6600gt or 6800

[SStar269]

ok, if i had to chose between these two cards

eVGA e-GeForce™ 6600 GT Video Card 128mb
eVGA GeForce™ 6800 Vdeo Card 128mb

Which should i chose? They are both about the same price($40 difference)
I'm wanting a card to play nothing but the hl2, counter-strike:source, and Day Of Defeat:source.
So which card would perform the best?
Thanks for any help

 

[wazzledoozle]

get this-
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-140-044&depa=1
its core is 25 MHz higher than a normal 6800LE.

 

[Nergal]

6800LE all the way.
BUT, if it is ONLY for CSS and DoD, take an ATI, it runs better on the hl2 engine.

However, with that 6800LE, you will be able to play newer games for a while

 

[SStar269]

ok, what if i break down and spend $400, should i get the

ATI Radeon™ X800 Pro Video Card
eVGA GeForce™ 6800 GT Viddo Card

which of those two cards is better? keeping in mind it is mainly for the hl2 engine.
thanks for any help

 

[wazzledoozle]

get the X800XL, it is better than both of those and costs about $350

 

[Nergal]

X800xl

 

[SStar269]

does the x800xl require a speical pci slot? or can it go into any pci slot?

 

[wazzledoozle]

does the x800xl require a speical pci slot? or can it go into any pci slot?

There is a PCI-Express version.

 

[Nergal]

but AGP IS comming, just wait some weeks, or it could be that some are ava right now. don't know.

 

[critofur]

Get a 6800 (non GT, non LE) for $260 (eVGA can be got for that price at a few different stores) and unlock the extra pipes and vertex shader, plus you could overclock it if you want. By the time a game comes out that needs a better card then you'll be happy you saved the $100 by not getting the X800 and newer better cards will be available anyway.

edit: or, just get a PCIe 6600GT for under $200 and use the money saved to help afford upgrading MB + CPU to an Athlon 64 system. ATi doesn't have anything that competes with the 6600GT in the $200 or less category right now, I wish they did.

 

[Nergal]

DON'T buy an 6600GT!!!!!!

get that 6800LE($230), or the X800XL ($350)

a 6800LE has 8 pipes. The regular (NU) got 12 pipes.
The chances of unlocking an LE to NU is above 80%
the chances of an LE or NU unlocking to GT is around 50%.

but they got DDR1, if you want more power, get an X800XL, it is only 70bucks more then the proposed 6800NU ($280)

 

[critofur]

DON'T buy an 6600GT!!!!!!

get that 6800LE($230), or the X800XL ($350)
...

You can get a PCIe 6600GT for $170, it will run most games great including Doom 3. I'm sick of video cards costing over $200 particularly since the technology advances so rapidly.

Why doesn't ATi have a kickass under $200 current generation card? Greedy bastard companies gouging us, of course I want the "best" 3d card, but $400 - $500 for one card that's not going to be the best anymore in 3 - 6 months is just not cool.

edit: my best card right now is an eVGA 6800nu I got "open box" for $239, 100% unlocked with no probs. Even at $239 I was upset at the price, only bought it 'cause I was lucky to sell my 4600 for $100.

 

[Nergal]

an 6800NU for 239 is very good, and the 6600GT sucks my friend.
I can copy/paste my whole blablabla if you want?

 

[critofur]

an 6800NU for 239 is very good, and the 6600GT sucks my friend.
I can copy/paste my whole blablabla if you want?

6600GT sucks? Which under $200 card is better?

Which under $200 card is better for playing Half-Life 2 under Linux?

 

[Nergal]

now now, fact is that HL2 is more CPU based then GPU based, and that ATI has an advantage on GForce concering the engine. meaning a decent 9800XT will preform at least the same, and even more stable then an 6600GT.
(I got an 9500@9700, my bro an 6600GT, I run the game faster and more stable)

I won't argue that an 6600GT costs 199, but for 40bucks more (230) you get a card that will outpreform the 6600GT a lot in the near future.

------------------
now my blablabla:
(source: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=2297&page=1&pp=10 )


I agree that for NOW, the 6600GT is a good choice, if you plan to play only games
for 1(-2)years, and then quit.

Perhaps I can sway you to see the light.
let's take up on the 6800LE


1.) 6800LE runs on 300mhz, 6600GT on 500mhz
2.) MEM runs on 700mhz, 6600GT on 900mhz.

So far, the 6600GT is in lead

3.) The 6800LE has extra pipes and vertexes that are unlockable! to 16x6.
6600GT has 8x3!
4.) 6800LE has 256bit, 6600GT has a 128bit bus.
This means that the mem is twice as fast! meaning the 6600Gt in comparison
only got 450mhz against 700 of the6800LE.
5.) the 6800LE is an perfect 6800GT core, with the same capabilities.


Now, about those pipelines.

if you have core @600MHZ with 8pipes, he is as fast
as the core @300MHZ with 16pipes

so it is possible to get 4x more membandwith out of you card.
if you check the GPU databse on this site, you'll see the same result.
the 6600GT has 4.0GB/s, while the 6800 can get to 16.00GB/s

not bad I would think. it has less fillrate, that's true, but the chance you got you
can't unlock 1 setof pipes, and the shaders, are very very slim.
even so, if yopu want to play safe, get and 6800NU, those got the same fillrate
as an 6600GT, but 3x more bandwith! and with luck, you can unlock it fully to it's
GT potential! (all with rivatuner, no hardmods)

ofc, I admid that it only has DDR1, and not DDR3, but the point is
that the 6600GT doesn't make much use of it anyway.


The hard thruth is that an OC'd 6600GT can get 9000-9500 3dmark03 points,
where an 6800 can take almost 11000.

And with the newer games also using larger textures, the 6600GT will get behind,
far behind. THAT'S why I said that the 9800pro will eventually preform better on the
games of the nearer future then the 6600GT will, but ofc, it will also be to slow

It's a damn rip-off that new 128bits cards are still made.
So take an XFX 256MB 6800 LE/NU with the 2.2ns ram
or
Aopen 256MB 6800LE/NU with 2.0ns ram (REVISION 3!!!!!!)

or if that is to expensive, even the cheapest 6800LE preforms at least as good
as an OC'd 6600GT

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/con...opic/33402/?o=0

http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum...ssages/973935/0

this one is in dutch, but the first poll asks how many pipes/shaders
each user was able to unlock.

121 people with an Aopen of a total of 209 where able to unlock everything.
with 27 nothing. (meaning no pipes extra) Or 87% succes, with almost 60% full unlock.

From a total of 530 XFX 6800LE owners, 118 reported no unlock capabilities.
But 248 full capabilities. 77% succes, with 47% full unlock.

(succes = at least an extra shader and pipeline, outsmarting a 6600GT on any benchmark)

So with a simple tweaking in rivatuner, with the help of 1 of the 100th guids out there,
you get an almost high-end card. WITH 256-bits.
(do mind I'm talking about the Aopen nd the XFX, not about other brands,
however I heard nice things about the leadtek)

So a nice XFX will do, because I believe they are easy and cheap to find
--------------

ofc, a 6800NU for 239 is superb, so get that.
or if it really has to be less then 200, you can get 9800PRO's refurbs for 130.

 

[ADV4NCED]

Ok, I think this whole forum has had enough of this 6600GT vs 6600LE battle!!! We all know now the 6600LE is better as it can be unlocked, but for people that dont want to/cant afford the more expensive 6600LE then the 6600GT is perfect for em.

 

[wazzledoozle]

I found an incredible deal on a 6800LE 256 MB!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=322717&affiliate=yahoo
229.99 free 2nd day shipping!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Nergal]

w00t
it even got 2.5ns!

the point is, if you can pay 190, then you also can pay 230
And if you can't, ask yourself if there aren't any other more basic needs that
need to be fulfilled?

 

[critofur]

now now, fact is that HL2 is more CPU based then GPU based, and that ATI has an advantage on GForce concering the engine. meaning a decent 9800XT will preform at least the same, and even more stable then an 6600GT.
(I got an 9500@9700, my bro an 6600GT, I run the game faster and more stable)
.

I tried a 9800 Pro and it had problems, that's one reason I have the 6800 now, that and the 9800 pales in comparison to 6800 in Doom 3. I don't really like Doom 3 much but I expect the engine to be used for at least a few games that I will like a lot, I guess we'll see if that's true or not over the next year or so... The HardOCP "preview" of 6600GT AGP showed the 6600GT runs Doom 3 faster at 1280x1024 than the 9800 Pro does at 1024x768, they also said in their review of Doom 3 that an increase in resolution was significantly more of an improvement than anti-aliasing is. In Far Cry also they had to run the 9800 Pro at both lower resolution and quality setting than the 6600 yet the 9800 Pro still dipped below 30 FPS min. And in Counter Strike Source the 6600GT runs 1280x1024 2xAA 16xAF @ average 73 FPS but the 9800 Pro lamely limps along (compared to the 6600GT) at 1024x768 2xAA 8xAF only averaging 55 FPS.

Surely a 9800 Pro is better in (almost?) all cases than a 9700, and from the many reviews I read the 9800 Pro simply can't compete with the 6600GT.

I also read several places that trying to run Windows 3D games under WINE (+Cedega) was either a pain in the ass, or simply not working properly on ATi cards, but worked great on nVidia cards. Now, since I saw adds for ATi to hire Linux driver programmers I expect that situation will change eventually.

The 9500@9700 was surely a good deal, but you don't see 9500s for sale much anymore.

It is know that there are some issues on some 6600 GT cards with the HSI chips not being cooled properly, but in that case you can RMA the card, or just put some arctic silver between the chip & the heatsink yourself.

 

[critofur]

I agree that for NOW, the 6600GT is a good choice, if you plan to play only games
for 1(-2)years, and then quit.

Perhaps I can sway you to see the light.
let's take up on the 6800LE

Well, I don't think I could argue against going with 6800LE vs 6600GT unless you're talking about the PCIe version. Is there a PCIe 6800LE anyway?

I had 100% success unlocking my 6800nu, and would like to try an LE, but paying $240 even for my 6800 was upsetting, I think the LE should be priced under $200

And about the 1-2 years, well, I'd like to buy hardware that's in the "sweet spot", save some money now, and upgrade again in less than 2 years because it's evolving so rapidly.

I'd almost recomend just getting a 9550 and overclocking it for now, then in 6 months or a year from now apply the $150 saved to a new card then, unless you really are set on running the latest games fast at high resolutions.

 

[Nergal]

@hl2: an 6600GT won't be able to get a constant high FPS, even on 1024*786 with no FFA and such. While an ATI card can do that. That is why I said "stable"

and tbh, having FPS-drop is one of the worst things you can have in a firefight.
(my bro got an XP3000+, 1024DDR 400MHZ and an 6600GT, he has fpsdrops to 50.
since in CSS, you have to maintain a constant fps, same as your HZ of your screen, else you miss frames)

@other games: I won't deny that the nvidia is loads better for doom3, and scoring a bit better in average for other games. But I like ATI more then nvidia

Nonetheless, you can't deny what I said, the 6600GT with it's 128-bits archi will get old way to fast. It just won't be able to handle the larger textures and such.

for 230, you can have an 6800. If you can spend 200, then you can also spend 230.
So let's agree that the best bang for the buck is the 6800LE, and that he should get such one

EDIT: seems we posted on the same time.

for a time the LE was priced 199, but they raised it

and idd, I was thinking the same thing. if you ain't a heavy gamer, a 9550@9600XT should do.

but I believe the 6800LE@unlock will kick ass for a long time.
You have to buy a new card once, and now ain't a bad time, perhaps wait untill nvidia comes with their answer to the 850XT, so the LE will drop. That would be good, but I don't know if nvidia got anything in their pipeline.

 

[critofur]

another 6600GT page...

Hardware Analysis.com 6600GT AGP review

Ok, since you put a hardwareanalysis.com link I took a look, here in the link I posted we see the 6600GT not only soundly whoops the 9800 Pro's ass (even DOUBLEs it's performance in some cases, like Doom 3 at 1600 x 1200) but it beats the 9800 XT in every test they posted.

 

[critofur]

@hl2: an 6600GT won't be able to get a constant high FPS, even on 1024*786 with no FFA and such. While an ATI card can do that. That is why I said "stable"

and tbh, having FPS-drop is one of the worst things you can have in a firefight.
(my bro got an XP3000+, 1024DDR 400MHZ and an 6600GT, he has fpsdrops to 50.
since in CSS, you have to maintain a constant fps, same as your HZ of your screen, else you miss frames)
....

Well, speaking of FPS drops, that's exactly what the 6600GT AGP seemed to be better at than the 9800 Pro according to the HardOCP link I posted, the commented that in their FRAPS analysis, even at a higher resolution the 6600 didn't drop as low as the 9800...

And "fps drops to 50" is actually quite excellent, did you know that movies only run at 24 FPS? Did you ever hear someone say "man, that movie wasn't smooth, the framerate is way to slow"???

Most people are actually not capable of noticing a difference beyond (faster than) 30 FPS.

Do you know what speed the RAM is on a typical 6800nu? I have the eVGA which I'm happy with as it unlocked 100% with no artifacts etc... So that deal for the 256 eVGA 6800LE for $229 looks good, is there a lot of headroom for overclocking the memory (it says 2.5ns)?

I couldn't find Aopen 6800LE for sale on US website, I didn't have long to look though.

 

[Nergal]

In real gaming, 30fps is to low, and I explained the fps has to be constant, same as your HZ of your screen, else you miss fps.

It was also with the hl2 demo, which isn't representative for gaming in CSS.

And we see there that the 9800XT is 0.5fps slower
I admitted in my previous post that a nvidia is superb in doom3, and a bit better for other games, which is what the test shows.

In fact, the 6600GT only has 200points more in 3dmark05, while the difference in 3d03 is much higher. as to why? Easy, 3d05 uses larger textures, and I'm confident that on the 3dmark07 the 9800XT will preform better then the 6600GT.

but even take into account the 3d03. difference is 1500points.
The difference between a 6600GT and a unlocked 6800 can be 3000 points.
so a 6800 scores almost twice has high then a 9800XT.

You have to compare a 6600GT to an 9800XT to show that it is better.
An 6800 whipes an 6600GT totally of the chart, for 30 bucks more.
And that was what I was trying to make clear here(what also the topic is about),
that the 6600GT sucks

 

[critofur]

The cheapest price I saw 9800xt for is $350, so are you saying it makes sense to pay $350 for a card that's slower than a $185 card? (I saw 6600GT AGP for $185 at zipzoomfly).

The 6600GT is 90% as fast as a 6800 in many current games, but again I would say the only place I really recomend it is on a PCIe system. And if you don't have a PCIe system, then in that case it probably makes sense to use the money you could save by getting the 6600GT PCIe to help you upgrade your MB & CPU to PCIe + Athlon 64, then next year upgrade the video card.

"same as your HZ" well, the HZ is the max FPS that can actually be displayed, and if you run less than that, then yes, you are seeing less than the max possible FPS, but, for MOST people, scientific testing has shown that there is little actual advantage to over 30 FPS (regardless of what the max might be). Just to be sure, it might be nice to try to keep your min FPS at 40 or higher, but that's plenty I guarantee, unless you're using LCD shutter glasses to do alternate frame true 3D viewing, in that case you do want to match your HZ.

In real gaming, 30fps is to low, and I explained the fps has to be constant, same as your HZ of your screen, else you miss fps.

It was also with the hl2 demo, which isn't representative for gaming in CSS.

And we see there that the 9800XT is 0.5fps slower
I admitted in my previous post that a nvidia is superb in doom3, and a bit better for other games, which is what the test shows.

In fact, the 6600GT only has 200points more in 3dmark05, while the difference in 3d03 is much higher. as to why? Easy, 3d05 uses larger textures, and I'm confident that on the 3dmark07 the 9800XT will preform better then the 6600GT.

but even take into account the 3d03. difference is 1500points.
The difference between a 6600GT and a unlocked 6800 can be 3000 points.
so a 6800 scores almost twice has high then a 9800XT.

You have to compare a 6600GT to an 9800XT to show that it is better.
An 6800 whipes an 6600GT totally of the chart, for 30 bucks more.
And that was what I was trying to make clear here(what also the topic is about),
that the 6600GT sucks