ARGHHH I AM SO CONFUSED!!!!!!!! new benchmarks

[rmthompson]

8O

Ok, so I am still undecided... trying to buy an AGP card and a POWER SUPPLY for under 250.00 SHIPPED.

I thought my decision was between X800GTO and 6800GS ...

I was LEANING towards the 6800GS... but people are now telling me the x800GTO is faster, and since I dont have the best computer - I probably wont benefit from the SHADERMODEL 3...

BUT now, I look at these benchmarks:
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/index.html#ratings

And they even rate a X1300 OVER either of these cards?!?!

I am sooo freaking lost.

Im ordering tonight/tomorrow at the latest.

 

[penguin_d]

If you can get your hands on a spahired GTO2 go with that, as you can flash them to an X850XT. (Most of them... I haven't heard of one not being able to perform this mod yet...)

If you can't find one of them, I am an ATI fan, so I'd prefer the X800GTO, that being said they are both great cards.

 

[rmthompson]

If you can get your hands on a spahired GTO2 go with that, as you can flash them to an X850XT. (Most of them... I haven't heard of one not being able to perform this mod yet...)

If you can't find one of them, I am an ATI fan, so I'd prefer the X800GTO, that being said they are both great cards.

GTO2???

Whats that? New to me!

Sounds good... how do I flash it?

 

[sleepdeprived82]

That guide seems to factor price in the equasion and that is why the x1300 is rated high, its cheap and will do for using word and explorer.

The x1300 however is no way near as good as the gto or gs in gaming, not even close.

I say GTO but as you can see im slightly biased as I have a GTO, I can not fault the card though it overclocks beautifuly and performs.

 

[rmthompson]

I'll say 6800GS and X800GTO are about equal.

To unlock pipelines on the GTO2, you need to flash your BIOS. And then overclock the card to X850XT speeds.

Isn't there a way to also possibly unlock the 6800's last 4 pipelines?

How does one go about that? IS it really hard? I don't know...

I guess, and if anyone wants to help here i would be appreciated, I will look for the one that is made by the BEST brand with the BEST bundle?!

 

[cleeve]

1. FIRST: Chill out, man!

2. You CAN'T GO WRONG with EITHER an X800 GTO, X800 GTO2, or 6800 GS. They are all great cards. Don't sweat it!

3. The X1300 is best bang for the buck, all that means is the most framerates per dollar... that has nothing to do with absolute performance.
For example, If an X1300 gets 33 fps and costed $50, it get's one fps per $1.50
If the X800 GTO gets 100 fps and costs $200, it gets one fps per $2.00
So the X1300 will win a "best framerate for the dollar" graph, but which card would you rather play on? The X800 is worth the extra money!

None of this matters though! Just get a 6800 GS or X800 GTO if that's what you can afford!

I repeat, CHILL OUT. Everything will be fine...

 

[sojrner]

agree, I lean towards ati mostly, but either of those cards is great. (not the x1300 though) and yes, I think w/ your system you should not consider sm3.0 as a factor, just buy either of those cards (gt, gto, or gto2) and enjoy.

Also, while flashing the bios and oc'ing is possible... never is it guarranteed and it does void any warranty. So if you fry it you are SOL. Not to scare you but you sound iffy on that and I thought you should know what you are getting into if you try it. I would just buy based on current perf. and enjoy it until you feel you need to oc/flash it... then look up how to do it if you are brave enough. 😉

oh, and yes... chill, they are all good cards.

 

[Battleofcarnage]

The Gto and the gs are pretty close in speeds but I would personally go with the evga 6800gs. Mainly because evga offers a lifetime warranty that unoficially covers ocing. Then you could oc the crap out of it and still be under warranty 😀 Also gs overclocks high because my friend has one and has done it. Noone i know around here has a gto so i don't know about it's ocing abilities. Either way you go you will get a good card though that can play everything pretty well. If going for oc then go for gto2 or evga's gs.

 

[delanooch]

Let me just back these guys up by saying that both of your choices AGP are going to work great!

leave that x1300 alone, not sure if they even make them in AGP , PCIe only i think but dont quote me on that , all I know is that the guys on the Future Mark forums compared the 1300 with a Radeon 9200 or something like that , so it wasnt good at all for gaming.

Anyway, even though I chose Nvidia, I think with those 2 cards the ATI you are going to get more frames ( smoother play ) out of.

 

[NumenorLord]

I would also check out the 7600 GT, as it looks like you're going for a mid-range system.

 

[nottheking]

Remember, those rankings are based off of, as Cleeve mentioned, "price per FPS." In other words, the X1300 series only ranks top for what you get per dollar. If you have less than $100US to spend on a video card, (and hence expectations that aren't terribly high) then by all means get an X1300 or X1300pro. However, you have more than that, so you'll want to get a card that is seriously better, even if it costs slightly more for what you get. After all, that's how technology works; more powerful things are increasingly expensive, so it usually is that the very best cards rank LAST on those lists, because power has a premium on it.

Isn't there a way to also possibly unlock the 6800's last 4 pipelines?

How does one go about that? IS it really hard? I don't know...

I guess, and if anyone wants to help here i would be appreciated, I will look for the one that is made by the BEST brand with the BEST bundle?!

Well, I'm not entirely possitive, but I was fairly certain that most 6800GS AGP cards were simply bridged NV42 chips, the same as in the PCI-express version, which would make them only have 12 pixel/5 vertex units to start with.

However, I do note that the AGP cards do have lower clock speeds (stock @350MHz?) which would've made selling them using NV40 chips (the same as used in the AGP 6800GT and 6800ultra) feasible, since what you'd lose due to chips not being able to handle such speeds, you'd make up for with having to only use 12 out of 16 pixel, and 5 out of 6 vertex units. (I still feel that such would be more expensive to produce than the plain NV42 chips, even with a bridge)

Normally, on a flat basis, both cards are about equal. However, when it comes to what certain companies might throw in as well... nVidia cards have the advantage, particularly if you go with one of THEIR "big three": eVGA, BFG, and XFX, in that order. All of them offer astounding warranties that seriously exceed what a traditional "lifetime warranty" entails, as eVGA will accept cards that you've overclocked yourself, BFG will replace your dead card with a NEW ONE that costs the same, (meaning, a 6600GT bought in 2004 would be replaced with a 7600GT now) and XFX lets the warranty apply to even used cards.

eVGA tends to be the best, though; while all three companies offer overclocked cards, BFG's such cards tend to be laughable. (they add 20MHz to the core, and expect you to be wowed) Meanwhile, eVGA provides some pretty insane cards that tend to be overclocked more than most could get themselves, even with water cooling, such as adding a whopping 100MHz or so to the core, and nearly 200MHz to the memory. Lastly, they do have a "trade up" system, where if you decide you want a better card than what you got, within 90 days, you can trade it back to them, and apply the SAME AMOUNT you paid for the card NEW, and apply it to a brand-new one that's better.

I would also check out the 7600 GT, as it looks like you're going for a mid-range system.

And, as you didn't notice, and AGP system as well, so the 7600GT is out of the question.

 

[cleeve]

Well, I'm not entirely possitive, but I was fairly certain that most 6800GS AGP cards were simply bridged NV42 chips, the same as in the PCI-express version, which would make them only have 12 pixel/5 vertex units to start with.

Unfortunately, all the AGP versions of the 6800 GS aren't bridged NV42s... they're NV40/NV41's with 4 pipes disabled... Basically, they're overclocked 6800s. Hence the low clockscompared to the PCIe versions.

If they wree guaranteed to unlock they'd be the best buy out there, but unfortunately from what I've heard that is noit the case...

 

[nottheking]

Unfortunately, all the AGP versions of the 6800 GS aren't bridged NV42s... they're NV40/NV41's with 4 pipes disabled... Basically, they're overclocked 6800s. Hence the low clockscompared to the PCIe versions.

If they wree guaranteed to unlock they'd be the best buy out there, but unfortunately from what I've heard that is noit the case...

They're using NV41s?! That's possibly the worst choice, given that they'd have to be bridged, AND they have a worse overclocking ceiling than NV40s. Not to mention the same set of 12/5 pipes by default...

 

[cleeve]

My mistake... I have a bad habit of talking about the NV40/NV41 as a 'family' instead of specific chips.

I doubt they'd use actual NV41's that'd have to be bridged, that'd be silly.
The whole point of using the NV40's instead of NV42s was probably to avoid the bridge in the first place.

It'd be NV40's for sure.

 

[nottheking]

My mistake... I have a bad habit of talking about the NV40/NV41 as a 'family' instead of specific chips.

I doubt they'd use actual NV41's that'd have to be bridged, that'd be silly.
The whole point of using the NV40's instead of NV42s was probably to avoid the bridge in the first place.

It'd be NV40's for sure.

Okay, thanks for clearing that up; I was quite puzzled to see you post "NV40/41" together like that; I thought the NV41 was only the PCI-e 6800, and the NV45 the PCI-e 6800GT and 6800ultra. Don't know what was used for the 6800LE and 6800XT, though...

 

[pauldh]

OK, I had a big issue with $220 for the 6800GS lately and I don't like Tiger Direct nor really PNY. How much was the shipping from Tiger?

But for a retail AGP BFG 6800GS OC, $200 shipped free is a good price by todays standards. Chiefvalue, in case you didn't know, is Neweggs sister site. They ship from the same locations. If you live in CA, NJ, TN, then you have to add sales tax.

http://www.chiefvalue.com/app/productdetails.asp?submit=&item=14-143-045&ATT=Video%20Cards

I'd take the BFG OC from Chiefvalue over the PNY from Tiger even if they also have free shipping. It's got pretty decent clock speeds, not quite up to evga's top GS though. I also trust BFG's lifetime warranty better than PNY's life of product clause.

Also, the card is not on sale at Newegg; so it's $24 more over there. :roll: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143045&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=14-143-045

 

[rexter]

I have Sapphire AGP x800-GTO R480 Chip which can not be unlock, and from I know it doesn't come in gto2. Only PCI-E comes with gto2. I also heard that some people manage to unlock 6800GS to 16 pipes.
I however manage to overclock mine at decent 561 core - 600 memory, very stable in custom fan setting so it won’t be noisy using ATITool 0.25 beta from techpowerup.com and my futuremark score at 100% fan setting http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=1732864
I don't know much of NVIDIA but if it can be unlock.... then it maybe a better choice.
Good Luck on your purchase.