About those Dell 6800 GTO's

DDR2 is currently showing no performance advantages over regular DDR but in the future once it's refined it probably will. The latencies are a bit higher than DDR1 atm so that's probably why AMD hasn't jumped on DDR2 but Intel was implementing a number of architecture changes at once so they decided to. Anyway, I wasn't saying that Dell will never be a good deal, when they've got rebates or specials and whatnot they can be really good deals, 'specially considering the build time that's saved and whatnot.

From glancing at it that setup looks pretty fine, probably ran you around the same as my current system (considering the nice LCD) with only small differences in basic components. For family members and friends that I'm not willing to spend the time on making a custom rig for I would certainly recommend Dell.

pxc said:

at 40% off, the X800XT is a no-brainer.

ignore the kiddies. Dell systems are great if you (generally) want to give up CPU overclocking and memory tweaking in favor of a quiet, cheap system. I almost bought one during the last couple of days, but the deals weren't cheap enough for me. I could really go for a $250-$300 PowerEdge 400SC P4 3GHz-3.2GHz system...

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The lastest problem is Dell non-tech support.

Its an effin joke. Dell is hurting the entire computer industry with such low prices. It isn't a good thing.

0ldman said:

The lastest problem is Dell non-tech support.

Its an effin joke. Dell is hurting the entire computer industry with such low prices. It isn't a good thing.

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LOL Don't look at the ACSI satisfaction index. Dell is #2, 2 points behind #1 Apple.

No computer manufacturer can afford to give support to all customers, so reliabilty is maximized to keep support to a (small) fraction of all sales. However when someone does need to call, the quality of support does matter. What Dell's rating means is that people are more satisfied than average due to fewer problems and that Dell's support isn't that bad (which I can believe considering the worthless pit that tech support has become industry-wide).

But there's probably no reasoning if you already have a point of view. Feet of clay.

Impulse said:

Hmm, interesting... on various counts, the standard retail 6800s only come with 128mb, except for special versions such as the ASUS which has 256 of GDDR instead of standard DDR (just faster).

Not sure what those are clocked at... But if both have the same number of pipes (they should, the GTO's always had the same number as standard 6800s) then the only difference would be the stock clock speeds for mem/core which you don't list... Seeing as they're both equiped with 256MB of unspecified RAM.

I don't think a GTO is worth $100+ more than a standard 6800 if it's only the same card clocked slightly faster, seeing as a real 6800 GT can be had for $100 more than most standards 6800s... So I'd go with the first but I'd try and find out more info first.

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Woah, that new 256MB PCI-E 6800 is more of a freak of nature than the original GTO

According to the Dell website it has 256MB DDR1 (wtf ) at 600MHz (effective) and a 325MHz core... I would think a 6600GT would pwn this thing, badly. But I guess for bargain shoppers, the price is right ... it's currently going for $153 (w/ 15% off) in an 8400 and is stock in the new XPS.

EDIT: no clue on pipes or shaders, but with the price difference between it and the GTO I'm guessing it's probably got an 8x1,4 setup like the LE. Anyone planning on ordering one?

6800GTOwned said:

Woah, that new 256MB PCI-E 6800 is more of a freak of nature than the original GTO

According to the Dell website it has 256MB DDR1 (wtf ) at 600MHz (effective) and a 325MHz core... I would think a 6600GT would pwn this thing, badly. But I guess for bargain shoppers, the price is right ... it's currently going for $153 (w/ 15% off) in an 8400 and is stock in the new XPS.

EDIT: no clue on pipes or shaders, but with the price difference between it and the GTO I'm guessing it's probably got an 8x1,4 setup like the LE. Anyone planning on ordering one?

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What the heck... Good thing someone looked up the info on it. Basically they took a standard 6800 vanilla (AGP) and downclocked the mem 100MHz but doubled the amount... It's up in the air whether it OCs well or not but I'd guess if they downclocked old DDR1 it's for a reason? /shrug Wish they'd stick to standard specs and not introduce all these weirdo models, so confusing to the average customer.

This does make the GTO worth the price compared to it though, imo. That 6800 is not a bard card for the price compared to something like a 9600 though, but again, very confusing offering/name.

pxc said:

LOL Don't look at the ACSI satisfaction index. Dell is #2, 2 points behind #1 Apple.

No computer manufacturer can afford to give support to all customers, so reliabilty is maximized to keep support to a (small) fraction of all sales. However when someone does need to call, the quality of support does matter. What Dell's rating means is that people are more satisfied than average due to fewer problems and that Dell's support isn't that bad (which I can believe considering the worthless pit that tech support has become industry-wide).

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Have you called Dell tech support lately? Since my laptop purchase their support has gone from first rate to first drop on the shit pile. 3 hours on the phone with a Dell "technician" over a clicking harddrive that nothing but the BIOS can identify.

But there's probably no reasoning if you already have a point of view. Feet of clay.

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Care to clarify that statement? Feet of clay?I didn't so much decide against Dell, Dell decided its tech support being rated #1 was good enough, so they dropped quality like noone's business. I actually had a customer pay me $75 to deal with Dell tech support (warranty replacement) rather than have to sit through the same thing again. After you go through explaining to the "tech" that a puff of smoke came out of the back of the computer (I've had 3 customers with Dells and exploding PSU's in 3 months) and now it does absolutely nothing and they still ask what lights are on again... for 3 hours... yea, my opinion of Dell went from "decent cookie cutter systems" to "hell no, don't buy one"... I recommend my customers buy Compaq/HP... do you have any idea how far the tech industry has changed in the past 3 years?

Time was I'd cut off a toe before recommending a Compaq over a Dell...

Well after searching around on Newegg and just assuming I would purchase a 6800GT because the GTO obviously is not available with them... I came up with a price over over $2100

I added comparable items to what I thought dell would use, not cheap cheap, but not completly high end either.

Basically what I found is who cares if the GTO is just an overclocked GT you are saving over $500 from what it would cost to build yourself.

I have an old Dell 2Ghz and its honestly the most stable system I have ever owned Ive had it over 2 1/2 years now and Ive NEVER had an issue. Ive built over 30 systems and I would sell dell is in the top 5. Dell builds very stable and reliable computers and the quality in which the cases are and the fact that they look nice and neat when opened give them high marks on my lists.

Anyway Im sure Ill be flammed for buying Dell or something but the fact is they have good prices/sales and there systems surpass almost anything else out there in Quality and design.

However I did use a coupon on this order if I had not used the coupon I agree that this system would be very overpriced for whats offered.
--------------------------------------------
Dimension 8400 Series, Intel Pentium 4 Processor 550 (3.4GHz) w/HT Technology and 1MB cache
1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
Dell Quiet Key Keyboard
17 in (17 in viewable) E173FPBFlat Panel Display
256MB Nvidia GeForce 6800 GTO Graphics Card PCI-Express 16x
500GB Serial ATA RAID 0 With Dual 250GB Hard Drives
No Floppy Drive Requested
Generic Dimension Dell Support
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition,Service Pack 2,English
Dell 2-button Scroll Mouse
Intel Pro 1000 Integrated PCI NIC Card
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0
16X DVD-Rom Drive
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS, PCIw/Dolby Digital EX, IEEE1394, 7.1 channel, THX cert
Type 3- Third Party At Home Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year
1 Year Limited Warranty

+ A Free (Probably Crappy) Dell Printer

Sub-Total $1,466.20
Shipping $0.00
Tax $87.97
Total Price $1,554.17
Shipped 2-day Air Free

COUPON USED
ONLINE ONLY: Save 30% on the purchase of select Dimension™ desktops $1799 or more (before tax and shipping)! May not be combinable with Deals of the Week, dollars off, percentages off or select other promotions. Only one coupon may be applied per cart at checkout. Offers subject to change. View details in My Cart.

Enter coupon code at checkout to receive this offer.
Coupon Code: DN$BFH04SXXSC1



EXPIRES 11/30/2004 5:59am CST

For the sake of all man kind....


DO NOT BUY AND HP OR COMPAQ!!! (which are the same company now by the way)

I work on systems all day long and I can tell you the quality of HP and COMPAQ has fell so much over the years its very sad actually.

Dells customer support does suck but you probably wont ever have to call them. but I can asure you unless you are computer savy you will be calling HP/Compaq.

HP products are not bad but COMPAQ seems to have infected them with lacking systems. They look very good on paper but the systems are horrible.

Anyway remember that virus that shut your computer down about 5 minutes after it started .. (Forgot the name now)

HP/COMPAQ shipped out over 10,000 systems custom built that was infected with this worm.. virus what ever it was.. thats quality testing for you..

I don't remember if it was a Presario or an HP, but an AMD Athlon 2800+ with an Asus A7N8X IGP board, 512MB PC2700 Crucial, integrated everything but the 56K modem, 80GB WD drive, DVD, CDRW and monitor for around $700 final price, this was last winter.

Jeffosoft said:

For the sake of all man kind....

DO NOT BUY AND HP OR COMPAQ!!! (which are the same company now by the way)

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I wouldn't buy their home systems, but aren't their business systems pretty decent? Their servers are solid.

The only manufacturer I stay completely away from is Gateway. Junk consumer and just as bad business systems. It made me sad when they bought emachines, even though emachines still seems decent.

i'm happy with my 6800 GTO, i'm running it with all 16 pipes opened, and clocked a lil over 6800 ultra frequencies, and running at a cool idle temp of 51, and max load temp of 69
i average around 5400 in 3dmark2005

You damn americans and your good deals....
I live in Canada and the only good deal for dell is to get the preconfigured ones that make you pay 250$ for a dvd-burner (Best deal: around $1200US for 1bg ram, 17 inch crt, x300 se, p4 3.0)
Our only coupon is 100$ off a computer

Lucky Bastards...

I recieved my Dell Dimension 8400 this last Monday, and overall im pretty happy with the performande. They also accidentally screwed up and gave me a 3.4 P4 instead of a 3.2 I ordered.

1GB DDR2 533 Dual Channel
3.4 P4
256MB nVidia 6800GTO
80GB HD
Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS
Dell A425 Speakers(soon going to replace with the new Logitech z5500)

Unfortunely I couldn't unlock the 4 extra masked pixel units or the masked vertex shader. They seem to be physically hardware masked, and not BIOS masked.

i'm waiting on my 8400 as well. probably get it in 3,4 days. 3.2, xp pro, 160 gb, 1gb @533, cd burner, dvd burner, 17 in flat panel, printer, 6800 gto + discount coupon, came to like 1400 and change. for the computer literate, yet not spec-insane or not really deep into all this, dell is really the only answer right now. i'll see how this 6800 gto is. we'll see if dell fucked with its pipes and its OC-able. even if it isn't, for someone whose never had a good video card in his life, this will be just fine to me. thanks to all for the info on the card, as well.

lemmy said:

i'm happy with my 6800 GTO, i'm running it with all 16 pipes opened, and clocked a lil over 6800 ultra frequencies, and running at a cool idle temp of 51, and max load temp of 69
i average around 5400 in 3dmark2005

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Damn ...my system has a heating problem (though common with other users I've read too). I run 66 degrees idle UNclocked with a vertex shader unlocked. On a max load I can run around the 90s overclocked. Wtf is going on....

Couldn't unlock the pipes because of artifacting.

Thats way too hot. You're not keeping it in an enclosed space or anythng are you? Fans still working? They actually move any air or are they the low cfm ones?

As far as I can hear, the fans are working fine. I keep in the corner of the wall with 1 and a half feet of space in the back. Ambient temperature is consistent at 53-57 degrees. Even now I can hear the GPU cooling fan running and a temp of 72 degrees. I haven't played a game in 12 hours, but I have kept the computer on for 3 days.

There's no vents on the sides, so spacing is mostly necessary for the front and back right?

Those temperatures sound about right to me. That's what I get too, and many other users as well. PCI cards run naturally hotter.

Don't know if we'll fry them. So far it works fine.

The temp cutoff point is higher than 90's but that's still pretty hot. Makes me wonder if they seat the cooling solution properly on the card. You should check to make sure its on there correctly, and isn't improperly seated or messed up in shipping. My 6800 rarely goes up to 76 during full load. If its a one slot cooling solution you could try adding a PCI blower fan if you've got the space, or replacing the stock fan with a higher flow one. Also make sure its not sitting on carpet. If its got the same kind of vents as a lot of cases, they're aimed down close to the feet of the case and would be blocked by carpeting. I have my case sitting on top of two large ceramic tiles.

lemmy said:

i'm happy with my 6800 GTO, i'm running it with all 16 pipes opened, and clocked a lil over 6800 ultra frequencies, and running at a cool idle temp of 51, and max load temp of 69
i average around 5400 in 3dmark2005

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mind if I ask how you got the 4 extra pipes open? Im about to order the exact same thing, just curious..