Best 6800GT?

R

ralfyboy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 27, 2004
Messages
211
it was REAL hard to make a decision between the x800 pro vivo and the 6800 gt. it was mostly due to the fact of my anticipation for hl2, and how ati cards supposedly perform better with the game. neway, i finally decided to get a 6800GT. now i just need to know, which 6800GT should i get?

eVGA? BFG?

i hear this thing is really easy to get running at ultra speeds, so would you recommend an artic cooling vga silencer?

and thanx in advance for your help. i'm still in the process of picking out all my parts for my 1st build, and this site has been really helpful; the main site and the forums.
 
The NV5 Silencer is badass. It's quiet and just all around a good design. Although owners of small form factor PC's need not apply. The thing is huge.
 
BFG Has the most amazing customer service inthe entire computer industry. They all use the same parts, go with the good service.
 
Not only do they have sweet customer service but they also come factory OCed to 370 versus 350 reference. I love my BFG card. The only thing you might not like is that they supposedly have a tweaked BIOS, in my case it prevented me from coing past 380 GPU until i moded the bios to run the gpu at 1.4v instead of 1.3, now it ocs to 410/1100(and that is not the max yet). Although it scores higher, my score drops a little bit after running several benchies, like 1 and 1/2 fps loss before it stops decreasing, but overall it is still higher than stock. Hope this helps.
 
A thought on HL2, the ATI cards do run faster, like 15 ot 20 percent, but that is because HL2 is not full DX9, it uses a combination of DX8 and DX9 even on the fastest cards, so i think that is why, because the 6800's are meant to run their best on full DX9c while the ati cards are abit older arcitecture (DX9b), so they benefit from their higher clockspeed and "ati optamized" game in this case. But don't worry, all of the modern cards are running it so frekain fast it doesn't matter, plus there is supposed to be a High def. pack for those of us fortuneate enough to own a good card, so maybe the tides will turn towards nvidia more with new patchs, game engine mods and drivers. Only time will tell. You can also take comfort in the fact that Nvidia cards are faster on more games than they are slower, especially open GL games like Doom3(not that great gameplay, awesome graphics, but Quake IV is just around the corner and uses Doom 3 game engine).
 
Have a look at the XFX 6800 GT as well. Mine runs 430/1150 24/7 on stock cooling @ 1.3v no problem! The idle temps are around 40GPU and 28/30 ambient. Even after playing doom3 for a couple of hours the GPU temp doesnt go much abouve 60/63. I've got an NV5 comming tomorrow (should have been here today blasted Royal Mail :mad: ) so i dont know how much further i can push it yet.

Definately worth a look.
 
And to answer the question, probably the Galaxy Glacier 6800 GT. It comes with a NV Silencer 5 from the factory. Unfortunately, they aren't widely available.
 
CastleBravo said:
I'm guessing that you aren't measuring the temperature properly.
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Why? Tell me what you want me to measure it with and i'll show u the screen dump. I have no other cards installed on my system intake fan on the front bottom, side vented and 2 out take fans one on the back (around the proc and 6800) and one on the top. The airflow is just very good.
 
CastleBravo said:
I'm guessing that you aren't measuring the temperature properly.
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How is he not measuring the temps properly.....my case isn't the coolest in world, but with a slightly modded NV5 I had my GT @ 45C idle and 58C max load.....is is a 60-63 load so hard to believe.....considering those are my nice temps at 1.4v......1.3v would be quite interesting.....and the raw clock speeds have almost no effect on my temps.....so a 63C idle at his clocks are comPLETELY believable at 1.3v bro. :cool:
 
Ooo hadnt notice that! You do get doom3 free with the XFX though (actually its probably not free then! :rolleyes: ). As a matter of interest though, if you look at the board layouts of the BFG and the Chaintech ones they look identical. If you look at the board layout of the XFX its different. If you look at the BFG 6800 Ultra the board (apart from the colour) layout is different to the BFG 6800 GT, it looks like the XFX 6800 GT with the extra molex. The board layout on the XFX 6800 Ultra looks the same as the XFX 6800 GT but with the extra molex and caps. Probably means nothing but just something that i noticed, anyway i know what i mean.
 
Nookster said:
Ooo hadnt notice that! You do get doom3 free with the XFX though (actually its probably not free then! :rolleyes: ). As a matter of interest though, if you look at the board layouts of the BFG and the Chaintech ones they look identical. If you look at the board layout of the XFX its different. If you look at the BFG 6800 Ultra the board (apart from the colour) layout is different to the BFG 6800 GT, it looks like the XFX 6800 GT with the extra molex. The board layout on the XFX 6800 Ultra looks the same as the XFX 6800 GT but with the extra molex and caps. Probably means nothing but just something that i noticed, anyway i know what i mean.
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are you part of the overclockers.co.uk forums ? im macca on there too. :)
 
Dont think i've registered on there, however i may have at some point as i get around a bit ;). If i have registered in the past i certainly aint been on there in ages.
 
dont for get Gainwind that Golden sample line is uber OCed more then the BFG
its at near Ultra speeds out of the box iirc :cool:
 
Nookster said:
As a matter of interest though, if you look at the board layouts of the BFG and the Chaintech ones they look identical. If you look at the board layout of the XFX its different. If you look at the BFG 6800 Ultra the board (apart from the colour) layout is different to the BFG 6800 GT, it looks like the XFX 6800 GT with the extra molex. The board layout on the XFX 6800 Ultra looks the same as the XFX 6800 GT but with the extra molex and caps. Probably means nothing but just something that i noticed, anyway i know what i mean.
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Well, they all should look fairly similar....as the only differences between the GT and Ultra are: faster 1.6ns ram on the Ultras, different BIOS on the Ultra for 1.4v, 1.3v on the GT, cap count higher on Ultra, most likely to deal with the extra juice that the cards are capable of handling. Aside from those things, the clock rates, and the coolers.....the two cards basically ARE the same thing, which is why the GT is so great, even with my 2ns ram I can clock my cards memory at 1.3GHz for most games/tests....and 1.2GHz for artifact free in even the most touchy tests.....not bad when you stack it up beside a 450MHz core eh? :p

Ultra???? Wha??? :p :cool:
 
What the hell are you talking about? 1)HL2 isnt released yet so we don't know, and 2)CSS benchies showing nvidia in the lead with new drivers.

Captain_Insano said:
A thought on HL2, the ATI cards do run faster, like 15 ot 20 percent, but that is because HL2 is not full DX9, it uses a combination of DX8 and DX9 even on the fastest cards, so i think that is why, because the 6800's are meant to run their best on full DX9c while the ati cards are abit older arcitecture (DX9b), so they benefit from their higher clockspeed and "ati optamized" game in this case. But don't worry, all of the modern cards are running it so frekain fast it doesn't matter, plus there is supposed to be a High def. pack for those of us fortuneate enough to own a good card, so maybe the tides will turn towards nvidia more with new patchs, game engine mods and drivers. Only time will tell. You can also take comfort in the fact that Nvidia cards are faster on more games than they are slower, especially open GL games like Doom3(not that great gameplay, awesome graphics, but Quake IV is just around the corner and uses Doom 3 game engine).
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What the hell are you talking about? 1)HL2 isnt released yet so we don't know, and 2)CSS benchies showing nvidia in the lead with new drivers.
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No kidding.....he's WAY of base.

I prefer the leadtek 6800gt cooler over the stock cooling solution
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As would I, from what I've seen it does actually do QUITE well.....I still love my Silencer though. 45C idle and 68C max load temps at 1.4v are nothing to sneeze at after a simple mod or two to the cooler. ;)
 
If you want to mod the nv5 solution IS the best, or until galaxy releases the 6800gt with the nv5 equipped from the factory. If you dont want to mod I reccomend the leadtek 6800 gt, idle at about 52°C and it still has a 3 year warranty, which is plenty.
 
Matrix187 said:
If you want to mod the nv5 solution IS the best, or until galaxy releases the 6800gt with the nv5 equipped from the factory. If you dont want to mod I reccomend the leadtek 6800 gt, idle at about 52°C and it still has a 3 year warranty, which is plenty.
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I agree, other then possibly the Galaxy, the Leadtek GT does carry the nicest factory cooler available on a GT.....best bet if someone wants decent OC capability right out of the box.
 
Don't forget the arctic silve 5. I clock my Ultra at 440 and it never goes over 81. I rarely see it go over 79º. I live in Florida, and have been gandering my 6800's temps since mid August.
 
OriginalReaper said:
Don't forget the arctic silve 5. I clock my Ultra at 440 and it never goes over 81. I rarely see it go over 79º. I live in Florida, and have been gandering my 6800's temps since mid August.
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That's not too bad at all for living where you do bro.....good stuff.

For sure guys, even if you get the Leadtek or something else half decent.......do NOT leave that stock cooler unturned.....the tape/pad garbage on teh memory half the time is horrible.
 
Captain_Insano said:
Not only do they have sweet customer service but they also come factory OCed to 370 versus 350 reference. I love my BFG card. The only thing you might not like is that they supposedly have a tweaked BIOS, in my case it prevented me from coing past 380 GPU until i moded the bios to run the gpu at 1.4v instead of 1.3, now it ocs to 410/1100(and that is not the max yet). Although it scores higher, my score drops a little bit after running several benchies, like 1 and 1/2 fps loss before it stops decreasing, but overall it is still higher than stock. Hope this helps.
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Tweaked bios on a BFG? Nah, i overclocked mine outta the box to 430/1100. Ran it like that until i watercooled my system. But that was a GT with the old style heatsink. BFG's new GT has a different cooler on them.
 
KENNYB said:
Tweaked bios on a BFG? Nah, i overclocked mine outta the box to 430/1100. Ran it like that until i watercooled my system. But that was a GT with the old style heatsink. BFG's new GT has a different cooler on them.
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But I've been hearing people say that because of the two dinky 40mm fans as opposed to the desing on the reference cooler ppl were actually getting better temps with the first cards. Weird eh? :p
 
alright, well now it seems pretty apparent that i should get the BFG. now does anyone know a good site i could get one from? my local bestbuy is gonna get it in stock sometime this week for $400, so does anyone know a better deal? if not, best buy is always a good choice to me.

btw, just want to thank everyone again! i JUST ordered my first computer that i'm gonna build. ordered from newegg and frozencpu. here it goes....

Newegg:
Athlon 64 3400+ ClawHammer
1gb(512mbx2) Corsair XMS DDR400
MSI "K8N NeoFSR"
some awesome cooler master green led fans
Chenming Black Aluminum 601
MX510 gaming mouse
160GB Samsung SATA HDD
Samsung 52x32x52x16 CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive
samsung floppy drive
Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS
Kinyo 5.1 Surround Headphones
Nvidia Silencer 5 thingy
19" NEC FlatScreen CRT
and i think some stuff like a tee and cds

FrozenCPU:
X-Connect Black Power Supply (awesome!)
2 Fan Filters
SATA cable and some case badges
got the sata cable cuz i dont know how long the free one will take

now i just need that video card! (oh, and a keyboard hehehe)
 
ya check overstock.com, from time to time they have bfg 6800gt for $349.

other than bfg I would check out leadtek, bot of course you already have heard that

stock cooling on a 3400 clawhammer? dude, you gotta get a Zalman for that.

wha? chenming? no praetorian?

ah well, to each their own i guess :p
 
bestbut is good msrp is 400 so thats about as cheap as its going to get bar outpost.com or ebay outpost has them for 350 when thay have them but thay sell out FAST
 
Elios said:
bestbut is good msrp is 400 so thats about as cheap as its going to get bar outpost.com or ebay outpost has them for 350 when thay have them but thay sell out FAST
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True, if you can get any new card (6800 series/X800) for their listed MSRP then I'd say go for it. Cheaper is obviously better, but with the way things are now I'd be MORE then pleased getting a card for its MSRP.....until things settle down anyways.
 
ddogunl said:
ya check overstock.com, from time to time they have bfg 6800gt for $349.

other than bfg I would check out leadtek, bot of course you already have heard that

stock cooling on a 3400 clawhammer? dude, you gotta get a Zalman for that.

wha? chenming? no praetorian?

ah well, to each their own i guess :p
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well, as far as the HSF, i'm new to building so i wanna play it safe for a little while and then get something better. and for the praetorian case, i was gonna get it, but it's too much. $130 for the case and the window side panel, when i can get a pretty high quality case with the things i want WITH the window for less than $70.
 
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