Can the HD2900XT Perform on Par with 8800GTX?

overall games fps
loses to 8800gts and gtx

In short, no.

It will handily beat the GTS in almost anything, and competes with the GTX on some things.

The order of performance is like this:

8800GTS320
8800GTS640
2900XT512
2900XT1024
8800GTX/Ultra

Toms VGA charts are outdated and really should be redone.. at least for the 2900

It just all depends on the application. Even though it may rise above or fall below the 8800gts 640, the value is great- just look at what a few driver revisions have done performance wise, almost beasting the gtx in some cases. I love mine despite the bulk and heat because it is simply a great card for the money and for the performance. They overclock well too (My HIS 2900xt is currently, when at full 3d speed, 833 core/ 875 mem and ilde/ load temps are a little over 55c and load doesnt climb over 65c). This is just my two cents. Peace.

I don't know how accurate this is but:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/index.cfm?a=wiki&tag=rmp...

2900xt is a strange card , is some games it even performs less than a X1950XTX and in some games its on par with GTS and GTX, but overall it performs like a 8800gts 640 in many games

The 8800GTX blows past the 2900XT in real FPS. The 2900XT can compete with the 8800GTS 640/320, and the 2900 runs really hot to.

well the 2900 beats the 8800 gtx in bioshock as well as medal of honour airborne.these are two of the best looking games i have ever seen.but then some games tend to cripple the card,like neverwinternights2.the 8800gts640mb performs more consistently than the 2900 and runs pretty much everything well,but not quite as well as the 2900 in most games

Medal of Honor : Air Borne , 8800GTX VS 2900XT VS 8800GTS :

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=680&p=4

But look @ BioShock :
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=680&p=1

Interesting stuff... Hopefully more benchmarks will be out using the lastest drivers.

@ goldenboy

can you direct me to a site where i can see that for myself?
2900 beating a 8800gtx ?
yeah maybe at extreme low settings, but nvidia shines at higher resolutions almost all the time

actually, at lower res, the 320 seems to do better (something to do with better memory, not that this has much relevance)

I asked the same question for my recent build and did quite a bit of research. The 8800GTX is generally the better card. Understand this: the only point in comparing the two is to predict which architecture will be more effective at running games in the future. Some people claim (and at this point it's pure speculation) that the architecture of the 2900XT will allow for better performance in next-gen games and with subsequent driver releases. However, in the near future, you can be certain that the 8800GTX will generally give you the best performance. In the distant future...I'd say that even if the 2900XT overtakes the 8800GTX the performance difference will be very tiny, so it's not worth taking the gamble in the first place.

Bottom Line: the 8800GTX offers better performance than the 2900XT, even the 1gb version.

but they are both excellent cards

yes they are!

whichever one you buy, I will envy you for it