Overclock 6600GT vs. 6800

[koger]

Hi

I have been looking around on toms and anandtech of course. And I can't really find a guide for this buy.

I have a Amd Athlon 64 system wiht AGP and am going to spend 200 to 300$ on a graphics card.

What is the best buy when I want to overclock the gfx card?

I think I have these choices 6600GT, 6800 and 6800GT.
The 6800GT is a little too expensive, should I would prefer either the 6600GT or 6800. How does these two card compare when overclocked? Any links or recommendations?

Also as noise is important to me I would not like a gfx card with a fan that makes too much noise. Should I get another fan?

 

[nRollo]

The 6600GTs are already close to their max clock and the 128bit memory bus limits gains of OCing anyway.

The real performance gains are to be found by unlocking a 6800NU and putting a very mild OC (10%) on it.

 

[Kalessian]

I'll second the 6800nu for that price point. $350 is still considered a great deal for a 6800GT.

But remember there's a chance you won't be able to fully unlock a 6800nu.

 

[koger]

This might a stupid question, but what is a 6800nu? a plain 6800?

What 6800nu cards can be unlocked?

 

[narcotic]

nu = non ultra
which means its not a gt and not ultra... yes its a 'plain' 6800

That's what I think anyway...

 

[hans030390]

yeah a 6800 can be unlocked (the pipelines) and then overclocked to GT performance, i think.

 

[Dman877]

No need to unlock/oc a 6800, it will handle any of todays games unless you have a big lcd and like to crank the aa/af.

 

[fstime]

a 12 pipe nu can handle games with aa and af, a 6600gt cant.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: BouZouki
a 12 pipe nu can handle games with aa and af, a 6600gt cant.

The fillrate is the same on these cards.

The reason the 6800NU can handle more AA/AF is much higher memory bandwidth.