All you need to know about your products!
 |
 |
|
3DNews Vendor Reference English Resource - All you need to know about your products! |
|
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
||||||
NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT RoundupAuthor: Anna TimofeevaDate: 21/11/2004
IntroductionAfter a series of materials on video cards based on the GeForce 6800GT chips was published, we started receiving simply tons of letters of the same contents which can ve interpreted with one phrase/question/exclamation/yell "Which one on earth is better?!". Frankly, we often ask ourselves this question because manufacturers started experimenting with whatever clock speeds and combinations to their utmost and more than enough. And all this feast is going on on two platforms! We already noted that nowadays the PCI-Express ideology is being actively introduced into the mass consciousness. Presentation of new solutions, astounding results at quite affordable price, the very atmosphere of new technologies and progress which is so dear to our heart - everyone plays own toys. Some turn ecstatic on seeing a brand-new car, to others a new designer's collection makes their mouths water, and we are ready for varied whatever deeds for the sake of upgrading our systems. The PCI-Express, and SLI, SM 3.0, as well as other novelties are able bringing you so much joy and making you build fine prospects when you imagine that this "cool thing" is there on your table at home and you can fully enjoy all those miracles which as far back as a few months ago agitated imagination of fanciers enviously watching photos and graphs in reviews. However, SLI is no more than future prospects, but what are we having now? Lucky owners of AGP-systems who are not planning to migrate to the PCI-Express in the near future - what are prospects for them in terms of upgrading the video system? As we promised, we decided to facilitate the hard choice between the good and better options. We are presenting all video cards based on the GeForce 6800GT video chip tested by us for your judgment, and giving you a roundup of all the advantages and shortcomings of each card so that you could make your own choice from the numerous list which matches your taste, wallet and demands. Needless to say, we'll place a special accent on the overclocking potential of each video card, and will give you information on the temperature coefficients for each solution as the operating speed of the card goes up. So, to begin with, we are presenting all today's heroes. Some of them are already known to you from our previous reviews, and some others, e.g., Reference NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT (AGP) and Reference NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT PCI-E, Gigabyte GeForce 6800GT, and ASUS V9999 Gamer Edition will be tested for the first time and examined in detail. First off, bringing in the GeForce 6800GT specifications:
And more detailed specifications of boards not taking part in this material, because not all of them are identical in the operating speeds, and some of them offer even more essential differences:
Now let's take a closer look at each of the participants of today's contest and start with the reference card NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT having the AGP-interface.
NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT ReferenceDesign and layout In what follows, we'll be examining package bundles of video cards based on GeForce 6800GT supplied by many eminent manufacturers, and the reference NVIDIA card as it should be is not packaged into a box, no games or other "dainties". It goes without saying, the board is made on a green PCB.
The cooling system offers 1 slot and appears to be an aluminum radiator covering the GPU (some manufacturers used copper), a separate radiator for all the memory chips positioned over the front side of the board, a lid covering the whole structure with an image of Nalu mermaid - a symbol of GeForce 6 Series, and a company logo.  The board offers 256Mb of GDDR3 video memory with a 256-bit data transmission bus, with the memory assembled of eight Samsung memory chips carrying the K4J553230F-GC20 memory, made in the BGA form factor, of 2 ns access time, which is equivalent to 500 MHz (1000 MHz DDR) nominal operating frequency at which memory on the board runs. All the eight video memory chips are located on the card's front side.  Let's look at the GeForce 6800GT graphic processor offering 350 MHz of rated operating speed. Judging by the marking on the chip, it is made on the 16th week of year 2004 and has revision A1.  The board offers a standard set of outputs: analogous, digital, and TV-OUT.  One of the major distinctions of 6800GT from the elder model in the GeForce 6 Series - 6800Ultra line is the connector for additional power supply. 
Leadtek WinFast A400 GT TDH (GeForce 6800GT)
As usual, Leadtek is again up to the mark. 1. Leadtek WinFast A400 GT (NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT) video card; a) Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time (2 CD) Design and layout Contrary to the usual, let's start reviewing the card with the cooling system. Lucky owners of these cards will understand why, but those who have not yet seen the miracle - just take it on trust (below are photos as the proof;). But before that - a small "digression to history". Cooling systems by Leadtek are so popular that it is very difficult to write anything new about it. But nevertheless it would be very bad of us not to mention it. Recall GeForce 4 Ti4600 (indeed, in the not so distant past it's just this card that was the very high-end solution, a dream of practically all), and as another bright example let's bring in NVIDIA's high-end of the past "round" - A380 Ultra (GeForce FX5950 Ultra) for which Leadtek demonstrated a cooling system that deserves the "mega" prefix. Remember that the cooling system of À380 Ultra consisted of two parts - a copper radiator on the board's front side and an aluminum fan intended to cool the reverse side. This time Leadtek decided to make its admirers happy who purchased the cards for good reason and rightfully, and present another masterpiece - a cooling system on A400GT. There are two copper radiators that cover the front and reverse sides of the card which are covered with plastic lids of peculiar design, where the company name and the video card model are chrysographed.  The board is made of green textolyte, which is traditional for NVIDIA reference boards. The PCB design is identical to that for 6800Ultra except one power connector versus two in the Ultra version. The board offers 256Mb of GDDR3 video memory with a 256-bit data transmission bus, with the memory assembled of eight Samsung memory chips carrying the K4J553230F-GC20 memory, made in the BGA form factor, of 2 ns access time, which is equivalent to 500 MHz (1000 MHz DDR) nominal operating frequency at which memory on the board runs. All the eight video memory chips are positioned on the card's front side.  You can admire the splendor endlessly, but it's time to get down to the major component of the card - the graphic processor 6800GT.  Its nominal operating frequency is 350MHz, which absolutely meets the specifications declared for this card. The GPU is made on the 17th week of year 2004 and has revision À1. There are the following outputs: analogous, digital, and TV-OUT.  Finishing the inspection, look at the connector for additional power which is only one on the 6800GT. 
Galaxy Glacier GeForce 6800GTPackage bundleThe card is packaged in a box with NVIDIA GeForce 6800 logos and traditional TWIMTBP. No marvelous mermaids, dismal agents, and other symbolic characters. A stylish futuristic minimalism. On the box, there is logo with the image of the board to burn the buyers' desire to open it up immediately on seeing the brief announcement. 1. Galaxy Glacier GeForce 6800GT video card;  Finally, having done with the formalities, let's concentrate on the board itself. Design and layout The first what catches your eye is the cooling system made by Arctic Cooling which gained popularity also when used on some solutions by HIS and Sapphire (of the Toxic series). This cooling system is installed on all the GeForce 6800 line made by Galaxy. Let's take a close look on it. The structure itself is quite impressive in dimensions, which is paid back with its efficiency. The base is made of copper bottom that covers the GPU and all 8 memory chips positioned on the board's front side. Then there is needle-shaped radiator and a fan of turbine type. The lid that covers the structure is made in blue, like the blades of the fan. On the lid, there is a sticker indicating the board belongs to the Galaxy Glacier product line.  Let's look at the board. It is made on blue textolyte, and that is about the only distinction from NVIDIA reference design. Remember that the PCB design of 6800GT is identical to that of Ultra, and the differences are about the lack of the second connector for additional power supply, as well as lack of some circuits and there is space wired for them. On the 6800Ultra, all the 5 circuits in the BGA packaging under additional radiator are available. On the GT, only 3 of them are. Judging by the marking, the GeForce 6800GT chip was made on the 23rd week of year 2004 and has revision A1. The rated operating frequency of the chip is 370 MHz, which is "oversize" relative to 350 MHz declared for these boards. The originally overclocked chip is a peculiar "name card" of 6800 series made by Galaxy. Remember that on Galaxy Glacier 6800 non Ultra the rated GPU speed was 350 MHz instead of 325 as it should be.  The board offers 256Mb of GDDR3 video memory with a 256-bit data transmission bus, with the memory assembled of eight Samsung memory chips carrying the K4J553230F-GC20 memory, made in the BGA form factor, of 2 ns access time, which is equivalent to 500 MHz (1000 MHz DDR) nominal operating frequency at which memory on the board runs. All the eight video memory chips are positioned on the card's front side. At that, all is absolutely standard.  Draw your attention to the onboard connector for additional power supply. Close to them, there is a little Buzzer which will immediately notify you happen to forget to apply additional voltage to the board.  The card offers a standard set of outputs - analogous, digital, and TV-OUT. 
Gainward GeForce 6800GT 2400/Ultra Golden SamplePackage bundle Above, we have described the distinguishing features of Gainward produce - what makes a board made by the company stand out from the others. As we remember, these features are not only in the aesthetic component of the product, but also in the technical specifications. We'll analyze the latter a bit later, but now let's look at the box. It is made following the best traditions of the company. Looking at it makes you easily recall boards of Gainward product line of the previous generation - Gainward Powerpack! Ultra/1200 Golden Sample (GeForce FX5900), Gainward CoolFX Ultra/1800 XP Golden Sample (GeForce FX5950 Ultra) and other models on the base of NVIDIA chips. The box contents proved worth its exterior. Anyway, see for yourselves: 1. Gainward GeForce 6800GT 2400/Ultra Golden Sample video card;  Design and layout Above, we have examined a nonstandard board on the base of 6800GT made by Galaxy, one of the most distinguishing features of which is just the cooling system. The board being examined is a no less remarkable device. See for yourselves: The structure, so complicated and stylistically perfect on the exterior, is made up of a fully copper radiator covering all the memory chips located on the face side of the board, and a lid with two embedded fans covering the whole front side of the board. The whole structure is made in red colors, and the red illumination looks especially effective. Apart from the superb exterior that any open expo stand is worth decorating, the cooling system stands out with its very high efficiency. This is confirmed by the temperature readings which we took at all the frequencies the card was tested with. The PCB design of the board is an absolute replica of NVIDIA's reference design, with the exception of red color traditional for Gainward products. There is 256 Mb GDDR3 video memory with a 256-bit data transmission bus assembled with eight K4J553230F-GC20 Samsung chips made in the BGA form factor, of 2 ns access time, which is equivalent to the operating frequency 500 MHz (1000 MHz DDR). But on the board made by Gainward this memory standard for regular 6800GT functions at 550 MHz (1100 MHz DDR). That is, originally overclocked to the frequency of memory on the elder model - GeForce 6800Ultra.  But these are not all the miracles yet. In what follows is a brief description of the "heart" of any video adapter - the graphics processor. On the card, there is the GeForce 6800GT GPU but its frequency like that in the video memory is increased to the GPU frequency on GeForce 6800Ultra and amounts to 400 MHz, respectively.  The card is also equipped with a connector for additional power supply and a traditional Buzzer that warns the user in case additional power was not applied to the board.  Unlike the standard 6800GT, the board offers two digital outputs. And of course the TV-OUT. 
Gigabyte GeForce 6800GTPackage bundle Recently, we tested a Gigabyte's board based on the GeForce 6800Ultra chip. The model based on the GeForce 6800GT chip is similar to that at both the cooling system design and the exterior of the box, and the package bundle. 1. Gigabyte GeForce 6800 GT video card; a) Drivers, DirectX 9.X, Gigabyte's V-Tuner2 utility; Design and layout The PCB design of this board like that on the video card based on GeForce 6800Ultra made by Gigabyte which we examined earlier is an absolute replica of NVIDIA's reference design. The board is made on green textolyte board. The cooling system is also absolutely identical to that which we saw on the GeForce 6800GT reference board. The difference is only in the lid where instead of the charming Nalu mermaid - a symbol of GeForce 6 Series - there is a logo of Gigabyte, and the color of the lid has been changed, in full compliance with the design of Gigabyte 6800Ultra. The cooling system is as single-slot as on NVIDIA's reference board.  The graphic processor is GeForce 6800GT whose rated operating frequency is 350MHz as it should be according to the declared specifications. Judging by the marking on the chip, was made on the **th week of year 2004 and has revision A1.  The card is equipped with 256Mb of GDDR3 video memory with a 256-bit data transmission bus assembled of eight Samsung memory chips marked K4J553230F-GC20 and positioned on the front side of the board made in the BGA form factor, of 2 ns access time, which is equivalent to 500 MHz (1000 MHz DDR) at which the memory runs on this board.  The board is equipped with one connector for additional power supply and offers a standard set of outputs - analogous, digital, and TV-OUT.  Now let's look at one more interesting board which can hardly be related to the product line of video cards on the base of GeForce 6800GT, but nevertheless this hybrid, on the other hand, has the very direct relation to the material. As you may have guessed, it is the most interesting ASUS product - namely, V9999 GE. So, meet it :).
ASUS V9999 Gamer EditionPackage bundleTelling it right here - that will be a special talk. So as not to distract from the technical details and features of this board, let's first take a thorough look at the package bundle, because it is really no good ignoring ASUS' package bundle. The bundle of V9999 GE is made in ASUS' best traditions. The box itself and the bundled items are truly magnificent. See for yourselves: 1. ASUS V9999 Gamer Edition video card; b) Games - Deus Ex Invisible War, GunMetal War Transformed, Tom Clancy Splinter Cell, Warcraft III : Reign of Chaos, Big Mutha Truckers, BREED, Colin McRae Rally 3, TOCA Race Driver ; 7. A latest generation web camera, traditional for ASUS video cards.
Design and layout Now it's high time to look at ASUS V9999 GE. ASUS made an outstanding move producing two non-standard solutions among the series of products based in GeForce 6 Series chips:
The key features of the solution are in that it is a smart combination of GeForce 6800 (12õ1/5vp), the ÐÑÂ of GeForce 6800Ultra (GDDR3 256Mb 2.0 ns, two connectors for additional power supply) and rated operating frequencies typical of GeForce 6800GT, i.e. 350MHz/1000MHz DDR. The board is made on blue textolyte which is similar to almost all the line of ASUS cards made on GeForce 6 Series chips, except V9999 Ultra/2DT made on green textolyte offering a cooling system - an exact replica of NVIDIA's reference. As was noted, the PCB design is a replica of GeForce 6800Ultra reference boards. As we see, there are two connectors for additional power supply, and all the 5 BGA circuits under a separate radiator are welded (on GeForce 6800GT - only 3 of them). The cooling system is very similar to what is installed on V9999 Ultra Deluxe. It is made as a single-slot structure and comprises a fully copper radiator (unlike that of aluminum in Gigabyte's model) that covers the GPU, a separate radiator for all the memory chips positioned on the front side of the card, and a lid with a fan.  A special feature of the cooling system is the bluish illumination. It is available also on cooling systems for ASUS solutions based on ATI chips, of which there is a direct evidence in October calendar showing ASUS AX800XT PCI-E in all its glory. But let's not depart from the topic :-)  As was said, the card is equipped with 256Mb of GDDR3(!) video memory with a 256-bit data transmission bus made up of eight Samsung memory chips marked K4J553230F-GC20 and positioned on the front side of the board in the BGA form factor, of 2 ns access time. This is equivalent to the rated 500 MHz (1000 MHz DDR) at which the memory runs on the board.  Draw your attention to the two connectors for additional power supply  and the outputs - analogous, digital, and TV-OUT.  Now, prior to leaving AGP for a while and moving to the PCI-Express world let me tell you about an experiment which I conducted during the first minutes of testing V9999 GE. As you can guess, it is about the attempt to enable all pixel and vertex pipelines originally available in quantities of 12 and 5, respectively. Of course, the trick was done with RivaTuner 15.2.  
NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT PCI-EDesign and layoutFinally, a little bit of exotics, that is, PCI-E. Unlike the formerly examined video cards based on GeForce 6800GT (NV40), this card is already a NV45 chip whose major distinction from the predecessor NV40 is in the change of interface. That is, this board is a PCI-E "reincarnation" of GeForce 6800GT equipped with a HSI bridge. In fact, there are a couple more distinctions which we will definitely examine in more detail later. Now on to the board. This is a NVIDIA's reference video card presented to us for tests by the Russia's office.
Afterwards, manufacturers will invent a huge number of interesting and smart solutions in terms of the cooling system, but in this case the board's cooling system is an exact replica of what we saw on the GeForce 6800GT reference board with the AGP-interface. The aluminum radiators covering the GPU, a separate radiator for all the memory chips positioned over the front side of the board, and a lid covering the whole structure with an image of Nalu mermaid - a symbol of GeForce 6 Series, and a company logo. The cooling system is single-slotted.  The board offers 256Mb of GDDR3 video memory with a 256-bit data transmission bus, with the memory assembled of eight Samsung memory chips carrying the K4J553230F-GC20 memory, made in the BGA form factor, of 2 ns access time, which is equivalent to 500 MHz (1000 MHz DDR) nominal operating frequency at which memory on the board runs. All the eight video memory chips are positioned on the card's front side.  Judging by the marking on the GeForce 6800GT chip was made on the 21st week of year 2004 and has revision A1. Below is the very HSI connection bridge. We will find out in detail if its presence seriously affects the board's performance as compared to its AGP analog.
 Here is another distinction from GeForce 6800GT AGP. Draw your attention to the SLI connector the board is equipped with.  The card is also equipped with an additional power supply adapter which also differs from what are used to seeing on AGP video cards.  There are the following outputs: analogous, digital, and TV-OUT. Having presented to you all the boards taking part in today's round, we can now get down to the major part, the comparative tests.
Test configuration Since PCI-Express x16 video cards take part in the tests, we activated our both test benches - both AGP and PCI-E.
Test software:
As usual, we overclocked the cards with RivaTuner.
|
| 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 |
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.
|
|
| |||||
One of the most promising versions based on GeForce 6800GT.
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.
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.
