Oblivion: 6600GT vs 6800

T

TrueBuckeye

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Oblivion has me really wanting a new video card. It is beating the holy hell out of my 9800pro. I've been out of the video card scene for a few years and I'm not sure how great the difference is between the 6600GT and the 6800. Here's what I have now...

AMD 3200+
1GB PC3200
ATI 9800pro

I'm on a tough budget and can't affored to get a new mobo and move to PCIx, so I'm thinking of one of two upgrades...

6800 w/512MB (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814121216)
or 6600GT (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150089) and an additional 512MB of system memory.

I know that the 6800 has four times the memory and a faster overall speed, but would having the additional 1/2gb of system memory be more worthwhile?
 
Wow, the 512MB 6800 is only about $30 more then the 6600GT :eek:

You would do better with the 6800 no doubt, and who can argue at that pricepoint? Seeing as its the AGP verson, you may even be able to unlock some pipes and turn it into a 6800GT 512!

Oh, and the 1GB of RAM you have now should be fine, dont waste your mony on any more DDR with the change to AM2 and DDR2 so close.
 
My guess is that the 6800 would be more helpful in your case. It seems that a lot of people are running the game just fine with 1GB of memory. The extra pipelines on the 6800 should be helpful. I imagine the 6600GT would be a nice improvement over the 9800, but not nearly as much as the 6800.

As far as system RAM goes, prices have been pretty low recently. I'd get the 6800, save a bit more cash, sell your current 1GB, and pick up a pair of matching 1GB modules. (some boards a picky about what types of memory they allow when all four sockets are filled, so just adding more may cause issues) I'm sure you could find something that works, but if I was doing it, I'd just replace the memory with two shiny matched sticks. :)
 
Look at the 6800GS. Check out monarchcomputer.com, I believe they had one for $197.99 with free shipping. Some of the best bang for your buck you can get for AGP boards, plus you can unlock pixel pipes and vertex shaders to be equal to 6800GT speeds.
 
Colonel Sanders said:
Look at the 6800GS. Check out monarchcomputer.com, I believe they had one for $197.99 with free shipping. Some of the best bang for your buck you can get for AGP boards, plus you can unlock pixel pipes and vertex shaders to be equal to 6800GT speeds.
Click to expand...
Why get a 256mb 6800GS for MORE MONY then a 512MB 6800, when they can both be unlocked to GT?
 
Unknown-One said:
Why get a 256mb 6800GS for MORE MONY then a 512MB 6800, when they can both be unlocked to GT?
Click to expand...

Because the 6800 is 128bit DDR2 memory while the 6800GS utilizes 256-bit GDDR3 memory. The 6800GS is basically a 6800GT with a masked or damaged quad and pixel shader while the vanilla 512mb 6800 is a slower variant. Unlocking is also the luck of the draw, some can unlock w/o artifacts and some can't.
 
a 6800 with only 128-bit memory interface is a 6800 in name only. That 6800 you linked to would barely be any faster than the 6600GT you linked. The larger framebuffer might help, but it has almost the same processing power and the same memory interface (128-bit) as the 6600GT. At that price, 6800GS would be a FAR FAR better purchase.
 
Sabrewulf165 said:
a 6800 with only 128-bit memory interface is a 6800 in name only. That 6800 you linked to would barely be any faster than the 6600GT you linked. The larger framebuffer might help, but it has almost the same processing power and the same memory interface (128-bit) as the 6600GT. At that price, 6800GS would be a FAR FAR better purchase.
Click to expand...

Didn't realize it had a cut down memory interface. I'd second the GS in that case.
 
Unfortunately, the 6800gs I can't find in an APG version for less than $220, so it is out of my price range.

Thanks for the advice guys, but I really need to stay around $150. I was stretching it to get to the $170 of the 512MB 6800.
 
Sabrewulf165 said:
Have you considered the X800GTO? 12 pipes, possibly unlockable to 16, 400 mhz core clock, 256MB @ 980mhz, 256-bit memory interface. I see one in AGP on newegg for the same price as that Asus 6800 you were looking at.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102609
Click to expand...

Nice, some of the reviews I've found look very enticing. This may be the winner!

Thanks for all of the advice guys.
 
Just so you know that 6800 w/512MB ram would be slower than a 6600gt. That 6800 has 128bit memory bus (same as the 6600gt), about half the memory speed of the 6600gt (540mhz vs. 1000mhz), and proximately the same core processing power (12 pipes x 350mhz vs. 8 pipes x 500mhz).

x800gto is better bet than the previous 2.
 
ClearM4 said:
Just so you know that 6800 w/512MB ram would be slower than a 6600gt. That 6800 has 128bit memory bus (same as the 6600gt), about half the memory speed of the 6600gt (540mhz vs. 1000mhz), and proximately the same core processing power (12 pipes x 350mhz vs. 8 pipes x 500mhz).

x800gto is better bet than the previous 2.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that's the kind of stuff I wasn't aware of when I started this thread.

What ever happened to the old days where the Voodoo1 was slower than the Voodoo2 or Voodoo3 and that was all you had to know?

I've ordered the x800gto. Thanks again guys.
 
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