Geforce 6600GT or Geforce 6800GT?

[vappour]

What should I get for KOTOR 2?

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My ATI 9800 XT runs KOTOR flawlessly at high resolution. Keep in mind that KOTOR (and KOTOR 2) are written in OpenGL code. Nvidia cards have historically run OpenGL better than ATI, but I have had absolutely no problems.

[Delerius_Jedi]

What should I get for KOTOR 2?

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My ATI 9800 XT runs KOTOR flawlessly at high resolution. Keep in mind that KOTOR (and KOTOR 2) are written in OpenGL code. Nvidia cards have historically run OpenGL better than ATI, but I have had absolutely no problems.

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I switched from ATI to Nvidia partly because of the bugs in ATI's OpenGL driver. We all remember how KotOR would crash every so often when loading a level due to a driver glitch that took ATI 8 Catalyst releases to fix.

Plus; there were numerous errors: The crystals in the cave on Dantooine would have corrupted textures, the light in HK-47's eyes were missing, the orange parts of Bastila's clothing were partly transparent so you could see the background through her, etc.

 

All of which amounted to me finally getting an Nvidia GeForce6800GT. A purchase I've thoroughly enjoyed

[Darth Ni]

Astatine, the article itself said that there was a 1,000 - 2,000 mark difference with 2 6600 GT on the same board as opposed to an X850 XT PE or a 6800 Ultra EE. I hear it is possible you can SLI those 2 cards so you have 4 6600 GT GPUs working together. This would destroy any graphics solution on the market today. A user would probably get around 26,000 with a decent rig and two of these cards set up.

 

People seem to think that nVidia is buggy and is outperformed by ATi. Only the top of the line cards (X800 and X850) can pump out that much. If you look at any card, e.g. the X600 or the 6600GT, the GT wins. The GT even beats the 9800 with all the stuff I've seen on it. Also if you compare the X300 with the 6200, the 6200 absolutely decimates the X300. Even if you are looking for top of the line graphics cards, ATi gets beaten today. Agreed, 1 X850 XT PE can outperform any nVidia card. However, when you use nVidia's SLi feature, you have 60-80% better performance than using a single X850 XT PE. ATi doesn't have this technology and even if they have a better card, the SLi technology w/ 2 GPUs (or 4 ) can beat any ATi card on the market.

[ampulator00]

If you ask me, a CPU upgrade or a memory upgrade is a better idea, unless you have a REALLY, REALLY, old or bad video card. A game like KOTOR2 should suck suck up that much graphical power, but I'm pretty sure it will suck up a lot of CPU and memory for its features.

[Darth Ni]

Hmm.... I was getting really upset with my 6800 GTO for not being able to compare with a GT. Now that I've unmasked the pipes, I have better performance than a 6800 GT. This is quite a good card....

[EnderAndrew]

Most benchmarks show that you get better performance from GPU upgrades than CPU upgrades. It's a generalization, but 3DMark shows it to be a fairly accurate one.

[The Coordinator]

Hmm.... I was getting really upset with my 6800 GTO for not being able to compare with a GT. Now that I've unmasked the pipes, I have better performance than a 6800 GT. This is quite a good card....

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Then you have had luck. While all those cards can be unlocked with rivatuner and similar programs, not all cards modified in that way run properly.

 

ATi doesn't have this technology and even if they have a better card, the SLi technology w/ 2 GPUs (or 4 tongue.gif) can beat any ATi card on the market.

 

Ati is rumored to be working on sli solutions. According to asian/taiwanese card and mainboard manufacturers.

But when that happens htese cards may probably not be compatible with nvidia mainboards(nforce4/5) and vice versa.

 

 

@EndarWiggin:

Most benchmarks show that you get better performance from GPU upgrades than CPU upgrades. It's a generalization, but 3DMark shows it to be a fairly accurate one.

 

Sure, most games profit from a gpu more than a cpu, and graphic cards are easier to upgrade. Those benchmark only programs show only one side however. Many chip vendors have been cheating there with their "optimizations" in their drivers. And what if my card performs well in 3dmark, but sux at a specific game I wanna play?

[ampulator00]

Most benchmarks show that you get better performance from GPU upgrades than CPU upgrades.  It's a generalization, but 3DMark shows it to be a fairly accurate one.

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Of course, but overall performance still lies within a CPU upgrade; I'm not just saying just for gaming. If you think about it, a system with a faster cpu that has a slower video card will usually outperform a system with a slower cpu that has has a faster video card, because the first one isn't bottlenecked.

[The Coordinator]

Most benchmarks show that you get better performance from GPU upgrades than CPU upgrades.  It's a generalization, but 3DMark shows it to be a fairly accurate one.

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Of course, but overall performance still lies within a CPU upgrade; I'm not just saying just for gaming. If you think about it, a system with a faster cpu that has a slower video card will usually outperform a system with a slower cpu that has has a faster video card, because the first one isn't bottlenecked.

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But what about special effects? With a mediocre cpu and a powerful graphic card you re better off. ANd you need ram...

Take HL2 for example. Cpu is not a big issue there. Ram (best with 1gb) and a powerful gcard(for shader/aa/af) work wonders there.

[Darth Ni]

This is what I want in my PC :D

 

Asus Motherboard w/ 925XE chipset and SLi (Not out yet...)

P4 3.46 GHz Extreme Edition w/ 1066 FSB (But OC to 1334 Mhz to match RAM)

2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 PRO PC5400 (667mhz)

2 Asus 6800 Ultra Extreme Edition 16x PCI-E (currently EE is only AGP...)

 

I dont even care about the hard drive, you could give me a 2gb SATA and I wouldn't complain. Ofcourse, the only problem now is waiting until we actually see some of this technology. There are Intel SLI prototype boards but they aren't fully working. Supermicro and Gigabyte have manufactured them. The only thing is they don't have 2 16x slots. One slot will be 16x but the other slot will be either 4x or 8x...

 

The Price of this System: $4500+

 

Ofcourse, this is unreasonable but it would be great if I had it :D.

[Darth Ni]

Then you have had luck. While all those cards can be unlocked with rivatuner and similar programs, not all cards modified in that way run properly.

 

That's not true actually. I bought a Dell system w/ this card after they had "locked" their units. With the latest NVStrap Driver (v 1.7) included with RivaTuner 15.3 (released a few days ago), you can unmask the extra pipelines. Also, I've managed to OC to 400/1100 which are Ultra clock levels. Thats quite a lot of perfomance.

[ampulator00]

Most benchmarks show that you get better performance from GPU upgrades than CPU upgrades.  It's a generalization, but 3DMark shows it to be a fairly accurate one.

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Of course, but overall performance still lies within a CPU upgrade; I'm not just saying just for gaming. If you think about it, a system with a faster cpu that has a slower video card will usually outperform a system with a slower cpu that has has a faster video card, because the first one isn't bottlenecked.

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But what about special effects? With a mediocre cpu and a powerful graphic card you re better off. ANd you need ram...

Take HL2 for example. Cpu is not a big issue there. Ram (best with 1gb) and a powerful gcard(for shader/aa/af) work wonders there.

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like I said, "usually outperform". I didn't say ALWAYS. Most game don't even take advtange of the latests features; if you take that into account, at least 80% of games are likely to run better on a CPU faster system.

[The Coordinator]

Then you have had luck. While all those cards can be unlocked with rivatuner and similar programs, not all cards modified in that way run properly.

 

That's not true actually. I bought a Dell system w/ this card after they had "locked" their units. With the latest NVStrap Driver (v 1.7) included with RivaTuner 15.3 (released a few days ago), you can unmask the extra pipelines. Also, I've managed to OC to 400/1100 which are Ultra clock levels. Thats quite a lot of perfomance.

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You always say that I cannot "read". But if you could "read", then you would have understood what I wrote...

My quote proves this. I wrote "ALL cards can be unlocked" like the gf6800 series, like the Radeon 9500@9700 etc. But "NOT" IN ALL CASES YOU GET A WORKING CARD! I wrote that you can be HAPPY if your card works correctly with all pipelines unlocked AND WITHOUT GRAPHICS ISSUES! You can ALWAYS unlock these cards at the time being, BUT there is NO guarantee that it will work without problem! I have seen, and done this myself.

 

 

you could give me a 2gb SATA and I wouldn't complain.

 

Then you could not even play KotOR and many other games. And those types of hd are not produced anyway.

[adrich81]

In terms of upgrades, I've just gone form a Celeron 2.2 to a P4 2.8, and had about a 150% performance boost. 3DMark is a gfx bm, so of course it will show more of an improvment with a gpu upgrade vs a cpu upgrade.

 

Has anyone had any experience with the 6800le? It's not that much more than the 6600gt + has mad potential if you unlock pipelines.

[Darth Ni]

My quote proves this. I wrote "ALL cards can be unlocked" like the gf6800 series, like the Radeon 9500@9700 etc. But "NOT" IN ALL CASES YOU GET A WORKING CARD! I wrote that you can be HAPPY if your card works correctly with all pipelines unlocked AND WITHOUT GRAPHICS ISSUES! You can ALWAYS unlock these cards at the time being, BUT there is NO guarantee that it will work without problem! I have seen, and done this myself.

 

Ok... You're right. I didn't read what you said thoroughly. Is the little kid (you) satisfied now? By the way, I made a comment you not reading my posts once(twice being below). That hardly qualifies as every time. (w00t)

 

 

you could give me a 2gb SATA and I wouldn't complain.

 

Then you could not even play KotOR and many other games. And those types of hd are not produced anyway.

 

I was joking dumbass.... You would gather that if you READ the REST of the post....

[The Coordinator]

I was joking dumbass.... You would gather that if you READ the REST of the post....

 

I knew you were going to write this... still it was a baaaaaaad joke.

[Darth Ni]

I was joking dumbass.... You would gather that if you READ the REST of the post....

 

I knew you were going to write this... still it was a baaaaaaad joke.

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Notice how I said "twice being below" in my prevoius post. That just further proves my point...

 

Ok thats your opinion. Ooooohhhh.... Look at me, I'm so offended Im going to cry :D. Damn it Coordinator, why did you make me cry? :D (w00t)

[The Coordinator]

I was joking dumbass.... You would gather that if you READ the REST of the post....

 

I knew you were going to write this... still it was a baaaaaaad joke.

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Notice how I said "twice being below" in my prevoius post. That just further proves my point...

 

Ok thats your opinion. Ooooohhhh.... Look at me, I'm so offended Im going to cry :D. Damn it Coordinator, why did you make me cry? :D (w00t)

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Cos you need to be happy.

[EnderAndrew]

This is what I want in my PC :D

 

Asus Motherboard w/ 925XE chipset and SLi (Not out yet...)

P4 3.46 GHz Extreme Edition w/ 1066 FSB (But OC to 1334 Mhz to match RAM)

2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 PRO PC5400 (667mhz)

2 Asus 6800 Ultra Extreme Edition 16x PCI-E (currently EE is only AGP...)

 

I dont even care about the hard drive, you could give me a 2gb SATA and I wouldn't complain. Ofcourse, the only problem now is waiting until we actually see some of this technology. There are Intel SLI prototype boards but they aren't fully working. Supermicro and Gigabyte have manufactured them. The only thing is they don't have 2 16x slots. One slot will be 16x but the other slot will be either 4x or 8x...

 

The Price of this System: $4500+

 

Ofcourse, this is unreasonable but it would be great if I had it :D.

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If you want to shell out top dollar for SLI and multiple video cards, then why use a Pentium 4 processor that performs poorly in games? I have to assume a rig with SLI is a gaming rig, and the Athlon 64 will give you better performance for less money.

[Darth Ni]

Athlon-64 does give better gaming performance but the price you shell out for something like an FX-55 Processor is around $1000. Also, P4 gives better multitasking performance than an Athlon-64. Besides, when Longhorn comes out, there will be better processors than Athlon-64 FX-55 which is why I'd settle with an Intel Xeon or P4 Solution. Actually, Supermicro makes Intel SLi Boards w/ DDR2 Memory. I've seen their Dual Xeon board w/ SLi that retails around 4k. Thats a complete waste of money which is why its not worth buying a Dual Xeon SLI since so few companies make it and it is terribly overpriced.

 

EDIT :

 

Another reason I chose Intel over AMD was DDR2 memory. The earlier DDR2 memory was getting beaten by older DDR but now with certain revisions, DDR2 is whooping DDR's ass. They've already made DDR2 800MHz modules but they are still in testing...

[Astatine]

Athlon-64 does give better gaming performance but the price you shell out for something like an FX-55 Processor is around $1000. Also, P4 gives better multitasking performance than an Athlon-64. Besides, when Longhorn comes out, there will be better processors than Athlon-64 FX-55 which is why I'd settle with an Intel Xeon or P4 Solution. Actually, Supermicro makes Intel SLi Boards w/ DDR2 Memory. I've seen their Dual Xeon board w/ SLi that retails around 4k. Thats a complete waste of money which is why its not worth buying a Dual Xeon SLI since so few companies make it and it is terribly overpriced.

 

EDIT :

 

Another reason I chose Intel over AMD was DDR2 memory. The earlier DDR2 memory was getting beaten by older DDR but now with certain revisions, DDR2 is whooping DDR's ass. They've already made DDR2 800MHz modules but they are still in testing...

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Er, the P4 Extreme Edition is like $1000 as well "

 

AMD still lead in most of the gaming benchmarks, despite DDR2 and what have you. But... I'm starting a holy war! Must escaaaaaaape...

[The Coordinator]

EDIT :

 

Another reason I chose Intel over AMD was DDR2 memory. The earlier DDR2 memory was getting beaten by older DDR but now with certain revisions, DDR2 is whooping DDR's ass. They've already made DDR2 800MHz modules but they are still in testing...

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So, and how do you know if your board can handle that new ddr2 ram when it

[Jon_DS]

and what do you all here think about GeForce 2 MX/MX 400 64 mb?????

[Darth Ni]

EDIT :

 

Another reason I chose Intel over AMD was DDR2 memory. The earlier DDR2 memory was getting beaten by older DDR but now with certain revisions, DDR2 is whooping DDR's ass. They've already made DDR2 800MHz modules but they are still in testing...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

So, and how do you know if your board can handle that new ddr2 ram when it

[The Coordinator]

EDIT :

 

Another reason I chose Intel over AMD was DDR2 memory. The earlier DDR2 memory was getting beaten by older DDR but now with certain revisions, DDR2 is whooping DDR's ass. They've already made DDR2 800MHz modules but they are still in testing...

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So, and how do you know if your board can handle that new ddr2 ram when it