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6800nu -VS- 6600GT

T

thiago

Bad Trader
Joined
Feb 24, 2003
Messages
177
I need to get a clarification, most people are telling me to go with a 6600gt, they say its the best bet for my pc::

abit NF7 - v2.0
AMD Barton 2500XP
PC3200 Kingston Valueram 512mb
[ - geforce 6600 gt - ]
[ - geforce 6800 nu - ]

I'm wonderin which will out best, I've seen the GT's clocks are 500/1000 and 350/700 on a 6800 :(

Should I get a LGA775 mobo+cpu and OC or get a a64 mobo+cpu before I get a card? I mean I just want to get a card that'll be awesome on the amd 64 .. but if It's not worth it I the PCI-e cards aren't that expensive:)

Help me out!
 
6800nu is definitely faster, but upgrading your cpu would help unbottleneck it as well.
 
The BFG 6800 OC in the link your provided above is a NU. 6600GT is much faster than that 5900XT.
 
Do not under any circumstances get a 5900 if you can afford a 6600GT or a 6800nu.

Note that the 6800nu (non Ultra) will probably be listed as just '6800' - they are one and the same thing.
 
If you're looking to get a new card, definitely pick up the 6600Gt, if you can't find a vanilla 6800 floating about. The 5900XT is, at this point, a slightly dated card. the 6600GT is going to be faster, and likely last you a little bit longer.
 
thiago said:
I can't find a NU :( please help me...
Click to expand...

6800NU = "nvidia geforce 6800" if you're searching on newegg. There's a few of them right at $250.
 
the 6600 gt gets slightly less performance than a 6800 vanilla, but its usually around 30 - 50 bucks cheaper. If its just the video card your buying then go for the 6800, but if you have other components to consider, then go for the 6600gt.
 
I've got a 2400xp on an Abit NF7-S, so similar to your setup

Anyhow, I've got the BFG 6800 OC with all 16 pipes unlocked @ 390/810 and it is fast (faster than the 6600gt).

So if you unlock all 16 pipes (which isn't 100%) it is no comparison IMHO
 
6800 NU is better.

Not all the differences but a big one might be the 6600GT = 8 pipes. 6800 = 12 Working Pipes, with the ability to have 16.

Though, the PCI-E of the 6600 might help out a bit..

Anywho get a 6800NU.
 
If your really strapped for cash, buy the Evga 6600gt, and take advantage of thier trade-up program. You can trade your card in for the full value you paid for it within 90 days. That gives you 90 days to save up for the 6800xx.
 
Damn, I paid $250 for my BFG 6600gt, Outpost has the BFG 6800 for the same pice...DAMNIT!
 
Actually i don;t think that the difference so pronounced.. most of the time the 6800nu and 6600GT are equal rather each have its own strong benchmarks... i was just checking the 3DMark 2005 benchmarks and in those benchmarks no clear winner was there.. in some it was 6600 GT faster and in others 6800 nu was faster...
6600 GT OC is rather a very good card.. and is almost 5% faster than normal 6600 GT cards... so i don't think its a that bad choice..
 
The very possibility of unlocking to 16/6, and then overclocking is the reason that one should choose the 6800NU over the 6600GT. 16/6 + OCing, for only $30-$50 more? Is there even an argument against this?

I can tell you that my performance increased significantly after unlocking/OCing. Doing one or the other is great, but when you combine both of them at the same time, whoo.
 
Just to make things clear, the 6600 series is a chipset based on the same chipset the 6800 series uses, however, it's crippled to be weaker (I presume in a manner that makes it cheaper to produce.) In other words, if you managed to overclock it to the same clock rates, it will not perform as well based on the GPU alone.

Now, you may think that the memory sounds really great at such high clocks and the fact that it's gDDR3 (versus the 6800LE having only the old kind) HOWEVER (and this is a big however!) the memory bus is 128-bit versus all the 6800s having 256-bit! That cripples that high speed memory. In other words, those high clock numbers are almost a marketing trick since you need higher clock rates just to get closer to the same throughput.

In other words, simply put, the 6800 nu is better than the 6600GT even in stock (sorry, but, this is the nature of the beast.) In fact, I have a suspicion the 6800LE is better than the 6600GT by just a tiny bit, though the difference there is less obvious (mind you, you MIGHT have a theoretical possibility of unlocking pipelines and ocing the 6800LE to be much better, but, the 6600GT has nothing to unlock so you have only overclocking to improve it with.) The 6600GT is at least 2x better than the 5900XT, probably more (6800nu advertises being 3x better.) Like they said, don't even consider it. If you must go below a 6600GT in power, get a Radeon 9800 Pro.

The reason you people are finding the 6600GTs for so close to the price of the 6800nus is because the AGP bridge adds so much to the cost of the 6600GT. In fact, it's made to be a cheaper card and shouldn't be selling for so much. I mean, the whole POINT of it was to be a cheaper card... In the near future, it will be, because the PCI-Express model is what they really planned to be selling.

Get the nu. Hand's down.
 
Seriously guys, the difference between the 6800nu and 6600GT (at stock) isn't that great. The only time when the 6800nu takes off is when AA gets enabled.

I mean, even many reviewers state that the difference between the 6600GT and 6800nu is relatively minute: click here
TheTechReport said:
The GeForce 6600 GT benefits from all of these developments and adds its own considerable weight to the mix. The 6600 GT is so good, there's no point in buying a GeForce 6800. NVIDIA is apparently willing to sacrifice its $299 offering in order to win the battle at $199, and that's good news to us.
Click to expand...

So instead of performance gains, the 6800nu makes up for its higher cost in other areas. It has a much better heatsink than the 6600GT, lower power requirements, and the potential to unlock extra pipes due to its closer relationship with the higher-end cards.

I, however, do not think that it's right to be saying that the 6800nu slaughters the 6600GT in every area when (w/o AA) it consistently beats the 6600GT by 3-5fps.
 
Er... What do you mean without FSAA? Who likes to go without FSAA? ^_^ Seriously speaking though, I consider it unrealistic to assume the users won't all prefer to have that enabled. That ugly stair-stepping effect is just horrible. And, hey, isn't this part of the reason we buy such powerful cards? Not just higher framerates, higher quality.

That said, well, maybe the 6600GT is a little better than I thought, though I still say the smaller memory bus has to be holding it back more in many cases, but, I'll take the potential to unlock more pipelines and amazing overclocking performance any day.
 
I don't think that 128-bit memory is that big a issue when the memory clock is so high until or unless you play at 1600 x 1200 resolution and all the details to full high... which i normally dont play at.. So i think for a mid range its almost equal to 6600GT and moreover i have seen 6600 GT for as low as $195... and to get one at $200 is not tough either.. so it does have a reasonable price difference which can matter lot to lot of ppl.:)
 
How about the 6800LE compared to a 6600GT? 6800LE should cost in the same pricerange. I have yet to find a direct comparison between the two in benchmarks/etc though. I actually was saying for the price I'd personally choose a 6800LE, but, if one has the option, it makes more sense to buy the 6800nu than the 6600GT.

EDIT: Bah, nevermind, just saw the price of a LE. Something's funky here. The 6600GT and 6800LE were targeted to be the same price. The 6600GT was purportedly much weaker than reports are making it out to be... *sigh* My information is outdated. I looked into all this back when there were no 6600GTs in AGP or 6800LEs at all (with the exception of one or two as one person here to whom XFX sent it as a "replacement" for their lower-end card discovered.) I still find it hard to believe that a chip designed to be somewhat crippled is able to come so close to the original... Ah well, anyway, NU is better if you can afford it, plain and simple. Question is, can you afford to shell out the extra cash? All I know is, I'm SERIOUSLY enjoying playing Far Cry in high res with 4x FSAA, 8x AF, and the settings custom set beyond where "very high" in the machine specs will set them.
 
Now, if you happened to be one of the lucky to get a BFG 6800 OC last November for $300 - $30 - $30 - $110 = $130, how does that change the equation? ;) I finally managed to exchange my way to one that unlocks beautifully, 16x6.......moral of the story.....get whichever one there is a better deal on, both cards are nice. I just hope prices don't get cut too much if they cut the GT down to $300 to compete with the XL, that ruins my margins.
 
Saying an unlocked 6800 beats a 6600GT stock is not a fair comparison. Take a 6600GT and OC it to 550/1100 and you can EASILY run 1280x1024 with 8xAF and 2x/4x AA. I do it all the time with quite a few games. A 10% OC is pretty much a given with the 6600GT's.

My card is currently running 580/1170 and does a good job with AA/AF. My OC numbers came from the stock overclocking tool found in the coolbits reg mod.

If you have a 2500+ XP...the 6600GT is a good match. But also the 6800NU is a good match as well. But don't go saying that hte 6800NU stomps the 6600GT. It just isn't true. Unless you consider 5% as "stomping". I don't know if I consider a 25%+ increase in price worth a 5% increase in FPS :)

Either card is great but you do you get more FPS with the more expensive card...GO FIGURE! :eek:

-tReP
 
doublejbass said:
Now, if you happened to be one of the lucky to get a BFG 6800 OC last November for $300 - $30 - $30 - $110 = $130, how does that change the equation? ;) I finally managed to exchange my way to one that unlocks beautifully, 16x6.......moral of the story.....get whichever one there is a better deal on, both cards are nice. I just hope prices don't get cut too much if they cut the GT down to $300 to compete with the XL, that ruins my margins.
Click to expand...

I can't believe you kept exchanging cards till you got one that unlocked the way you wanted. Sigh...you are the person who keeps prices higher than they need to be. Your actions on exchanging cards is very unethical.

When you have a kid...are you going to exchange him/her if he/she doesn't perform beyond book listed expectations?

-tReP
 
I just picked up a BFG 6800 OC, got the pipes unlocked and overclocked succesfully at 533/700. It performs just a tad under 6800 GT and since it's only got DDR memory, I cannot get the memory speeds up to GDDR3 specs.
All in all, very nice performer if you do the tricks to it versus buck.

/thumbs up
 
Uhm, 533? Without voltmodding, even the Ultras can't go to 533... Hard to believe it could happen even with voltmodding and watercooling.... Do you mean 433? And the memory is overclockable, something is going on there. They can't cut them to such a fine line it absolutely will not go past 700. They have to leave a little leeway.
 
@ 533 - Scratch that, crashed when loading a game. :( Should of tested first. I apologize.
 
6800nu. If you can unlock and overclock, you're almost at GT, only difference? DDR vs. DDR3.
 
yep, i also have xp2500, nf7-s n 6800nu runs nicely.. 12k, 5k 3dmark03/05 is way faster than my old 9800se@9800pro..
 
6800, without a doubt. The extra four pipes (with a small chance of a full 16 even) make all the difference, even at stock speed. What clock speed are you running your barton at? If you can run it up to 2.2ghz, your performance will be more than adequate. That CPU still has a few more years left in it.
 
I was also looking to buy a 6600 GT or a 6800 NU. The memory clock of the 6600 GT appears faster, but the 6800 memory interface is 256 bit vs the 128 bit interface on the 6600 GT. The memory bandwidth on the 6600 GT is 14.4 GB/s and 22.4 GB/s for the 6800 so the 6800 is indeed faster. Tom's Hardware has a comparison of the two. I compared the benchmarks of the two at 1280x1024 (the 9800 model Tom's Hardware used for the benchmark had 256 MB RAM so comparing the 1600 resolution yields a biased number as the 128 MB the 6600 GT has becomes a bottleneck).

By averaging the two I found that the 6800 is about 15% faster than the 6600 GT.
The range was about 3-35% in favor of the 6800. The 6600 GT's performance seemed very application specific but in all cases the 6800 prevailed.

The 6600 GT is about $200 and the 6800 NU is about $260. It's up to you if the $60 is worth 15% or not. Personally I went with the 6800 as that 15% sums up to a bit longer before I'll need to upgrade again. ;)
 
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