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Budget AGP upgrade. EVGA 6800 AGP 128M for $213 - $150 MIR

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Damnit! A flawless application of AS5 and a totally tight HSF w/ all screws did not fix the horrible artifacting. Does this definitively mean that my chip is flawed? Could it simply need a BIOS flash? Will a BIOS flash void my warranty?

The chip is marked:
[NVIDIA LOGO]
NVIDIA
NV40

0SLBT00B30 0413A1
K KOREA ENG SAMPLE
90295147TCE4 1
 
Today I picked up the last one on the shelf here in Mobile, AL.

$243-150MIR.

I'm upgrading from a GF4 Ti4200 (I know, I know...), so needless to say tonight is "not go to sleep night".

Thanks OP, good call.
 
Wow...those engineerig samples are worth massive amounts of $$$$. Quick...sell it on Ebay! Seriously.....makes you wonder where the "real" card went.
 
Originally posted by: Sincity
Wow...those engineerig samples are worth massive amounts of $$$$. Quick...sell it on Ebay! Seriously.....makes you wonder where the "real" card went.
Click to expand...

I dunno. I can't find any nVidia engineering sample example auctions in past or current auctions... Is it worth anything if it artifacts like this? 🙁 My eBay Powerseller status will expire this month if I don't get a big-ticket item, but I have three test tomorrow and a giant final paper to write TONIGHT (And a couple other papers that are going to be late). I have NO TIME to find out if a BIOS flash can fix it or to selectively disable pixel & vertex units. I do have plenty of other 6800's to get a BIOS from though. 😉

Originally posted by: Speckledpig
Today I picked up the last one on the shelf here in Mobile, AL.

$243-150MIR.

I'm upgrading from a GF4 Ti4200 (I know, I know...), so needless to say tonight is "not go to sleep night".

Thanks OP, good call.
Click to expand...

Guess what's sitting on top of the PC I just put this 6800 in? 😉 My old PNY AGP 8x GeForce4 Ti4200 w/ factory overspec'd and higher-clocked memory (Sold in an AGP 4x box).
 
I was being sarcastic. I think the only engineering samples that are worth anything are those of products that never make it to retail. A collector will want something like that.

Turn off one of the pipes (from 16 to 12) and you should be fine. Good luck on your tests.
 
Hi Everyone,
I'd like some opinions. I have very little time for gaming anymore but when I do game it is usually Civ4 or UT2004. My PC is dated and is currently an ASUS nForce2 Motherboard with an Athlon XP 2200+ (1.8GHz), 1GB of RAM, and a GeForce FX 5200 Ultra.

If I could find one of these cards, is it a worthwhile investment for me? I'm not looking to upgrade the motherboard or anything else at this time.

Thanks!
 
Yes..is use this on my other PC which is a XP1700+ that has been OC'd to 2.0 (166 x 12). I just slap one of these babies and I can run BF2 with Terrain and Effects on MED, the rest on LOW amd 2xAA. Using a 1280 res I average 62 FPS.
 
I need someone to post or email me a copy of their receipt 2-19-2006 or newer, the man at CC said he could not do the tag thing, but said he would honor any current (this week) price at any CC nationwide, pls help me get this cheaper than 238.xx thanks in advance, pls help me out.
 
Originally posted by: DAGTA
My PC is dated and is currently an ASUS nForce2 Motherboard with an Athlon XP 2200+ (1.8GHz), 1GB of RAM, and a GeForce FX 5200 Ultra.
Click to expand...

I also have a 2200+ running on a A7N8X Deluxe. Only 512MB of RAM though; I'm so pumped about this. I was running Q4 at 640x480 with everything turned off and still only getting 10 fps. 😀
 
Does anyone know if this deal (the rebates) is still valid (provided that the Circuit City has it in stock)?

Also, if it shows out of stock online, does that accurately reflect the availability in store, or would it still be worth a look?

Thanks.
 
Originally posted by: DAGTA
Hi Everyone,
I'd like some opinions. I have very little time for gaming anymore but when I do game it is usually Civ4 or UT2004. My PC is dated and is currently an ASUS nForce2 Motherboard with an Athlon XP 2200+ (1.8GHz), 1GB of RAM, and a GeForce FX 5200 Ultra.

If I could find one of these cards, is it a worthwhile investment for me? I'm not looking to upgrade the motherboard or anything else at this time.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yeah, a 5200 is pretty slow. Any 6800 card ~$100 would be a great boost for you.
 
Little Rock store has 1 left.. the 2 tone box was 56 AR, the other style (I'll call it the green/black nvidia reference box, haha) is $87. Same model number, but the 2 tone box was a higher serial number and cheaper, so nabbed it (206-150mir). They actually had all the cards on clearance.. clearly the $56 was the killer deal. 🙂 the $87 is waiting on someone... and if youre clever enough, you could get that at $56 because the tag for the other sku is identical in everyway... even the part number of the card. you could easily argue that card is also 56. Good luck.
 
I just picked one of these up last night. I had checked a few weeks ago when I first saw this thread, but it was ~$130 after rebate at that point. Last night it was $67 after rebate, so I went for it. I'm just a little surprised that neither rebate asks for an original reciept. Hopefully my desktop can handle this card. I'm still really cpu limited with an Athlon Thunderbird running at 1.33 GHz.
 
Picked 1 up at CC in Novi, Mich. for $90 (after MIR & including 6% sales tax) at 1:00 p.m. today. They have 1 left (with older box style and broken seal which may indicate the card does NOT unlock and/or OC much). The shelf tag is incorrect, but it should ring up $240 (with sales tax and the rebate forms will print at the register). The sales guy hand entered the stock number a couple of times, but it kept coming up with the price LOWER than the clearance tag.
 
Sweet deal just got sweeter. I returned the original purchase yesterday because I am cheap and thought $104 after MIR and tax was a little too much for an older card. After I returned it, I went to check the price and it is now $213 less $150 MIR. Total cost for me is $79 after MIR plus tax. Couldn't pass it up at this price!

For Vegas folks:

Henderson store out
Sahara store out
Centenial store: 2 available (1 unopened and the one I returned).
 
Originally posted by: Sincity
Sweet deal just got sweeter. I returned the original purchase yesterday because I am cheap and thought $104 after MIR and tax was a little too much for an older card. After I returned it, I went to check the price and it is now $213 less $150 MIR. Total cost for me is $79 after MIR plus tax. Couldn't pass it up at this price!

For Vegas folks:

Henderson store out
Sahara store out
Centenial store: 2 available (1 unopened and the one I returned).
Click to expand...

I'm with you...I saw the clearance tag saying $115 (after tax and rebate) and thought...too much. But I bought 1 anyway thinking the price may drop over the "return period" and I'd get it for less or simply return the card for a refund. And I was pleasantly surprised when the card rang up for less and to be paying $90 with tax and after MIRs. It's worth $90 to upgrade from a 9800 Pro. Hopefully, it'll unlock and overclock for an even better bargin😉. And I wouldn't listen to those who think this card is not a significant upgrade from a 9800 Pro...cause it is a decent upgrade in performance😉
 
Originally posted by: Tpware
Little Rock store has 1 left.. the 2 tone box was 56 AR, the other style (I'll call it the green/black nvidia reference box, haha) is $87. Same model number, but the 2 tone box was a higher serial number and cheaper, so nabbed it (206-150mir). They actually had all the cards on clearance.. clearly the $56 was the killer deal. 🙂 the $87 is waiting on someone... and if youre clever enough, you could get that at $56 because the tag for the other sku is identical in everyway... even the part number of the card. you could easily argue that card is also 56. Good luck.
Click to expand...

They have the same UPC (I checked) so they should both ring up for the lower price.
 
Well I got mine for 108 AR with tax.... Manager would not BUDGE to price match

I am running an AMD 2800 and USED to have a Gforce 5600

The ONLY benchmark I have (3D mark would take 40 minutes on my machine LOL) is X3 The Reunion Demo

AMD 2800 with PNY 5600 Average FPS 8 (yes 8)
AMD 2800 with EVGA 6800 Average FPS 42
AMD 2800 with EVGA 6800 UNLOCKED Average FPS 46

I am going to use NVstrap (or something like that) to play around with OC'ing the card...

Oh... And for those who do not know... the PNY 5600 was NOT DX 9.0 compliant... Half Life 2 ran and ran WELL in DX 8..... I booted it up with the new card and CRANKED everything up.....

HOLY CRAP...STUNNING And runs like butta....
 
Ok guys and gals. It seems that some of these "vanilla" eVGA 6800 are actually 6800GTs.....well almost!! You heard me right. The first one I bought I could only unlock one of the pipes (unlocking both gives horrendous artifacts-the unlocked pipe are 12v/6p) and OC to 350/780 stable with 3dmark05 at 3724. On that first card, when unlocking the pipes, the 2 pipes were disabled and "hardware masked".

If you followed my thread from today, you would realize that I returned the first card (last night) and decided to pickup another card today (after sleeping on it) because the price dropped to $79 after MIR and tax. I used Riva Tuner and discovered that the two disabled pipes are NOT "hardware masked". So I guess this makes it a true 6800GT 😀 Am I wrong to assume that? I unlocked both pipes making it 16v/6p. I OC'd to 378/785 and 3dmark05 stable at 4476 :Q

What an unbelievable stroke of luck! I'm like a little school kid bragging about his new toy. Hurry up folks-rebate ends tomorrow.
 
Originally posted by: Sincity
Ok guys and gals. It seems that some of these "vanilla" eVGA 6800 are actually 6800GTs.....well almost!! You heard me right. The first one I bought I could only unlock one of the pipes (unlocking both gives horrendous artifacts-the unlocked pipe are 12v/6p) and OC to 350/780 stable with 3dmark05 at 3724. On that first card, when unlocking the pipes, the 2 pipes were disabled and "hardware masked".

If you followed my thread from today, you would realize that I returned the first card (last night) and decided to pickup another card today (after sleeping on it) because the price dropped to $79 after MIR and tax. I used Riva Tuner and discovered that the two disabled pipes are NOT "hardware masked". So I guess this makes it a true 6800GT 😀 Am I wrong to assume that? I unlocked both pipes making it 16v/6p. I OC'd to 378/785 and 3dmark05 stable at 4476 :Q

What an unbelievable stroke of luck! I'm like a little school kid bragging about his new toy. Hurry up folks-rebate ends tomorrow.
Click to expand...

They are not underclocked 6800GT's for two reasons:
#1: They are DDR, not GDDR3 (HUGE difference)
#2: They are 128MB instead of 256MB (A huge difference in 3Dmark '06)

A 6800GS is a 12x1,6vp card only it has GDDR3 making it much better than a 12x1,6vp 6800. The memory alone puts it in 6800 GT-territory.

A coworker of mine keeps getting higher Aquamarks on his GDDR3 6600GT than the unlocked and overclocked 6800.

Also, on that first card you are unlocking a vertex unit, not a pixel unit. The pixel unit is what the real boost comes from. On the second card you may have an Engineering Sample like I got on my fifth card. RivaTuner "remembers" which pipes and vertex units were disabled from your last card and has them similarly disable after the swap. If you click "Defaults" and they are all checked with nothing masked, then you probably have an ENG SAMPLE-marked chip. Mine also was missing a HSF screw (The springy kind) and has Arctic Silver compound instead of the white stuff the others had. Unfortunately, even though it was a 16x1,6vp card, it was artifacting horribly unless I manually disabled pixel unit 01 (The second one). Basically, it was a defective DOA card for any normal customer. I plan to RMA it.
 
I see. My first card still shows the "yes" in the HW masked column when I removed and replaced it. I thought since this one does not show it, it is a closer "cousin" to the 6800GT albeit the extra memory and DDR3 (1000 mhz) memory. I have no artifacting on stock speeds with all pipes enabled unlike the first card. I get artifacting (all pipes enabled) once I OC above 378/785. Still cool since the second card costs less and performs a lot better. I wonder if it is an engineering sample? This is a real "budget" card for $79.
 
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