Comments Locked

56 Comments

Back to Article

  • swamprat - Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - link

    Im interested as to the specific version of the EVGA card tested as the EVGA site has the 256-P2-N389-BX and the 256-P2-N389-AX versions with the same specs ie 450MHz/1.05GHz
  • Alaa - Monday, February 6, 2006 - link

    who would buy FX57 with such a midrange product? please test the cards as normal users
  • spec74 - Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - link

    Well i'm in Korea right now and found out it's selling for 217,000 won. With the current exchange rate of 1 Dollar = 964 KRN it's close to $200 here also
  • spec74 - Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - link

    As I was checking the pic of the card also. It looks nothing like the one reviewed. I found it strange
    well here's the site if you guys want to see it

    http://pc.danawa.com/price_right.html?cate1=861&am...">http://pc.danawa.com/price_right.html?cate1=861&am...

  • tjpark1111 - Wednesday, February 1, 2006 - link

    nice really! I'm korean and I've always thought stuff was more expensive there, it always seemed like it when I lived there... I guess not. You should go buy it hehe.
  • wolf68k - Saturday, January 28, 2006 - link

    I've got a problem with how they worded this.
    All they said, or implied, was that they turned on SM3.0 with the nVidia cards. The GTO doesn't support SM3.0. But did they turn on every options under SM3.0 as well or not?
    From the results I would have to say so, I just wish they did.

    I've got an AMD XP 3200+, 1GB of PC2100/DDR266 RAM and a completely stock eVGA 6800GS AGP.
    When I benched SCCT at 1240x1024 with SM3.0 and Hardware Shadow Mapping turned on, as well as everything else but not including everything in SM3.0 and no AA/AF. I get around 45-50FPS.
    With everything on, including the options under SM3.0 but still no AA/AF, then I get around 20-25FPS.
  • DerekWilson - Sunday, January 29, 2006 - link

    We enabled all available options for the GTO, but as we pointed out in the article, it doesn't support SM3.0

    It should be noted that NV doesn't support support some of the higher end features with AA enabled, so the AA numbers are a more apples to apples sort of comparison here.
  • tjpark1111 - Sunday, January 29, 2006 - link

    eh, who cares about SM3(ok, even i might care). Anyways, I would rather get a x800gto2 and make it faster than a x850 xt pe, and get much better performance than a 6800GS, all for $10 less lol.
  • unclebud - Saturday, January 28, 2006 - link

    "Remember, I would have to pay $100 more to get a PCIe mobo with the GS which would cost more than just getting the AGP version."

    also remember that the typical anandtecher does not have a girlfriend nor a spouse and no prospects of getting one, so they can rationalize that paying such copious amounts of money to match a graph of a demo machine is an incredible achievement... like saving the queen of england from bill collectors or something. that is why they cannot sympathize with us who would stick with agp for whatever reason (especially financial reasons).
    thanks for posting!
  • Spoelie - Saturday, January 28, 2006 - link

    Looks like someone isn't getting any...

    Either way, I'm keeping my gf satisfied while having a pci-e config. Gasp, it's unbelievable, I must be some kind of genious. You can read all about in my new book in stores this spring!

    BTW, buying a pcie gs will survive the upgrade to a socket M2, while the agp will not. More money thrown away!
  • DerekWilson - Sunday, January 29, 2006 - link

    Sometimes people are shocked by this, but there are people out there who are buying new computers these days. Not everyone is in the market for an upgrade. Of course, we care about the upgraders as well, but everything needs to be in its place.

    I have a feeling there's something on the horizon that will make all the agp lovers happy. But that's all I'm gonna say about that.
  • Omega215D - Saturday, January 28, 2006 - link

    The 6800 GS for AGP isn't much more than the PCIe versions and I'm curious to see if performance was similar just like the 6600GT. And to all those that just throw AGP to the curb: I still run an A64 3200+ on an MSI nForce 3 platform. Why am I going to replace it with a nForce 4 mobo when socket M2 is basically around the corner? Remember, I would have to pay $100 more to get a PCIe mobo with the GS which would cost more than just getting the AGP version.
  • mino - Saturday, January 28, 2006 - link

    when something generates a lot of heat it does NOT mean it is hot. An vice versa.

    Actually the amount of heat is clearly visible on power consumption graphs.

    The "heat" graph actually measures the efficiency of cooling solution, not the heat produced.

    Otherwise APG version seriously lacking as many have allready pointed out.
  • Larso - Sunday, January 29, 2006 - link

    Yeah. I particularly stumbled over this sentence on page 9:

    "We also wanted to see how much heat these cards generated"

    - right after the nice power consumption graph that showed exactly the same power usage, and thus they must produce exactly the same amount of heat. No way around thermodynamics.

    The sentence should have read something like: We also wanted to see how hot these cards ran. (which is how well the cooling solution is able to remove the heat)
  • Tarx - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    I have the eVGA 6800GS. What I didn't expect was just how LOUD it was.
    In 2D, originally used RivaTuner to turn down the fan to a minimum (was barely tolerable), but had to keep the loud mode for 3D. In the end bought the ArticCooler NV 5 Rev 3 without even knowing if it fits (it was either that or return the card). The AC isn't silent by any means, but much quieter and as a bonus a cooler solution. It however takes up a second slot (exhausts hot air behind the case - another nice bonus)
    Even with the card being cooler by the AC, the OC seems to be limited to the low 500s for the GPU.
    The mem on my card seems to be an exception, with no artifacts even at 1300 (650 DDR).
  • Zak - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    I would like to see how this card does DVD amd HD acceleration, for HTPC use, non gaming. I want to replace the noisy 6600GT and this could be the right card.

    Zak
  • bldckstark - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Great article AT thanks for doing the job I want to, but can't, do. You guys are a great part of the tech business and are doing the public a service, free of charge to your users. I can't ever complain about that and thank you. BUT,

    Early in the article you mention that the X1300 or the 6200 card would be plenty of power to run grannie's computer for $50 - $75. Why does the recommendation for this type of computer keep increasing? Not that long ago everyone was saying an MX200 was plenty for Mom, now we have to the latest GPU family to run Outlook? Most Intel MB reviews state that the IGP is fine for Aunt Virginia and it is free (basically). I just wonder where the cutoff is on 5th generation spreadsheet graphics rendering. Until there is some increase in graphics complexity in MS Office I can't see the need to buy anything other than an IGP board for the purposes mentioned.

    Yes, I have heard that Vista is gonna smoke the cheap cards, so maybe now is the time to increase the minimum power standard, but will it keep increasing from there? If a card can run Aero at release does the GPU recommendation ever need to be changed until Aero does?

    If I am wrong please let me know so I can track the necessary changes in the future. Uncle Delbert needs a new box so he can find out what all this Pr0n stuff is, he's been hearing about at the Sunday meetin'.

    Just trying to embarrass myself on a highly public forum, you may officially start laughing at my views now.

    BLuDeCKSTARK
  • Josh Venning - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    This is a good point, actually. The kind of card that would be "good enough" for granny is a very subjective thing, and depends greatly on the person's needs. People who just used the computer to write in offive or use spreadsheets probably don't need a graphics card at all. That said, as software advances, better hardware acceleration will probably be required, but it need not be confined to the $50 to $75 price range.
  • DerekWilson - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    I basically feel the same way Josh does ... In fact, I was going to write a nice quick blurb like that, but it turned into a crazy rant that I posted in the forums.

    http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">Rant here ... check it out

    I can get a bit long winded sometimes. Mostly I'll just delete the intended comment and walk away, but I think I'll start making forum posts in the future.

    Thanks,
    Derek Wilson
  • unclebud - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    "AGP is dead which is why it wasn't tested."

    then why aren't they giving them away free then? fraud fraud fraud on nvidia i tell everybody

    the title didn't say only "The NVIDIA 6800 GS [PCI-Express] Closer Look: EVGA, Leadtek, PNY, and Evertop"

    thanks to the authors of the article though
  • bob661 - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    quote:

    the title didn't say only "The NVIDIA 6800 GS [PCI-Express] Closer Look: EVGA, Leadtek, PNY, and Evertop"
    ....because AGP is dead. No need to mention it. LOL!
  • JamesDax - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Gotta wonder why Nvidia and ATI are still releasing AGP cards then. Boggles the mind.
  • DerekWilson - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Going forward, our focus will be on PCIe.

    But we could still have one or two things up our sleeves for those still working with AGP, so don't loose heart.

    ;-)
  • kmmatney - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Isn't AGP performance about the same?
  • grizzly7 - Monday, January 30, 2006 - link

    The AGP versions of 6800GS only have a core clock of 350MHz, so performance is worse.
  • CuriousMike - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Honestly, this article did nothing but say, "Zalman makes a superior cooler."

    Better overclock, better cooling, and more quiet.

    They're all ~ the same reference design (maybe different memory.)

  • Puddleglum - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Searched Newegg and found 4 eVGA 6800GS cards, and each one has different core clock speeds and memory speeds. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCompare.asp?C...">Newegg search results

    In the results, none of the cards are clocked at 450MHz/1.05GHz, and the fact that one of them comes factory set at 490MHz/1.1GHz makes me wonder if it can exceed the 510MHz/1.15GHz of your test card. An honest defense for eVGA regarding its nominal performance in this review is that you simply didn't use the right card.
  • DerekWilson - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Stock speeds are actually 425/1.0

    Meaning the EVGA is overclocked. They may have a more uber model out there, but this is the one they sent us when we mentioned this roundup to them.

    From our experience with these cards, it seems like it would be difficult getting a 6800GS clocked higher than ~525 ... The EverTop card stayed cooler than the rest of them, so heat didn't really become a factor in preventing higher clock speeds. I just think the chip has the juice to get much faster than that.
  • Killrose - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Nice article, but the ATi X800GTO is well below the $200 price point. Forget Price Watch even, Newegg has some at the $130 mark and the 6800GS start at $189
  • kmmatney - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Would have liked to have seen a X800GTO2 in there, as well as a 7800GT. The X800GTO2 can be had for $189, and unlocking the extra 4 pipes is easy and only has to be done once, ever. Out of the box, the 6800GS looks like a better deal, but the X800GTO2 gains more with overclocking/unlocking.
  • Wellsoul2 - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Ditto..it would be more of a comparison to include
    the 800XL, 800GTO2 , even the 850XT which is selling
    for $215 some places.

    No need to do the article over, maybe just include
    the old graphs for comparison.

    I'm kind of unhappy that you pay over $200 for a new
    video board and can't even run it with AA/AF/HDR
    at a decent framerate in new games.


  • bob661 - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Some of you guys are just rocks. The article was a 6800GS comparison NOT a comparison of video cards in the $200 price range. As a matter of fact, the title of the article says ... The NVIDIA 6800 GS Closer Look: EVGA, Leadtek, PNY, and Evertop!!! Go figure!!!
  • BenJeremy - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    The latest RivaTuner allows you to unlock pipelines (I think it's 3 more, one vertex and 2 pixel) on the GS. I would love to see the benchmarks on that, particularly combined with the overclocking.

    I did have a small problem with thew GPU overclock in Half Life 2, with "flashing" textures. Not sure what was going on, but defaulting the GPU cleared it up, and I haven't messed around with it to see what sort of overclocking I can get without seeing the problem. Otherwise, I'm happy with the GS, particularly with the ability to unlock pipelines.
  • LoneWolf15 - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    that no website seems to ever put the Radeon X800XL up against the 6800GS as a baseline competitor. I just checked Pricewatch, and Radeon X800XL cards can currently be had for $199-250, the exact same price point as the 6800GS (at least according to your price-links for the PNY model on the page I was looking at). If I was looking to purchase the 6800GS or an equivalent, why would I look at a Radeon X800GTO when the X800XL with four more pipelines is available at a similar price to the 6800GS? Makes no sense to me.
  • WooDaddy - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Ok...

    Reading the article was fine until I started to see the trend of Evertop. The second I saw the picture of the HSF, I knew something was up. Who in their right mind would deviate from the reference design that Nvidia hast dictated!?! Evertop, that's who.

    It was like a nightmare reading this article. Evertop at stock clock at the bottom. Evertop at overclock at the top. Same on BF2. Same on Farcry. Splinter Cell... Lowest power draw at load. Lowest temp at load (UNDER 60 C). WHY WON'T IT JUST STOP!!?!! Who do they think they are?! What's up with this punk Korean company?!? And to make matters worse, I bet that they sell for less than $190!

    Well, that's all fine and dandy. At least they're not in the US. If we can do anything about it, they won't be.

    Signed,
    eVGA - First to release the 6800GS.

    Seriously though. Thanks a lot Josh... You just made us Americans pissed off that we can't get the Evertop card. I just picked up a 6600 GT Leadtek (based on the AT review) and now I find out there's a card that's probably 50% better and only $50 more (possibly)... Geez. Let us know when a retailer starts selling that here. Or... I can take that card off your hands. Meet me in the FS forums ;)

    Good job on the article :)
  • WooDaddy - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    (eVGA speaking)
    Oh damn.. 5dB lower on the noise too...

    That's it. Time to either sabotage Evertop or raid the AT labs. There's gotta be an NDA they're breaking somewhere.

    Maybe? No? Doggonit...
    Evertop is the winnar, I guess...
  • Josh Venning - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Yes we were very impressed with EverTop, especially since the HSF on their card threw us off a bit at first. (we thought it looked a bit silly) It's a great 6800 GS and hopefully if there is enough demand here in the states we might be seeing some for sale here eventually. We'll just have to wait and see.
  • Zoomer - Friday, February 3, 2006 - link

    Why are you so surprised? One look and I can tell hat's the zalman VF700Cu. It's a aftermarket cooler selling for $30. Of course its good.

    The evertop card is a bargain, considering that you'll need at least the VF700AlCu or similar to keep your sanity. Throwing away a perfectly good (but noisy and underperforming) nvidia stock heatsink that you paid for isn't efficient.
  • nullpointerus - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    I don't think it's that the Zalman HSF is so good but rather that the stock HSFs are so incredibly bad. I put in my eVGA 6800 GS with the stock cooler for a few days - HUGE problem. The noise was absolutely terrible! It was simply too much to take, so I installed an Artic Cooling HSF and was immediately impressed by the quietness.

    Anyway, kudos to EverTop for choosing a Zalman HSF! I hope more companies follow suit.
  • gman003 - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Alright now is it me or are all of the AnandTech posters here 12 years old and crying about what is specifically meant to be a 6800GS roundup?
    First of all, if you guys want a varied video card comparison, go look at one. This isn't one of them. It's a "6800GS CLOSER LOOK"!
    Secondly, the ATI card was merely used as a reference so you could see the differences in games with Anti-Aliasing turned on and off between the two companies. It isn't necessarily meant to be compared to the "Red Team", just merely used as a reference point.
    The point of the article is to show you bo-zos out there that the 6800GS is a great price/performance card and which card will perform the best when overclocked. Everyone that buys one of these cards buys it because of the price/performance ratio, not how it compares to a 7800GT(which is getting closer to a good price/performace ratio but that is besides the point) or a X800 GTO.
    The writer picked out great cards and gives a great overview of how these cards will overclock and what you will expect of them.

    So please, no more cry-baby posts on here. If you keep posting, I will have to come OWN you on Quake 4 on my eVGA 6800GS card. Thanks.
  • superkdogg - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    This article was good and informative if a consumer is only looking @ 6800GS cards. Now, if they were smart they would consider the 7800GT for more money, and the 6600GT to save money. If they were not opposed to supporting the red team, they could look at the x800gto2 and it's unlockable quad and overclocking that part too. They could also look at the x1600's and the entire x850/800 pro series would not be far from this price range.

    It's nice to have information available. It's even better when reviewers pull it together for consumers rather than consumers having to do the legwork.
  • bob661 - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    quote:

    It's even better when reviewers pull it together for consumers rather than consumers having to do the legwork.
    Sounds like instant gratification syndrome to me. What wrong with doing the legwork yourself? Especially when it's already been done. Why should AT have to do redo test because of lazy readers, like yourself?
  • andrep74 - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    One obvious area of testing that was overlooked, and would have been somewhat simple, was to do some CPU scaling: while using the fastest CPU available does remove the CPU from the equation, the fact that these cards are midrange means that people who buy the card will most likely have midrange CPUs, also. Perhaps two or three speeds at "midrange" CPU speeds like 3200, 3500, 3700 would have shed light on the effects of CPU on performance. Interpolation requires at least two to three points of analysis.
  • superkdogg - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    You're calling me lazy? Hmm. My wife, kids and two jobs don't think so. Well, maybe my wife sometimes.

    Seriously though. Read my comment. What's the first sentence? Yep, you're right I do say that the article is useful for people who are only interested in the 6800GS. My point is that most consumers would want to compare the 6800GS with other cards in a similar price range and since AT serves consumers, it is probably in the best interest of everybody to focus on a wider segment of the population.

    This sort of article was very useful in the days of the MX400's and the GeForce GTS's. Back then, there was only one viable card per price point (ATI's first real card was the 8500's to be honest) and manufacturers didn't just regurgitate the reference design. However, since now there are innumerable cards that could possibly meet an end user's needs, the fact that all decisions are in some way based on relative value, and the fact that most if not all manufacturers use the reference design exclusively, this article's relevance is somewhat limited.

    My point is not that the article was poorly written, that it was slanted against ATI, that it was dishonest, or that it does not provide what it says it will. None of those things are true. What I was writing about was whether or not this article needed to be written at all and if it would have been more useful to review more than one graphics card. If you eliminate chance and the fact that one manufacturer uses a Zalman heatsink, and figure in that the GTO is just thrown in for comparison, this is essentially a one-card review, but takes the same amount of time to compile data and write as a 4-5 card review would.

    Would it not be more useful to have one widely available 6800GS, a X800 Pro, a 6600GT, a 7800GT, a x800XL, and a x800 GTO (especially the GTO2 and show unlocking), rather than the article as written? I think that it would, and I don't think that you can build an argument that it wouldn't. BTW, don't bother flaming me because I'm through with this since you can't read and understand my first sentence and resort to name calling in titling your response.
  • superkdogg - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    But, what I wrote was "Why not write a full-blown midrange comparison?" That is what my title was and that is what I meant and said.

    My meaning is that there is no point in singling out a 600GS roundup anymore than there is a NForce4 roundup or any other part based on 4 different colors of the reference design. I was stating that it is much more useful to compare different cards than tell us again that overclocks are about the same and that this will vary based on your setup and your particular card.

    As far as instant gratification. "Hello, I am the internet. I am here to fulfill your thirst for knowledge. But I won't because it might happen too fast." Umm, don't think so. The whole point of the internet is to have the knowledge at our fingertips. Otherwise why would we read this stuff. Why not better compile the knowledge into a more readily usable form? That was and is my question. Read my comment. I don't rip them for writing a 6800GS roundup. I wonder why the assumption is that knowing the difference between brands is more important than knowing what cards are available in the price range.
  • Spoelie - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    If I had one comment I'd say the x1600xt would have been a better choice as a competitor for the 6800gs.

    However, it pains me to see how the comments always start out with people 'angry' because the review didn't contain the information for their own particular situation. A review can NOT cover every particular base, it is a decision made at the start what to cover. If you think you can do better, write your own article, if not then yes, you will have to do your own legwork. Do not always expect people to figure things out for you.

    If the article was named "Vidcard midrange comparison" you'd have reason to complain, now the article does what it set out to do.

    This comment is directed to everyone having replied up till now, not anyone in particular.
  • Bull Dog - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Oh right and the X1600XT costs some $40 LESS than the 6800GS. And appropriately, doesn't perform quite as good.
  • deathwalker - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    This review has missed the mark by failing to include the "AGP" versions of the 6800GS. Test results for the AGP version are important not only because there is still a very large contigent of gamers still using APG graphics supported motherboards but also because the clocking is very different on the AGP versions vs. the PCIe version. Dissapointing that AT had there tunnel vision visors on for this exersize.
  • bob661 - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    AGP is dead which is why it wasn't tested. This IS an enthusiast site not a J6P site.
  • Patrese - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    I'd like to see the AGP 6800GS tested anyway. As Anandtech is a worldwide website (as it was said in the article), they should be aware that in less developed countries AGP is still a big deal, even for new computers. Here in Brazil, buying a Semprom 3100+ with Palermo core and putting it to work at 2.5GHz on air is becoming a national sport [sort of :)], and most of them are AGP based systems. It's not cutting edge technology, but still is enthusiast stuff!
    I'm not a cry-baby though, as I found the review really good (Zalman kicks the stock cooler's a**!). They may test the AGP version on other occasion. It's just a reply for those who think AGP is already dead and gone, specially in this price range.
  • bob661 - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    I don't see why anyone would still be buying an AGP card when the prices differences between AGP and PCIe are negligible. And why buy a card like the 6800GS for an older board when the video is going to be bottlenecked by the old CPU?
  • superkdogg - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Bob, umm, I don't know how to tell you this, but any Athlon64 socket 939 has AGP motherboards available for it. Bottlenecked by "old" CPU's..... And the price differences are more than negligible. PCI-e is significantly cheaper, actually.

    The problem is that for Intel users, most will need new memory and everybody will need a new motherboard.
  • Spacecomber - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    I'm running a 6800GT with an Athlon XP clocked at 2.3GHz, and they are a good match for each other. Why should I upgrade a whole system when a better video card is enough to let me keep up with my gaming needs (mostly BF2 these days). The 6800GS is priced about right and the performance is about right for use in systems with the rough equivalent of a Pentium 3.0 GHz processor. And, the range of AGP cards still available is getting narrower; so, the interest in those that are still being made is sharper.
  • Spacecomber - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    I didn't really find benchmarks that just compared 6800GS cards to other 6800GS cards that helpful. As a buyer I'm going to probably pick the 6800GS card that is selling for the best price or has the best warranty or some other such feature, if I decide that a 6800GS is the right card for me. In order to do that, I need to see how this card compares to the competition, both from other nvidia cards and from ATI's cards.

    Ideally, these comparisons should also include SLI tests. Does the lack of pipelines come into play when running in SLI mode or not, compared to a 6800GT, for example?

    When you write these reviews, you guys need to be asking yourselves the questions that a Anandtech readers, as consumers, will be asking.
  • nullpointerus - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    Didn't the previous 6800 GS article do just what you wanted? I think I even picked the 6800 GS based on that article.
  • Hacp - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link

    How about showing the results of an overclocked gto? These things overclock pretty well, and should get to x850 pro speeds.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now