Can anyone estimate the price of a 6800GT in August?

[wmanzoul]

Hello everyone,
This is my first post here, so let me begin by greeting everyone here!
I have a question/dilemma, and i hope that i can get some help...

I'm looking on purchasing a new video card by the end of the summer/beginning of the school year. I'm having trouble deciding between getting a 6600GT and a 6800GT. While I don't game extremely hardcore, I do like to be able to enjoy games, like UT2004, how they were meant to be played.

Point being, I'd like to have a card that can handle modern games without overspending on performance that I may not even benefit from because of the bottlenecks from the rest of my system. I have an XP2600 with 512 DDR400 RAM on a Biostar M7NCD AGP motherboard. I'd rather not have to revamp my entire computer to get PCI-E.

Is a 6800GT overkill for UT2004 and will the price be much lower by August (around $200)? Would I be better off with a a regular 6800 or even a 6600GT?

 

[dug777]

massive overkill if you are limited to 1280res
even a gf4 mx will play ut2k5 smoothly at 1024...

my crystal ball is a little foggy on the prices tho

 

[Mik3y]

the 6800 gt will not hit $200 by then. not even close.

 

[Mrvile]

Yes, althought the G70s will be out the prices of the 6's won't really change. Maybe around 300 I'm guessing.

I hope to god my 6800GT will be able to run the next UT even the early screenshots of that game made me cream my pants.

 

[ronnn]

Very good chance the gt will just fade away as new line is released.

 

[wmanzoul]

ok well, how's the general opinion on the regular 6800? would it be a good "future-proof" card, in that it will have enough power to play next gen games like the next unreal (which i just checked screenshots for...wow!)? since im not really wanting to build up a new computer, im actually considering just getting a very, very good AGP card and hope that it lasts awhile. will that work?

 

[Pete]

The AGP 6800GT is already under $300, and the 6600GT is around $150 after rebates. They're roughly equal in price/performance, as the 6800GT's doubled bandwidth and RAM generally means doubled framerates at high res with AA. Your CPU may be a bit of a bottleneck with newer games, though.

A regular 6800 is slightly better than a 6600GT and has the potential to be unlocked to a full 16 pipes, which will make it very nice indeed. But it'll be limited to around 10x7 to 12x9 with 4xAA because of its 128MB RAM.

I wouldn't count on running the next Unreal at anything higher than 10x7 with any of those cards, but I'm a pessimist. Who knows, your CPU may also be a bigger bottleneck by then. But I'm hoping a 6600GT/6800 will run it well at a lower resolution.

Keep in mind, those Unreal Engine 3 screenshots look so good because of what I'm guessing is a ton of high-res textures, in which case 256MB on the video card seems almost a must. Meaning, maybe just pony up for a 6800GT and ride it as long as you can.

 

[Regs]

Vendors like Zipzoomfly and Newegg have been selling their 6800Gts around 300-350 dollars and they'll likely continue to do so for the next month. The cheapest I think they'll get this year or at least until 4th quarter is 300 dollars.

 

[yacoub]

Hey after you answer the topic question, can you tell me the price of a few stocks in August as well? Thanks.

lol

 

[wmanzoul]

thanks guys...i think im leaning towards the 6800GT. however, now the problem to consider is "will the cpu bottleneck be so large that it will virtually negate the difference between a 6600GT, 6800, and 6800GT? i know its a tricky question to ask with many things to consider, but give it your best shot!

Edit: because if the bottleneck negates the difference, i should save my money by just getting a 6600GT

 

[BFG10K]

even a gf4 mx will play ut2k5 smoothly at 1024...

Uh no, it won't. I doubt it'd even do that in UT2003.

 

[MobiusPizza]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

even a gf4 mx will play ut2k5 smoothly at 1024...

Uh no, it won't. I doubt it'd even do that in UT2003.

My GeForce *2* Ultra playes UT 2004 at 1024*768 smoothly at MAXIMUM quality setting (NOT OVERCLOCKED)
Haven't checked the fps. I am guessing it might be around 20-40 depending on no. of bots. At least that's the minimum requirement for definition of "smooth"

It lags though as I set the bots to 16 players. But since it lags whether I am or not in battlle. It's the CPU which is bottlenecking. (Athlon 1.2Ghz)

However with around 8 bots, no lags whatsoever
And LAN games which I am not the server doesn't lag as well
So it's the CPU which is bottlenecking, not my GeForce 2


I am not lying!
UT 2004 relies on CPU more than GPU

 

[BFG10K]

I am guessing it might be around 20-40 depending on no. of bots.

That's a freaking slideshow.

So it's the CPU which is bottlenecking, not my GeForce 2

Actually both are equally as bad.

 

[MobiusPizza]

Well TV fps is 25, so are DVD movies
And you call your TV programs slideshow?
There are many scientific articles out there saying 25fps is good for human eye


Well what I am saying is the truth. I know both are old, but they run the game fine as far as I know.
The fact that it doesn't lag in LAN game is a proof that when the CPU is not overloaded with AI; both are capable in running the game smoothly.

This mean that the system is capable for handling UT2004.

 

[BFG10K]

Well TV fps is 25, so are DVD movies

(1) And?
(2) So much for your 20 FPS in UT2004 then, huh?

There are many scientific articles out there saying 25fps is good for human eye

Actually I'd be surprised if there are any because it's a lot of bull.

 

[MobiusPizza]

I won't argue. 20-40 is an estimate anyway since I don't see any lags.
It could well be running 30-40 all the time
FPS value is constantly changing anyway. few milliseconds of 20 fps wouldn't be noticable anyways
If you don't believe me that my computer's not lagging that's fine, that's your freedom.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

even a gf4 mx will play ut2k5 smoothly at 1024...

Uh no, it won't. I doubt it'd even do that in UT2003.

i meant ut2004.

but anyway, it runs fine and very smoothly on my folks gf4 mx 420, my gf's mx 440, and similarly on my old mx440 at 1024, all medium settings no AA/AF. I've played countless hours of it very nicely on those cards so i should know.

and if you don't believe me, here's some benchies mate (only for 2003 but the engine changes little if at all between the two AFAIK)

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030120/vgacharts-04.html

looks like 50fps for the mx440 at 1024 to me which is certainly plenty for most people

 

[RussianSensation]

Your system is not so bad. If you add 512 mb of ram and overclock it to 2.2ghz (3200+ speeds), you'll be flying with a 6800GT for the most part. Just wait until August if you planned on it anyway and you'll probably see prices fall a little bit for x800xl and 6800GT. I mean both are near $300 already for AGP so I doubt they wont fall even $50. At $250, 6800Gt seems like a very nice deal.

6600GT vs. 6800GT in UT2004

 

[Barfo]

why don't you just say you have a 6800 ultra and that makes you feel superior to anyone who's got something lesser?

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: wmanzoul
thanks guys...i think im leaning towards the 6800GT. however, now the problem to consider is "will the cpu bottleneck be so large that it will virtually negate the difference between a 6600GT, 6800, and 6800GT? i know its a tricky question to ask with many things to consider, but give it your best shot!

Edit: because if the bottleneck negates the difference, i should save my money by just getting a 6600GT

EDIT: Hi wmanzoul & Welcome to the Forums!

You will NOT be noticeably bottlenecked with a 6800GT and an XP 2600.

I have a 6800GT, and for a while ran it with my CPU downclocked to 1.8ghz (slightly slower than your stock cpu speed) instead of the usual 2.2-2.35ghz.

I did not notice a difference in gaming (Doom3, Far Cry and Painkiller).

I would, however, strongly suggest you pick up an extra 512MB (for a total of 1 gig). If you currently have 2 sticks of 256MB, pick up a similar stick of 512MB and put it in dimm slot #3 for a total of 1 gig in DC mode (I'm assuming your mobo is an NF2).

The reason I suggest a gig of ram is that game loading times and general navigation around in games menu's is sooo much smoother & faster with 1 gig vs 512MB.

In "poorly coded" games, the loading time was cut by up to 2/3 the time, D3 saw only a slight improvement though.

One of the best bang-for-buck improvements in enjoyable gaming is going from 512MB -> 1 gig. My benchies also showed little to nothing gained with faster vs slower ram (Edit: referring to latencies).


Fern

 

[BFG10K]

I won't argue. 20-40 is an estimate anyway since I don't see any lags.

I'd like to see benchmark results that back your claims. All to often I've seen claims of "smooth" but when actual numbers were produce they certainly didn't back that claim.

i meant ut2004.

I didn't. And again, I'd especially like to see your minimum framerate. Not to mention that Anatalus is largely a CPU limited botmtach .

 

[Budarow]

6800GT in AGP will be $250 and in PCI-E it'll be $300.00....so says this sage;-)

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

I won't argue. 20-40 is an estimate anyway since I don't see any lags.

I'd like to see benchmark results that back your claims. All to often I've seen claims of "smooth" but when actual numbers were produce they certainly didn't back that claim.

i meant ut2004.

I didn't. And again, I'd especially like to see your minimum framerate. Not to mention that Anatalus is largely a CPU limited botmtach .

i gave you some if you read the thread mate.

but yeah, i've played god knows how many hours of ut2004 on gf4 mx440s at 1024 and it has always been a perfectly smooth and enjoyable experience. As the THG benchies i linked to show the 440 gets about 50fps in 2003 which is perfectly smooth for most people...and AFAIK the engine changed little between 2003 and 2004 ut...

 

[wmanzoul]

Thanks RussianSensation, I'll take the advice about getting some more RAM along with the 6800GT. BTW, I have 1 stick of 512 rather than 2x256 (thanks for the link, too!). And in response to the post about getting a 6800ultra, i remember reading somewhere about being able to alter the 6800Gt in some way to make it an ultra...so if i really need the extra power i could do that. however, i doubt ill overclock the video card. However, i remember being told that the XP2600 was "locked" so that overclocking was only minimal. Does anyone have a response to that? And while im rattling off questions about other parts of the PC, is dual channel ram such a big deal?

Edit: and thanks Fern for the extra info and confirmation! i really appriciate it!

 

[Acanthus]

it wont go below $250 new. Barring some insane hot deals.