Recommend Nvidia 6800? hardware & software question

[korben_dallas]

My 9800 Pro is starting to show its age. I may not have the $ to upgrade my video card in a few months, so I think it's now or never.

All the reviews show that even the best agp 6600 GT is on average only 10% better than the 9800 Pro. That's just not enough of an upgrade to justify $200+. However, the 6800 is 30-40% faster than the 9800.

I've never had an Nvidia card. Are the stock Nvidia drivers as reliable as ATI Catalyst drivers (Cat's have been very stable for me)? Are there any issues w/ 6800 and SageTV? How about future uses, such as component output? DVD playback? Anything I need to know about the Nvidia DVD/MPEG-2 decoder per a 6800? It works great w/ my 9800 Pro currently.

$300 is a lot, but I am thinking the 6800 would last me about 2 years.. when I'll have to upgrade my motherboard.

[stanger89]

Are you gaming? If not, benchmarks mean nothing when it comes to video. The 6600 truely is the best all around HTPC video card currently.

To answer your questions:
nVidia drivers are (in my experience) way better than ATIs, ATIs were so hit-or-miss for quite a while there (the 3.x) that I'm glad I don't have to deal with them.
My 6800 works flawlessly with Sage, even VMR9.
No component out on the 6800s in general, you'd need a transcoder.
DVD playback is killer, I don't know of a combo in existance that can beat the 6x00 + nVidia decoders in terms of quality, simplicity, and cost (need a rather highend DVD player to come close).

If you're not gaming, the 6600 is the way to go, if you need the extra performance, I'm very happy with my Gigabyte 6800.

[mdmint]

I'm happier with Sage output performance using 6600GT AGP component out than I was with ATI 9600 component out. Does VMR9 much better.