The Holiday Stop Gap: GeForce 6800 GS
by Derek Wilson on November 7, 2005 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Card, The Test and Power
The 6800 GS cards will all sport NVIDIA's NV42 core. Previously, NV41 and NV42 cores were used on vanilla 6800 boards. The main difference between the two parts is that the NV41 is run on IBM's 130nm process (and was NVIDIA's first native PCIe part), while NV42 uses TSMC's 110nm process. And where there is a process shrink with no other major changes, higher clock speeds are more accessible.
Thus, the 6800 GS is physically the same as a vanilla 6800 with a higher core clock speed (425) and paired with GDDR3 at a 1000MHz data rate. From the 6800 GT, we see a decrease of 25% in pixel pipeline, but a ~21.4% increase in core clock speed. The net result is a theoretical core performance decrease of only 9%, but since NV42 doesn't require a bridge chip the results may be even closer than that. This puts the 6800 GS in the same class as the 6800 GT (but at a much lower cost).
The card itself is not remarkable looking compared to any of the previous generation 6800 cards out there. We see the familiar SLI connector on top of the card, stock HSF, and combination of one analog and one DVI port. The 6800 GS really does seem to be the result of someone realizing that the vanilla 6800 with an NV42 under the hood and some GDDR3 could revamp NVIDIA's midrange with little added cost.
The main reason this card will cost less than the 6800 GT is die size. Being manufactured as a 12 pipe / 110nm chip, NV42 will definitely be smaller and more cost efficient than the chip powering the 6800 GT. As far as we know, 6800 GT still uses the NV45 which features 16 pipes and is manufactured on a 130nm process. Combine this with the fact that NV45 is bridged from AGP to PCIe on package, and there is no question about the cost difference between silicon solutions.
What remains to be seen is how the current market will react. Our initial probes indicate that the 6800 GS will be a very limited offering with its cycle ending in Q1 06. With the potential to perform as well as a 6800 GT for the price of a vanilla 6800, the 6800 GS seems to warrant a longer shelf life than our sources indicate. Either way, the 6800 GS and ATI's X800 GTO parts point to limited run cards with excellent value growing in popularity. As with any good part, we would like to see the products linger a little longer, but the introduction of these late blooming parts is good for consumers in the market for a midrange card no matter why NVIDIA and ATI created them.
For our performance tests, we used this system:
Test Hardware
We measured power draw at the wall for each card as well. Load was generated by running our Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory benchmark and observing the maximum power draw. The 6800 GS falls somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of power draw.
The 6800 GS cards will all sport NVIDIA's NV42 core. Previously, NV41 and NV42 cores were used on vanilla 6800 boards. The main difference between the two parts is that the NV41 is run on IBM's 130nm process (and was NVIDIA's first native PCIe part), while NV42 uses TSMC's 110nm process. And where there is a process shrink with no other major changes, higher clock speeds are more accessible.
Thus, the 6800 GS is physically the same as a vanilla 6800 with a higher core clock speed (425) and paired with GDDR3 at a 1000MHz data rate. From the 6800 GT, we see a decrease of 25% in pixel pipeline, but a ~21.4% increase in core clock speed. The net result is a theoretical core performance decrease of only 9%, but since NV42 doesn't require a bridge chip the results may be even closer than that. This puts the 6800 GS in the same class as the 6800 GT (but at a much lower cost).
The card itself is not remarkable looking compared to any of the previous generation 6800 cards out there. We see the familiar SLI connector on top of the card, stock HSF, and combination of one analog and one DVI port. The 6800 GS really does seem to be the result of someone realizing that the vanilla 6800 with an NV42 under the hood and some GDDR3 could revamp NVIDIA's midrange with little added cost.
The main reason this card will cost less than the 6800 GT is die size. Being manufactured as a 12 pipe / 110nm chip, NV42 will definitely be smaller and more cost efficient than the chip powering the 6800 GT. As far as we know, 6800 GT still uses the NV45 which features 16 pipes and is manufactured on a 130nm process. Combine this with the fact that NV45 is bridged from AGP to PCIe on package, and there is no question about the cost difference between silicon solutions.
What remains to be seen is how the current market will react. Our initial probes indicate that the 6800 GS will be a very limited offering with its cycle ending in Q1 06. With the potential to perform as well as a 6800 GT for the price of a vanilla 6800, the 6800 GS seems to warrant a longer shelf life than our sources indicate. Either way, the 6800 GS and ATI's X800 GTO parts point to limited run cards with excellent value growing in popularity. As with any good part, we would like to see the products linger a little longer, but the introduction of these late blooming parts is good for consumers in the market for a midrange card no matter why NVIDIA and ATI created them.
For our performance tests, we used this system:
Test Hardware
CPU: | AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 (2.6GHz) |
Motherboard: | EPOX NF4 SLI |
Chipset: | NVIDIA nForce4 SLI |
Chipset Drivers: | nForce4 6.70 |
Memory: | OCZ PC3500 DDR 2-2-2-7 |
Video Card: | ATI Radeon X800 XL ATI Radeon X800 GTO NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX |
Video Drivers: | ATI Catalyst 5.10a NVIDIA ForceWare 81.87 |
Desktop Resolution: | 1280x960 - 32-bit @ 60Hz |
OS: | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
We measured power draw at the wall for each card as well. Load was generated by running our Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory benchmark and observing the maximum power draw. The 6800 GS falls somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of power draw.
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bob661 - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
Where can you get one of these? I have someone that would be interested.DerekWilson - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
i linked it on the first page of the article ...http://labs.anandtech.com/search.php?q=6800gs">http://labs.anandtech.com/search.php?q=6800gs
flynnsk - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
WOW ... another PAPER LAUNCH....According to AT the 6800GS is available today.. yet searching several Etailers and Manufacturer sites show either nothing at all or at most "backordered".
Newegg - Nothing
Zipzoomfly - Natta
Pricewatch - Zip
Amazon - "unable to find exact matches for your search for 6800GS"
PNY- "BACKORDEREDSHIPPING SOON!"
Chaintech - (none) http://www.chaintechusa.com/tw/eng/product_list.as...">http://www.chaintechusa.com/tw/eng/product_list.as...
Albatron -(none) http://www.albatron.com.tw/english/it/vga/pro_list...">http://www.albatron.com.tw/english/it/vga/pro_list...
eVGA.com (none) http://evga.com/products/prodlist.asp?family=GeFor...">http://evga.com/products/prodlist.asp?family=GeFor...
Innovision - http://www.ivmm.com/where/where_america.htm">http://www.ivmm.com/where/where_america.htm (None available)
Leadtek - http://www.leadtek.com/graphic.html">http://www.leadtek.com/graphic.html (none)
MSI - http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_list.asp?clas...">http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_list.asp?clas... (NONE)
..
...
Anandtech: "And today NVIDIA brings the fight back to their door with another product launch that's available on the day it's announced."
ie. It's ok if Nvidia paper launches products, we'll just overlook that for now..
route66 - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
You suck at trolling.Jedi2155 - Tuesday, November 8, 2005 - link
Agreed.bob661 - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
If you actually read the article you'll notice that Derek mentioned that EVGA will be the only manufacturer of this card AND it will only last a few months. ALSO, Monarch Computers has it in stock for $229.Pythias - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
How's that crow taste? :) $209@newegg.flynnsk - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
Look closer at Monarch and you will see the 6800GS is NOT in stock, its available through special order only atm.. as far as evga being the only manufacturer.. LOL not according to nVidia(Nvidia product release):[quote]NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS-based graphics cards are available for immediate purchase at approximately $249 USD from many of the world’s leading add-in card makers, including: Albatron, Chaintech Computer Co. Ltd., eVGA.com Corporation, Galaxy, Innovision, Leadtek Research Inc., MSI Computer Corporation, Palit Microsystems, Inc., PNY Technologies, Inc., Point of View, Prolink, Sparkle Computer Co. Ltd., and XFX. GeForce 6800 GS-based add-in cards are available from major online retailers worldwide and are also powering PCs from the world’s leading system builders.[/quote]
nvidia.com
bob661 - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
This from the article. Derek, can you comment on this? Thanks.bob661 - Monday, November 7, 2005 - link
http://tinyurl.com/clxpf. BZZZTTT! It IS in stock. No special order. Check the