6600gt or 6800

[wazzledoozle]

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.

-The 9800 Po can be easily OC'd beyond 9800XT speeds, so thats why we are comparing it.
-There are almost no real world advantages of PCI-E over AGP 8x, no card even uses the full bandwidth of the AGP 8x bus yet.
-I, personally can EASILY tell the difference between 30 fps and 60 fps, and a constant 30 fps drives me crazy. When I saw the first gamecube game locked at 60 FPS after playing only N64 for the past few years (Didnt have a pc) the difference was amazing, and I still easily notice.
- The 256 bit bus on the 6800LE will be a godsend when the Unreal 3 engine starts being used in games, while the 6600GT will have to run at low resolutions due to the small memory bus.

 

[ADV4NCED]

Here:
9800Pro < 9800XT
9800Pro/XT < 6600GT
6600GT < 6800LE

Look no-one is denying that the 6800LE isnt better than the 6600GT, but what hes saying is that the 6600GT is better than a 9800Pro/Xt card which I think is true. See any synthetic benchmark and it will show you the above.

6600GT Benchmarks

 

[Nergal]

True, the 6600GT is better, but not by much if you compare the data
of the benchmarks. In HL2 even only a 0.5fps difference.
btw, those are stock readings, not OC, an 6800 can get easly over the 10kpoints.

and wtf@350 for an 9800? You can find new ones for 170, and refurbs for 130.

but perhaps you should see the 3dmark05 scores?

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce6600gt-agp_24.html

Oh my, poor 6600GT, it can't even handle the FSAA4X, prolly due
to the fact it is the only 128-bit card in that lot
Even so, the score is almost the same, and if it could have run those FSAA4X,
the 9800XT would have had more points.
Will it even be able to run the 3dmark07 in the future?
perhaps yes
Will the 9800XT score better on that bench?
yes
Will they both be outdated by then?
100% sure

So ask yourself if it really is such a good deal to get such a card that will
need to be replaced in a year, max 2.

Thus I say again, for now, the 6600GT is better then the 9800XT,
but if you can pay 180 for a card, you can also pay 230.
If not, sort out your priorities before you buy stuff?

 

[wazzledoozle]

Personaly, Im getting an OEM refurbished 9800 Pro of of newegg for $130, which should be fine for a year or so.

 

[ADV4NCED]

Thing is, by 2007 you'll be getting a new card anyway, so whats the point in paying $230 (or w/e the 6800LE costs) when you can pay $200 which the performance is definetly adequate for todays games, then when games require more (in the future) use your money and upgrade and get a new card. Chances are if you buy a 6800LE now, you'll still have to upgrade your card by 2007.

Thats why I say, the 6600GT is priced nicely and isnt too expensive, most people can/will afford the card but the extra +-$30, I think just puts people off since the 6600GT does a good enough job anyway...

 

[critofur]

While you're right about AGP 8x bandwidth not nearly being saturated by current games, there are other significant factors regarding PCIe. Video card companies aren't paying much attention to AGP anymore, they're focusing on PCIe cards so if you want to think about the future, then think about investing in PCIe technology, not dumping money into AGP which is now a thing of the past. One nice thing about the PCIe version of the 6600GT is that it uses less power, it's a .11 micron process chip and it doesn't even have the power connector on the card like all the other recent 3D cards do. (The AGP version does, I guess because of the added HSI chip?)

So, with that in mind, which PCIe card would be a better value than the 6600GT PCIe?

I'm having trouble making up my mind myself, wondering is it worth upgrading the AGP card in my "2nd" PC, or would it be better to get a new PCIe motherboard and an Athlon 64 CPU. I'm thinking of getting the low power OEM notebook Athlon 64 with the 1 meg of on chip cache...

If you are not going to go the PCIe route, and must choose an AGP card, than the 6800LE would be the way to go _IF_ you can unlock extra pipes successfully.

 

[ADV4NCED]

Just thought I should post this:

Conclusion
The AGP version of the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT is undoubtedly a success. Having performed a simple modernization, NVIDIA has got an excellent mainstream graphics card which outperforms last-generation solutions of the same class, like the RADEON 9800 XT and PRO, not to mention the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra.

Besides its excellent performance, the GeForce 6600 GT AGP features all the technologies peculiar to the whole GeForce 6 family. Thus, this is the only mass product with the AGP interface to support version 3.0 pixel and vertex shaders (Shader Model 3.0). Don’t also forget the PureVideo technology – the card carries NVIDIA’s second-generation video processor to unload the CPU during video playback, especially with the HDTV format.

As for the performance of the new graphics card, take a look at the following diagram:

Despite its simple design and 128-bit memory bus, the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT AGP makes an excellent showing in one of the most popular resolutions, 1280x1024. The more expensive, complex and hot RADEON 9800 XT is lagging behind in almost every test. The GeForce FX 5950 Ultra is no competitor to the GeForce 6600 GT AGP: the NV4x architecture is evidently superior to the NV3x.

The GeForce 6600 GT AGP also feels at ease when full-screen anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering are enabled, save for those cases when the load on the graphics memory is so high that the 128-bit width of the bus becomes too narrow. The bottlenecking effect of the 128-bit bus is especially felt in 1600x1200 resolution, but that’s not very critical since you are unlikely to have a playable frame rate in modern games turning on FSAA + anisotropic filtering in this resolution. The GeForce 6600 GT AGP is a mainstream graphics card after all, so don’t ask for the impossible from it.

At the time of our writing this, the GeForce 6600 GT AGP was already selling freely. According to PriceWatch.com, it’s going to cost you about $200-250 depending on the manufacturer, while the price of the RADEON 9800 XT is $275 and more. You can also have a RADEON 9800 PRO for $215, but its performance is lower than that of the new GeForce.

AGP versions of the RADEON X700- or RADEON X800-series graphics processing units produced using 0.11 micron process technology would make a good alternative to the GeForce 6600 GT AGP, but currently such GPUs only exist in PCI Express flavours, although the converter called ATI Rialto is already being made and tested by the manufacturers of graphics cards. So we’re expecting new AGP products from ATI any time now, but until their arrival the GeForce 6600 GT AGP remains the only mainstream graphics card with new-generation architecture. Considering its relatively low price and excellent performance we recommend it for your consideration – it’s an excellent buy, free from any obvious drawbacks.

Highs:

Small and simple PCB;
New-generation architecture;
High performance;
Shader Model 3.0;
Floating-point color representation;
PureVideo processor of the second generation.
Lows:

No evident drawbacks.

Got that from http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce6600gt-agp_26.html

 

[Nergal]

an 6800 will be in the running for a year more then the 6600GT.
A standard not-unlocked 6800LE outpreforms the 6600GT as much as an 6600GT outpreforms an 9800XT.

An 6800LE on AGP4X even preforms better then a 6600GT PCIe
And AGP is here to stay for the next years. They even made an FX5200 PCI.
And AGP is here already for a long time, so the next gen GPU's will also have decent AGP support, to many people will not have switched unless they buoght a new mobo.

But if there is indeed no PCIe 6800, then you are ofc right that it is the best cheap solution for PCIe mobo's.

 

[15th Warlock]

I have to agree about AGP not dying so fast, look at Ati for example, they said they would make their next gen cards PCIe native, and wouldn't invest in creating any sort of PCIe-AGP bridge, that was almost a year ago, fast forward to the present, and you'll see that they just anounced the new AGP X800XL using a bridge, and even an AGP version of their current flagship card, the X850.
I'm not saying that AGP is here to stay, it's destined to die, as any old technology, it's just that it won't happen as fast as most ppl expected, I think both nVidia and Ati will support it for at least one more generation, the AGP market is just too big to let it go that easily.
Right this moment, I see no compeling reason that would convience me of having to migrate to a PCIe system and all the expenses that would mean (new proc, mem, video card, etc.), if I can get the latest gen card for my current PC for a lot less dough than changing my whole system.
I think my current PC isn't slow by any standard right now, although that will change in about a year, when the price of migrating to a PCIe platform goes down... I think most of you will agree that it isn't necessary to stay on the bleeding edge of technology in order to play current games at decent framerates.
About the 9800XT beating the 6600GT in "3dmark07"... by that time it won't matter, as both cards will be too slow to run any new game at decent framerates with FSAA and AA enabled, so I would instead focus on the performance of both cards in the current generation of games.
Critofur, the AGP version of the 6600 needs a power conector because the AGP slot alone isn't able to supply as much power (wattage) as the PCIe slot.

 

[critofur]

Well, most of the new PCIe cards do still have a seperate power connector, some of them have a new 6 pin connector that I hadn't seen before.

I guess most Athlon 64 motherboards don't have PCIe slots on them yet?

If only the 6600GT AGP cost $150 instead of $200, it would clearly be the best choice and we wouldn't need this debate. The prices of computers, and most computer components had declined rapidly over the past years, but the price of video cards seems to be following an opposite trend.

 

[wazzledoozle]

6600GT are $40 cheaper than the cheapest 6800le now, so make your decisions accordingly


as of 3-30-2005 the gap is about $50

Buy the 6800LE before they go up in price

 

[wizard23]

geforce 6800 128mb is a faster gpu and with soft mod you can take all the 16 pipes.
__________________
system:amd64 3200 / 1024mb/ 5*200gb maxtor/ samsung 21"plus
x800pro vivo
old gpu 9800pro256mb older 9700pro256mb
3dmark01:24425
3dmark03:10044
3dmark05: 5254
aquamark:69562

 

[critofur]

Well, for a while now I've had both an AGP system with a (all pipes unlocked) 6800 and a PCIe system with a 6600GT (PCIe). My "main" system, the one I use the most has the 6600GT and I haven't yet missed the performance of my 6800. So I have to say I can't regret having recomended 6600GT except perhaps it might have been ok to get a cheap 9550 (be sure to get the 128 bit version, not the 64 bit version!!!).

My current dilema is which under $100 card to get. I've got a small (mATX not iTX) "home theater" PC under the TV now using an old ATi 7000 video card. I'd like to be able to play "new" games at 800 x 600 resolution at decent frame rates. I'd like to pay $50 but the upper limit is $99 ~ oh, and it has to have S-Video out.

 

[droomagon]

6600GT and 6800LE is a tough choice, but i ended up getting the 6800 instead, because it has lower clock speed, and in result less heat, and i wouldn't risk burning it in the summer.

although i bought my 6800LE a bit more than 6600GT, but it result better performance too, i'd like to believe anyway.

my case temperature are always less than 45 degrees when running at full power (i'll be adding a 8x8cm fan later), its pretty cool imo.

therefore, i'd vote on 6800LE over 6600GT, u'd save some electricity bill in the long run too, haha