Radeon vs Sapphire X800 XL?

[sugar_sweet]

I'm in the market for a new video card and I have my mind set on an X800 XL PI-E card. My big question: what are the major differences between the ATI Radeon and ATI Sapphire brands?

Is one superior to the other in terms of performance? Or is it just a difference in software bundles?

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

Saphire makes all ATI branded cards now, they look different that's all.

And ATI has software bundles as well

 

[beedubaya]

Well, I would highly recommend not getting either of those and going for the eVGA GeForce 6800GT. The X800XL is a great card for what it does, but it lacks Shader Model 3 support, and SM3 is ESSENTIAL for future games. Currently, only the Nvidia GeForce 6 series of cards has Shader Model 3 support. For example, only Nvidia hardware will be able to run games like HL2 "The Lost Coast," F.E.A.R., S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Unreal Tournament 2007, and many others at decent settings because of Shader Model 3. ATI users are S.O.L. If you do get ATI, don't complain to me in 6 months when it can't run any new games at decent settings.

 

[SHAWN]

^I agree 100%