Just got my Leadtek WinFast a400 6800 non-ultra in the mail today.
In order to install it into my shuttle SB62G2 (which has 2x 160 gb hd's + 6-in-1 media card slot in there... those of you who own shuttles are probably wondering where I put that second hard drive
) system I had to bend my "SATA" cables at a 30 degree angle (I plugged the cables in and sat the GeForce 6800 non-ultra on top of it... then forced it down until the SATA cable was at a 30 degree angle to what it should have been).
Oh yeah, the heatsink is flush up against my audigy 2 zs too...
So after all this, my system is running calm, cool, and quiet. GeForce 6800 non-ultra OC's to 400 core/900 mem (900 mem is maxed out in the provided overclocking utility) although I haven't noticed any significant difference in my Doom 3/Far Cry playing experience so I downclocked it back to stock.
ANYway
So the point of this is that for anybody who has an LCD screen that has a max resolution of 1280x1024 or lower, the 6800 non-ultra will please you just fine. I am currently running Doom 3 on a widescreen 1280x768 monitor on High Quality 4xAA/8xAF and even in the heaviest of firefights it never drops below 30 fps.
In Far Cry I have all settings to Max (including AA) and I only get slight lag in some areas. Dropping AA down to medium makes everything run perfectly.
A note though... I can't really notice the difference between 30 fps and 60 fps so... to each his own (probably the fact that LCD screens don't have the flicker problems that CRT's have since the image remains on the screen until it is updated).
Anyway, for those of you wondering about a purchase, the 6800 non-ultra is the best deal in its price range (my friend has a radeon 9800 xt and at my resolutions with AA on in the firefights/rougher graphical scenes, it gets slaughtered).
Many people will say, just drop the extra $100 to get a GT or an X800 Pro, but it's really not worth it if 1280x1024 is your max res. Your 6800 non-ultra will last you quite well until the 7800 series comes out.
In order to install it into my shuttle SB62G2 (which has 2x 160 gb hd's + 6-in-1 media card slot in there... those of you who own shuttles are probably wondering where I put that second hard drive
Oh yeah, the heatsink is flush up against my audigy 2 zs too...
So after all this, my system is running calm, cool, and quiet. GeForce 6800 non-ultra OC's to 400 core/900 mem (900 mem is maxed out in the provided overclocking utility) although I haven't noticed any significant difference in my Doom 3/Far Cry playing experience so I downclocked it back to stock.
ANYway
So the point of this is that for anybody who has an LCD screen that has a max resolution of 1280x1024 or lower, the 6800 non-ultra will please you just fine. I am currently running Doom 3 on a widescreen 1280x768 monitor on High Quality 4xAA/8xAF and even in the heaviest of firefights it never drops below 30 fps.
In Far Cry I have all settings to Max (including AA) and I only get slight lag in some areas. Dropping AA down to medium makes everything run perfectly.
A note though... I can't really notice the difference between 30 fps and 60 fps so... to each his own (probably the fact that LCD screens don't have the flicker problems that CRT's have since the image remains on the screen until it is updated).
Anyway, for those of you wondering about a purchase, the 6800 non-ultra is the best deal in its price range (my friend has a radeon 9800 xt and at my resolutions with AA on in the firefights/rougher graphical scenes, it gets slaughtered).
Many people will say, just drop the extra $100 to get a GT or an X800 Pro, but it's really not worth it if 1280x1024 is your max res. Your 6800 non-ultra will last you quite well until the 7800 series comes out.