Advice on PNY 6800gs AGP

[ev01ut10nDT]

I only could unlock it to 12x6 (orig 12x5) and I'm getting about 4400 in the 3Dmark2005.
Is this a reasonable score?

System:
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 2200 MHz (3200+), 754 socket
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS (AGP) 351 MHz / 1002 MHz
HD: Western Digital 200gb UATA 7200 8mb
Mem: 1 GB Corsair Value RAM
OS: Microsoft Windows XP
Res: 1024x768@32 bit
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=1838757

And also, since it costed about $200 after rebates, should I wait a while for something else that would come out soon or just stick with this? (I had a radeon 9200 before...) Is it likely that if I exchange this board for another one (I have other reaons), I'll be able to unlock it to 16x6?

Also, I seem to be able to OC it to 450mhz for the core and 1200mhz for mem. It seems like a huge jump but when i ran the ati tool for a while, the avg temp was 80c. Its that high @ normal clockspeeds. No artifacts when OCed too. Advice?

Sorry about the long post, but I appreciate any help on this.

 

[vois2]

I noticed your low score on 3dMark05 so I thought I would chime in. On the Dell forums, folks with the AGP 6800 GS unlocked are posting around 5400. I have the PCI-E of the 6800 GS and my score is around 5200.

Mine is the eVGA, but I can't imagine why your card would be scoring so low at this time.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

you cant unlock it further because it overheats? if so, consider getting an aftermarket cooler so youll be able to unlock it, oc it, and keep temps low

 

[Killrose]

are you shure ATi Tool reports NV hardware temps correctly? What does the NV control panel report for a temp? also Unlocking pipes is never a garanteed thing. And yo are'nt forcing AA or AF in the control panel are you, ie., your low 3DMark?

 

[ev01ut10nDT]

thanks for your help guys. its amazing how a noobie (i had like a 2 yr hiatus from serious gaming), could get help so quickly. Anyways...

Sorry if I was confusing, but I was using ATI tools 3d model just to stress the board and using the NV properties (in the display properties) to monitor the temps.

I overclocked it to 426/1150mhz (350/1000 original) and it got a score of 5280 (a huge jump). At least this score is closer...I guess. I couldnt get the pipes to unlock as it was having artifacts, but i got the vertex to unlock.

As for the settings, the only thing I changed is that I installed the NGO optimized drivers and set the pci bus latency to 64 (it was 248 before). Everything else I left as is.

The temps between OCing and normal seem to be about the same (54c @ idle and 80c@load). normal at load is prob 5c less.

I'm thinking about returning this board as the $50 rebate from PNY seems to be a pretty big risk considering that nVidia is gonna release new boards and prices might drop. Any opinions on this?

 

[RossCorp]

That's seems about right for your score. My BFG 6800gs with everything at default settings got 4511 in 3DMark05, 10720 in 03.
Unlocked it got 5200 and 11912 respectively. Oc'd to 400/1100 it got 5555 and 12945.

Well worth the pennies

Edit: As for your temps, they're a bit high, but that's basically what mine ran at as well with the stock cooler. I bought a Zalman VF700-Cu at the time I bought this card, and it idles at about 50c with a 33c ambient temp. Under load it still hits 73-74c.