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shadowbreaker513

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 15, 2005
Messages
1,410
My 9800 pro recently fried because I didn't know to take off the shim when installing a heatsink and it cooked itself. As a result, I am no in the market for a new video card. I was wondering if picking up a vanilla 6800 would be enough of an upgrade from my 9800 pro to justify the cost, or whether I should save up longer for a 6800GT which cost $140 more. Kepp in mind that I also need new RAM, and I hope to put my current rig into a small form factor barebones.

I was considering trying to unlock the extra pipelines with a program like Riva Tuner. Does anybody know what the success rate on doing this is, and what the chance for potential damage to the card is? I know it would void the warrenty, and I wouldn't want to do something that would have a high chance of screwing up the card so soon.

Thanks for the help.
 
shadowbreaker513 said:
My 9800 pro recently fried because I didn't know to take off the shim when installing a heatsink and it cooked itself. As a result, I am no in the market for a new video card. I was wondering if picking up a vanilla 6800 would be enough of an upgrade from my 9800 pro to justify the cost, or whether I should save up longer for a 6800GT which cost $140 more. Kepp in mind that I also need new RAM, and I hope to put my current rig into a small form factor barebones.

I was considering trying to unlock the extra pipelines with a program like Riva Tuner. Does anybody know what the success rate on doing this is, and what the chance for potential damage to the card is? I know it would void the warrenty, and I wouldn't want to do something that would have a high chance of screwing up the card so soon.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
6800nu will do everything your 9800pro can do, only a bit faster. You won't see too much of a performance increase.
A 6800GT is quite a bit faster, if you can afford it it would be a decent upgrade over your old 9800pro. Not to mention it is way more future proof than a 6800nu.
 
I kind of figured that. I was considering the vanilla 6800, because then that would allow me to get the RAM that I so desperatly need.

Anybody know anything about unlocking pipelines?
 
I'm kind of in the same situation. I havea 9500pro, but I'm selling it to my friend soon for his university computer (he doesn't game much). And I know I want a new video card but I can't decide if I want the 6800nu, which is only around $400 Canadian, or the 6800GT which is around $500, or $570 if I buy locally.

I mostly play CS:S, and I know either can run that, I just don't know if I need a $570 video card haha.
 
I play Half Life 2, Counter Strike Source, Halo, AVP2, Desert Combat, and Far Cry for the most part if that makes a difference.
 
shadowbreaker513 said:
I play Half Life 2, Counter Strike Source, Halo, AVP2, Desert Combat, and Far Cry for the most part if that makes a difference.
Click to expand...

For those games, I would suggest an X800PRO, I dunno how much moola you want to spend. But I would suggest an Pro (Or an XL, if not the pro has to be with VIVO so you can flashmod to xt-PE).

XL is great, But dont plan to OC much with it.
 
I went from a 9700 Pro to a 6800nu to a 6800 GT.I finally broke down for the GT just for the extra life span and the extra clock speeds. The 6800nu was a great card and unlocked really well. Both cards will deliver great gaming expiriences and offer noticable gains with newer games such as Doom 3 and HL2.
 
Hate_Bot said:
For those games, I would suggest an X800PRO, I dunno how much moola you want to spend. But I would suggest an Pro (Or an XL, if not the pro has to be with VIVO so you can flashmod to xt-PE).

XL is great, But dont plan to OC much with it.
Click to expand...
No xl for me, AGP and s754. Also I'm not sure how keen I am on flashing a card BIOS when I just fried my previous card. Also I'm looking to spend under $400. Does anybody know if unlocking the pipelines can permenantly damage the card?
 
shadowbreaker513 said:
No xl for me, AGP and s754. Also I'm not sure how keen I am on flashing a card BIOS when I just fried my previous card. Also I'm looking to spend under $400. Does anybody know if unlocking the pipelines can permenantly damage the card?
Click to expand...
From what I've heard, it's reversible. But it's pretty tought to know whether or not you're going to fry the card or not. Each to his own, some may reverse, but it's possible that you would just be unlucky enough to get one that didn't revert back to stock.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet... I almost feel like I should wait another generation now.
 
Thing is, I can't wait a few months. My computer can't work without a video card, and it's hard for a heavy gamer to go without any games for over a quarter of a year.
 
shadowbreaker513 said:
Thing is, I can't wait a few months. My computer can't work without a video card, and it's hard for a heavy gamer to go without any games for over a quarter of a year.
Click to expand...
True I think I'l bite the bullet and buy a 6800gt. I have a healthy bank account, so I might as well.
 
My friend may be able to get me a 6800GT for $140 through a friend of his dad's. He got his that way for that much. If not I think I'll just save the extra hundred and pick up the XFX one with doom 3 for $390.
 
I would personally stick it out for a 6800GT. You might need more RAM, but as it's relatively low cost compared to getting a new graphics card, you could easily add it later when you have some spare cash. On the other hand, if you get a graphics card you aren't satisfied with, you can't upgrade that quite so easily.
 
Last time I bought mainstream, (9500pro in March 2003). It has worked well, but the 6800nu is on the verge of the high end of mainstream. So it would be the same thing all over again. Maybe if I get a 6800GT it will last me a GOOD 3 years, instead of a mediocre 2 years.
 
You could also take a look at the ForSale boards here. There are plenty of people selling 6800GT's for not much more than an NU.
 
No matter now. Me and my dad worked out a loan agreement where I would pay it all back. I'm getting a 6800GT

Also, should I go for the eVGA or the XFX? The XFX costs $5 more.
 
I think eVGA has a trade up program and there have been some very bad reviews on the XFX's. Sounds like the eVGA would be your winner but why not look at the BFG's with a lifetime warranty?
 
I would get BFG, but online they cost more, and stores charge $20 tax. I'm still trying to find a place around me that has a 6800GT for $380 or around there. I can only find best buy which is out of stock and compusa says "coming soon" for the BFG. This is a holiday weekend and shipping will take FOREVER.

EDIT: Found Circuit City has the eVGA 6800GT for $400. I think I may just bite the tax bullet and pay it.
 
Get the eVGA, it's just as good as the BFG.

Sure the BFG has a lifetime warranty, and it is pre overclocked (very slightly).
But the eVGA can easily overclock that much, and the warranty is more than adequate. Most hardware related difficulties that can be covered by warranty are found within the first 30 days or less of use.
 
I should either be getting it tonight or tomorrow. I think I'll get everything set up on my computer and make sure it's stable and nothing else crashes before I overclock it though.
 
Just came back from Best Buy with a shiny new BFG 6800GT OC'd in hand. I'll let you guys know how everything turns out.
 
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