Which 6800GT?

M

Mojo

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 28, 2003
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I'm buying a 6800GT locally in the next few days. The retailer I'm dealing with has the following offers...

Leadtek 6800GT AGP $539
Chaintech 6800GT Apogee AGP $550
MSI 6800GT AGP $560
Aopen 6800GT AGP $555

Right now I'm thinking Leadtek, but I wanted some feedback, what do you guys think?

PS: All the prices are in CANADIAN dollars, so please refrain from posting something along the lines of... "Those prices are OUTRAGEOUS!!! Go buy a eVGA from Newegg for $390" or whatever immediately comes to mind. It's always interesting to see who actually reads the entire post before replying, hahaha.
 
Leadtek all the way.

I love mine, it runs really really cool (45C idle, 51C load) and overclocks like mad (although I run it at stock... its plenty fast).
 
holy crap get the leadtek!!! its cooler completely DOMINATES every air cooler i ahve ever seen, even the new zalman thing for the 6800 cant cool as good as the leadtek sock cooler, not to mention the leadtek is liek completely quite and i have heard of people always sayign that there 1 slot 6800 coolers are too damned loud

also i have had my leadtek since june of last year i think and its been the best thing ive ever got for my computer ever since
 
I love my gainward golden sample.. it's a tad bit loud, but I can crank down the fans during 2d mode, so it's not a big issue.. Big plusses on this card, dual DVI ports, and guaranteed Ultra speeds..

Kinda hard to go wrong there, cept for the 2 slot cooler.. I'll probably rip it off and through on a NV 5 silencer when the warranty is up
 
Out of your selection, I would recommend the Leadtek. Great card, it has a great cooler so you can do some OCing, and is also very quiet.
 
Of the cards mentioned, Leadtek is definitely the best IMHO. They OC great, and have a nice quiet fan on them.
 
I bought the Leadtek 6800GT back in September, can't go wrong with it and has a better then reference card stock cooler. Also comes with a great selection of games (Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell: PT anyone?) I assume those are NCIX prices? See if you can find a site where you can pricematch the cards for a bit lower. Atic.ca probably has better prices, but I always buy from NCIX.

* Just looked at atic.ca, and they have the Leadtek for only 490 CAN. http://www.atic.ca/index.php?page=LongDesc&sku=07506 Use that link and pricematch at ncix.com. Atic.ca has great prices but horrible CS, which is why ncix is the best choice. Shipping costs will be lower then the PST you save by buying from out of province.
 
Barnaby said:
I love my gainward golden sample.. it's a tad bit loud, but I can crank down the fans during 2d mode, so it's not a big issue.. Big plusses on this card, dual DVI ports, and guaranteed Ultra speeds..

Kinda hard to go wrong there, cept for the 2 slot cooler.. I'll probably rip it off and through on a NV 5 silencer when the warranty is up
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Barnaby, I too have the Gainward GS and found that the stock cooler is way too loud. Don't wait until the warranty is up, get a replacement cooler now. You won't believe the difference it makes. I was torn between the NV5 and the Zalman VF700-Cu. My card has the dual PCI mounting bracket so I couldn't fit the NV5 and bought the Zalman instead. What a nice piece of kit - really well made, cools better than the stock cooler on 100% and is almost inaudible.
Like I said don't wait until your warranty is up, change the cooler and if the card craps out (though it won't be anything to do with the cooler if it does) just put the stock one back on and send it back.

gcol
 
yea, been debating it lately.. it's not really that loud, since when I'm playing games, I turn all my case fans on high, so it gets lost with the rest of the noise.. You can pick it out above the rest, but it's not annoying.. I can barely hear it at idle.. the only real annoyance is when I play vids, or open an excel spreadsheet.. the driver makes the fans spin up, and that is annoying..

My card also has the dual PCI bracket, but that shouldn't matter, since they made a rev. 2 for the silencer that has replacement brackets.. I haven't heard anything about the zalman yet.. do you run it on silent or normal mode? how loud is it in normal mode, and what are your temps at Ultra levels? Also, I'm assuming you no longer use the expertool, since you don't need to control the fan speed, and just OC through the driver now..
 
I have the leadtek, they're a bitch to RMA man. Might want to look into that. I wish I would of.
 
i would go with a bfg. i heard their customer service and warranty is top notch. i had a leadtek gf3 ti500 when the fan died they wouldnt fix it for me. i had to diy to fix the problem. on the other hand i heard people that had problems with their bfg card got replacements but better next gen card from their previous cards. i was thinking about going leadtek too but that passed experience killed it for me. you cant go wrong with either 6800gt but you get a good piece of mind knowing that you'll be taken cared of for life with the bfg's.

the only problem with the bfg card is the cooling. my 6800gt runs HOT with that program utility rthdribl @ 88c max oc'd @ 400/1020. i'm sure i can oc it more but i havent tried since i'm not 100% with the cooling atm. i might end up getting an after market cooler later.
 
well if you have good airflow in your system you shouldnt worry too much. when you start to oc it, it could lead to problems later. so a better cooling solution would be better.

most games i've played so far wc3, css, ut2k4, and ut it gets around almost 70c that i've seen so its not a problem for me right now.
 
TrueRush said:
well if you have good airflow in your system you shouldnt worry too much. when you start to oc it, it could lead to problems later. so a better cooling solution would be better.

most games i've played so far wc3, css, ut2k4, and ut it gets around almost 70c that i've seen so its not a problem for me right now.
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Is it loud though? Like compared to a regular r300/r350 core card ? (9500, 9700, 9800, 9600, etc)?
 
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