The Holiday Stop Gap: GeForce 6800 GS
by Derek Wilson on November 7, 2005 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
The King is Dead! Long Live the King!
For most of its life the 6800 GT was NVIDIA's best high end value. The 6800 Ultra was both too hard to find and too expensive to be worth the investment, while the 6800 GT performed very well and wasn't a bad overclocker either. But ever since the 7800 series came along, the 6800 GT just hasn't been as viable an option. Today we can find cheap 7800 GT parts for about as much as an average 6800 GT (~$320).
Today sees the introduction of a part that performs just as well as the 6800 GT but costs about $70 to $80 less. The 6800 GS looks like it hits the sweet spot between price and performance this holiday season. Aside from cutting the cost of the 6800 GT, the 6800 GS doesn't cost that much more than a vanilla 6800 with 256MB of RAM. As the vanilla 6800 performs just slightly better than the 6600 GT, we can say with confidence that the 6800 GS has taken over the 6800 line and is the only real option left of the bunch.
We had heard that only EVGA would be building the new king of value, and then only until the first quarter of next year. It has come to our attention that most of the usual suspects will eventually come out with 6800 GS parts. With all the advantages the 6800 GS holds over its 6800 series brethren, we are glad to see that it will stick around.
Putting 6800 GS cards together in SLI is not worth it when you can get a 7800 GTX for less than 2x the price. Since the 6800 GS will be a short lived product (from what we understand) SLI as a future upgrade is not a viable option - stick with the single card here or go with something faster if you need to spend more money. We don't like SLI upgrades anyway, but it's even less smart an idea if you can't be sure the card will be around much longer.
This card does for NVIDIA what the X800 GTO did for ATI a short time ago. The X800 GTO falls short in terms of value compared to the 6800 GS, which is both impressive and exactly why NVIDIA wanted to bring it out now. With initial prices on upcoming ATI parts looking to be a little high for their performance, this seals a recommendation for NVIDIA for the holiday season: if you've got about $220 to spend on a graphics card, the 6800 GS is the part to have.
Of course, if you are the adventurous kind and enjoy modding your hardware, the X800 GTO does have something to offer. Most of these cards are easily overclockable and/or flashable to 16 pixel pipelines. The 6800 GS won't allow anyone to unlock extra pipelines as the silicon is built around 12 pixel pipes to save die area. Getting good results with the X800 GTO is not guaranteed, but for those willing to take the risk, the option is there.
All the new parts add a lot of confusion to the mix. With both ATI and NVIDIA bringing out essentially redundant parts, it's hard to know what to recommend or buy. Luckily, NVIDIA has cleared that up for us - the entire rest of the 6800 line is going away and only the 6800 GS will remain. As for ATI, it is very hard to address the amount of spring cleaning their line up needs (especially with the X1000 series parts coming out soon).
You can buy the 6800GS today in its eVGA forum at several vendors.
The King is Dead! Long Live the King!
For most of its life the 6800 GT was NVIDIA's best high end value. The 6800 Ultra was both too hard to find and too expensive to be worth the investment, while the 6800 GT performed very well and wasn't a bad overclocker either. But ever since the 7800 series came along, the 6800 GT just hasn't been as viable an option. Today we can find cheap 7800 GT parts for about as much as an average 6800 GT (~$320).
Today sees the introduction of a part that performs just as well as the 6800 GT but costs about $70 to $80 less. The 6800 GS looks like it hits the sweet spot between price and performance this holiday season. Aside from cutting the cost of the 6800 GT, the 6800 GS doesn't cost that much more than a vanilla 6800 with 256MB of RAM. As the vanilla 6800 performs just slightly better than the 6600 GT, we can say with confidence that the 6800 GS has taken over the 6800 line and is the only real option left of the bunch.
We had heard that only EVGA would be building the new king of value, and then only until the first quarter of next year. It has come to our attention that most of the usual suspects will eventually come out with 6800 GS parts. With all the advantages the 6800 GS holds over its 6800 series brethren, we are glad to see that it will stick around.
Putting 6800 GS cards together in SLI is not worth it when you can get a 7800 GTX for less than 2x the price. Since the 6800 GS will be a short lived product (from what we understand) SLI as a future upgrade is not a viable option - stick with the single card here or go with something faster if you need to spend more money. We don't like SLI upgrades anyway, but it's even less smart an idea if you can't be sure the card will be around much longer.
This card does for NVIDIA what the X800 GTO did for ATI a short time ago. The X800 GTO falls short in terms of value compared to the 6800 GS, which is both impressive and exactly why NVIDIA wanted to bring it out now. With initial prices on upcoming ATI parts looking to be a little high for their performance, this seals a recommendation for NVIDIA for the holiday season: if you've got about $220 to spend on a graphics card, the 6800 GS is the part to have.
Of course, if you are the adventurous kind and enjoy modding your hardware, the X800 GTO does have something to offer. Most of these cards are easily overclockable and/or flashable to 16 pixel pipelines. The 6800 GS won't allow anyone to unlock extra pipelines as the silicon is built around 12 pixel pipes to save die area. Getting good results with the X800 GTO is not guaranteed, but for those willing to take the risk, the option is there.
All the new parts add a lot of confusion to the mix. With both ATI and NVIDIA bringing out essentially redundant parts, it's hard to know what to recommend or buy. Luckily, NVIDIA has cleared that up for us - the entire rest of the 6800 line is going away and only the 6800 GS will remain. As for ATI, it is very hard to address the amount of spring cleaning their line up needs (especially with the X1000 series parts coming out soon).
You can buy the 6800GS today in its eVGA forum at several vendors.
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rqle - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
it not lack of information, it's helping us fight company from paper launches etc. To me having a great tech website stands behind us is much better then us doing it alone.But if you like you can check out the x1000 series review and compare it to the 6600GT/6800GT if like as well. So really no harm done to you or other as well.
rqle - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
it not lack of information, it's helping us fight company from paper launches etc. To me having a great tech website stands behind us is much better then us doing it alone.But if you like you can check out the x1000 series review and compare it to the 6600GT/6800GT if like as well. So really no harm done to you or other as well.
hoppa - Tuesday, November 8, 2005 - link
I come here so I can get all my tech information in one place, not so I can get it in two.hectorsm - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
Bias implies that you ignores the facts for the purpose of justiying your point of view. Not sure how your comments apply to this article regarding the lack of X1600 parts. Are you suggesting the lack of X1600 is a lie?Anyway the whole pupose of these type of articles is to show both the good and the bad of these products regardless of who's feelings get hurt.
bob661 - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
What did they leave out?ElJefe - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
I never see anything about image clarity, 2d clarity, analog and digital text differences, color rendition etc.i could give a rat's ass if it has 10 frames difference for this or that, however, if the card doesnt look good visually for people who like detail and their eyes, what's the point?
i am critizing the general trend for video card reviews. The only mention of image quality even in a 3d game was with the Crossfire review compared to SLI done this past month. It said that the sli looked fuzzier. How can everyone be happy with nice frames when the thing looks fuzziER and i put a stress on ER because even this ati all in wonder 9800 pro has fuzziness in it compared to the matrox 550 pci card that is along side it for 2d production type of work (and for writing papers/book).
Just had to vent. I doubt it will be responded to though as to add this would require a lot more work. People say sometimes: it should be the same with dvi to an lcd... i dont use lcd, because it is inferior still to my thousand dollar Mitsubishi 22 inch monitor for gaming and for 2d stuff. So... yeah. thats about it. at .21-.24 dot pitch (center measurement to outer measurement) you see the difference with graphic cards. LCD's dont have the dot pitch yet it seems, so maybe that is why it isnt noticed as much.
just some thoughts.
the card looks nice though. I just havent trusted Nvidia for 2d graphics cards ever.
Hercules versions of cards had the best 2d I have seen, too bad they got swallowed up.
NFS4 - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=14-...">In stock RIGHT NOW SHIPPING TODAY from NewEgg for $209ViRGE - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
$209? That's a bit nuts, this may very well be a sub-$200 card by Christmas time.deathwalker - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
Nuts? Wait..did we read the same review? This card performs nearly identical to the 6800gt priced at near $300 at most places. I would say $209 plus $5 shipping is a pretty decent deal for this kind of performance compared to other cards on the market.ViRGE - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
No, I mean nuts in that they could have easily sold it for near the $250 MSRP. It's nuts that all of a sudden today 6800GT performance can be had for a hair over $200.