6800 card for XP 2600+ ?

[arcanixus]

I am going to upgrade my video card to be able to play Doom 3 well. What I'm worried about is that I would buy a card that would have a lot of wasted potential because my system is not brand new. I don't want to upgrade anything else on my system as the CPU is already the max for the mobo. To help, here is my current system:

GA-7VTX mobo with AGP 4x
Athlon XP 2600+ (266 bus)
768MB 2100 DDR
430W Antec PS
(Currently) Geforce 2 Pro

The two cards I am most considering:
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=14-150-068&DEPA=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=14-125-128&depa=0

I am not really concerned about performance in games besides Doom 3, and I'm just trying to prevent a big CPU bottleneck. Would you recommend I go with the 6800 which looks lightyears better on high-end systems, or would the 5900xt be almost as good on my older system? Or would it be just as well I start looking at 5700 cards?

I also don't have a lot of money to throw around, so I don't want to drop the extra $100 if it isn't really worth it to me.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Tough call. The 6800 is an awesome card as others here will say. But your current motherboard will be a limiter on how well it performs. I would say go ahead and get the 6800 because i'm sure you won't have that motherboard forever? Just think of this..you buy the 5900xt now but in six months you buy a new mobo and or cpu..then you're stuck with a card that will do so so on the games put out then. You buy a 6800 now and in six months you buy a better mobo and or cpu. You still have a good video card that will play current games and games in the future.

 

[Mister Dark]

I was in your exact same situation. I had an XP 2600 and I went for the 6800 - upgrading from a Geforce Ti 4600. It wasn't a night and day difference, but it definitely made the demo for Doom III more playable. With the 4600, I had to play Doom III at 800x600. With the 6800, I was able to bump up to 1024x768. Even so, Doom III would still stutter at certain scenes, which I found very frustrating. I added another 512 megs of ram to my existing 512, and that cleared up the stuttering ...

I seem to have gotten off track here: my advice to you is to always buy the best hardware you can afford. You get peace of mind, and a little insurance toward the day you DO upgrade your CPU. But having said all that - yes, with the 6800 your current CPU will be the bottleneck. But I wouldn't worry so much about that - I'd still go for the 6800.

 

[Cawchy87]

Ya, a 6800 would be worth it.

And I would do all you could to avoid geforce fx series cards.

 

[arcanixus]

Thank you all. I don't do a whole lot of gaming (my most recent games besides Doom3 are Alice and Morrowind, which my geforce2 does fine on), so I might not upgrade my computer for at least a year. Regardless, I'll probably try that 6800 non-ultra 128MB. I just have a couple more questions that came to mind...

Is XFX a good brand for the nVidia chips? If not, what are some good brands below $300?

And why should I avoid FX cards? I know the performance increase was incredible going from the fx line to the 6800s, and the 5200 benchmarks about the same as (if not worse than) my old geforce2, but what's wrong with the higher-end ones like 5900xt?

 

[Cawchy87]

Their dx9 proformance is slim to none (IE. Running HL2 in DX 8).

I have had nothing but bad experiances with XFX. Corrupt 6800nu and 6800GT. And their customer support is terrible.

Card choices

- EVGA (Great company) - http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=14-130-202&depa=0

Or, I belive the BFG 6800nu are only 250 at Best Buy (correct me if this deal is over).

If I was buying a 6800nu those are the only 2 companies I would look at.

 

[MustangSVT]

get 6800

. next!

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: Cawchy87
Their dx9 proformance is slim to none (IE. Running HL2 in DX 8).

I have had nothing but bad experiances with XFX. Corrupt 6800nu and 6800GT. And their customer support is terrible.

Card choices

- EVGA (Great company) - http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=14-130-202&depa=0

Or, I belive the BFG 6800nu are only 250 at Best Buy (correct me if this deal is over).

If I was buying a 6800nu those are the only 2 companies I would look at.

Compusa has the PNY 6800 for $250 plus applicable sales tax and or delivery charges. I bought my BFG from Best Buy. Got the last one

It was $299 no tax because I bought it in Portland while I was visiting family.

NM..Compusa doesn't have it for $250 anymore. Back up to $300.

None the less. If you are able to get a BFG and are willing to softmod it..lemme know. I'll walk you through it. I was able to unlock the last four pipes and the last vertex shader?? Not sure if that's the right term.

 

[arcanixus]

Thanks again. I'll check local stores to see if any BFGs are here. If not, I may just go with eVGA on newegg.

I have no experience with softmodding but I've been seeing reviews about unlocking pipelines, as you mentioned. Is this unlocking opening up limitations on the card so it performs like an ultra? If you could briefly tell me what this is or point me to a website that explains I would appreciate it.

 

[Cawchy87]

Information on how to softmod: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...y&keyword1=softmod

6800 nu has 12 pipelines vs. 6800GT and 6800Ultra have 16 pipelines

Thus theoreticly the 6800nu would be able to transfer 1/4 more data if the pipelines are unlocked (of course, if your processor doesn't overclock well then it will be limited by the speed that the GPU calculates at.) However some proformance gains should be noticable even if it is a crappy overclock. So, yes the core is somewhat like an Ultra but you won't hit the ultra speeds due to ram frequencies, voltage etc.

 

[zerocool84]

YOU WILL BE CPU LIMITED I GUARANTEE YOU!!!!!!!!!! i had a 2100+ when i first got my 6800nu but about a week later i got a 3200+barton and it helped a crapload

 

[Cawchy87]

There is no doubt that he will be cpu limited. But It will help him greatly in his gaming. And you will always be limited in either cpu or vid card.

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

If the $250 deal on the 6800 is over I would get a $208 MSI 6600GT AGP (gameve.com) and start saving for the CPU/mobo upgrade. You're saving about $100, and with less than $200 you can get an Athlon 64 combo.

 

[Cawchy87]

He just wants to play a few games tho. His AMD XP will run the games fine and with a 6800 it will handle anything he throws at it.

Why turn a 250-280 dollar upgrade into a 400+ upgrade that isn't needed?

 

[Hadsus]

Originally posted by: arcanixus2
Thanks again. I'll check local stores to see if any BFGs are here. If not, I may just go with eVGA on newegg.

I have no experience with softmodding but I've been seeing reviews about unlocking pipelines, as you mentioned. Is this unlocking opening up limitations on the card so it performs like an ultra? If you could briefly tell me what this is or point me to a website that explains I would appreciate it.

I almost went with Newegg last weekend but I scared up a 20% off coupon at CC and got the eVga 6800nu for $240. Had a bit of a problem installing it as it is longer than my old Radeon 9800 PRO and ended up getting it real cozied up with the HD. Kinda dumb to put two longish components directly opposite each other but I didn't build the rig.

You probably know that Morrowind is very CPU intensive so the new video card will have little impact.

The 6800 was a great upgrade....brings new life to Doom 3 which I've been playing alot of recently. My rig is alittle different from yours though....ASUS P4C800, 3 ghz processor, 1 gig memory.

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

Originally posted by: Cawchy87
He just wants to play a few games tho. His AMD XP will run the games fine and with a 6800 it will handle anything he throws at it.

Why turn a 250-280 dollar upgrade into a 400+ upgrade that isn't needed?

I know it's not a required upgrade, but is it really worth:

a) getting a 6800 instead of a 6600GT if you're not a hardcore gamer;

b) pairing a 6800 with an Athlon XP 2600+. I mean, if you're gonna be CPU-limited for most games the 6600GT gives enough juice.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: ChineseDemocracyGNR

Originally posted by: Cawchy87
He just wants to play a few games tho. His AMD XP will run the games fine and with a 6800 it will handle anything he throws at it.

Why turn a 250-280 dollar upgrade into a 400+ upgrade that isn't needed?

I know it's not a required upgrade, but is it really worth:

a) getting a 6800 instead of a 6600GT if you're not a hardcore gamer;

b) pairing a 6800 with an Athlon XP 2600+. I mean, if you're gonna be CPU-limited for most games the 6600GT gives enough juice.

A 6600GT does not even compare to an unlocked 6800NU. I just put my 6800NU in my 4 year olds 2200+ machine, I'd give you Doom3 benches if I had XP on it. :-(
(need XP to load Doom3, only have ME on that box)

I had no problems with my XFX 6800GT.

BTW- I think you should be able to play Doom 3 on a 2600/768 RAM/6800 at 10X7 easily, or anything else for that matter. The 6600 would be able to as well, but will be more of a limitation when you do upgrade your cpu, or turn on AA/AF.

 

[arcanixus]

I doubt I would go with a 6600 since my mobo doesn't have PCIX to use the cheaper ones, though the 6600 AGP cards I've seen seem to be around $70 cheaper (around $225 + ship) than a 6800. One of the problems is the 6600s usually just say they run at AGP 8x and don't give any other min requirements while the 6800s often state that they are backwards compatible. My AGP slot only runs at 1.5v, 1.6v, and 1.7v. I'd consider a 6600 if I knew it would run on this board. Does anyone run a 6600 at these levels instead of .8v, or know if it can be done? If so, which card?

So right now I'm looking for a sale of any kind on 6800 because $300 is a bit steep considering I'm also looking at 5.1 surround speaker systems, and I'll essentially be spending hundreds of dollars just to play Doom. I haven't seen any other very recent games I'm really interested in except the upcoming Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and Quake4, which will probably not be released until my computer is obsolete anyway. In Doom I'm actually able to play on very low quality (640x480, low detail, all options off except shadows) with my geforce2pro with fps usually around 15-50, except when there's 3+ zombies. It's sort of playable. My hope is to run Doom 3 in 1280x1024, medium quality, with all options turned on except AA and AF (which I would still turn on if I could) with just a GPU upgrade. Does this sound reasonable?

 

[zakee00]

yes that sound reasonable to me. you could probably get by with the 6600gt, but only if you dont have the money for the 6800.

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

The 6600GT AGP is down to $208, and it is compatible with your motherboard.