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6800 GT observation and impression

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shortyes

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2002
Location
Tampa, FL
Just got the 6800GT from BB. Had it for 1 week. Here is what I think and hope this helps people decided yes or no.

First impression out of the box wow.

I use to have a ATI AIW 9800 pro. It was a nice card but decided to change to a next gen. Looking at the new Vid card, what struck me first off was the length of it. At 8 1/2 inches it has got to be the longest card I have tried to put into a system. Was worried at first since I got a mini tower from Dell. Got the Dell for 300 sue me, replaced everything but the mobo, Ram, optical drives and CPU :p

Lets say I have a habit of buying all the nifty new vid card this includes the 5900XT and Ultra. So will add my impression versus all my old cards.

The vid card fixed nicely into the AGP, no worries and clearance issues. enough space between the ram and capacitors to not worry. Unlike the 5900XT and the Ultra which I had to return one due to clearance. There might be a problem with people that have horizontal HDD drive bays due to the length of the card. Mine are vertical.

Sound: The newer 6800 series is not loud at all. About the same as the 9800 series. My case fans are louder. That or I went deaf with the 5900 series.

Weight: Surprisngly without a HSF to cover the entire card, it is quite lite. Not very heavy at all.

Last but not least, I like how Nvidia avoided rams and ram sinks in the back and had all in the front like ATI. Mainly due to clearance with the ram slots.

Now that appearance are over with

Drivers: The drivers at came with the card are not the same as the ones on Nvidia site. Beta maybe? It does have a digital sig, no pop up on installation about the drivers not being signed and might make winXP unstable.

The max settings for the card is 8xS AA 16x AF not the rumored 6x AA.

Well to tell you the truth there is no 6x. 2x 2xQ 4x 8xS

Also there is a built in temp chip with this card, right now mine is at 58 for the GPU and 48 Ambient. This might help when I start to O/C. shut down default is 120.

POWER? No problems for me considering the PSU I have so can't comment.

From the games I play, the card is nice. I think the real test comes with the next gen of video games.

Conclusion:
The only things I can point out are the bad since the good is mostly subjective. Aka this card makes this game look better. This card has a whooping 2-5 FPS more than this card. I really can't tell the difference. No apples to apples here. orange and grape will do nicely for all I care.

1st off: Length and clearance. Check and make sure your case can handle a 8 1/2 inch card. The worries come from the few owners of mobo and case owners where the possible of the IDE and the HDD are gonna cause problems.

2nd: Drivers. I feel personally the drivers included with the cards are not 100% stable. Would feel better once Nvidia post the drivers on their webpage. Just me. I have felt the ATI drivers to be more solid and their monthly release is something I will miss for at least 2 months if I decided to get the x800xt.

3rd: Power usage. Most people thinking about the GT are also thinking about the Ultra and XT and overclocking like mad. These people should have the PSU to back them up, especially those sane people that but a stable and decent PSU to help with their O/Cing. For the normal people this might cause a problem but I have not heard of anyone ranting about how their PSU has not been able to run any of the newer cards. If so plz post here.

4th: Price. Considering I use to have an ATI AIW, this is not the most expensive card I have ever own but very close. the X800XT which I hope will come at the end of the month will be the most expensive vid card I ever owned. Those that can afford these cards should again have the PSU to run it considering the PSU is more important than the vid card. But is the card worth the cash? Right now if I was joe average I would buy a 9800 pro for 160-180.

5th: Looks. From pics I have seen of the X800 series, they look cleaner cut. More apealing to the eyes.

Is this a bad card to avoid? No.
Would I buy it again if I had the choice? yes.
Would I kick myself after looking @ my CC statement? yes
Would I go with ATI x800 pro? maybe if it was cheaper but the GT is easier to O/C with all pipelines open.

Hope this helps
 
Thats what I gathered from mine as well. However I plan on keeping mine simply for a change of pace, and because my sis needs my 9800PRO.

For an nV card Im shocked. Its IQ is very impressive, lacking only in AA IQ. Not bad for beta driver set.

However I find it pretty distasteful that despite the sucess of the 6800, they have yet to release an *official* driver for it :temper:

That will probly reslolve alot of issues, and increase their scores to that of an x800
 
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