[Mr. Killjoy]

Hey, I got a refund for my previously fried card.
Now I have a choice to do, cause on the site, there are 2 cards for exactly the
same price promotionnal price.

MSI NX6800-TD128: 210€ instead of 299€
PoV GF6800: 210€ --------- 249€

What I know about PoV cards:
Good
-Usually contains good bundled games
-The previous one I got out of the box was an Asus V9999 (DDR3, fully working pipelines) with 6800GT cooling system
-3 years warranty

Not so good
-They often change their manufacturing components, so I can't be sure I'll get the V9999 again (for DDR3)
-Same goes for softmodding

MSI:
Good
-Good cooling too
http://www.msi.com.tw/images/product_img/vga_img/8975_NX6800-TD128.jpg
but noisy? Dunno :s
-16 pixel pipelines out of the box? I heard that rumor but not sure about it

Not so good
-1 year warranty
-No idea about softmod
-Doesn't look like its DDR3

So... I ask what you think is better? What makes it so that the MSI one is 50€ more?

 

[cooliscool]

The 6800NU doesn't normally have GDDR3 but fast 256-bit DDR1. If the POV card has GDDR3 on a 6800NU, it's definitely out of the ordinary. The difference between the 2 names is just that, name. You're paying for MSI's track record rather than the actual product.

I'd get another POV card if I were you, especially if it has GDDR3. However, unlocked pipes success is a matter of luck and never limited to a specific brand.

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

>> However, unlocked pipes success is a matter of luck and never limited to a specific brand.

Actually it is, some brands like to put 100% working chips on their card cause they know some geeks are gonna unlock them (simple marketing trick). It's the case with Asus V9999 series, I was amazed
to have this card in a PoV package , though I have to admit it's generally all about luck with most brands. Asus also likes to do weird stuff, like making GDDR3 6800NU cards and DDR1 6800GT/Ultra ones :s

>> You're paying for MSI's track record rather than the actual product.
I don't get you :s (my english sucks at times)
You mean that paying 50€ more for the same card makes no difference?
PoV includes good games themselves worth more than that and it's 50 less than MSI
without a good reason?

 

[46480]

a little bit off topic
but what is the major difference betwen a 6600 gt and a 6800 NU
'cause i'm goin to buy one of those.
and don't know which one is better.
can anyone show me some benchmark test with 6600 gt and 6800 NU

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

Major changes:

6800NU
good clock speeds
256 bit memory BUS
12 pixel pipelines
(can be raised to 16
on AGP cards)

6600GT
extreme clock speeds
128 bit memory BUS
8 pixel pipelines

Now in english, 6800 performs lots better than 6600GT when:
-the game uses large amounts of pixel shader effects (Far Cry, HL2 and Doom3 are good exemples)
-you use high-resolution (1024x798 and above)
-you play with 16x AF
-you play with FSAA

6600GT MAY perform better in some cases though, if you:
-play in low resolution (640x480 or 800x600), with no AF and no AA
-when there's not much pixel shader effects in your game

 

[46480]

That's what i wanted to know

Thanks man.

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

NP
I personally recommand you to buy the 6800, the lack of pixel pipelines and the 128 bit bus on the 6600GT may not be a big problem today, but later you'll notice the difference...
plus the price on the 6800 is just about 30-40$ more

 

[46480]

Yes that's what i ordered
a 6800 for US$164
And in some cases i've found the 6600gt a little bit more expensive than the 6800NU

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

Dude, cancel your order, I'm pretty sure -at this price- that you'll get an underclocked card... I saw myself some cheap generic 6800 cards, but when checking the details
I noticed that the core lock was down to 300mhz and the memory to 300 or 325mhz (x2 if you want to know the DDR speed).

 

[46480]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150068
check it out
I think its good

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

Dunno, it doesn't show the core clock :s that's the first thing to get underclocked on crappy 6800, and often the only one

PS: don't forget to buy a good PSU too, the 6800 was damaged by a to
low power on my 300 PSU, it (the PSU) started whitsling when the card
was in after 3 weeks of use.
Get something at least 400w and good quality

 

[46480]

Yeah thanks for the advice
And sorry for what happened to your card.

Did you get another one?
Or what are you using right now?

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

I sent it to RMA like 2 weeks ago, I got a reply that says it will be at my door
before the week end, or at worst next week. I'm surprised my usual lack of luck
didn't make them tell me "the warranty doesn't cover this kind of damage, sorry"

ATM I'm using my old GF2MX400... it sucks, but at least I can run windows
without the screen being black ^^ and it also runs ePSXe at full speed
except when there's an intense framebuffer access

 

[46480]

Hey i got a question

How do I know what is my core clock and other technical details of my card.
'cause it's a shame that i don't even know at what speed is my card running.

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

Install Rivatuner and browse through the menus, in the overclocking panel, if you don't touch anything, you can see your default clocks. Else you can enable Coolbits menu, which does the same except that it appears in your NVidia driver panel.

Advice: Install Rivatuner, it helps a lot, you can tweak your driver settings even more than you could with the driver panel. You can OC (at your own risk), softmod your 6800
(about 60% success rate), and fix the winXP refresh rate bug that makes your (most likely older) games use 60hz instead of the max supported rate

 

[46480]

Thanks for helping me
and another question
sorry but i got a lot of doubts in my mind
I installed the latest drivers from nvidia (77.76) i think
on my fx 5200
but when i played a video the colours went wrong.
so i had to switch back to the previous ones that i had (71.46) I think
is it that my card can't handle the newest drivers available and i have to stick
with the old ones?

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

It's a driver bug, latest ones are mostly made for GF7 series, I'm sticking to the 71.89
as long as newer ones well get bug complaints from HL2 players

 

[Master Chief]

I hope you didnt cancel your order on that XFX. My dad has it and it kicks ass. You can also unlock the extra pipes and shader but the cooler sucks so youll need a new one(so says a reviewer on newegg). However it overclocked a hell of alot on the stock cooling. Games look beautiful. XFX is NVIDIA certified i believe.

>>Thanks for helping me
and another question
sorry but i got a lot of doubts in my mind
I installed the latest drivers from nvidia (77.76) i think
on my fx 5200
but when i played a video the colours went wrong.
so i had to switch back to the previous ones that i had (71.46) I think
is it that my card can't handle the newest drivers available and i have to stick
with the old ones?

Had the same problem with my dad's GeForce 6800. Driver upgrade fixxed it.

I'd go with MSI. My 6600GT is MSI and it rules. Huge copper heatsink...just awesome. I also hear that the eVGA lets you unlock the extra pipes and shaders but some artifacts appeared (rarely ever). I think its all a matter of the good cooling. Have you seen the coolers on the 6800 Ultra AGP? They are huge.

 

[46480]

So you say that to unlock the extra pipes i will need another fan or something else?

and if so wich one do you recomend?

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

No need for better fan if you just unlock the pipes, it's OCing that requires better cooling
(only if yours sucks, good cards have coolers that cover the GPU _and_ the RAM)