The Holiday Stop Gap: GeForce 6800 GS
by Derek Wilson on November 7, 2005 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
SLI and Antialiasing
SLI can end up nearly doubling performance in some cases. In those cases we will see two 6800 GS cards deliver performance on par with a single 7800 GTX. But much more of the time we will see only a modest performance gain from SLI. Since one 7800 GTX costs about the same as two 6800 GS cards, we have to strongly recommend against going with 6800 GS SLI. If performance is desired and the money is there, the 7800 GTX is the better buy by a long shot.
We also generally do not recommend SLI as an upgrade option. The main benefit of multi-GPU technology these days is to increase the maximum performance beyond the fastest single card on the market. ATI and NVIDIA have kept upgrade cycles fairly consistent over the past few years. It makes sense to spend money on a card that will bring increased performance and more features to a system when a new generation of GPU comes out rather than augmenting an aging card with another of the same type. Another argument against SLI-as-upgrade for the 6800 GS in particular is that we have no idea how long the card will be in production.
The memory bandwidth of the 6800 GS makes antialiasing possible on most games at 1280x1024 and below. At higher resolutions, AA performance might not be where we would like. Games like Half-Life 2 will certainly run fine on a 6800 GS with AA enabled at 1600x1200. But the SC:CT and BF2 tests we ran show that the 6800 GS just doesn't have what it takes to make 1600x1200 with 4xAA a reality.
For those who wish to enable AA at higher resolutions, a beefier card would do the trick. The 7800 GT is a good value right now for those with these needs. For users with 1280x1024 panels, or who run at lower resolutions with AA enabled, the 6800 GS is a good fit.
SLI can end up nearly doubling performance in some cases. In those cases we will see two 6800 GS cards deliver performance on par with a single 7800 GTX. But much more of the time we will see only a modest performance gain from SLI. Since one 7800 GTX costs about the same as two 6800 GS cards, we have to strongly recommend against going with 6800 GS SLI. If performance is desired and the money is there, the 7800 GTX is the better buy by a long shot.
We also generally do not recommend SLI as an upgrade option. The main benefit of multi-GPU technology these days is to increase the maximum performance beyond the fastest single card on the market. ATI and NVIDIA have kept upgrade cycles fairly consistent over the past few years. It makes sense to spend money on a card that will bring increased performance and more features to a system when a new generation of GPU comes out rather than augmenting an aging card with another of the same type. Another argument against SLI-as-upgrade for the 6800 GS in particular is that we have no idea how long the card will be in production.
The memory bandwidth of the 6800 GS makes antialiasing possible on most games at 1280x1024 and below. At higher resolutions, AA performance might not be where we would like. Games like Half-Life 2 will certainly run fine on a 6800 GS with AA enabled at 1600x1200. But the SC:CT and BF2 tests we ran show that the 6800 GS just doesn't have what it takes to make 1600x1200 with 4xAA a reality.
For those who wish to enable AA at higher resolutions, a beefier card would do the trick. The 7800 GT is a good value right now for those with these needs. For users with 1280x1024 panels, or who run at lower resolutions with AA enabled, the 6800 GS is a good fit.
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flynnsk - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
lol talk about fangurlshttp://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant....">http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant...p;Store_...
imaheadcase - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
You include shipping into "available today".Let me guess you got kicked out of Best Buy for yelling you can get hardrives for $1 less online..
bob661 - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
I have NO idea what you guys are looking at.Quantity in Basket: none
Code: 190443
Price: $229.00
FedEx Ground: $5.90
In Stock - Usually ships in 1-2 days
bob661 - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
Again, here's the http://tinyurl.com/clxpf">link.ViRGE - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
It'll be up to ATI I suppose. As it is right now, Nvidia's products tend to fall in price quickly over the first month, so as Derek pointed out, the 6800GS is going to be a ~$220 card in a bit. I'm not sure ATI has enough latitude to get the X800XL's prices that low across the board.HighCalibreHooch - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
Whatever happened to the 6800XT?It was announced some time ago, and oOne of my favourite vendors lists it as coming mid-November.
pxc - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
It comes faster than stock: 470MHz core, 550MHz memory (1100MHz effective)https://pnyestore.pny.com/AWWebStore/Products.asp?...">https://pnyestore.pny.com/AWWebStore/Products.asp?...*PNYPRODUCTS
(or is it 425MHz? 5.1GT/s fillrate implies a 425MHz core even though 470MHz is listed: http://www.pny.com/products/verto/performance/6800...">http://www.pny.com/products/verto/performance/6800...
unfortunately the 6800GT PCI-E with 16 pipelines is only $250AR now ($30 cheaper):
http://www.buy.com/prod/PNY_FX_6800_GT_256MB_PCI_E...">http://www.buy.com/prod/PNY_FX_6800_GT_...Graphics...
yacoub - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
I'll never understand why companies bother with this type of release. It has less pipelines and less engines, yet costs about the same as a 6800GT which has more of both. Why would anyone get this when they can grab a 6800GT?Same thing with those GTO cards when there's the X800XL or whatever.
yacoub - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
oops, not GTO, I mean "X1600 series, when there's the GTO series and X800XL that are just as fast if not faster."Donegrim - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
Same performance, much cheaper. It's obvious.