Differences Between 6600GT & 6800OC

[fylmz]

Getting ready to hit order and I stopped short after seeing these deals.

I was all set to get this
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=14-145-107&depa=1

Chaintech nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, AGP 8X, Model "SA6600G"
$225.00

Someone then told me to hold that thought and get this instead
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4082672

BFG FX6800 OC 128MB
$249.00

I do like BFG's cards since they do have the lifetime warranty..I currently own their geforce4ti 4600 and I'm a believer.

Figured I'd propose the question to you knowledgable folks around here. I really don't wanna spend more than 250.

 

[amheck]

Dude, to be quite frank with you, someone asks pretty much this same question every few days. Search back a couple of days and I'm sure you'll find a bunch of info.

 

[021310061976]

try for the 6800oc from outpost, but only if you don't mind waiting. you'll be damned lucky to find one in stock. last time i checked, they were on backorder and didn't know when they would be getting any in.

 

[Pete]

I second the suggestion of either reading one of Anandtech's many (many) reviews or just searching back a few weeks to determine which card is better for you. Short answer: for gaming, the 6800OC is probably worth the extra 10%.

If you go for the 6600GT, tho, the MSI one looks tempting. It includes VIVO, too.

 

[jjyiz28]

the 6800 nu is slightly better in games. but the wmv decoder is broken, and no amount of drivers or firmware will fix it. the 6600gt on the other hand has a working wmv decoder.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: jjyiz28
the 6800 nu is slightly better in games. but the wmv decoder is broken, and no amount of drivers or firmware will fix it. the 6600gt on the other hand has a working wmv decoder.

According to nVidia, this is incorrect. Maybe this site is incorrect but everybody says the AGP 6800 won't work. Check this site. What's the correct answer?

http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html

Edit: ACCELERATION on WMV doesn't work.

 

[jjyiz28]

6800nu pcie, works
6800nu agp, no work

 

[orion7144]

Originally posted by: jjyiz28
6800nu pcie, works
6800nu agp, no work

He is not asking about the 6800NU. The 6800OC is a different / better option.

 

[amheck]

Originally posted by: orion7144

Originally posted by: jjyiz28
6800nu pcie, works
6800nu agp, no work

He is not asking about the 6800NU. The 6800OC is a different / better option.

Those are the same cards, no? It's just the OC is clocked a little higher by BFG, but the architecture is exactly the same.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Uhm...what is WMV ?

 

[Zardnok]

He is not asking about the 6800NU. The 6800OC is a different / better option.

6800OC = 6800NU @ 350 core speed instead of 325

As for which card to get, when given the choice between 6600gt and 6800OC, I chose the 6800OC. Of course after waiting 2 weeks for Outpost to send my card, I got tired of waiting and got lucky on one of the CompUSA PNY 6800s and cancelled my backorder with Outpost. Personally, I would go for any 6800 again in a second over the 6600gt.

The new Riva-Tuner 15.3 will be out on the 29th, so you can potentially unlock an additional 4 pipelines and another vertex shader on the 6800s making it even more of a no-brainer!

 

[Hyperlite]

Originally posted by: orion7144

Originally posted by: jjyiz28
6800nu pcie, works
6800nu agp, no work

He is not asking about the 6800NU. The 6800OC is a different / better option.

same thing bud, plus a few mhz OC, outpost just finaggled some insane deal with bfg to sell it for $250, which happens to be cheaper than any 6800vanilla.

Unfortunatly, who knows when they will be back in stock. its an awesome deal if you can wait it out. i've talked to BFG and outpost and they don't seem to have very good communication. BFG told be outpost didn't have an order and outpost said they hadn't heard anything from BFG about their latest order.

 

[orion7144]

I got my BFG 6800OC at BB for less than $250 after rebate. Yes it's only difference is that it is OC'd from the "OEM" so it is NOT the same as the NU. Thats like saying the GT is the same as the Ultra.

Anyway the 6800OC is the way to go. BFG has outstanding CS and warranty and if you are fortunate enough to get one that unlocks you can get close to GT speeds.

BTW there is no need to wait till the 29th to unlock your card with rivatuner. The current version alows you to do it. Mine has been unlocked for almost a month.

 

[PhlashFoto]

I have mine fully unlocked, and i get the increase in fillrate. Yet I still only get a bit over 7000 in 3dmark03. This isnt the first time neither. I always have to do the steps a few times to get over 10000 marks.


Am I doing something wrong?

 

[orion7144]

Originally posted by: ELopes580
I have mine fully unlocked, and i get the increase in fillrate. Yet I still only get a bit over 7000 in 3dmark03. This isnt the first time neither. I always have to do the steps a few times to get over 10000 marks.


Am I doing something wrong?

Make sure you have all the eye candy off. I am getting over 11k on 03 and almost 5k on 05.

 

[PhlashFoto]

i have the drivers and 3dmark set to default settings.

 

[poncherelli2]

I too am thinking of getting one of those two cards. What is the deal with the wmv thing, i mean, how is it broken. I like to watch alot of movies,tv,dvds as well as play games like HL2, so im not sure which card to get.

 

[Pete]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

Uhm...what is WMV ?

Windows Media Video file.

Originally posted by: orion7144
I got my BFG 6800OC at BB for less than $250 after rebate. Yes it's only difference is that it is OC'd from the "OEM" so it is NOT the same as the NU. Thats like saying the GT is the same as the Ultra.

The point is that all AGP 6800s use the same GPU, which apparently doesn't support WMV acceleration (to the same extent subsequent GPUs do).

 

[poncherelli2]

what do you mean not support? does it look crappy or not work

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: poncherelli2
what do you mean not support? does it look crappy or not work

WMV files will playback and look good, but will require more CPU cycles to decode. Basically the PVP on the 6600 will have a better feature set than the PVP on the NV40 6800 cards, the NV40's PVP is at least somewaht broken in hardware.

 

[eebird]

So do I understand that the 6600GT PCIe card supports WMV acceleration and the AGP does not?

 

[Staz]

I posted this a while ago, but it might help...

http://forums.anandtech.com/me..._key=y&keyword1=6800nu

 

[DarkKnight]

with no AA and AF, they're pretty much the same. But when you turn on AA and AF, esp at higher resolutions, the 6800OC will come out on top. They'll both be great upgrades to your ti4600, i upgraded from a radeon 9800np and I'm impressed.

If you get a 6800OC, you have the option to try the softmod to unlock the 4 extra pipes and 6th vertex shader for a small boost in performance(about 10% for me), but no gaurentees, plus you'll lose the lifetime warrenty.

keep in mind that if you get the 6800OC from outpost it'll take a while for you to get it because they are being backordered, i had to wait almost a month.

orion7144

what are your specs and what drivers are you using. Did you overclock your card, if so whats speed is it? I have my 6800OC unlocked, no overclock, and I'm not even getting close to your performance. With eyecancdy turned off i get about 9700 in 3dmark03 and about 3900 in 3dmark05.