Best brand of 6800GT card to go on a Nf4.

Ok, my replacement Chaintech board seems to have died, and I'm tired of 'tide me over' repairs. I'm going ahead and just getting the parts for a new system. I'll be getting the non-UT DR board, along with a San Diego cored CPU. However, I'm not comfortable with buying both cards for SLI at once (don't want to strain the CC too much since I'm getting the San Diego).

What would be the best brand of 6800GT card to get, given I would like the same brand to still be available in 6-8 months when I'm ready to buy a second one? I'll be buying from Newegg.

Thanks.

Leadtek and Gainward are reliable (in terms of OC'able potential). Since Gainward cards are extremely hard to find, I'd suggest leadtek. I personally have an XFX (6600GT) and have faced zero problems. Also, Albatron seems to have recieved good reviews (Check Anandtech), so thats something to consider as well.

Hmm...the Leadtech they have on Newegg looks like it has a pretty massive cooling system. It takes up 2 slots. Given how close the DFI slots are for SLI it looks like I'll eventually have to take it off and switch over to water cooling just to get the second card in!!! However it does look like it will do a good enough job I won't have to immedately switch it over to w/c.

Yep. Its going to be a very tight fit if you intend on running SLI. Water cooling is definitely an option. I'm moving to water myself.

Super Nade said:

Yep. Its going to be a very tight fit if you intend on running SLI. Water cooling is definitely an option. I'm moving to water myself.

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Well, I've got a water cooling setup with a peltier already. I know Danger Den has a low profile waterblock that will fit on the 6800 cards, and they say it will fit in a DFI Nf4 Lanparty with 2 cards. However, I don't think I'm going to be able to fit peltiers on them. Assuming I don't dump too much heat into the loop from the peltier, I'll just add it in. If not, I'll need to get another pump and radiator for a separate loops.

Thanks again for the help. Now I just need to find good memory for it. Of to search the memory forums....

Unless you want to screw around with those, something I am not experienced with (the peltier/water cooling idea).... yet. It looks like you know what you are doing so you will be okay with it. If you don't want to mess with the heatsinks at first I recommend te eVGA cards, they give good performance and the cards OC fairly well from what I understand.

torin,

If you are looking for memory, I'd recommend TCCD based stuff. Send me a pm for more info.

torin3 said:

What would be the best brand of 6800GT card to get, given I would like the same brand to still be available in 6-8 months when I'm ready to buy a second one? I'll be buying from Newegg.

Thanks.

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You cant go wrong with BFG Tech. Newegg sells BFG.
BFG 6800 GT PCI-E

My 6800 gt agp has been really good to me. I fried it once... shorted out the power lead by accident... BFG replaced it no questions asked.