help with picking 6800gt

[blacknight31k]

Im looking into getting a 6800gt

What im looking to find out is:

1: if u had a choice which manufacturer would u choose?

2: Which should i get the 128 or 256, I do know the 256 would be better, but are the newer games really using so much that would need the 256?

3: Do all the 6800 gt cards have all 16 pipelines enabled?

my main goal is for gaming and some home vidio/editting, more towards the gaming.

here's my spec's
8rda+
xp-2500 barton oc'ed to 2.2
1x512 pc3200 infinion
9600 pro w/artic cooler
80 gig maxtor hd
antec case and 350true power psu

Thanks For Any Help

[MadPistol]

Fortunately, all 6800 GT cards come with all 16 pipelines enabled. The only variant on them is wheather they are 128mb or 256mb. As for the question about the memory, there are plenty of games out there that are taking advantage of 256mb of memory nowadays.

If you're planning on Overclocking, there are several good manufacturers out there. Leadtek is considerably the strongest, but the cooler is massive. so it's your choice.

I've got a PNY Verto Geforce 6800 GT, and it's been flawless to me so far, and I can overclock it over 6800 Ultra speeds on Stock Cooling. As long as you've got good case cooling, you should be fine.

You may also want to upgrade that memory to 1 GB too. That would help tremendously

[blacknight31k]

First off thanks

I do plan on upgrading mem to 1 gig first before i get the new card, i figured i would wait till the release of the new cards comming out in few weeks. That should help the price a little too. I qanted to see if there were any certain cards to stay away from and wich ones are the best to get

Thanks Again

[BadDriver]

BFG. Nobody does it better. Lifetime warranty and OC'd out of the box.www.bfgtech.com

[Midknyte]

Gainward and BFG are solid. Preoverclocked WITH warranty.

I own a PNY and it has been very solid for me. PNY, EVGA, XFX, etc. use reference cooling, so their performance should all be about the same (temp-wise)

[blacknight31k]

thanks for all the info guys

This gives me plenty of reading while i make my decision.

still unsure about a preoverclocked card, but the warranty is great

[Midknyte]

there is a thread about 6800gts in the "Best of Video" sticky. it should be towards the bottom.

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthre...hreadid=162277

[blacknight31k]

midknyte u really did your homework.

That thread relly helps, I must not have ran down the list far enough on the sticky, sorry

Im gonna do some price shopping. Do u think there will be much of a price drop on the 6800gt's when the new cardscome out in about a week?

Thanks So Much For Your Help

[Midknyte]

NP. I only bought the PNY because it was the first card I could get my hands on.

Almost forgot, the new MSI cards are pretty nice too.

I'm not sure how the 7800GTX will affect pricing. it is predicted to be in the $600+ range. that puts it in a price tier above the 6800 Ultras. the prices on the 6800s has declined since I bought mines ($400 or so). if you search around, you might find one around the $300 area. you could always get a reference card like an evga, then upgrade the cooling with a zalman vf700 or Arctic silencer NV5.

No harm in waiting, though. it's only a week, right?

[blacknight31k]

I need to wait another 2 weeks any ways.

I plan on buying another 512 stick to make my mem. up to 1 gig, should be good there. So that way i can plan on purchasing my vid card on my next payday, so i got time to research and see if any price diff. when i am ready to buy.

Im leaning towards the bfg because of the warranty. All my old parts i usually put into my wifes pc and so on. I cant afford to ugrade as often as i would like, nor do i think SHE would let me if i could, hehehe

thanks again for your help

[Shoreguy]

I've used BFG for 4 generations of cards now....their customer support really blows away all competition. Their cooler is large, but still within a 2 pci slot width. It's extremely quiet. ...but it doesn't really matter, BFG warranty's it ......forever!

[Midknyte]

oops. glossed over your original questions. There is no such thing as a 128MB 6800GT. Asus does make one, but it is a halfbreed 6800NU/GT. Basically a GT core with NU memory. don't waste your time on it. All true 6800GTs have 256MB of GDDR3.

[blacknight31k]

Thanks for all the info,

Thanks midknyte, i didnt know that, Im definately going for the 256/256bit

I just upgraded my mem to 1 gig

So in 2 weeks i will be getting new card and so far it looks like it gonna be the BFG 6800gt.

[Shoreguy]

as an asside, 2 weeks out will put you right at the start of the 4th of July sales. Retail may have it lower than online....

[blacknight31k]

Yah i agree

The only problem is that you will not find most of the upper end cards in retail stores around here. The best ive seen around here even in our local computer parts store is the 6600gt. The reason being that most people around here will not pay the price for them. No problem though newegg or somewhere like that will take care of me.

So lets hope the price drops some for me. hehehe