9800m GTS and todays consoles

A question for the more technical hw folks out there: how does the 9800m GTS compare to say and xbox 360 or ps3 graphic card? (we won't even touch the wii)

 

maybe you should research the one million threads already on this topic a little. most say xbox 360 and ps3 run on something similar to a 7950 gtx...

edit: i got a better idea for a thread, lets debate weather xbox 360, PS3, or PC gaming is better. DISCUSS! lol j/k

 

1 million threads? omgodz0rzs! that's a lot!!

 

To the point, but a little harsh

Generally, top-of-the-line PC cards are ahead of console cards. This is because consoles are refreshed every three or five years (time between ps2 and ps3), while computer cards are coming out every few months. If it's performance you're after, a PC is better. You get a mouse (shooters with a gamepad? yeah right...) and you can always plug a USB gamepad. And you can upgrade most components (hard drive, CPU, graphics, etc) easily. And you can actually do work and browse the net. And...

Get my point? Consoles are simpler to use, in my opinion that's the only advantage.

 

no need for top of the line rig now days. a 80 dollar hd4670 will pwn any console.
when the 360 was released, i believe it was on par with the top end pcs in that time period.

 

9800m GTS destroys both PS3 and the 360, so there you go.

 

sorry that post was befor my morning coffee

 

Geez, don't you know not to post before coffee. That's just a rule of thumb

 

While the performance power potential is much higher on the latest PCs, there is something to the fact that the game designers know the exact hardware configuration when designing for a console.

 

A weaker GPU also goes a much longer way in consoles.

 

There was a article last year about the 8700m gt being the first laptop gpu to surpass the 360. The old 8800m gts was roughly twice the power of a 8700m gt and a 9800m gts is a overclocked 8800m gts giving making it about 10% faster. A 9600m gt ddr3 model should be comparable to a 360 and can play the ported games equally if not better. That is assuming its not a port from a lazy developer like rockstar...

 

Exactly there are a lot of badly coded PC games that can make a powerful card look bad eventhough it is supposed to be a lot better. Also console games IMO don't have a sharp FPS fluxuations as PC games do.

Fallout 3 looks much better on my Sager with the 9800m GTS than it does on my friends 360.

 

The two things to console gaming (not talking sales and that aspect for devs) is that theres an exact configuration to develop for. Which means games can get more out of lesser components because they can focus on only one setup and maximizing that one specific set-up to run as flawlessly as possible. Also most console games tend to lock there FPS down, as the reason for no mass fluxuations like PC games.

 

PS3: modified 7900 core on 128bit memory bus
Xbox: somewhere between X1800 and X1900 performance with 4MB onboard memory for AA performance, shared 128bit memory bus

 

Actually the RSX in the PS3 is based on the 7800.

The 360's Xenos chip is around the X1800 and X1900 like you said, but it's eDRAM die is actually 10 MB in size for "free" AA and z-buffering.

As far as programming goes, yes the PS3 and 360 are fixed systems where devs don't have to worry about varying degrees of hardware. Even still, at least the PC doesn't have to put up with stupid things like 600p rendering in Call of Duty 4, PC players can pick any resolution they want, as well as have better anti-aliasing and texture filtering options.

 

While PCs are technically superior, you don't always see that power over a console for the first few years of the console's life. For instance, right now, games like FEAR 2 and Call of Duty 5 look very similar maxed out on a PC to the console versions. However, using the PC allows you to achieve higher resolutions, while most console games are limited to 720p (and don't always run at that resolution faithfully). Of course, on the other, you usually sit farther away from the TV than you do a computer monitor when you play games, so the resolution difference isn't as big as it sounds.

So, long story short, the 9800M GTS is more powerful than the consoles and will give a little bit better performance, but you also have to worry about other things like how much RAM you have, how fast your hard drive is, what resolution your monitor is, and what your computer is busy doing at any given time. Therefore, I'd say with most current games, it's mostly a wash, and comes down to whether you want to use a mouse and keyboard or a controller. But in a couple years, expect there to be a much bigger difference between PS3/360 games and maxed out PC games.

 

If you look at the GPU alone the 9800m GTS crushes the PS3 and the 360. It is not only a little better, it is much much better and faster than both the Xenos and RSX.