6800nu

[Gunslinger08]

I'm currently running on a Radeon 9500 non-pro, and it's feeling pretty old. I don't really stay on the cutting edge of games.. I'm still playing a lot of Dota (Warcraft III) and CS:Source. Should I go ahead and buy a 6800nu now, and try to unlock/overclock to an ultra? Or should I wait a while and buy a 6800 ultra or better in the future, for the same price.

 

[Mattd46612]

I paid $275 for my 6800GT and I think its a steal considering I have it running at 420/1100 and scoring 74k in Aquamark.

 

[Keysplayr]

6800nu without unlocking or o/c'ing is light years faster than your 9500np. I say this because unlocking is not always guarenteed to work, in which case all you can do is o/c.

I had a Leadtek 6800nu AGP and it unlocked and functioned perfectly. The one you may end up with may not. Crap shoot.

All that aside, you will be stymied at the performance difference.

By the way, your rig in your sig says 9700pro. Wassup?

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
6800nu without unlocking or o/c'ing is light years faster than your 9500np. I say this because unlocking is not always guarenteed to work, in which case all you can do is o/c.

I had a Leadtek 6800nu AGP and it unlocked and functioned perfectly. The one you may end up with may not. Crap shoot.

All that aside, you will be stymied at the performance difference.

By the way, your rig in your sig says 9700pro. Wassup?

I had it softmodded and overclocked to 9700pro speeds, but I got tired of the instability of the drivers I was using. I should update it.

 

[Rage1881]

for best chances of unlocking i would recommend the evga 6800nu

 

[Gunslinger08]

How big of a difference does the GDDR3 memory make?

 

[2Xtreme21]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
How big of a difference does the GDDR3 memory make?

A big difference. It allows much higher clock speeds on the memory. With all that said, a 6800nu will never, ever perform close to that of an ultra. The fact is that it's missing 128mb of RAM and also that its mem clocks in at 1100MHz (as opposed to 700MHz).

Rage1881, all brands have a totally equal chance of unlocking.

With all that said, the 6800nu is a wonderful choice. It's got power that will blow your 9500 away.

 

[Rage1881]

i saw a poll somewhere that sais different wasnt here anandtech though.. i know theres one here to..

 

[gac009]

overclock a 6800nu and you will not get a 6800ultra nor the performance of a 6800ultra, just that of an overclocked 6800nu.

 

[dfloyd]

One not friend, when I switched from my 9600 XT to my BFG 6800 OC I had a heck of a time in WoW. The game ran far worse overall and no amount of tweaking would really fix all the problems. I finally did switch over to running it in OpenGL but that imo did not look as good or feel as smooth.

So just a suggestion if I may, try to check the hardware out on the game playing before you decide to purchase. (Also this has abeen several months back, these problems may haave been fixed by now). But at the time they were enough to drive me nuts, actually made me eventually quit playing the game.

Edit: And I second what Gac009 said. Dont count on unlocking a NU. Its a lucky thing and from what I am reading (With PCI-E growing) its becoming even less and less a possibility. If it happens great, but dont buy a card planning on it.

Personally if I were you and I was considering a card at the moment I think I would try to step one up fron the 6800 NU. Either to the X800 Pro (I hear these are under $200 now), the 6800 GT, or the X800XL. Each of these three cards offer far better performance and are much more future proof because of that performance.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: dfloyd
One not friend, when I switched from my 9600 XT to my BFG 6800 OC I had a heck of a time in WoW. The game ran far worse overall and no amount of tweaking would really fix all the problems. I finally did switch over to running it in OpenGL but that imo did not look as good or feel as smooth.

So just a suggestion if I may, try to check the hardware out on the game playing before you decide to purchase. (Also this has abeen several months back, these problems may haave been fixed by now). But at the time they were enough to drive me nuts, actually made me eventually quit playing the game.

Edit: And I second what Gac009 said. Dont count on unlocking a NU. Its a lucky thing and from what I am reading (With PCI-E growing) its becoming even less and less a possibility. If it happens great, but dont buy a card planning on it.

Personally if I were you and I was considering a card at the moment I think I would try to step one up fron the 6800 NU. Either to the X800 Pro (I hear these are under $200 now), the 6800 GT, or the X800XL. Each of these three cards offer far better performance and are much more future proof because of that performance.

No No No Floyd
You have to know that a 9600XT cannot perform better in WoW than a 6800nu. Something was wrong there in your configuration or you had a defective card.

Second: PCI-e versions of the 6800nu only have 12 pipes. There are no hidden 4 pipes to unlock. Made that way. Only the AGP 6800nu contains 4 hidden pipes. I say this because you said with PCI-E growing its becoming even less and less a possiblility. Well, there is "no" possibility with a PCI-e 6800nu. Or were you referring to the diminishing availability of AGP 6800nu's? Not sure.

Of the three cards you mentioned, (X800pro, 6800GT and X800XL), since the op has an AGP mobo, the best bang for the buck out of these three cards would be the 6800GT. If he had a PCI-e mobo, then the X800XL. For some reason, the prices are flip flopped depending on the platform.

Future Proof? No such thing. Future Resistant is more like it. Anyway, just trying to help out.

 

[blckgrffn]

I agree with this, but why don't you go nab a new ATI x800xl AGP from BB for $230ish? That will be a true step up, with 256 meg of high speed memory for those higher resolution AA/AF experiences. I loved mine and it was well worth the extra (over the 6800NU) IMHO...

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
I'm currently running on a Radeon 9500 non-pro, and it's feeling pretty old. I don't really stay on the cutting edge of games.. I'm still playing a lot of Dota (Warcraft III) and CS:Source. Should I go ahead and buy a 6800nu now, and try to unlock/overclock to an ultra? Or should I wait a while and buy a 6800 ultra or better in the future, for the same price.

I'd get a used GT from some forum member ~ 230

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=45&threadid=1620408&enterthread=y

 

[Lord Banshee]

Well i just bought a evga 6800NU from monarch came in friday...

It isn't able to unlock pixel pipes. I get artifacts in 3dmark03.
The extra vertex shader was able to unlock, but does nothing to most proformance in games.

And it is the crappiest overclocking board i ever got.

I can not even run Stock speeds + 10Mhz on the core. The RAM overclock about 90(45x2) which isn't as bad.. But damn i was hoping for some 815/800 speeds at least . Maybe it is the stock cooler.

 

[blckgrffn]

^^^ Horrible luck, sorry to hear it

 

[Lord Banshee]

Yeah i know

I was debating maybe the heatsink is making good contact with the core. Thinking maybe to take it apart and try some artec silver 5.

If i see some improvement i might just get the Zalman Cooler because then i would know it is a heat issue.

the card idles aroun 52-54*C and load is around 70-72*C according to rivatuner.

 

[blckgrffn]

I think that is about normal in my experience...

My leadtek did 380/800 12/6, my GF's PNY does 400/725 16/6, which would be awesome but the memory refuses to go further, the core may have more in it, never tried, but what would be the point, really?

I think if I were you I would just consider returning it and trying another, or just keeping it. Voiding your warranty, physically, sucks (not looking to get into a debate here).

Nat

 

[Lord Banshee]

Yeah i probally just keep it.

It does what i wanted. (almost)
-Doom3 Ultra Setting at 1280x1024 with 50+fps in timedemo demo1
-BF2 demo is another thing. I was hopeing it would work better at 1280x960 but nope still too slow for me. Grrr. Maybe the real game plays better lol.
-Going to try HL2 when i get home from work.

BTW i upgrade from a 9800Pro O/C and as FireGL X2. My 3dmark03 wnet up 2000-2500 points or so. 3dmark05 went up 1000 i think.

unforuntately Specviewpref didn't go up as much as i thought it would. FireGL X2 really holds its own, it is unbelieveable that a year ago ATI OpenGL Driver Sucks balls for CAD work...

*edit* Do you think it could be my PSU that is not allowing more core speed to the GPU. I only have 380Watt that came with the SONATA. I have whats in my sig plus 80GB 72000HD and 160GB 7200 HD DVD-RW and CD-RW and two 120mm fans.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
I agree with this, but why don't you go nab a new ATI x800xl AGP from BB for $230ish? That will be a true step up, with 256 meg of high speed memory for those higher resolution AA/AF experiences. I loved mine and it was well worth the extra (over the 6800NU) IMHO...

I just checked out BB. Where did you see an AGP X800XL for 230? I don't even see it listed. Maybe it depends on locality. I am in NY. If it can be found for that cheap, that is a great deal!

 

[Ramsez]

Isnt 230$ for the PCI-E version?

He uses AGP, so it's the same price than a 6800GT (290~)

 

[blckgrffn]

Nope, hit the hot deals of the forums guys, they are pretty much on clearance

Link for the Lazy

Anyway, read down the thread a bit and people are find them to be even cheaper in store.

Nat

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
Nope, hit the hot deals of the forums guys, they are pretty much on clearance

Nat

K thanks!!

 

[Ramsez]

Never think to check there =)

Anyway I already have an eVGA 6800GT on the way. Goodbye Radeon 8500 128mb.

 

[blckgrffn]

Poor radeon 8500, you were a great card. I salute you!

 

[dfloyd]

Sorry keysplayr2003 but your wrong friend. My 9600 XT ran way smoother in WOW than my 6800 NU did, this was tested after several formats, and many tests. All things being equal the only difference was the video card.

Athlon 64 3200+ and 1 GB Corsair XMS Xtreme Memory, Shuttle XPC.

Game ran much smoother on my Ati and very iffy, including many many bugs on my 6800 NU. Just take five minutes and hit the official forums and notice the huge amounts of bugs that were in the game. This was about five months ago, this may have changed now. But then it was nuts. You had to run it in OpenGL (Which ran alot slower) just to get it to run bug free.

So no friend I am not mistaken and the card is still working fine now. It just ran like crap in WoW, when compared to a 9700 Pro of my friends, my 9600 XT, and my X800XL. HUGE difference.