I am looking at replacing my 9800 pro w/ 128 for a new 6800 GT, but I am unsure as to what 3rd party to go with...there are so many and I don't know how to tell the diff. Is there a diff?
Well, I just ordered a Leadtek. It has the best stock cooler, but it doesnt come with much, Prince of Pursia and Splinter Cell. But thats ok cause I have Doom III sitting right here. So I would say get the leadtek, it has the best cooler, but not so good software. What more important to you? And mine was $416 shipped.
I have a PNY 6800GT and it runs like a champ. 401/1100 and I can only tell a one degree temp difference from its stock settings. It only takes up one slot, so that's good. It IS a little loud. At least mine is, but I haven't heard any of the other brands, so me saying that means little without a point of reference. An Arctic Cooling Silencer would fix that anyways, though.
I ordered Leadtek a400gt also. It has a better cooling quieter cooler than stock. Not sure about the new Gigabyte, although that looks like a good option also. Unfortunately, I just sold my 9700pro and have to use a radeon 7000 until my new card comes in. It's $389 shipped from gameve.com.
I see those when I'm at Best Buy hehe...If I wasn't waiting 6 months to buy another video card, I'd probably go with one of those. High rated, and lotsa bang for the buck.
If you DO NOT want to overclock, and want a quiet card, then the Leadtek Winfast 6800GT is exactly what you want...it runs a little warmer than the stock cooler does, but it does run MUCH more quiet...my GF3 is a winfast and it overclocks and runs solid, so that's what I would recommend I plan on going evga because i like to OC, but that's me.
I am really interested in what cards are better for what. Like what is the quitest? overclocks best? etc.. I ma planning on buying a 6800GT and I am going to overclock it so I want something that will overclock realy good.
I love my card...at stock speeds it chews up and spits out DOOM]I[ @ 83FPS !!! I o/c'd it a tad and am now hitting a solid 93-95FPS. One thing though be shure you have a proc that can feed it!
For me, it's XFX vs. PNY vs. BFG vs. MSI.
Leadtek is out of the question...poor overclocker, lots of dust. Which is the best of these 4? I like the MSI--huge bundle, NICE COOLER, excellent overclocker, and my TI was an MSI. Ownly downside is it's over $400, seated at $405 at Game VE (w/ shipping).
However, reviews don't seem to be widely available.
Overclocking isn't guarenteed at all...differs from card to card.
And if you get a card with nVidia's reference cooler (evga has reference) then all companies cards should be about the same...it's a shot in the dark reguardless. Customer support and the package contents are the only things that differ. The reason I said eVga for overclocking because the reference cooler runs COOLER than the leadtek cooler...leadtek's is more silent but runs warmer because of it.
Once again, overclocking is a shot in the dark....but a reference design is a good way to go...but I've heard promising things of the Gigabyte 6800GT which has a big ass heatsink with the fan on the oppisite side...check it out