I’m probably breaking all sorts of internet etiquette rules here, but I think people will find this information useful. I pilfered the FPS scores from this article at tomshardware.com. So go visit them for much more detailed breakdowns of how the data was created or additional specs.

So, I just wanted to know what’s the best bang for my $$$ in video cards with recent video games like FarCry and Doom3. So a quick excel spreadsheet later, here is what I have…

			Farcry*	Doom3**	Farcry	Doom3	
		Price	FPS	FPS	$/FPS	$/FPS	Lower is better
6800 Base 	$275 	60	55	$4.58 	$5.00 	$4.79 
9800 Pro 	$163 	40	25	$4.08 	$6.52 	$5.30 
6800 GT 	$380 	79	65	$4.81 	$5.85 	$5.33 
9800 Base	$140 	35	21	$4.00 	$6.67 	$5.33 
9600 Pro	$100 	22	12	$4.55 	$8.33 	$6.44 
9600 Base	$75 	17	8.5	$4.41 	$8.82 	$6.62 
X800 XT		$480 	92	59	$5.22 	$8.14 	$6.68 
X800 Pro	$385 	71	42	$5.42 	$9.17 	$7.29 
6800 Ultra	$580 	86	68	$6.74 	$8.53 	$7.64 
9800 XT		$407 	45	27	$9.04 	$15.07 	$12.06

Nvidia 6800NU

ATI 9800NU

*Farcry VHQ No AA/AF 1024
**Doom3 HQ Demo1 4xAA/8xAF 1024×768

All cards 128MB

Also, there seem to be numerous reports of the 6800 Base (aka 6800NU (non-ultra)) being software unlockable to make it much faster. But, your milage may vary on finding a card that this works on.