Looks like it really doesn't matter John. Check this link: http://www20.tomshardware.com/graphic/2003...on_9800-30.html . You probably saved some money by missing out on the XT :-) .Doug

ATI won this round.As with every product the company that "won" is the one that sold more video cards, not the one that you or anyone else considers to have a superior quality.By the way, I honestly do not know who sells more.Stamatis

The guys over at www.rage3d.com were commenting on how big a joke that Tom's site has become. He must be really angry about recent events. I really feel sorry for the guys that go to the site trying to get good information on which video card to buy and why. I happen to agree with Max on this one. Why all the personal attacks? Doesn't make any sense. Six months to a year from now, Nvidia will be irrelevant in the GPU business. IMHO. Nvidia is already irrelevant in the high end DX9 market. All bets are on the NV40 and it makes one wonder when Nvidia's CEO says they're shifting their focus away from GPUs. Doesn't look good for the NV40 if you read between the lines. IMHO. BTW; the 9800XT was shipped with a low clock speed. Reports indicate it really overclocks. New drivers are reportedly coming for it with the now infamous "automagical autooverclock ability". We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

I always buy Nvidia just because of the rabid, almost religious fanaticism of alot of ATI fans. I liken buying an ATI to signing up for L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics, hehe. Nvidia fans usually give intelligent facts based insights and ATI fans get all personal like you're challenging their manhood and 90% of the time end their arguments with "End of Story!" or something akin to that.Childish I know, but the cards are so close you might as well choose based on personal preference.

<>This one's funny.

I always thought it was the other way around. }(I just finished looking at those FS2k4 results from Tomshardware. I can say for a fact, he's way off on the 9700 Pro 1600x1200 stats. I see very little difference between 1024x768; 1280x1024; & 1600x1200 resolutions. The high end ATI cards are made for 1600x1200. Also, there should only be a 10-15 percent difference between the 9700 Pro and 9800 Pro.Here's a nice read on the new ATI9800XT card with some history: http://www.rage3d.com/previews/ati9800xt/

"I always thought it was the other way around. "Me too :-lol

"I always thought it was the other way around. "Sure isn't in this forum. :(