which 6800's can u unlock pipes

Robc1880

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I am going to be ordering myself a new PCIe system and I was wondering if anyone would be able to tell me which brand of the 6800's can unlock the extra pipes to make the card into a GT or Ultra? I can find the PCIe 6800 for around $345. Are these cards good OC'ers especially for the MSI cards? If I can't overclock the card, would the plain 6800 let me run resolution 1280x1024 with 4/8 filtering on in games like Doom3, HL2, and others? Thanks in advance.

Xaser 3 case with 420W TT PSU
AXP2500 (11*200 at 1.85v)
9800 Pro 128MB (418/372)
NF7-S v2.0
PDP DDR400 1GB(2-3-2-5)2.6v
Lite-On SOHW-832S
WD 80GB 8mb buffer caviar edition.
 

Robc1880

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so will the PCIe card be able to do it, or is it considered the newer chip that nV crippled?

Xaser 3 case with 420W TT PSU
AXP2500 (11*200 at 1.85v)
9800 Pro 128MB (418/372)
NF7-S v2.0
PDP DDR400 1GB(2-3-2-5)2.6v
Lite-On SOHW-832S
WD 80GB 8mb buffer caviar edition.
 

TheGreatGrapeApe

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Yeah, aren't the new GF6800 (PCIe based only?) on a different core (hence the HW video accelartion being fixed on those but not the GF6800GT/Ultras)?


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil:
 

Robc1880

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if for some reason they are the bad pipes, do these cards OC good so I could run the resolution and filtering I mentioned in first post?

Xaser 3 case with 420W TT PSU
AXP2500 (11*200 at 1.85v)
9800 Pro 128MB (418/372)
NF7-S v2.0
PDP DDR400 1GB(2-3-2-5)2.6v
Lite-On SOHW-832S
WD 80GB 8mb buffer caviar edition.
 

TheGreatGrapeApe

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For complete failure, your only way out is to put it in a board with integrated graphics, do not load AGP/PCIe and then do the repair slowly and laboriously. Depending on what you did to F' it up, I've seen people had to simply correctly flash it back, to actually having to go through the dos based bios editing tools and manual fix things. It's not easy, but the integrated graphics is a given due to the complexity of the recovery required.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil:
 

Robc1880

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would the 6800NU allow me to play at the resolution of 1280x1024 with 4/8 filtering in the usual new games? It will just be a single card for now until I get some more money.

Xaser 3 case with 420W TT PSU
AXP2500 (11*200 at 1.85v)
9800 Pro 128MB (418/372)
NF7-S v2.0
PDP DDR400 1GB(2-3-2-5)2.6v
Lite-On SOHW-832S
WD 80GB 8mb buffer caviar edition.
 

RX8

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Yes it will.

I have softmoded loads of 6800 128mb cards with rivatuner pretty much risk free, better than OC it.
 

TheGreatGrapeApe

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Yes pretty much all games will run ok 30+ fps with 4X/16X, so 4/8 should be a bit better.

This review by Digit-life is probably pretty revealing.

It shows alot of benchmarks (the HL2 numbers are of the stolen beta, not the current game), and it also shows that this one particular card had 256mb of GDDR3, AND that it was NOT modable using Rivatuner. Now remember this review is of the OC'd GE, so be sure to check the GF6800 numbers in the charts. As for the 'off' number of vertex shaders, that's a strange thing about the GF6800, some have 6, some 5 and even some are 4 vertex pipes.

<A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/gffx/nv40-7.html" target="_new">http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/gffx/nv40-7.html</A>

So short term, the GF6800vanilla will do it for ya. I just wouldn't try to go too far beyond the end of the year for those settings.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil:
 

RX8

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most are 128mb ddr1 except for the asus GE 256mb ddr3 basically its a ultra but could not work at ultra speeds so it was bios modded to be a vanilla 12 pipline 6800 but it has 2 molex connecters like the ultra this card can be unlocked and be OC to a faster or same clock speed as the gt if lucky to ultra.
 

Robc1880

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I was looking at the MSI NX6800 with 256mb memory, but I dont know if it has the GDDR3 or the GDDR1. Do you know or anyone know if it has the GDDR3?
 

RX8

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This card MSI NX6800-TD256E GeForce 6800 256MB DDR SLI Multi-GPU Ready PCI Express 16X Video Card with VGA, DVI, TV-Out, HDTV, DirectX 9.0: MS-8984-010 (Retail)

This Is DDR1 type memory.

please copy and paste full gfx card details
 

TheGreatGrapeApe

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I have only seen reviews of 128mb versions of the MSI;

<A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/gffx/nv40-5.html" target="_new">http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/gffx/nv40-5.html</A>
<A HREF="http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=msi6800&page=1" target="_new">http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=msi6800&page=1</A>
<A HREF="http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=1208&s=1" target="_new">http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=1208&s=1</A>

And they all appear to be DDR(1). And while I have not see reviews of the 256mb version (just them for sale), if you go to MSI's site it says just plain DDR;

<A HREF="http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=NX6800-TD256E&class=vga" target="_new">http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=NX6800-TD256E&class=vga</A>


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil:
 

Robc1880

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That's what makes me not so sure about the memory because they don't mention anything about the memory on their 6800gt. As far as what I can see it just says plain ddr for that too. <A HREF="http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=NX6800GT-TD256&class=vga" target="_new">MSI 6800gt</A>
 

TheGreatGrapeApe

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True, so maybe it's not so clear after all.

However I'd day, always expect the cheapest possible solution from these guys unless you have evidence otherwise. That was you won't be dissapointed, but perhaps pleasantly surprised. :cool:


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil:
 

Robc1880

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would I be better off going with the leadtek at the same price? I noticed that on that one it does state that it's DDR3
 

TheGreatGrapeApe

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Sure, what it means is that you have more overcloking potential if they are clocked at the same speed, and if it's already oc'd then it should give you added benifits with AA/AF applied.

Leadtek is s pretty good manufacturer, I'd usually put MSI ahead of them, but if Leadtek's offering this slight perk it would be my preference in this case.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil:
 

Robc1880

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I noticed that these don't have the extra power connector. Will that affect the OC potential of the card or will it get enough power through the PCIe slot?
 

TheGreatGrapeApe

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If it's just got one molex connector then you can easily power a GF6800GT equivalent with it. No power connector at all would be a problem IMO. But only having one is OK, and likely would have no impact one the card as long as it remains a 12 pipe card, just don't expect to be able to OC this thing to GF6800UltraExtreme speed on a ful fledged 16 pipe moded card without possible impact.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK :evil:
 

Robc1880

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neither of the cards have a power connector from what i've seen in the pictures, so I think I may have to look at some alternatives.