6600gt v. 6800le

Modular

Diamond Member
Jul 1, 2005
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I have the opportunity to nab a 6800le that will unlock. There's nothing wrong with my 6600gt except that it's beginning to show it's age (especially on my Acer AL2051W at 1680x1050). I've done the unlock mod on an le that didn't work (there were dots all over the screen in 2d) so I have nothing to compare it to. My understanding is that an unlocked le that is overclocked will perform almost on par with a 6800gt.

Will this be a noticeable improvement over my 6600gt? The 6600 runs overclocked at 550/1000 stable.

I know it's time to ditch AGP and I'm planning on it, but not for the next few months as I'd rather wait and see what Intel price cuts bring, and maybe even wait for G90...
 

f4phantom2500

Platinum Member
Dec 3, 2006
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unlocking it would basically give you the same performance as if you underclocked a 6800gt to the same clock speeds. that is to say, if you overclocked it to 6800gt levels while it was unlocked, it would perform like a 6800gt.

that being said, it would of course be better than a 6600gt, but it's still behind the times for most newer games; youll have to run at lower settings and such for it to be playable.

if you can wait, i would suggest you just hold out until you can afford a full system upgrade, or if you want a good agp card now you should have a look at the x1950gt. it usually will overclock to match a x1950 pro and only costs a bit more than $100 after a $20~25 mail in rebate.
 

schneiderguy

Lifer
Jun 26, 2006
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Originally posted by: f4phantom2500
unlocking it would basically give you the same performance as if you underclocked a 6800gt to the same clock speeds. that is to say, if you overclocked it to 6800gt levels while it was unlocked, it would perform like a 6800gt.

It would be pretty much impossible to get the DDR1 memory on the 6800le running at the same speeds as the 6800gt's GDDR3. The 6800le also only has 128mb of vram which will hurt it's performance in newer games
 

f4phantom2500

Platinum Member
Dec 3, 2006
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Originally posted by: schneiderguy
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: f4phantom2500
unlocking it would basically give you the same performance as if you underclocked a 6800gt to the same clock speeds. that is to say, if you overclocked it to 6800gt levels while it was unlocked, it would perform like a 6800gt.

</end quote></div>

It would be pretty much impossible to get the DDR1 memory on the 6800le running at the same speeds as the 6800gt's GDDR3. The 6800le also only has 128mb of vram which will hurt it's performance in newer games

ah, i didn't know it only had 128mb ram. makes sense though. ok, yeah in that case in newer games, and higher res in older games, it will make a difference. with that in mind, i would just pass man. a 128mb video card isn't really too good for today's games, you should just skip it and get that x1950gt or hold out for a full upgrade.
 
May 30, 2007
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Most people are lucky to get 12/5 artifact free from a 6800LE, so I'd go with the sure fire 6600GT if I was u. That or save for a 7600GS.
 

Modular

Diamond Member
Jul 1, 2005
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Thanks for the replies. The nerd in me wants an "le" that properly unlocks just so I can have one :)

But the realist in me recognizes that the gains aren't worth the cost. The only game that the 6600gt really doesn't play well at all on 1680x1050 is Oblivion.
 

f4phantom2500

Platinum Member
Dec 3, 2006
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<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Modular
Thanks for the replies. The nerd in me wants an "le" that properly unlocks just so I can have one :)

But the realist in me recognizes that the gains aren't worth the cost. The only game that the 6600gt really doesn't play well at all on 1680x1050 is Oblivion.</end quote></div>

lol man in that case you should just hold out for a card refresh i think. you've held out this long, might as well finish waiting for g90.
 

Slugbait

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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I have a non-LE 6800 that successfully unlocks. It's very nice, my 3DMark score improved quite a bit.

Overclocking increased my score further. However, I never got the overclock near the 6800GT, but I just let the drivers find the so-called "sweet spot". Unfortunately, it had the nasty result of locking up my system at the drop of a hat...sometimes it would run for hours or days without locking, other times it would lock during the Windows boot screen. And at times of zero stress, too (single browser instance, nothing else running outside the systray, click a hyperlink...freeze).

Sure, I could have pulled out my Card Cooler, and that might have worked, but those dual Sunon fans are damn loud. So I just clocked back down instead. The extra pipes and shader are enough for me until my next build.