6800GT dying.. replace with 7800GS? or 6800GS? or help?

[CVSiN]

Hey guys.. Ive had my 6800GT PNY model since the release of the card..
recently its begun to artifact with no overclocking and casue system hangs and reboots.

well i have it underclocked with rivatuner and its playable at least now.. still with minor glitchs but no rebooting PC or lockups...

I didnt underclock it much and im wondering if underclocking it more might help even more and prolong the life of the card.
#1 if i keep card how low should i underclock to try to keep it stable?

This is a short term fix only...
which card would be the best for my beginning to show its age system?
ASUS K8N-E Deluxe MB
754 socket A64 3200
2 gigs of Kingston value ram
450 watt (forgot brand name) PS

Ive been goign back and forth on the 6800GS and the 7800GS from Evga

what boggles me the most is how are the stats on the 6800GT so close to that of the 7800GS yet the performance be so different?

 

[mwmorph]

different core and architecture for 6800gs. tihsis a stopgap solutino right? then a 6800gs would be fien if you dont plan to keep it long. underclocking it more would help to a point, if you undefclock too much, it artifacts from too low a clockspeed.

 

[MDE]

YGPM

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
different core and architecture for 6800gs. tihsis a stopgap solutino right? then a 6800gs would be fien if you dont plan to keep it long.

well the keeping the existing card would be short term...

but I'll be at least holding this system as it is to Vista... and wait for dual cores to get cheaper and faster and more support.

and i do game alot... WoW..HL2..FC.. EQ2...FEAR.. etc..

 

[mwmorph]

7800gs no question then. try to get the evga superclocked version.

 

[CVSiN]

yah thats kinda what i was thinkign myself... CC has the middle version of the card for 299. which is only a few frames slower on fireing squads tests.

what ya think? is the premium card worth the extra bucks for a few frames?

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: CVSiN
yah thats kinda what i was thinkign myself... CC has the middle version of the card for 299. which is only a few frames slower on fireing squads tests.

what ya think? is the premium card worth the extra bucks for a few frames?

which version is that? the one with the silver or black cooler? for $299, that's a nice price.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: mwmorph

Originally posted by: CVSiN
yah thats kinda what i was thinkign myself... CC has the middle version of the card for 299. which is only a few frames slower on fireing squads tests.

what ya think? is the premium card worth the extra bucks for a few frames?

which version is that? the one with the silver or black cooler? for $299, that's a nice price.

eVGA e-GeForce? 7800 GS Video Card (256-A8-N506)

Core Clock Speed 430MHz
Pixel Pipelines 16
Memory Clock Speed 1300MHz
Memory Bandwidth 41.6GB/sec
Bus AGP
Interface VGA, DVI-I, S-Video

its the CO right in the middle of the 3 cards this oen has the EVGA cooler

 

[mwmorph]

that's nice. good price, good card. You are at the point of deminishing returns. A 6800gs oced and unlocked will be as fast as a 7800gs, but you cannot expect the overclocked 7800gs to be 140% faster than a 6800gs unlocked oced. That extra 10-20 will help a lot down the line though if yuo want ot game.

 

[LW07]

Get a 7800GS. It's significantly faster than the 6800GS. Get the superclock model if you can because it's the fastest of the 7800GSs.

 

[RussianSensation]

PCIe socket 754 + 7800GT.

Do you still have warranty on your current card since EVGA has a lifetime warranty if i am not mistaken.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
PCIe socket 754 + 7800GT.

Do you still have warranty on your current card since EVGA has a lifetime warranty if i am not mistaken.

he's got a pny. I think they have a lifetime warranty but "lifetime" means life of the product for which it is produced and all 6800gt production has seized.

 

[Steelski]

I would be tempted to try and fix your problems....
What temperatures is the card running at. it could be just a simple dust clug in your card. there is another thread here where a guy has a gt and it was running very very hot. he took it out and cleaned it...... good as new!. this would be the first thing to check. have you thought it could be something else causing all the comotion? another option would be an accelero cooler. that reduces your load temperature to around 55C. sound good? it could prove to be one of the best saves you ever make.

 

[CaiNaM]

maybe this will help.

just for kicks i went and grabbed one to install.. I will say it overclocked nicely. only benchmarked 2 games, and here's the results:

a64 @ 2.4ghz
1 GB Corsair XMS

FEAR (1280x960, 2xaa/16xaf)

BFG 6800GT OC
Min: 19fps
Avg: 27fps
Max: 59fps
44% below 25fps
47% between 25-40fps
9% Above 40fps

BFG 7800GS OC (400/1.2Ghz)
Min: 19fps
Avg: 27fps
Max: 56fps
27% below 25fps
61% between 25-40fps
12% Above 40fps

BFG 7800GS OC (480/1.4Ghz)
Min: 19fps
Avg: 33fps
Max: 59fps
7% below 25fps
73% between 25-40fps
20% Above 40fps

Far Cry 1.33 (4xaa/16xaf)

BFG 6800GT OC

1280x1024: 56.23fps
1600x1200: 56.07fps

BFG 7800GS OC (400/1.2Ghz)

1280x1024: 62.26fps
1600x1200: 62.40fps

BFG 7800GS OC (480/1.4Ghz)

1280x1024: 66.37fps
1600x1200: 65.49fps

 

[Hand Ov DooM]

I personally don't thing the 7800 is worth the exta money, unless you can find a good deal on one.

And plus, you can always unlock and OC the 6800.

 

[LW07]

If he gets the 6800GS he's downgrading. So I'd get the 7800GS.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: mwmorph

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
PCIe socket 754 + 7800GT.

Do you still have warranty on your current card since EVGA has a lifetime warranty if i am not mistaken.

he's got a pny. I think they have a lifetime warranty but "lifetime" means life of the product for which it is produced and all 6800gt production has seized.

yah the warranty is already dead on my card =(

steelski: i tried that the other day its part of what i did to try to salvage the card.
i took my PC completely apart cleaned the whole thing with compressed air rebuilt.. same artifacts crashes.. underclocked and stable except for a few artifacts and stutters..

if i should underclock more let me know i didnt take much off it.. its at 341 987

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM
maybe this will help.

just for kicks i went and grabbed one to install.. I will say it overclocked nicely. only benchmarked 2 games, and here's the results:

a64 @ 2.4ghz
1 GB Corsair XMS

FEAR (1280x960, 2xaa/16xaf)

BFG 6800GT OC
Min: 19fps
Avg: 27fps
Max: 59fps
44% below 25fps
47% between 25-40fps
9% Above 40fps

BFG 7800GS OC (400/1.2Ghz)
Min: 19fps
Avg: 27fps
Max: 56fps
27% below 25fps
61% between 25-40fps
12% Above 40fps

BFG 7800GS OC (480/1.4Ghz)
Min: 19fps
Avg: 33fps
Max: 59fps
7% below 25fps
73% between 25-40fps
20% Above 40fps

Far Cry 1.33 (4xaa/16xaf)

BFG 6800GT OC

1280x1024: 56.23fps
1600x1200: 56.07fps

BFG 7800GS OC (400/1.2Ghz)

1280x1024: 62.26fps
1600x1200: 62.40fps

BFG 7800GS OC (480/1.4Ghz)

1280x1024: 66.37fps
1600x1200: 65.49fps

thanks for that I aprpeciate the effort...
looks like the 7800 is able to maintain a higher framerate for longer... but not much faster than the 6800 gt overall...
in one case slower max FPS but sustains much higher frames for longer time..

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: CVSiN
thanks for that I aprpeciate the effort...
looks like the 7800 is able to maintain a higher framerate for longer... but not much faster than the 6800 gt overall...
in one case slower max FPS but sustains much higher frames for longer time..

np...

yes, if you look at the FEAR stress test, the % below 25fps lowers dramatcially from 6800GT to 7800GS, and you see another dramatic drop when overclocking the GS.

still, am not sure that's worth $300+, especially when you can get a 7800GT and a sli board for about $50 more.

 

[duragezic]

7800gs seems overpriced to me. I'd find a used 6800GT, X850 Pro (was $200 AR before), or new 6800GS. I'd try to stay around $200. If you gotta pay $300 for a 7800GS, well ****** you can almost get a mobo + 7800GT for that price, and the 7800GT is much better.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: duragezic
7800gs seems overpriced to me. I'd find a used 6800GT, X850 Pro (was $200 AR before), or new 6800GS. I'd try to stay around $200. If you gotta pay $300 for a 7800GS, well ****** you can almost get a mobo + 7800GT for that price, and the 7800GT is much better.

yah but id need a new 939 chip as well to get a new MB..
sucks =(

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: CVSiN
yah but id need a new 939 chip as well to get a new MB..
sucks =(

hmm.. well then the 7800GS might not be such a bad option for you then.. it would certainly allow you to hold onto your system a bit longer..

i actually like the card, it overclocks like mad... it's just a shame nvidia is milking the very large agp consumer base by holding back the performance compared to the same price in pci-e segment.

either comparable performance to a 7800GT or $50-100 less and this card would be unequivocally the best agp part available

as it is, it's "arguably" the best performing agp part available, but certainly not the best price/performance part we've seen in the overall video card market...

 

[BassBomb]

id say keep ur card, reseat the cooler cuz it sounds like thats where the problem is coming from or its a psu related issue where you cannot get enough power

did u check the molex? i dont think ur dumb, but people can always overlook little things lol

possibly get a new cooler for your GT

 

[RossCorp]

BassBomb beat me to it

That sounds like a PSU problem to me. Make sure it isn't before you give up on that GT!!!

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: RossCorp
BassBomb beat me to it

That sounds like a PSU problem to me. Make sure it isn't before you give up on that GT!!!

K i did take out alot of crap outa my system and made sure it was on its own molex and yah i had dismantled the system to clean it to try to save the card so I did check that.

i have a 450 antech in it i beleive but i do run a crapload of drives...
1 DVD 3 IDE drives and a sata..

and i had alot of neon and glowing IDE cables etc ( i removed all that when i did the cleaning to see if it was a power issue..

I also pulled the TV tuner card and the ZS to check for conflicts... same thing..
only thing that worked was after cleaning i underclocked..
and it is still glitchy and artifacting..
just sold my PSP today to get more cash for my vid card fund gonna be doing this soon I hope...

there is one other possibility...

i built my GF a 939 A64 3200 system...i live with her and i prolly could snag her processor and rebuild her box as mine is now with her vid card..
that would allow me to upgrade to a 939 PCIx motherboard...
only problem is I have 2 gigs of single channel 3200 DDR in my box.. dont the new 939 boards prefer dual channel?

only problem is i dunno if that would fly with her lol...

what are my options if i did use her 939?