6800 vs 6600 on AGP

[Wolfshanze]

eWiz.com sells an AGP GeForce 6800GT for $300 (it's just eVGA not the BFG) and they have a good reputation as well as FuturepowerPC.

As for FuturepowerPC, I used a link from Pricewatch.com to get the cheaper price... if you can get FuturepowerPC's GeForce 6800GT to appear on Pricewatch, simply click on the link in Pricewatch and it will take you to FuturepowerPC's website with the cheaper price listed there instead of the default price. You may also call them and see if they'll honor the lower price by phone (make sure you mention the $355 price on Pricewatch), or at the very least say you'll buy from eWiz if they don't lower the price. The BFG is a better card then the eVGA, for $50 bucks (lifetime warranty overclocked), but I don't think I'd spend $80 bucks more for BFG. I'd still spend $50 bucks to get a 6800GT over a 6800GS if it means getting the eVGA card though. What's $50 bucks anyways? One night at a nice restaruant or a couple of years worth of faster computing?

If you're looking to spend $250 instead of $300 or $355, then I would wait a week and get the GeForce 6800GS... it's still a better card then the X850XT. You've got about three price points within $50 bucks of one another... I'm sure you can find something to your liking... remember, the 6800GTs are as fast as you're going to get with AGP unless they release a GeForce7 for AGP (who knows).

P.S.
I would imagine the speed differance between a 6800GS and a 6800GT is a lot like the speed differance between a 6600GT and a vanilla 6800... like the 6600GT, the 6800GS is clocked faster then it's higher counterpart, but also like the 6600GT, the missing pipelines are a huge performance hit... I'd rather have the 4-extra pipelines then a few MHz of speed... it makes a noticeable differance.

 

[RussianSensation]

X850XT vs. 6800GT Review

Also consider reading this:
VGA Charts - Latest

 

[Wolfshanze]

A lot of this stuff is driver and game-specific. Also the Xbit labs tests were run on PCI-E, not AGP... for an AGP angle, go here:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050705/index.html

Still, even Toms Hardware reviewed the NVidia cards using the old 7x drivers... the 8x drivers are noticeably faster... even under 7x drivers the 6800GT was able to beat the X850XT on several tests (depending on the game).

Shop and compare!

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Wolfshanze
eWiz.com sells an AGP GeForce 6800GT for $300 (it's just eVGA not the BFG) and they have a good reputation as well as FuturepowerPC.

As for FuturepowerPC, I used a link from Pricewatch.com to get the cheaper price... if you can get FuturepowerPC's GeForce 6800GT to appear on Pricewatch, simply click on the link in Pricewatch and it will take you to FuturepowerPC's website with the cheaper price listed there instead of the default price.

You can do something similar with eWiz through Froogle to get lower prices.

 

[ControlD]

I was in a similar decision making process up until a few weeks ago. One thing that you might want to think about is how long you expect your AGP system to last. I thought about doing a larger system upgrade and going the PCI Express route, but I figured my XP2800+ system could give me another year of life with a video upgrade. Still, spending a large sum of money didn't make a lot of sense considering any AGP card I get now will most likely not be going into any new system in the future. I ended up with a EVGA GeForce 6800 (nu) which I was able to softmod to get the extra shaders and pipeline. Even before softmodding however the performance was fantastic compared to my 9600xt I had been running. I am using a 19" LCD, so running things at 1280x1024 is a must, and the 6800 has been able to run everything I have tried at this resolution with no problems. The best part is, I got the card for $150 after rebate. Just something else to cosider before dropping $300 on a card that might not be getting any use after your next upgrade.

Dave

 

[Wolfshanze]

Just something else to cosider before dropping $300 on a card that might not be getting any use after your next upgrade.

I get long life out of my video cards... just because Card-X isn't my top-card for 5 years, doesn't mean it doesn't live-on being passed down to secondary or tritiarary systems in the house to my family members.... my wife's system or my child's system. Assuming your next system down the road is a PCI-E system, that means you're probably going to have a spare AGP system (with nice video card) which will be more then adequete as a second system in the house.

If it's the last video card that AGP system is every going to get... might as well make it as fast as you can... no sense getting a card that's already slower.

 

[sainthoodx]

How long do you predict the 6800gt's to be in the same 280$ price range with the 6800GU around?

 

[imported_mystro]

Originally posted by: Wolfshanze
The 256MB of Ram is a MARKETING tool placed on the low-end video card. It's ment to sell more units at WalMart because it says "256MB".
===================================

..I hope this hasn't been asked recently

I guess my question would lead to..what determines a low-end card today and how does one determine what cards would actually use the 256mb on a AGP board?

 

[Wolfshanze]

How long do you predict the 6800gt's to be in the same 280$ price range with the 6800GU around?

6800GU? Did you mean 6800GS? While the 6800GS has a great price-point, you have to remember the 6800GT has ceased production and quantities will become scarce. If anything, expect the 6800GT (what few are left) to actually increase in price as they become scarcer, not decrease.

Unless you can nab a 6800GT now at a reasonable price, the price to performance value of the ever-dwindling 6800GT will probably become less attractive (I would guess the prices go up, not down, but that's just my guess).

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: Wolfshanze
A lot of this stuff is driver and game-specific. Also the Xbit labs tests were run on PCI-E, not AGP... for an AGP angle, go here:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050705/index.html

Still, even Toms Hardware reviewed the NVidia cards using the old 7x drivers... the 8x drivers are noticeably faster... even under 7x drivers the 6800GT was able to beat the X850XT on several tests (depending on the game).

Shop and compare!

A very large asssumption....X850XT/PE is by far fastest overall (not forgetting 6800U) in the AGP realm, only it will loose to the 6800GT is in the OpenGL, SM3 AFAIK

 

[sainthoodx]

Originally posted by: Powermoloch


A very large asssumption....X850XT/PE is by far fastest overall (not forgetting 6800U) in the AGP realm, only it will loose to the 6800GT is in the OpenGL, SM3 AFAIK

Ok so you're saying the x850xt/pe is faster then the 6800gt in most graphics intensive applications?

 

[garkon8]

As a former owner of a 6800GT (at 6800Ultra speeds) I can honestly say my current X850XT PE is the best AGP card available. Both cards are great overclockers and will allow you to play any current games at least: 1280X1024 with max eye candy. My card was $330 - money well spent!

 

[RussianSensation]

Update: Get X850XT $250 = After $50 Mail in Rebate

It'll be faster than 6800GS for same price basically. No point in waiting.

 

[Captante]

If you already owned a 6800GT/Ultra it wouldn't be worth replacing it with an X850XT IME, but the ATI card is faster in most benchmarks & is the best choice currently available... the only actual "upgrade" from a 6800 is a 7800GT/GTX or an X1800XT.