PNY 6600 vs 6800 GT - how much performance improvement?

[M Powered]

Hey guys, I obviously know that it will be an improvement but I am curious to know how much improvement would I get should I decide to upgrade to the 6800GT card - I have a 6600 Non GT now.

Right now my 3dMark 03 Bench scores on the default setting is 5366

My system specs are shown below. Is this a good score for the card and the system I have? What kind of scores should I expect when I upgrade the card?

Thanks.

[Sjaak]

I think you could see a 60 - 90% overall improvement with those specs.

[Rattle]

go for a 6800gs instead of 6800gt, the difference between them is minimal if any, and you save lotsa $$$

[dawei213]

go for a 6800gs instead of 6800gt, the difference between them is minimal if any, and you save lotsa $$$

I agree. You can get a 6800gs for around $200 and some places less than that. And from what I've read, it's a good oc'er.

[Rattle]

all the pci-e ones from eVGA i've played with did at least 100mhz on the core and 200 on the memory with better temps than the gt's got when they ran stock clocks and stock coolers...

[evancold]

i would also say to go with the GS, very good card :)

[<<Spider>>]

Unless you are planing to do SLI, I would go with the X800 GTO2. It has the same R480 chip in the X850 XT PE. You can unlock to 16 pipes and overclock it to surpass the X850 XT PE. at the X850 XT PE speed, the X800 GTO2 kills the 6800GT in benchmarks and cost less.

My 3Dmark05 is around 6700 but many people here can get over 7000 on this card. I don't have good cooling yet so I don't want to overdue my overclocking.

Here is one for $191 after rebate. For this price, you can not beat it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102646

[M Powered]

I tried to OC my 6600 and it did not do so well, maybe 18-20 mhz over stock. It failed the stupid test everytime I tried to bring the settings up higher.

How much faster is the 6800GS vs my 6600? How about the 6800GT? no one seems to be saying much about that one.

How much of an improvement will the 6800 GS over my 6600?

[brickout]

Lots.

As Sjaak said, 60-90% for the 6800GT, and the GS is very close behind the GT for less money.

The GS ought to score ~6k in 3dmark05, whereas an overclocked 6600GT might get 4k, I don't know what plain 6600's get in '05, but I'd guess around 2700.

[Rattle]

the gs and gt score about the same in 05 at stock,

gs is 425/1000 and hits 525/1200 or more very often and runs completely stable, i have seen this on 2 of them personally, card has 12 pipes.

the gt is 350/1000 and the best do 450/1200 average is 400/1100 card has 16 pipes, honestly the only difference i seen in the cards was when trying to render HDR in far cry the 6800gs took a bigger hit in frames but only a few and it was in situations where the frames were 60+ anyway, so the gt may have slightly more push cuz of the 4 more pipes but marginal at best. Doesnt justify spending more $$....

the higher core clocks more than makes up for the 4 pipes,
people hitting 6400 with a $200 video card that has HDR and sm3.0 capabilities, no other card in the range can offer all of that....

[M Powered]

Thanks guys for the help, I'll pick up the 6800GS tonight!

What manufacture do you guys recommend? or doesn't it matter?

As far as OC'ing performance; what exactly do I need, if anything? i.e good aftermarket heatsink/fan combo? or will stock suffice?

I think my setup I have now hit about 2300 3dmarks in 3dMark 05. Will it really go up to ~6k? Thats a BIG improvement.

[Rattle]

eVGA is my preference and from experience with them more than fan boyism or opinion.

you dont really need much to OC them, they run remarkably cool compared to the 6800gt's, and the overclocking can be done right in the drivers with coolbits. Alot of folks use rivatuner but just for a straight up OC and nothing else, coolbits is more than sufficient.

A copper zalman would be sweet though if you wanna part with another $30

[<<Spider>>]

The answer to your question: The 6800GT is more than 247.54% better. In 3DMark05, the 6600 is at 1855, the 6800 GT is 4592.

1855 X 247.54% = 4592

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1762&page=3

[azu]

68s have better memory bandwith thanks tot he 256 bit memory bus. so itll be more effective depending on the resolutions you like.

[M Powered]

Wow, does the video card make that much of a difference? Why do people buy such high end CPU's if most of it depends on the video card?

[Rattle]

the bandwidth is more than 2x over the 6600gt, even on the GS.

[M Powered]

So when I get the 6800GS PCI-e, is it unlockable? I've been reading that PCI-e isn't unlockable- does that mean it is not overclockable?

Should I overclock the card right off the bat? or should I let the card settle in for a few days of gaming? There is no "break-in" period right? - sorry my car thoughts are kicking in :)

[Rattle]

the PCI-E is not unlockable becuase the core they are using is different from the AGP version. The AGP version is actually an older 16 pipe core.

you can OC it off the bat but I prefer breaking it in or at least only overclocking a small percentage at first.

Like the one i put in for my buddy auto detected at 528/1215, i have it running at 485/1100 right now for a while... then maybe later all the way !! but it ran all benchies great topped out on the first day :p

[<<Spider>>]

Video runs on ght GPU so a Video card will makes the most difference if video quality.

The overall system runs on the CPU so it does have some effect on video quality but the main factor is the video card.

Not all 6800GS are unlockable. It depends on which GPU it uses. I'm not sure which one is and which one is not. I've head that the AGP one uses the 16-pipe core but on the PCI-E, it seems to be a luck of the draw. Are you using AGP? The XFX AGP is known to be unlockable. not sure on the others.

[M Powered]

PCI-E is my connection.

So let me get this right, "unlocking" the video card allows me to open up more ports and pixels right?

But OC'ing the card should be fine...

[<<Spider>>]

The 4 extra pipes will give you more performance without overclocking it. The 6800GS comes with 12 pipes. You are only able to unlock the extra 4 pipes only if the GPU has 16 pipes to start with. Not very many PCI-e 6800GS uses the 16-pipe GPU. Most PCIe uses the GTS chip which only have 12 pipes.

For example. In 3DMark05, my 12-pipe GTO2 jump from 4000 to 5500 just by unlocking the 4 extra pipes (to 16 total). This is with no overclock. When overclocked I get around 6700.

[M Powered]

Okay, I'm looking online for the 6800 series video cards and a number of different types shows up.

What is the difference?

6800
6800 Ultra
6800 GS
6800 GT
6800 XT

So you guys recommended to get the 6800 GS, so that is the card I'm getting, but what is a regular 6800? or an Ultra?

[Rattle]

a 6800 ultra is a GT with looser timings at 400/1100 clocks, basically its a overpriced 6800gt. even the worst 6800gt's will oc to 400/1100 and match a ultra.

the other cards other than the 6800gs are lesser cards.

[M Powered]

a 6800 ultra is a GT with looser timings at 400/1100 clocks, basically its a overpriced 6800gt. even the worst 6800gt's will oc to 400/1100 and match a ultra.

the other cards other than the 6800gs are lesser cards.

Okay, so basically if it doesnt say Ultra, GT, or GS don't buy it.

Gotcha.

[Rattle]

I would never buy an ultra, cuz a good GT can whoop it.
now that the GS is out they are both obselete, they dont possess any performance over the GS worth losing sleep over.
And the ultra has always been a ripoff and the GS is at least $50 cheaper than any GT and it performs the same or better if you can OC it.

[M Powered]

I just called Fry's Electronics and they told me they had a GeForce 4800 GS for $279.99. This sounds awefully expensive for the card, especially seeing how people getting the card for 199.99 shipped. However I try to stay away from purchasing products online unless I absolutely have to.

Is there an upper line GeForce 4800 GS card that justifies the price?

[bignick]

Here's the skinny, all the 6800 series will be stronger than your "vanilla" 6600. And there are no pipes to be unlocked on any pci-e 6800's they use a different core than the AGP cards which can be unlocked.

6800= 12 pipes 350/700 DDR1
6800XT=8 pipes 300/350 600/700 DDR1 or 3
6800GS=12 pipes 425/1000 DDR3
6800GT=16 pipes 350/1000 DDR3
6800U=16 pipes 400/1100 DDR3

Our systems are very similar and I can tell you that a 6800GS is the way to go. I have owned 6600GT, 6800GT and now a GS (cause my GT died). My 3Dmark 05' scores 6600GT@ 585/1250= 4009, 6800GT@430/1175=6031, GS @ 551/1250=6129. And that is not max OC on the GS that's what the auto detct put it at and I left it there because I still have the stock cooler on it. I'm sure it will OC much better than that because coolbits is not aggresive on it's auto detect. All I can say is that the GS is on par with the GT stock to stock but OC'ed the GS skull drags a GT.

[bignick]

I'm sure you mean 6800GS and no not to my knowledge. All GS's in pci-e have the same core/memory and HSF's. There are higher factory clocked cards that cost more. I'm sure retail $279.99 is what you will pay. On line at the egg I just paided 189.99+S/H.

[M Powered]

I just installed and benched my new 6800 GS and in 3dMark03 I got 12,600 stock. Oc'ed at 525/1200 it did 13,960; just shy of 14,000.

Right now I am downloading 3dmark 05 and will post numbers as soon as I am done.

What do you guys think about my score for 3dmark 03 with my system setup?

[M Powered]

Just ran 3dmark 05 I got 6142

[kimochii72]

Wow, thats a good score. My highest with my pny 6800gt agp is ~6000-6100 max when processor is card is overclocked. 14400 was highest on 03 and 88,000 on aquamark. PNY's are good cards, Someone is taking mine up this week for $150 as I'm upgrading to 7800gt. Going to cry when she leaves. This guy better not screw up my perfectly good card when he water cools it too.

[M Powered]

Wow, thats a good score. My highest with my pny 6800gt agp is ~6000-6100 max when processor is card is overclocked. 14400 was highest on 03 and 88,000 on aquamark. PNY's are good cards, Someone is taking mine up this week for $150 as I'm upgrading to 7800gt. Going to cry when she leaves. This guy better not screw up my perfectly good card when he water cools it too.

How did you do so well on the Aquamarks?

What were your settings? Mine is 1024x768 - AA Off - High Res Detail, my score was about 66,000 both times I ran it. Maybe those 4 extra pipes came to good use on Aquamark?

Another thing I noticed is when I turn on AA - almost all of my games takes a noticable frame loss. Does AA effect performance by that much? I mean in Far Cry the graphics are gorgeous - but damn.

[<<Spider>>]

Very good scores for a 12 pipe card.