The Usual.. 6800GS or ATI equiv?

[Jimmy_Dunn]

Greetings,

Sorry for 1st post being the most obvious but I really want to get this right.

Budget is around £140-160 and I am trying to decide a good card to get me through for a year or two until MB upgrade from AGP.

I have read opinion and forums until my eyes have bled and am down to
Nvidia 6800GS (best make? bundle?) or the ATI equivalent. Never really dug that deep into ATI tech but I gather that the X800 and X850 series are comparable. Might be able to stretch to this at the outside and have read good things:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=105306

Some suggest it runs hot? Dunno. Obviously after best bang for buck and good stability (heat, quiet, drivers etc)

Thanks in advance.


Sys.

Athlon 3500 64 939
512 meg (512 more coming with whatever new card I get)
4600Ti Fossil 8O

 

[Jimmy_Dunn]

That's a pretty harsh price difference, the X800 GTO I was looking at is £155 iirc. Let me see...

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=17977146703&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&product_uid=101494

Ah, my mistake, it was a 850 pro. Looks quite good mind. How does that compare?

Might just get that Powercolour X850 XT I was looking at? Powercolour though? Never really heard of them before?

Hmmm several options.

 

[cleeve]

In AGP:

X850 XT > X850 PRO >(but close to) 6800 GS

The PCI-express 6800 GS is a better part than the AGP version. But in AGP it's a bit crippled.

 

[raven_87]

6800GS gets my vote. My 6800 sucessfully unlocked to 16x1 5vp (around November, granted, it was no GS, but its still the same core and PCB)

As long as its NV40, feel free. There are a ton of mods for AGP 6800GS'.
Since those are available I would be more comfortable choosing that over an X800GTO. Although a nice series card, they do indeed lack some features which at the time were not usable, now becoming more and more standard (cue FP16, SM3.0 blah blah blah etc etc....sorry its just something the R4xx doesnt do)

 

[cleeve]

Well... assuming a succesful unlock might be a bit of a leap. but the X850 XT is still quite favorable.

Pipeline unlocked 6800 GS>= X850 XT > X850 PRO >= 6800 GS

Remember though, unlocking pipelines isn't for everyone, and there's no guarantee it'll work. But if you're a tinkerer and a bit of a gambling man it can really pay off.

 

[raven_87]

All three 6800 (NV40 based) cards I've personally seen unlocked to full spec.
With the 6800GS you could do a fan mount mod, then flash the Ultra Extreme BIOS for a voltage increase, however the problem with that is dealing with the now massive heat output (new solution needed) and begin increasing the clock frequencies. Its not as out of the norm as people believe it to be, yes, NOT guaranteed, but saving you a little coin if is does.

If it was successful, you have your features, plus amazing preformance that would be almost unnoticable from the X850 he would buy. If the unlocking doesnt work, uninstall RivaTuner, and return the card for credit, then put that $$ towards the X850. Your pipes and shaders really have to be seriously damaged for them to produce artifacts after the unlock....this is simply my experience though.

 

[Jimmy_Dunn]

Any power supply reqs for the above? I'm running 400W.

Thanks for the info by the way.