My official version on a English speaking forum
Look at the link above link for up to date information.
The GPU Guide: 6600GT - 8800Ultra / HD3870X2 - Performance and Technology
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8xS Anti-aliasing It provides a very good result because it uses both supersampling (2x) and multisampling (4x). The performance hit is great which mostly restrict the usage to older games. Faster in OpenGL nVidia has for a long time dominated the OpenGL API. In games like Doom 3 will nVidia often perform 10 % better than a similar card from ATI. R5X0 has good OpenGL performance and will in many cases perform similar to G7X, although the overall performance is still somewhat lacking. Better Linux drivers nVidia has still better Linux support. ATI has now pretty decent drivers but their 3D (games) performance is very poor. Good support for AMD64/IA64 and FreeBSD. Linux users are advised to choose a card from nVidia if they play games. Digital Vibrance Control (DVC) It makes colours more vibrant. This is especially an advantage for those who have a cheap monitor with bland colours. This is mainly a love/hate feature. 
SLI If you're buying the PCIe version among one of these cards you can connect two together. SLI can achieve up to 90 % extra performance when compared to a single card. Games which are limited by the CPU will not show a large performance increase. You need a SLI based motherboard to utilize SLI. ATI has Crossfire which is a response to SLI. 
Positive things about SLI * It can give a large boost in performance, especially if you use high resolutions along with AA and AF. * You can add another card later * Up to 16xAA (8xS + 8xS -> 4xMSAA and 4xSSAA) is supported from 77.76 * Mixed vendors is supported from 8x.xx * Supports all games from 75.xx (global settings: AFR, AFR2 or SFR) Negative things about SLI * A substantial increase in effect usage and heat development. * It costs most often twice as much and a large performance increase is not guaranteed even if a SLI profile exists * It can reduce your total amount of PCI and PCIe slots for later hardware purchases especially if fitted with a large cooler * Games can be depended on profiles for optimal performance. This is the reason for still profile support despite all games being supported from 75.xx * Memory is not being utilized. 128 MB + 128 MB = 128 MB. This can result into a bottleneck despite having a raw processing power. A good example is 6600 GT SLI at higher resolutions with AA and AF enabled * No multi-monitor support while being in SLI mode * It’s more prone to tearing (often worse) than a single card * 1080i doesn’t work If you like a much more in depth overview of SLI please visit this page. [color=green]G7X[/color]Transparency AA This is a technology which smoothens out the edges of more AA prone objects like 2D partial transparent textures which don’t use normal geometry. These objects can be: leaves, vegetation or fences made of chain-link. The method provides a very large increase in IQ on these affected objects because MSAA don’t work. You have two choices: multisampling (light on resources and most often improves IQ marginally) and supersampling (more demanding but provides excellent IQ). AFAIK SS TAA provides IQ which is a bit better than ATI’s Quality Adaptive AA. NV4X is now supported from 91.45. MSAA.......................MS TAA..................SS TAA.....…...……....Performance (right: 1600x1200) 
The pictures are taken from Beyond3DGamma corrected AA nVidia has finally introduced gamma corrected MSAA (must be turned on manually but is very light on resources) which ATI introduced in their R300. It’s a good decision by nVidia to let the feature be optional for the user since the desired effect may vary from display to display. [color=green]G8X[/color]DX10 (SM4.0) Microsoft has written this version from scratch, it’s not compatible with older OSs than Vista and has no support for older versions of DX – which is the reason for the Vista only DX9.0Ex. Some key features are: less overhead (time when nothing is done), more registers, geometry shading, obligatory support of features for graphic vendors and a larger texture limit – you can add more ”stuff” without a performance penalty. More about DX10
Unified Shader Architecture It’s important to emphasise that this isn’t a DX10 requirement. The shader unit can now process: vertex, pixel or geometry - a great potential for dynamic allocating of shader processing power. HDR FP blending + MSAA The first generation from nVidia which supports it. ”Perfect” AF This implementation of angle independent AF results in a almost perfect IQ, which is the best to date. Let the pictures speak for themselves: 
The pictures are taken from ”The Tech Report”CSAA This a new method which reduces the amount of stored colour/Z-samples when compared to regular MSAA. The result is better performance, while providing similar IQ on polygon edges, when using the available options: 8xCSAA, 16xCSAA and 16xQCSAA for 4xMSAA and 8xMSAA than e.g. 16xMSAA. Stencil shadows and Transparency AA will only use AA equal z-samples (e.g. 8xCSAA on polygon edges and 4xAA on stencil shadow edges). What is CSAA?
[color=red]ATI[/color]Temporal FSAA (TAA) This is a very useful AA method. When used it doubles the effective AA therefore making 4xAA from 2xAA. V-sync must be turned on when TAA is in use. TAA is only enabled when the fps is over 60, regardless of the current refresh rate. When the fps is too low you might experience flickering along edges if a limit didn’t exist. You can change both the fps limit and multiplier with ATI Tool and ATI Tray Tools. 
3Dc Normal Map Compression 3Dc can be useful if games begin to use the technology. The purpose is to compress normal maps and therefore allowing game developers to use four times (nVidia’s DXTC5 support is limited to 2:1) the detail without sacrificing more VRAM. When used it can increase performance when compared to 3Dc not being utilized. Today only a few games support this technology: Far Cry 1.3, Pirates! and Tribes Vengeance. It’s difficult to predict how widely it’s going to be used in the future. 
Faster in D3D based games When the D3D API is used ATI normally performs a bit better than nVidia. Better performance scaling when using AA and/or very high resolutions ATI is normally less penalized in performance when AA and/or very high resolutions are used. This can turn a tie into an overall victory. G8X on the other hand has good performance scaling under such conditions but the comparison isn’t fair till the release of R600. A bit faster in most games This is the natural outcome when the great majority of games use the D3D API. Crossfire This is ATI’s answer to nVidia’s SLI. CF is supported from R4X0. It can achieve up to 90 % extra performance when compared to a single card. Games which are limited by the CPU will not show a large performance increase. You need a motherboard which supports crossfire. 
Positive things about Crossfire * It can give a large boost in performance, especially if you use high resolutions along with AA and AF * You can add another card later * SuperAA supports up to 14xAA * Mixed vendors and cards (when being in the same series, i.e. X800 XL with X800 CE) are supported * Supports Intel’s i975x and i955x chipset from 6.5 * Supports all games. If the game title has no profile in ATi's driver database, AFR rendering will be enabled as a default mode for OpenGL based games and SuperTiling for Direct 3D based games * Software CrossFire for X1900 and X1950 cards from 6.11. You don’t need a master card, also X1900 and X1950 cards can be mixed together. * X1300, 1600, X1800 GTO and X1800 XL doesn’t require a master card and an external connection cable from Catalyst 6.5. * X1950 Pro, X1950 GT and X1650 XT has a similar CrossFire solution as SLI! Negative things about Crossfire * Requires normally a master card and an external connection cable * CF pre-R5X0 is limited to max 60 Hz at 1600x1200 (a limitation in the compositing engine and single link DVI). R5X0 cards can display max 60 Hz at 2560x1600 due to a better compositing engine and dual link DVI * Games can be depended on profiles for optimal performance. This is the reason for still profile support despite all games being supported. * Severely limited control over the game profiles. Still no native control over rendering mode: AFR, SFR or SuperTiling. You can rename the exe-file to a game which uses the rendering mode of your choice (i.e. sam2.exe for AFR). * A substantial increase in effect usage and heat development * It costs most often twice as much and a large performance increase is not guaranteed * It can reduce your total amount of PCI- and PCIe slots for later hardware purchases especially if fitted with a large cooler * Memory is not being utilized (i.e. 128 MB + 128 MB = 128 MB). This can result into a bottleneck despite having a raw processing power * No multi-monitor support while being in Crossfire mode. If you like a much more in depth overview of Crossfire please visit this page. [color=red]R5X0[/color]Adaptive AA ATI’s equivalent to nVidia’s Transparency AA: “This is a technology which smoothens out the edges of more AA prone objects like 2D partial transparent textures which don’t use normal geometry. These objects can be: leaves, vegetation or fences made of chain-link. The method provides a very large increase in IQ on these affected objects because MSAA don’t work.” You can choose between Performance (much better IQ than nVidia’s MS TAA but has a greater performance hit) and Quality. AFAIK SS TAA provides IQ which is a bit better than ATI’s Quality Adaptive. The performance setting reduces the effective AAA with 1/2 when using 4x or more, while 2x doesn't work (i.e. 2xMSAA with 0xAAA). It’s important to emphasize that this technology has been unofficially supported by ATI from the release of R300 (9700). R5X0 hardware is on the other hand a lot less hit in performance than pre-R5X0 cards. 
Better Anisotropic Filtering (AF) R5X0 can use angle independent AF which results in a improved IQ when compared to its competitor (G7X). See under the G8X section for more ”up to date” information. 
HDR FP blending + MSAA Only R5X0 and G8X can use MSAA simultaneously with HDR FP blending. The “Chuck” hot fix (Oblivion) from ATI has shown us that HDR FP blending + MSAA isn’t just depended on the support from the game developers. Colour saturation The feature is very similar to nVidia’s Digital Vibrance Control: “It makes colours more vibrant. This is especially an advantage for those who have a cheap monitor with bland colours. This is mainly a love/hate feature.” ATI’s approach is hardware based while nVidia does it via software. 
_________________________________________________ [color=blue]Media[/color]Video Decoding The cards listed have all video acceleration in one form or another. The purpose is to ensure a fluid playback (reducing CPU workload) which is especially important when playing HD content. Both ATI and nVidia have appalling HD IQ.- R4X0 * Supports decoding of major formats like: MPEG1/2/4, Real Media, DivX and WMV9. It’s very important to note that only VIVO cards can encode content from external devices (video camera, etc). * Supports techniques which improves IQ though the use of: deinterlacing and shaders. - NV4X * Supports decoding of major formats like: MPEG1/2/4 and WMV9 (PCIe; not 6800GT/Ultra). * Supports similar techniques as ATI to improve IQ. * The complete list of supported formats- R5X0 * Excellent decoding, while decent in the new formats: VC-1 and H.264 (including H.264 QuickTime). * Excellent Standard Definition IQ. * Avivo Video Converter looks very promising. - G7X * Very good decoding performance, also in the new formats: VC-1 and H.264 * Excellent Standard Definition IQ. * Purevideo costs: $20-50 , video acceleration and IQ enhancements are now included in popular playback software (PowerDVD, etc.). - G8X * Excellent HD performance * Excellent Standard Definition IQ. * The complete list of supported formatsDual-Link DVI (DLDVI) This is a essential feature for those wanting to run monitors using 2560x1600@60Hz (2560x1600x60 = 256 MHz > 165 MHz single-link DVI limitation). Single-Link DVI has only enough bandwidth to run up to 1920x1200@60Hz. High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs will eventually (2009?) begin to use full (AACS + ICT) HDCP encryption which will demand a HDCP ready video card with DVI/HDMI and a HDCP ready monitor/HDTV for HD resolutions (720p/1080i/1080p). The alternative is a downscaled image (540p) or no image for analogue connections and no image for digital connections. 
AACS: HDCP encryption ICT: Decides what kind of image is displayed HDTV Output (YPrPb component) All cards listed supports it. [color=blue]Misc[/color]Power
The graph is taken from The Tech ReportThis is a decent Internet based PSU calculator PCIe cards use a six pin power connector, while the great majority of AGP cards use four pins. There exists four (white here) to six pin (black here) connectors: 
__________________________________________________ [color=blue]Final words[/color] I’m hoping that this thread can ease the decision making and therefore resulting into the right card for you. :) You must remember that softmodding is done at your own responsibility and can void any guaranty if discovered. If this makes you uncomfortable please disregard softmodding in your decision making. __________________________________________________ 18 February 07: Added: 8800 GTS 320MB, X1950 GT and provided more information about G80 performance. Update: video decoding (e.g. added G8X).
whats 2xQ Antialiasing ?TheDarthvader[QUOTE="ChrisRay"]2xQ: Quincunx is a special anti aliasing mode that dates back to the Geforce 3 series, Its share the same sample pattern as 2x. However a post processing pixel sharing occurs on ramdac which can decrease edge aliasing., This can introduce a "blur" effect to the screen. Once heralded as 2x performance at 4x Quality, it effectively removes edges better than 4x OGMS but inferior to 4x RGMS, Performance is in line with 2x multisampling.
*shudders* LinkyThe infamous blur-effect
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