HIS X800GTO IceQ II and HIS x1600xt vs any geforce 6800gs

[3rdschulz]

Hello,

History and Needs
I am going to buy a card in the next 24 hours and want your help! I got it down to 3 cards.
I am a avid gamer with a budget, I mainly play battlefield 2. I am replacing my abit radeon x700 pro 256mb because it broke due to a power supply issue I have solved. I want a better card now anyway for under $199 I really like ATI and have always wanted a card made by the High Tech company (HIS). However do to rumors and other players and reviews talking about how much better the 6800gs preforms I thought I better consult this forum since I browse it alot.

My system specs
I wont name it all but here are the basics
Mobo ABIT fatal1ty an8 akt 939 PCI-E
cpu amd 3400 skt 939 prototype
1gb Kingston hyper x pc3200
windows xp professional



CHOICE 1. HIS Hightech Radeon X800GTO IceQ II Turbo Price $195 but has 50 bucks by mail in rebate making it $145 for the next 24 hours!
Reasons I like
I have always bought ATI. Not only do I love the look and style of this card to show off with my new see through case I have herd you can unlock it and make it a x850 which is really awesome! Its also covered under warranty by HIS for overclocking so long as you use there software! I think it outperforms all other x800's that I know of when its OCed. also it uses 256 bit interface which newer x1k cards don't. the cooling system for it and noise reduction ability's are also impressive.
all this and there's a HUGE 50 dollar mail in rebate if I buy it before midnight on feb/14/2006 that makes the price of this card unbeatable
newegglink
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814161146

Reasons I don't like:
its last generation chipset replaced by newer model HIS x1600xt, one reviewer on newegg says it sucks on BF2 and hes getting framerates in the 20's! I have herd. I am scared to buy it because of that and everyone tells me the 6800gs will smoke it

CHOICE 2. HIS Hightech Radeon X1600XT ICEQ Turbo
Price $196 but 30 dollar mail in rebate makes it $166 for next 24 hours!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161160
Reasons I like: Newest latest chipset from ATI, has unbelievable clock speeds for a card under 199, has a lot of cool features I wouldn't use like support for dual monitors and HDTV stuff. can be overclocked and covered under HIS warranty and other look, cooling reasons I mentioned above for the x800gto

Reasons I don't Like: the main one would be the 128 bit interface despite the 256 memory, I herd it cripples this card and as a result the 6800's kill it with there 256 bit interface, making its insane clockspeeds worthless.

CHOICE 3. Pretty much any geforce 6800gs that looks good and has higher clock speeds for my price range, but I like the MSI so far for my price range.
Price under $199

Here is one I found and Like Price is 189.99 but mail in rebate makes it 169.99
MSI http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127200

Reasons I like: Everyone says they can run bf2 in all high settings with this card with no problems, MSI covers overclocking under its warranty for this card and therefore it can be overclocked within paramater and covered by warranty, its the best looking 6800gs I have seen in my price range, there all a little boring, and afterall looks are just a extra not performance related. its got a 256bit interface and from reviews I have read it really owns for its price range.

Reasons I don't like: I would like to stick with ATI if possible, but it really comes down to performance within my price range as that is the #1 thing,. The looks of the card are more impressive the some other 6800gs's but there all a little bland, once again this isn't extremely important and performance matters more. it has much clock speeds then the ATI's above. all and all the card just isn't as exciting for me as the other 2 I don't know why, it just isn't... but if it smokes the other 2 cards performance wise, especially in bf2 Ill go with it!

 

[mwmorph]

why not a sapphire x800gto2?
the gto2 is faster than a 6800gs when unlockeed/oced
the 6800gs has sm3 and ocs pretty nicely as well
both are aobut the same price.

 

[3rdschulz]

theres no mail in rebate with it so overall it is a bit spendyer, but still within my range..... Does it preform better and faster then the 3 above cards you think? the clock speeds arent listed on newegg

 

[3rdschulz]

Ok just found out the HIS x800gto turbo 2 is a gto2 as far as I can tell.
they both use the R480 core normall x800's use the standard R430 core. If this is the case can you confirm it and continue to advise?

here is some info on it
http://www.itreviews.co.uk/hardware/h865.htm

 

[Astonm]

Unless you want to go through the trouble of unlocking the GTO2 and voiding your warranty, get the GS. I had an ATI card and was very pleased with it before, but the GS is a great card and does support sm3 (some people say whatever, but i think its more futureproof, imo) I can run AOE3 at 1280x1024 with MAX settings (520/1200) and COD2 at max aswell.

 

[3rdschulz]

It seems as though the GS is a good safe bet and can be overclocked as well, at the same time I read this article comparing the gto2 and the his gto It seems as though the his does not have capability to unlock the pipelines as far as I can tell, despite its 480 core.

keep the thoughts and advise coming and thanks so far

 

[Effect]

IMO, dont touch the x1600xt, it doesn't perform as well as the GTO's and GS's. I'd say go with the GS, but if you can confirm that the HIS GTO does unlock and overclock well, then that would be the way to go.

 

[3rdschulz]

as of yet I have yet to find a place that tells you how to unlock it, appears only the gto and 3d gto unlock, so unless I can unlock it the GS will smoke it?
I think its also worth saying that the above HIS x800gto does overclock 550mhz/1238mhz out of box easily and is covered under warrenty, the only thing holding it back is the 4 pipelines

 

[Dman877]

At stock, the GS (especially the factory oc'd ones) will beat out the GTO's/GTO2's but when unlocked and oc'd, a sapphire gto2 will perform at X850XT levels and spank any GS. According to reviews on newegg, most of the new GTO2's are coming factory unlocked too. I won't even bother to get into the sm3.0 thing. It may or may not be an issue at some point in the future, depending on the games you play.

 

[Munky]

At stock speeds the 6800gs is faster than the gto. When both are OC'd to the max, they're about even. With the gto unlocked to 16 pipes and OC'd it will be significantly faster. The x1600xt, while a decent card for ~$160, only performs well in games that put its 12 shaders to good use, and even then it's about on par with the 6800gs. As it only has 4 texture units, in some games it will be slower than a stock gto.

Also, I'm selling a unlocked c3d gto in case you're interested. Other than that, if you want the best bang for buck card and arent afraid of unlocking the pipes, then get the sapphire gto2. Some of those even come with all 16 pipes unlocked. On the other hand, if you dont want to mess around with OC'ing and/or unlocking and want better performance right out of the box, then get the 6800gs.

 

[3rdschulz]

http://www.overclockersonline.com/index.php?page=articles&num=314&pnum=13 wow after looking at this makes me want to get the HIS x800gto even more! I just wish they would have benched it oc/ed againts a o/ced 6800!

 

[3rdschulz]

hey guys only got a few hours left to make a choice before midnight tonight on feb/14/2006. Any last thoughts or ideas would be xtremly greatfull! I am pretty much undecided bewteen the MSI 6800gs which is covered under warrenty when OCed or the HIS x800gto which is also covered under warrenty when OCed.
as of yet no one has been able to unlock the HIS's extra pipelines that I am aware of.

IT SHOULD BE NOTED: although the ati is the underdog stock, it overclocks easily out of box to 550mhz/1238mhz and will be used and played as such, I am not sure how far the 6800 can so out of box easily and safely but please consider this.

 

[3rdschulz]

I just bought the x800gto il llet u know how it go's when it gets here, if it sucks ill return it for the msi

 

[videoclone]

6800gs, x800gto, X1600xt it doesn?t matter what you get cause in 2 to 3 years they?ll be only used as paper wights going buy how fast new cards replace them.

 

[3rdschulz]

haha true, but you gotta still upgrade as needed