2x6800gt vs. 6800U

[Kodiak31415]

I am a day or two away from buying a new system. I would like to wait untill the g70 comes out but my current comp is broken and having to use the library for 3 months is not the most appealing of ideas.

I am getting an sli mobo (msi or dfi) and am trying to decide what video card(s) to get. I was planning on buying 1 6800ultra and getting another once the g70 comes out and pushes prices down a bit. Then I got to wondering what the preformance difference between the 6800u and the 6800gt was. Would it be a good idea to buy 2 bfg 6800gt's now? Or buy 1 bfg 6800u now and wait untill the prices drop before I buy another?

Any advice would be nice.

 

[SynthDude2001]

The difference in performance between the 6800GT and 6800U is pretty minimal. Unless you're running at pretty high resolutions, it may be best to just get one 6800GT and not worry about SLI, if you have to buy now.

 

[Kodiak31415]

Im auctually trying to be able to play hl2, doom3 and ut2004 at 1600x1200 with full everything turned on. Im thinking I'll just go with sli 6800gt's....

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Kodiak31415
Im auctually trying to be able to play hl2, doom3 and ut2004 at 1600x1200 with full everything turned on. Im thinking I'll just go with sli 6800gt's....

Yeah, those are the kind of settings where SLI can help a lot. I play all those games with a single 6800GT (with all settings as high as they'll go) at 1680x1050, and I often don't get the frames I'd like to, especially in Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 (FarCry too). If you've got the money to burn and need to upgrade right now (for the kind of settings you're talking about), SLI'd 6800GT's are the way to go.

 

[Kodiak31415]

Yeah, the "Right Now" part kind of pisses me off. My Chaintech VNF-250 just up and died on me. Couldn't get it to post. I checked all the potential culprits (ram, cpu) ect... and they were all fine. I RMA'ed the mobo and they returned it saying that they had "fixed" it. The problem still exists though so Im kinda pissed at chaintech. Also, they should hire people capable of speaking better english. Chaintech's customer support guys all have VERY heavy accents made worse by the phone system.

Look's like its bfg time for me.

 

[ryanv12]

well if you wanted to wait for the G70's to come out, maybe you can build your computer and put in a 6200 or something to just get it working until you can buy the new card. You can even unlock and clock that sucker to a 6600 and at least you can play some games while you wait.

 

[Oxides]

SLI looks VERY unattractive. You cannot OC the cards. They have to be EXACTLY the same, including same bios. SLI doesnt really look like an upgrade path due to future difficulty in getting a clone of your existing card. Also i think most BFG GT OC will be overclockable to U speeds, mine and everyone else i know that has one is.

 

[hop1hop2]

according to the benchmarks I've seen, SLI very minimally impacts performance on Half Life 2.

 

[Elfear]

After messing around with SLI for a few months I must say overall I was pretty impressed with the performance in most games. I play FarCry and HL2 mostly which ran butter-smooth at 1680x1050 4AA/16AF with maxed detail. There are some annoying quirks that are slowly getting ironed out but there really isn't anything faster, right now that is.

However, I decided to sell my 6800GTs about a month ago and I picked up a new X850XT PE for $380 off of E-bay. This card can do 90% overall of what the 6800GTs could. In HL2 it is just as fast. Plus I can now oc my card which I couldn't do with my 6800GTs (although some people have been successful). Really, the only thing I miss about my SLI rig is the HDR effects in FarCry, but for half the cost I can live without it.

My recommendation would be to pick up an X850XT PE or an X800XL (80-90% of the performance of the X850XT PE) for cheap and wait for either the G70 or R520. If you pick up 2 6800GT's right now than you'll pay a premium (I sold mine for $375 just a week ago and they were used) and then a month down the road prices will have dropped significantly because of the G70 release. You'll be stuck with two cards worth a lot less than what you bought them for and if you decide to go G70 or R520 you'll take a big loss.

Just my .02.

 

[Kodiak31415]

New plan: Buy 1 bfg 6800gt and oc it.

Somtime down the road I will probably buy a pair of 6800u's or gt's. Maybe even a pair of g70s. But this is about 5-6 months in the future.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
The difference in performance between the 6800GT and 6800U is pretty minimal. Unless you're running at pretty high resolutions,

1280x10204 and higher there is a HUGE difference..

Definitely 20-50%

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050524/vga_charts-03.html

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Oxides
SLI looks VERY unattractive. You cannot OC the cards. They have to be EXACTLY the same, including same bios. SLI doesnt really look like an upgrade path due to future difficulty in getting a clone of your existing card. Also i think most BFG GT OC will be overclockable to U speeds, mine and everyone else i know that has one is.

Of course you don't need to OC 6800GT SLI, so you really have no point.
6800GT SLI absolutely owns any single card currently available, and runs any game currently available at 16X12 4X8X with power to spare.

You can justify why you didn't spend the money all you want, but the people who did have been enjoying next gen level gaming (or close to it)

BTW OP- OEMs are working on G70s as we speak, they will supposedly be for sale at launch.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

With the G70 getting closer, it is hard to recommend SLi with the 6800GTs. Early rumors suggest that the G70 will perform better than SLi'd GTs. So, barring insane price gouging, the G70 would be the better price/performance choice.

That being said, for the games you're naming you want to play, you will see a good increase across the board with SLi compared to a single GT--

In Far Cry, at 16x12 4x/8x, of the 11 Far Cry benchmark maps, my single GT never scored above 35fps. Lowest score was 23fps. When put in SLi mode, the lowest score rose to 47fps. Overall, Far Cry showed a 53% increase with SLi.

Doom 3 was similar, except that the game is capped at 60fps. Non-SLi, the game will dip into unplayable levels at these settings, but with SLi, it'll be almost pegged at the cap most of the time. Very smooth.

HL2 sees about a 40% increase with SLi across the board. The differences with this one is that the game plays pretty darn well even with 1 GT at the 16x12 4x/8x settings, only sometimes dipping down to the 30s. In SLi, those dips won't happen.

UT2k4 also gets a good 30-40% increase with SLi. But, just like HL2, it plays very well with 1 GT. You'll just never dip into the 30s with SLi. But in such a twitch game, where every frame counts or you're fragged, it might be best to turn off the AA and keep the frames as high as possible.

Using a video card purchase as an "investment" is a pretty silly idea. That's the way of technology. But the way I look at it, I've been using these settings now since February. I got each GT for around $325 back then, so I couldn't pass it up. If the G70 comes out and is much better than SLi'd GTs, I'll consider upgrading. Let's face it, I could sell the GTs for around $600, be able to get a G70 and pocket some cash, or fork over an extra $200 or so for SLI G70s.

I still stand by SLi being a good upgrade path. It's the initial investment that's a killer, but after that, you'll pay near what everyone else is paying to upgrade to the next gen, except you'll get 2 cards. Single-card owners will sell their single card and buy a next gen, probably spending $100 to $200 out of pocket. SLi GT owners can sell off both their cards and either make money getting the next gen, or drop around the same (or a little more) that single card owners will and have dual next gen.

 

[nRollo]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

The only people who don't like SLI don't have SLI.

The upcoming launch of the G70 does complicate things now- especially since cards are in production and this will not be a paper launch.

 

[Faikius]

Don't go SLI quite yet. Wait for the next gen cards before you take the plunge.

Just buy a card to hold you over for now. A GT or mid range ATI should do.

 

[Kodiak31415]

Anyone have an idea when the gf7800 will hit shelves?

 

[imported_Pressure]

I think it's June 21 but that may just be the day they're showing them off.

 

[SonicIce]

Originally posted by: Pressure
I think it's June 21 but that may just be the day they're showing them off.

if its anything like last generation, much later

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: SonicIce

Originally posted by: Pressure
I think it's June 21 but that may just be the day they're showing them off.

if its anything like last generation, much later

It won't be anything like last generation, they are supposedly in production now for simultaneous release with launch.

 

[KoolDrew]

SLI is just a waste of money. Get yourself a X800XL.

 

[gac009]

so if I wait untill the 22nd I may be able to get a 6800gt a bit cheaper?

 

[ColossusX]

Originally posted by: gac009
so if I wait untill the 22nd I may be able to get a 6800gt a bit cheaper?

Im not so sure about that. When the current generation, GF6 and all those XL 800 type cards came out, there wasnt a big drop in price over high end cards of the previous generation, like the Radeon 9800Pro/XT. Its only been recently that those former high end cards have gotten much lower. Now theyre in the $150-200 range, but when the GF6 launched, a for awhile thereafter, their prices seemed fairly static. If im wrong on this, Im sure 100 posts will follow telling me so. So, I dont think you will see a noticeable drop in prices in a month or so. That said, while I dont play at those extreme resolutions you do, I have had both the 6800GT and the 6800U, and both are fine cards. But if you are going for SLI, then I would save a couple of bucks and get the GTs. On a single card, I didnt notice much improvement going from the GT to the Ultra (talking less than 5% on most of my benchmarks).