that actually works (I noticed yesterday that nVidia is facing another class action suit over their 8800/Vista driver fiasco).Now all we need is some DX10 games. Someday. To really see what DX10 and Vista and all the wonderful compatible hardware might (maybe) be able to do. Someday. Would be nice to see if all the hype is actually close to reality. Someday.

Aye, someday. The early adopters seem to have gained nothing on this occasion except empty wallets from chasing empty promises.Allcott

>Given the precarious>position AMD is in,What precarious position is AMD in ???

>What precarious position is AMD in ???Intel's return to domination in performance with the C2D has forced AMD to dramatically cut their prices, yet they still are losing market share to Intel. Last quarter they reported a heavy loss ($611 million) and it was also reported that their market share dropped from 25.7% to 18.7%. And AMD is reportedly very low on cash which is going to make it hard for them to absorb future losses.http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000...39286831,00.htmAMD has a new generation of CPU coming out late summer (Barcelona) which sounds as if it may at least get them back even with C2D, but the problem is Intel is going to follow with their own new generation (Penryn) just a few months later that I suspect will give Intel the performance crown back.Basically, its hard to see too bright of a future in terms of AMD CPU profits right now. AMD could really have used a good GPU product to help balance their losses in the CPU market. But if these benchmarks are correct (I wouldn't put too much stock in them just yet) AMD is going to be forced to sell their GPUs at very low prices as well.Investors are noticing, too. While Intel (and the stock market in general) have been steadily adding value over the past year, AMD has lost over half its value. That kinda thing doesn't help when you are low on cash.http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/chart...=AMD&nocookie=1

One could look at it as AMD stock was vastly over-inflated because of the long performance/cost advantage that AMD held over Intel until the C2D release. Personally, I'd like to see what Barcelona is capable of. AMD will have to make it price-competitive with the C2D's so the performance/cost equation will once again swing in favour of AMD. But I rather doubt they will return to the position of complete dominance they enjoyed a year or two ago. If they want to make money they have to make a good product and sell it at a low price. And that can't be a bad thing for us!Allcott