Worth it to get 6800XT or GS?

[dwcal]

Newegg has a one day sale on the XFX 6800XT, $134-$20MIR. Is this worth it over the 6800GS? It's slower stock, but it could beat the GS with all pipes unlocked. I know heat and power consumption will be higher and max GPU clock will be lower because of the .13 process. Current card is an X700 Pro 128MB that performs somewhere between a 6600 and 6600GT.

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Or is it worth waiting for something better for under $150? I'd prefer Nvidia for the better Linux drivers.

 

[secretanchitman]

can the XT unlock? if so, i would get that.

im guessing PCI-E, so either a 6800XT/GS/GT would be good for you.

or you could wait for the 7600GT, but that comes out in about 2 weeks and i dont know if you're willing to wait that long.

 

[dwcal]

That's what I was thinking. If the 7600GT is faster than a 6800GT for $150-$200 with less heat and power, I can wait for it. I don't need resolution higher than 1280, so the 128bit memory is less of a problem.

 

[CKXP]

Originally posted by: dwcal
Newegg has a one day sale on the XFX 6800XT, $134-$20MIR. Is this worth it over the 6800GS? It's slower stock, but it could beat the GS with all pipes unlocked. I know heat and power consumption will be higher and max GPU clock will be lower because of the .13 process. Current card is an X700 Pro 128MB that performs somewhere between a 6600 and 6600GT.

link

Or is it worth waiting for something better for under $150? I'd prefer Nvidia for the better Linux drivers.

unlock???..maybe, does anyone know which NV40 core this card uses, XFX to release 6800 XT PCIe card doesn't say much about the core in that article, but we do know it's a 130nm

 

[imported_Firecracker]

Whoa, as far as I remember, it is only possible to unlock (to 16 x 6 pipes) the AGP version of the 6800XT. The agp version is the one which has the same core as the GT, GS and Ultra. They were tested, failed (apparently) the benchmark required and sent into the XT line instead of their more expensive cousins, and certain pipes were consequently locked down.

The PCI-E breed of 6800XT has a different core, different chips and I'm told there are no 'hidden' pipes to unlock.

I just bought one (agp), it arrived today. Sadly my psu can't handle it and the PC won't start, so I've even longer to wait for the new psu.

But yeah, agp can unlock but PCI-E is a no go. There is an article on this very website about it, somewhere.

 

[dwcal]

It looks like the 6800XT AGP uses the NV40 core (16 pipes) and the 6800XT PCIe uses the NV41 core (12 pipes), both on a .13 micron process. Not clear if the PCIe can unlock to 12 pipes, but a chance of getting 12 pipes doesn't seem worth it to me. I think I'll pass on this.