While this evaluation features BFGTech's graphics wonder ?the 6800OC vanilla, we are going to take this opportunity and talk a bit about ATI's newly announced X850 series. As if the market wasn't crowded enough, ATI jumped in the market with a new series of cards that they kindly call the X850 product lineup. This time it's their six-month refresh product lineup, which, considering limited availability with its previous X800 series of high-end cards doesn't exactly fit with the market scenario. ATI is having a difficult time yielding chip quantities to meet demand for its X800 XT PE cards, and now they have announced their X850 XT PE, which is clocked even higher (20MHz to be exact) than its predecessor.

According to ATI, they should have no problems meeting demands from its consumers with the X850 series, which sounds promising, yet odd. To refresh, we have 6800 LE, 6800 vanilla, 6800 GT and 6800 Ultra (assuming that 6800 Ultra Extreme doesn't exist) from NVIDIA, and X800 SE, X800, X800 Pro, X800 XL, X800 XT, X800 XT PE, X850 Pro, X850 XT and X850 XT PE from ATI (nine offerings from ATI Vs. four offerings from NVIDIA). It is logical to predict that X800 series is bound to stay in the market for some time now, so does that mean that we are going to see three series of cards from ATI starting next summer? Not to mention the steps NVIDIA will take to ensure their competitiveness over ATI. After all, NVIDIA disregarded their 5xxx series just to make sure their GeForce 6 family edges against ATI.

Also, performance differences between X800 series and X850 series are substandard. There is practically no difference between the two product lineups that may justify X850's introduction; this situation seems rather connecting to Intel's situation right now against AMD. Is ATI on the same path as Intel? Maybe, maybe not! We must commend ATI for keeping the prices somewhat similar to their X800 counterparts, which should tempt anyone to pick the latest generation of cards over their predecessors. The problem and relation to Intel scenario only pertains to ATI's top model ?the X850 XT PE, which will retail around $549.99. With their top model, ATI has introduced a newer price point for high-end graphics cards, which was unseen up until this point. If you recall ATI and NVIDIA's previous generation offerings, you will notice that they all topped out at $499.99 price tags. It is crystal clear, at this point, that ATI, along with its board partners, will design X850 XT cards exclusively for gamers and enthusiasts who want the cutting edge technology in their systems. This leads to ATI's claim of meeting demands.

If the card retails around $549.99 (assuming that ATI's board partners doesn't increase the price anymore) only enthusiasts and serious gamers will be able to afford it, thus lower demand for demanding chips. Of course, there is an elevated possibility that ATI is actually working with their distributors to improve chip yields, but only time will tell the real story. As far as relation to Intel is concerned, ATI's X850 XT PE costs more than it's justifiable performance measures. That being said, the introduction of X850 series is not all that negative.

ATI will now offer competitively priced X850 cards, which means more choices for users who want to walk the ATI path. This also means that there is a card for any budget and any setup available from ATI, which should be an encouragement to many users in the market. And of course, this will lead to more competition between the two chipmakers, which should decrease prices of previous generation cards. Ultimately, the consumers are the true winners, despite some mistakes from companies (such as higher prices and confused marketplace).

On NVIDIA side, things are doing fairly well. NVIDIA's 6800 Ultra managed to take lead in quite a few tests against ATI's X850 series, which only displays the solid architecture NVIDIA has created for its GeForce family of products. It was wise of NVIDIA to forfeit with its 5xxx series only to concentrate on upcoming products. The competition is much more stable than it was before.

With that in mind, BFGTech is a North America based graphics card manufacturer that excels in many areas. It is no surprise that BFGTech is the only company that provide 24/7 customer support to users who are in dire need of help. This depicts their dedication and the amount of emphasis they put on customer service. And due to this, BFGTech is now considered a tier one manufacturer in the industry.

Instead of re-labeling the cards as their own, BFGTech went one step further, like Chaintech, and introduced all NVIDIA offerings (vanilla, GT and Ultra) in a slightly overclocked phase, in return allowing better performance right out of the box. The cards aren't overclocked tremendously to take an edge over competition, but enough to create a sensation in the industry and amongst enthusiasts.

How much of a performance difference will we see between BFGTech's OC cards versus other 6800 vanillas? Has BFGTech increased the prices of their cards, in return taking advantage of their OC brand? To find out the answer to these and more questions, read our evaluation of BFGTech's 6800OC graphics cards?

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