At IT ChannelVision ATI was demonstrating its new set of video adapters.  The new flagship one, the ATI X1800 claims to be significantly faster than nVidia's Geforce 7800 top of the line card.  But is it?

The answer is, well, probably.  Or at the very least, it's a bit faster than the Geforce 7800 GTX.  The difference depends on the game.  Half-Life 2 at 1600x1200 with full antialiasing gets over 100 frames per second with the X1800XT.  But even with the 7800GTX, it's still nearly 90fps.  Anything over 40 to 50 fps and the human eye really can't tell the difference.

For WinCustomize users, the question comes down to desktop performance.  In our experience, the ATI cards currently have a significant edge with better acceleration of layered windows and other desktop drawing features that make skinning programs run faster.  That is mainly a driver issue.

I asked nVidia what they were going to do with Windows Vista given that nVidia cards have trouble with beta 1.  Their representative told me that they would be holding out for Beta 2 which is due later this year.  In that version, we are assured that nVidia cards will start to really shine.