Shock, horror, an update!

DailyTech, have revealed performance figures for the new ATi graphics card, the HD 2900 XT. It seems ATi like to delay their cards as much as I do my updates. Either that, or they have decided releasing their cards in between nVidia's to better business practice. This avoids a direct confrontation between two new cards, and gives each company a spell with the top card for enthusiasts.

Now for the specifications:
(Note ATi/nVidia define 'stream processors' differently.

ATi Radeon HD 2900 XT

320 stream processors
512MB GDDR3 @ 1.65 GHz
512-bit memory interface
~$449 MSRP

nVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS

96 stream processors
640MB GDDR3 @ 1.6 GHz GDDR3
320-bit memory interface
$449 MSRP

There will also be a Radeon HD 2900 XTX models that will feature 1GB of GDDR4 memory, for a higher price.

Benchmarks:

The new Radeon's benchmarks show a slight improvement over the current top card -- the nVidia Geforce 8800 GTS. At a resolution of 1280x1024, the Radeon scores 73.5 FPS in Call of Duty 2, whilst the GeForce drags behind with 56.7 FPS. In Company of Heroes the HD 2900 XT again beats the 8800 GTS, with 92.1 FPS to 90.1 FTPs accordingly. In F.E.A.R, it performs 0.7 frames higher with a total of 84.0 FPS. On Oblivion the Radeon achieves 47.9 FTP, whilst the nVidia card lags behind with 39.5 FPS. Finally in 3DMark06, the new ATi/AMD card scores over 11k, whilst the nVidia scrapes just below 10k.

However, one must remember that these scores are only preliminary, at just one resolution. With a larger amount of ram the 8800 GTS might scale better, then again the ATi card features a better memory interface.

Personally, I will be waiting to see how the mid-range cards do. With a typical 1280x1024 resolution TFT, I will not be needing such power. The mid-range is where the money is made, so I will hope ATi deliver. Competition is always good for the consumer :)