buying new card - your thoughts would be appreciated

[sinixy]

Hi All

I am currently about to buy myself a Gainward 6800gt 256MB graphics card and would like your thoughts on this please.
My current set up is:

epox 8kda3I motherboard (nforce 3)
amd athlon 64 3200+ (2.2ghz)
512MB RAM (1xddr400; 1xddr333, therefore running at 333mhz)(buying 2x 256mb ddr400 in a month or two after the card)
20GB HDD (i know, lacking a bit in the space department)
400W Power supply
currently using a power colour 9500>>9700 with softmod

not planning to overclock anything...

I have read a couple of forums where people have complained that the 6800's seem to be locking up the pc's, freezing while gaming, things like that. I do not want to pay R3400 (i'm in south africa) and then then sit day and night with problems like these. Also, i've heard that some of the cards require a bios flash in order to work properly. if that's the case i would also not buy it, as flashing the bios is risky and with that amount of money i would not even consider it.
If you've had problems with a similar card or a similar set up, please could you let me know.

Also, i could get a radeon X800pro for the same price, but the 6800gt is the better performer, especially when it comes to the doom3 engine..,

Thanks ALL,

 

[Regs]

The 6800GT from vendors like BFG, eVGA, and Leadtek are excellent and stable cards. There will always be people with problems, but the ones who have had problems are not accumulative enough to gage the 6800GT to be a defective product. More often than not its user error causing the malfunctions.

I also heard a few 6600's from Gainward, I believe, needed BIOS flashes to unlock the full power of the video card. That has nothing to do with the 6800GT or with any other vendor.