Does anyone have a vanilla 6800???

[Matt2]

I've been torn between a GeForce 6600GT and a Radeon X800 Non-Pro.

The 6600GT is not as strong a performer but $40 cheaper.

I was lookin on pricewatch and I saw that the vanilla 6800 was about $30 more.

Anyone have this card? How do you like it? Will it overclock to GT levels? I read you can unlock 4 pixel pipelines and a vertex pipe.

It cauhgt my eye cause I think an unlocked 6800 with 16 pipes and a bit of OC would be a much better value for $30 than an X800.

What do you guys think?

 

[SrGuapo]

Go for the 6800. More pixel pipes than the 6600gt (12 compared to 8), they can be softmodded to 16 pipes, and OCed to 6800gt speeds... If it is only $30 more, I see no reason not to get it... Even if it doesn't unlock, it will still be a good step up from the 6600gt...

 

[suicidalpigeon]

yes it depends on whether or not you are fortunate enough to get one that unlocks the pipes and shader and with a frequency clock like mine. for $200 bucks with free half life2 and far cry. its a steal (when i bought it in dec).

 

[suicidalpigeon]

and service is great. bfg replaced my older one (both fans broke) in a week. the guy was nice and patient.

 

[zerocool84]

yea its not guaranteed to unlock ive had two and only one unlocked the pipes but the BFG one is a great card, i love it

 

[Ketchup]

Besides, unlocking the pipes doesn't give much of a performance boost anyway.

 

[ponyo]

I've Leadtek one that I bought about 2 weeks ago and it unlocked both fine. With OC, it scores above 10k in 3dmark03 which is similar to stock BFG 6800GT I had. Very nice card if both the pipes and shader unlocks.

 

[Matt2]

How far have you guys got it to O/C???

The cheapest PCI-E 6800 I could find was the MSI (non-Riddick) for $226

Kinda steep for something that might not unlock and might not O/C as far as I want.

 

[qbackin]

Originally posted by: Matt2
How far have you guys got it to O/C???

The cheapest PCI-E 6800 I could find was the MSI (non-Riddick) for $226

Kinda steep for something that might not unlock and might not O/C as far as I want.

The pci-e 6800 DOES NOT UNLOCK PERIOD.
Only the AGP version unlocks. And yes the 6800 is a better card than the 6600Gt
I have had more than 1 of both.

 

[ponyo]

If you need pci-e, don't even bother with 6800. Just get x800xl for $250.

 

[Matt2]

Thanks for the info Qbackin.

I think I'm just gonna get the X800 for $202.18 shipped.

Seems like the best bang for the buck. I would get the 6800 if I were running AGP instead of PCI-E.

AGP version is $189 compared to $226 and the PCI-E cannot even be unlocked? Kinda shady for $40 more for the same thing.

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: Naustica
If you need pci-e, don't even bother with 6800. Just get x800xl for $250.

Naustica-

Where can I find a new X800XL for $250??

The cheapest I have found it is $279 and that is a bit too much.

Link? Thanks!

 

[suicidalpigeon]

monarch had one for 250 but i think it dissappeared

 

[ponyo]

$249 X800XL

 

[Matt2]

Thanks for the heads up waffles

Great link Naustica!

 

[katwomansz]

Besides, unlocking the pipes doesn't give much of a performance boost anyway.

I gained 400 points up to 4500 on 3dmark05 with an unlock.

 

[Ketchup]

Originally posted by: katwomansz

Besides, unlocking the pipes doesn't give much of a performance boost anyway.

I gained 400 points up to 4500 on 3dmark05 with an unlock.

I was referring to actual games, not canned benchmarks.

 

[katwomansz]

I was referring to actual games, not canned benchmarks.

Well actually I was referring to both! Didn't you see the improvement? The GTO runs stock 350/900 with plenty of OC room, maybe the plain 6800 doesn't give as much improvement?

http://www.ocia.net/articles/6800/page4.shtml shows the benchmarks
http://www.ocia.net/articles/6800/page5.shtml shows the improvement
for Doom 3 and Farcry the rest of the pages give the improvements in
Antialiasing, Antialiasing, etc.
Not bad improvements for free for a simple softmod!!

 

[Ketchup]

Originally posted by: katwomansz

I was referring to actual games, not canned benchmarks.

Well actually I was referring to both! Didn't you see the improvement? The GTO runs stock 350/900 with plenty of OC room, maybe the plain 6800 doesn't give as much improvement?

http://www.ocia.net/articles/6800/page4.shtml shows the benchmarks
http://www.ocia.net/articles/6800/page5.shtml shows the improvement
for Doom 3 and Farcry the rest of the pages give the improvements in
Antialiasing, Antialiasing, etc.
Not bad improvements for free for a simple softmod!!

First of all, I don't think comparing a card to itself is a very good review. I have seen an unlocked 6800 compared to other cards (can't remember where) and it makes very little, if any difference, in most games. Yes, every bit extra helps, but it still legs pretty far behind the 6800GT.

Having said that, the 6800 is at a great price right now (if you want a 128 MB AGP version) and if it unlocks, that is icing on the cake.