Compared to the Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition:
The $50 for the Platinum Edition looks like it'll give you between a 1 and 5% performance boost at 1600 x 1200 over the not-so-platinum Radeon X850 XT, not a huge improvement.
Compared to the Radeon X800 XT:
Compared to the X800 XT, the X850 XT is about 0 - 5% faster, which isn't bad considering it's at the same price point as the now "old" X800 XT. While it is unlikely, if the introduction of the X850 XT drives X800 XT prices down further then we're all for picking up a X800 XT instead. The problem is that the X800 XT was quite rare to begin with, so it's more likely that stock of the X800 XT will just dry up and will be replaced by the X850 XT.
Compared to NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 Ultra:
Things don't look as balanced when you compare the X850 XT to the 6800 Ultra. Once again we see that Half Life 2 and Battlefield go to ATI, while Doom 3 continues to be a staunch NVIDIA supporter.
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