which of these choices for a 6800

[Smagma]

BFG OC - it's only a 25 Mhz core boost and I would take it further

e-VGA 6800

I can get these locally. I know I can get the Leadtek for 20.00 cheaper but I think I want a card now :x (I'm useing my plain fx5600) If I talk myself out of it again I will get the Leadtec 5900XT, just like my fried one and start a fund for a GT or an Ultra sometime next summer.

Smagma :t

[Midknyte]

The BFG would be better. lifetime warranty and preoverclocked speed.

[Smagma]

That's kinda what I was thinking but I wonder how their OC performance compares. Think I'll see if I can find a couple of reviews. I don't think Best Buy closes for awhile.

Smagma :t

[Midknyte]

here's another thread about it:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=1393035

reviews:
http://www.insanetek.com/index.php?page=bfg6800

www.bjorn3d.com

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjUy

[Midknyte]

here's one for the evga 6800:
http://www.bleedinedge.com/reviews/evga_6800/evga_6800_01.html

[Smagma]

found the hardocp review, gonna look at the evga review now.
That BFG is lookin good though.

Smagma :t

[Midknyte]

If you don't intend to do the "Step up", then get the BFG. They used to have a special with DoomIII and 6800 cards. You might want to check into that. I know the older evgas came with Farcry, but the newer ones have DIII also.

[Smagma]

:( Just remembered a bill I didn't take into account. Had my shoes on and was getting ready to go. (for the BFG)

I'm bummed

Think I'll wait for the Sunday adds. Probably end up with the 5900 XT though, Unless I can make my self live with the 5600 for 2 or 4 more weeks. :x


Smagma :t

[Midknyte]

:( Maybe you could "brown bag" your lunches instead of going to Mcdonalds, BK, Subway, etal. I did that a couple times when I needed to save up. a few $ here and there adds up pretty quickly. Bumming a few meals from Mom helps too. :)

speaking of food, I think I need to get some.......:r

[RamonGTP]

Originally posted by Smagma
:( Just remembered a bill I didn't take into account. Had my shoes on and was getting ready to go. (for the BFG)

I'm bummed

Think I'll wait for the Sunday adds. Probably end up with the 5900 XT though, Unless I can make my self live with the 5600 for 2 or 4 more weeks. :x


Smagma :t

I would wait the 4 weeks for the 6800. If you get the 5900, you'll be happy with it for about 4 weeks when you'll realize "if I had just waited until now, I could have had a 6800"

[Smagma]

Well, I decided to bite several bullets, I got the BFG 6800 :D

I already brown bag :D

I'm gonna have to do some serious begging to dodge a few bullets, but this is a good card. Unfortunatly I'm CPU limited now. I'm pretty sure the 5900XT was also, but I'll never know now.

RIP 5900 XT hee hee MUahahahaaa

Since this and my next mother board will be limited to a max of a 3200+, I'm not sure how much that would help over my OCd 2400+ (200x11.5)

Got it running at 376/798, not as good as the guys at Hard|OCP got. Ya think that some AS 5 might help ?

Smagma :t

[Midknyte]

AS5 didn't seem to help a whole lot maybe a couple mhz, but it's worth a try. only do the gpu; don't take the ram heatsink off. there are thick pads because of the unevenness (is that a word?) of the ram chips. OCing is luck of the draw.

[Smagma]

Gotcha, CPU only.
The Dremel's not getting anywhere near this card. :D

Smagma :t

[Midknyte]

you can also try to do a softmod to unlock the extra pipelines. try rivatuner:

http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner/

[Excreter]

Hi guys. Just reading your posts and Midknyte says "gpu" and then Smagma says "cpu". Hopefully he doesn't do cpu. Unless of course Midknyte meant that.

[Midknyte]

I think he knew what I meant. GPU=the core on the video card

[Smagma]

Nope, just had a small malfunction with a couple of brain cells :D

I did just put the AS 5 on the GPU, it's been on the CPU for a long time now. Like Midknyte said it doesn't do much. got a 3 C drop in idle temp but no better OC really.

Has anyone had any luck with Rivatuner and the other 4 pipes ? Is it reversable if it don't work ? Been wondering about that stuff also. It would be great if I could get the other 4 pipes working.

Smagma :t

[Midknyte]

I hate to do this, but check out the forums at guru3d.com for the rivatuner 6800 pipes. :cool: shhh. it'll be our little secret. ;)

[Smagma]

I believe I'll just do that :D Mums the word
For what ... several minutes or so :)

Back in a while with a very quite report.

Smagma :t

[Smagma]

OOOhhhhh mama . . . :x

So far so good. Need to do a little more testing with different settings, but so far . . . OOOhhhhh mama

more in the morning.

Smagma :t

[Smagma]

K, it's not morning, but I've been a busy little modder today.

First, my system: (the main stuff)
Leadtek k7ncr18d pro (never again)
XP2400 @ 2.3 Ghz (200x11.5)
512 stick of super talent PC 3500 (sync'd w/FSB - while this does seem to bee a no name brand it performs rather well) **
BFG 6800 OC

some test results from 3dmark03 (free ver) :

Pre mod
AA - AF - Vsync - Quality - Fast Writes - SBA - Core/Mem - Score
off off off Hi perf off off 378/700 8253

Post Mod
AA - AF - Vsync - Quality - Fast Writes - SBA - Core/Mem - Score
off off off Hi perf off off 394/798 9485 *
2xQ 4x on Hi qual on on 394/798 4544
2xQ 4x off qual on off 394/798 7283 *
2xQ 4x off qual off off 394/798 7294
2xQ 4x off Hi perf off off 394/798 7518 *

The Mods were:
Soft mod to turn on the disabled 4 pipes and the one disabled vertex unit.

Vga bios mod to bump throttle voltage to 1.4 to regain diminished ability to OC - ended up with ability to OC even better than before Mod. Oh yeah the current core/mem speeds are the ones the driver auto detected so I can probably go a little higher :D

Mods were accomplished with rivatuner - nvflash - nibitor.
A Gazillion thanks to the programers.

Can you say happy camper. . . I knew you could. :D

* Minor tearing on the turtle in mother nature, but that was it.

** Cas - CL 2T
Ras to Cas Delay - tRCD 3T
Ras Precharge - tRP 2T
Ras Active Time - tRas 5T

I did get a 3C rise in idle temp, no problems

Smagma :t

[Smagma]

Now I'm confused again.

After the first mod it auto detected speeds of 394/798.

tried to go a few Mhz higher and it failed.

so I (mistakenly) figured that if I set the 3d voltage to 1.5 I should be able to go higher. wrong.

Since the first mod put the throttle voltage at 1.4 I (again mistakenly) figured that putting it at 1.5 v also might do the trick. wrong.

not only that, but now autodetect drops both core and mem 364/729 on the last try (I cancle so I can keep the 394/798 for now) It was actually different on every attempt.
(did the same thing before the newer new voltage bumps) :confused:

I suppose it could be a thermal issue (with the ram) at this point. I have been tortureing it all day :r

Even with these new developments this card has much better than stock performance.

OH, almost forgot, you're on your own if you do this stuff, not my or the various programmers responsibility.

research, research, then research and then make up your mind to do or not do this.

Smagma :t

[Midknyte]

nice job, my friend. 1.5v core adds a lot of heat to the core, so it seems to hurt more than it helps. 1.4v is pretty solid.

[Smagma]

yeah, haven't done it yet, but yeah, I'm gonna put it back to 1.4

Thanks very much for the point in the right direction.

Smagma :t