NVIDIA and ATI, long time rivals to each other in the graphics card market, are in a constant struggle to be at the top. ATI managed to hold the winning crown for more than a year with their GPUs while NVIDIA always lacked one step behind them, however, it seems as if the positions have changed with the introduction of ATI's X800 series and NVIDIA's 6800 series of cards . As of right now, NVIDIA seems to be in a better position than ATI considering how the launch of Doom III is better supported on NVIDIA hardware than ATI hardware. To complicate matters, game developers such as id and Valve are now favoring one or the other GPU maker by introducing two of the most popular and long-awaited titles of 2004 (Doom III and Half-Life 2) for a specific GPU - so to speak. id's Doom III works better on NVIDIA hardware while ATI takes the lead in Valve's upcoming Half-Life 2, according to the preliminary (Half-Life 2) benchmarks. As if it is not difficult enough to keep track of all variants of a specific GPU family (X800 and 6800 series), the user will now have to keep track of the games that he wants to play and purchase the video card accordingly.

NVIDIA, one of the top two GPU makers, has launched its mid-end GPUs at Quakecon this year. The 6600 and 6600 GT will be NVIDIA's upcoming mid-end GPUs that will compete against ATI's X600 and X600 XT cards. There are new architectural improvements to the GPU, which may lead to a strong product in the near future. Without further delay, let's see what NVIDIA has brought us, the consumers, this time...

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