Which 6800 ultra is the best?

[Ademi99]

I've looking everywhere from toms hardware to firingsquad to the reviews of the product information on newegg.com. I cannot seem to come to any conclusion about which 6800 ultra performs the best. Right now I have my eye on the Gigabyte version of this card (love the big heatsink and already OC'ed 25 mhz more). Right now I've seen leadtech, asus, msi, gigabyte, vega, and bfg. can anyone shed some light for me, which one is the lead Contender right now.

 

[BW86]

Gainward?

 

[MDE]

If you can get the watercooled BFG, go for it.

 

[Elvis2]

If you can get the watercooled BFG, go for it

yep, that would be the one...
i have and eVGA that came clocked 425/1100

 

[Ademi99]

I really wasn't going the direction of water cooling, I know that is going to be the best direction for OC'ing but I would just like to stay with air cooling, I'm going to using a thermaltake case. here is the link.
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=11-133-132&depa=0

Thanks for all the info so far, I should of been more specific which brand of 6800 ultra with just a air cooling system has the best performance?

 

[yezhou]

Ademi99, Here are my personal experiences.

I have a BFG Ultra clocked at 425/1100Mhz. I also have a Thermaltake case, but the XaserV Damier V6000A, which has 5 case fans including one that blows directly over the GPU. With that, my BFG runs between 57-61oC IDLE, and goes up to around to 68-72oC when I play Doom3 or UT2004. I "think" if you were to OC that card even more, you might want to consider watercooling, or leave your case open or something (when I leave my case open my BFG is at 52oC idle lol). Just a heads up on what your temperatures "might" be like... =)

 

[Ademi99]

Thanks for the tip, I was wondering if the cooling in that thermaltake case worked pretty well.

 

[Ademi99]

So should I assume that all the seperate manufacture?s that are producing this card produce the same output as far as performance is concerned. It wouldn't matter if I bought the gigabyte version over buying the BFG version of the 6800 ultra, I should expect the same output.

 

[MDE]

At equal clock speeds, yes all of the cards will perform the same.

 

[Ademi99]

Here is what I am looking for my new gaming box.

AMD 64 3700 1 mb cache
1 GB(512X2) OCZ Gold Edition Rev3 DDR-3700
Gigabyte 6800 Ultra, http://www.adosystems.net/giga6800.html
DFI Lan Party UT new 754 pin motherboard coming out tomorrow!
Audigy Z2
Antec truepower 550 watt powersupply


I'm looking at about 1,500, can't wait to get all the parts, I'm upgrading from what you see below....bye bye Intel.

 

[yezhou]

Sorry but I made a mistake, my BFG actually runs at about 81oC under load...I wasn't measuring it correctly before...after using the "Real-Time High Dynamic Range Image-Based Lighting" method, I found my card runs at 81oC...sorry about the mistake.

http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/rthdribl/

P.S. wow that system looks great!! A really awsome price too!! I hope you enjoy it when its done!!

 

[BFG10K]

From what I've seen my MSI runs a lot cooler than some other brands.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Yes MSI uses proprietary cooling and therefore is not adhering to the reference design. I would stay away from Gigabyte, not that they arent good its just they generally stick straight to the reference design, dont OC as well... i would get Leadtek or MSI as those 2 will OC the furthest with the least amount of noise. Also Asus is good.

Also unless youneed an upgrade right this second i think it would be to your advantage to wait for Nforce4. But hey its your choice.

Also why are yougoing with thermaltake. Because its flashy? Their cases are very noisy and generally dont cool as well. I would get a WaveMaster if you realy like that design, or a Chieftec, or Antec... but Thermaltake is flashiness over quality.

-Kevin

 

[TimTheEnchanter25]

BFG is overclocked to start and reviews I've seen show it overclocking higher than others. It also has a lifetime warranty, which is nice.

 

[Acanthus]

The leadtek and MSI coolers are both above and beyond the reference designs and OC very well.

Like the 5950s its going to be luck of the draw, as a rule though the MSIs, Gainwards, and Leadteks will O/C to higher clocks more consistantly because they are not limited by heat, only chip yield.

 

[Ademi99]

good tips guys I'm going to look into the Asus models and leadtech I'll see what I can find which those two cards... About the thermaltake I've never had one before purchasing a computer off the internet is kind of difficult before there arn't may sites that just review cases. I'll look at those cases you recommended thanks again.

Have any of you heard about the evga 6800 ultra, I have a buddie who says that runs pretty good. of course strickly air cooling.

 

[Ademi99]

I've confirmed what was said above that the heatsink on the BFG 6800 GT and ultra, it runs pretty hot and isn't recommended for oc'ing anymore than it is already out of the box, even though it comes oc'ed.

 

[df96817]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Yes MSI uses proprietary cooling and therefore is not adhering to the reference design. I would stay away from Gigabyte, not that they arent good its just they generally stick straight to the reference design, dont OC as well... i would get Leadtek or MSI as those 2 will OC the furthest with the least amount of noise. Also Asus is good.

Also unless youneed an upgrade right this second i think it would be to your advantage to wait for Nforce4. But hey its your choice.

Also why are yougoing with thermaltake. Because its flashy? Their cases are very noisy and generally dont cool as well. I would get a WaveMaster if you realy like that design, or a Chieftec, or Antec... but Thermaltake is flashiness over quality.

-Kevin

Gigabyte's heatsink on that 6800U looks pretty cool tho...

 

[Compddd]

Wow 5 fans and your temps are that high? In my case all I have is a 120MM case fan set to 5V on a zalman fan mate and my Bfg 6800U idles at 55-58C and 69C load. Maybe my case wiring is neat and Im getting better airflow? I also removed the PCI slot cover bracket directly below the 6800U's slot and that lowered my gpu temps by 6-7C because it can suck in air from the outside.

 

[yezhou]

Compddd, how are you measuring your temps?

Yeah, I thought with 5 fans everything should be a bit cooler, especially with 2 fans blowing directly over the GPU and CPU <shrug>...and my case is neatly setup, nothing obstructing airflow or anything...maybe its because I have 3 HDDs? Blech ahahha.

 

[Compddd]

Im getting my temps from the Nvidia control panel. I have 2 HD's, a 74 raptor and a 80 maxtor sata.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Gamingphreek read ATs review of that TT case.

Its actually a very nice case.

 

[jim1976]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
From what I've seen my MSI runs a lot cooler than some other brands.

This guy knows something
Seriously now my MSI 6800GT runs cool and it's highly o/cable. Generally great and quality card.

 

[BFG10K]

BFG is overclocked to start and reviews I've seen show it overclocking higher than others.

I've seen reports of a lot of noise and very high temperatures on BFG cards.

 

[Ademi99]

So from the look of things I think based on what you guys are saying is that MSI, Asus or leadtech are pretty sweet 6800 ultra's. I'm going to look into getting a Asus or MSi, i'll see what I can get for a good price.