When all cards are running at equal levels (which is only possible in the 1.1 shader mode) ATI has the performance advantage over NVIDIA in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. The RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition and X850 XT both outperform GeForce 6800 Ultra, while the RADEON X800 XL outperforms GeForce 6800 GT, actually running neck-and-neck with the GeForce 6800 Ultra in most cases we tested under.

Of course, no self respecting GeForce 6800 owner would run Chaos Theory in the 1.1 shader mode, as Ubisoft has implemented performance enhancements in the 3.0 mode. The performance improvements weren't as great as what we saw with Far Cry last year, we witnessed performance gains of between 5-8% in our testing, with the final result varying based on screen resolution used and the AA/AF level applied. This wouldn't have been enough for the GeForce 6800 Ultra to overtake the X850 XT PE, or the 6800 GT to outpace the X800 XL in any of our tests involving some combination of 4xAA, but it does close the gap somewhat.