NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT Roundup
Final Words
We intentionally decided not to make any comments to the above graphs in order to summarize the results into a table of pros and cons for each solution looking for the answer to the question which we posed at the very beginning of this material - "which 6800GT model should I choose?".
So, let's start with the "debriefing":
NVIDIA Reference GeForce 6800GT
Actually, there is nothing special to comment on over here - it's the reference. The board made us happy with its overclocking potential on the standard cooling - 425/1180, which is quite a result of dignity.
As regards the performance, in all the tests the card ranks just in the very "golden middle". Nothing of surprise.
Leadtek A400 GT
The board stands out with its superb and really effective cooling system and shows quite middling memory overclocking - 1140 MHz. Anyway, this indicator seriously varies from board to board.
Video cards made by Leadtek are among the most widely available on the Russian retail market of products based on GeForce 6800GT to date. For those who are not planning to install water cooling or upgrade the cooling system on the purchased card somehow, the product of Leadtek is an ideal buy. It offers quite an abundant package bundle, superb quality traditional for all Leadtek solutions - added bonuses of the product, which altogether imparts the solution a deserved popularity and fame among consumers.
Galaxy Glacier GeForce 6800GT
 One of the most promising versions based on GeForce 6800GT.
This card offers superb package bundle, the very quiet and effective Arctic Cooling system (the temperature of the card overclocked to 420/1130 did not exceed 55 C during long-term tests), excellent performance.
But the overclocking component of our specimen let us down as compared to other boards in question - merely 420/1130. Nevertheless, rare owners of these cards don't mind the statistics - Galaxy cards have finally hit our retail shops. This may be an exception of the rule, because the overclocking potential of these cards is normally much higher.
Gainward GeForce 6800GT 2400/Ultra Golden Sample
 Superb performance, excellent overclocking potential, stylish look. All these as a whole are able satisfying the most exigent tastes. Apart from the marvelous "appearance", the cooling system does its job perfectly - the core temperature during long tests in the demanding quality modes did not exceed 57 C. Of course, at the noise level it is not the famous Arctic Cooling, but you unlikely to be displeased by the overly "vocals" of the cooling system. To be fair, it's the first time HIS started using Arctic Cooling since the times of HIS Radeon 9800Pro.
 But there is a fly in the ointment, as usual. In this case it is the price which is always higher for Gainward's solutions as compared competitors'. This is sort of their "standard feature". Anyway, it's worth noting this is quite a justified and logical tradeoff for meticulously selected chips, which guarantees stable operation of the card at frequencies offered by GeForce 6800Ultra, for the superb package bundle and guaranteed satisfaction.
At the same time, the market is still short of boards on the base of GeForce 6800GT, and as it often happens, Leadtek sometimes costs higher than Gainward. Hopefully, the situation will soon be smoothed out.
Gigabyte GeForce 6800GT
On the contrary, the board from Gigabyte is radiant with all except the cooling system which looks more than moderate. However, this did not prevent it from showing a high overclocking potential - 420/1170 MHz on standard cooling without additional blowing.
In fact, the temperature was quite high relative to the previous cards - as high as 67 C on the core. The card can be recommended to all who plan upgrading the cooling system somehow or other. In all the other respects, it is a normal product with a superb package bundle.
Anyway, we seem to have got the original version of the card handed out by NVIDIA to its partners to launch the produce. A couple of days ago, Gigabyte announced its own GeForce 6800GT model on a blue PCB with a very serious cooling system:
ASUS V9999 Gamer Edition
 This extravagant solution of ASUS showed a truly champion core overclocking result - 440MHz with standard cooling. The GPU being GeForce 6800 non ultra , such a result is simply fantastic.
Let's put it straight, the card has every reason to bear the palm of supremacy among all the competitors on the base of GeForce 6800GT, but on the only condition - if all the 16 pixel and 6 vertex pipelines are enabled bug-free. And that is a lottery. For example, on the specimen we tested, as was said, we were able to successfully enable the 6th vertex pipeline, therefore the card was running as a 12x1/6vp, which added some boost in both synthetics and gaming applications. In one of our forthcoming materials, we'll present a detailed comparison of performance of the card under 12õ1/5vp and 12õ1/6vp. But unless you risk, you get nothing (with the money won from the price difference between the regular GT and V9999GE :-).
One of the nicest and neat boards ever around. There is also one significant point to note - the package bundle is luxurious because the manufacturer is ASUS.
NVIDIA Reference GeForce 6800GT PCI-E
Since according to the manufacturers' data the PCI-E bus takes no more than 1% of retail sales, this board is if purely theoretical interest.
The card offers simply stunning performance and excellent overclocking potentials - 420/1180 MHz (the best, along with Gainward's solution, memory overclocking). Of course, performance comparisons of AGP solutions on the base of GeForce 6800GT should be made with a correction for the different benches the tests were run. In order to adequately show the performance of 6800GT having the PCI-Express õ16 interface, we have brought in the results of tests for ATI RX800XT PCI-E to make the comparison more indicative.
Here is the summary table for overclocking results:
| Video card |
Standard frequencies |
Overclocking |
| NVIDIA Reference GeForce 6800GT |
350/1000 |
425/1180 |
| Leadtek A400 GT |
350/1000 |
425/1140MHz |
| Galaxy Glacier GeForce 6800GT |
370/1000 |
420/1130 |
| Gainward GeForce 6800GT 2400/Ultra Golden Sample |
400/1100 |
430/1180MHz |
| Gigabyte GeForce 6800GT |
350/1000 |
420/1170 MHz |
| ASUS V9999 Gamer Edition |
350/1000 |
440/1170MHz |
| NVIDIA Reference GeForce 6800GT PCI-E |
350/1000 |
420/1180MHz |
In the upshot:
Having summarized all the above, let's sum up some brief totals.
Today we have examined several solutions on the base of the popular GeForce 6800GT chip. They all offer both pros and cons, of which we are going to tell in a bit more detail. Hopefully everyone will find in the table what is most important and needed and thus make the best buy for the maximum benefit to own tasks and pleasure. Some find it more important to have a cooling system as quiet as possible, others already have a water-operated cooling system or even more extreme options. Such a consumer does not really care about the manufacturer-installed cooling system, but other factors are deciding.
We wish the buyers good luck in finding and overclocking, to fully enjoy the comfortable gameplay without delays and bugs as it was meant by the game developers, which is not a problem with a video card on the base of GeForce 6800GT.
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