GeForce 6800 ultra

Rex_Mundi

I've just been told by the boy, that he needs an upgrade to his graphics. I built his machine about a year or so ago and at the time the new ATI and Nvidea cards were not out in this country so I slipped in a cheaper card and told him we would wait for them to hit the markets properly (and the price to drop a bit) before we put him a 'proper' games card in.

Well the time has come. He wants to upgrade asap so it's up to me to pick the card.

I've done a load of comparisons, and I'm tempted by the GeForce 6800 ultra. I know there are a couple of gamers that use the forum, and wondered what their opinion was on this card. In all the comparisons I've looked at, it seems to be the dogs doodahs.

Also, any deals going on this card that anyone knows of? I've had a look around and it seems that I'm looking around the £350 mark (I budgeted up to £400). I'm looking for an AGP 8X version.

Toxteth_OGrady

It rox :T

Holds the world benchmark record, albeit in a twin SLI cofig, nitrogen cooled rig.

:cool:

TOG

vultura

What card are you using now?

Spec of PC its in?

What kind of games?

Paul_Varjak

Seems that you have to make sure you have at least a 480w power supply, so you may have to upgrade that too!

Curry_Queen

Why not go for the 6600GT at less than half the price, or is there a significant difference in performance?

Rex_Mundi

What card are you using now?

ATI Radeon 9600SE 128MB DDR I put this in as a stop gap till the price came down a bit on the new cards.

Spec of PC its in?

Nvidea A7N8X E Deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 3200+
Western Digital 10,000 RPM SATA Raptor 74GB HDD (very impressed with this)
2X 512MB Crucial PC3200
Tagan TDG480-u01 PSU
Philips PSC724 5.1 Sound card + connected surround sound system.
Can't remember the modding case name.
W2000

What kind of games?

The list seems to grow every week! Latest titles.

I'm really hoping to see if anyone else has used the GeForce 6800 ultra. I've been right through the benchmark tests on various sites, and this card seems to blow everything else away. I've pretty much made up my mind to buy it now. A few tips from someone with firsthand experience of this card could be handy (or maybe point me in the direction of a deal on this card).

vultura

Given the spec of PC you are already running, I doubt in reality you could perceive much difference in many games.

Only on higher end stuff, running at higher resolutions (above 1024x768) with all detail etc on would you notice it me thinks.

I always take benchmarks and reviews with a pinch of salt, as reviewers can be biased and benchmarks "tweaked" to favour one card over another. Study results carefully, graphs can make one card look wayahead of the rest, but in reality a small % difference exists.

GibsonSt19

I know you're looking at the Nvidia, but take a quick gander at THIS ATI card. Very well priced in comparison

Rex_Mundi

Cheers for the replies. It's not an easy choice between the top end 6800s and X800s. I will stick with the Nvidea, I like their products and nice utilities that come with them for overclocking (not that we need this at the moment).

From the start, the boy asked for a games machine. I think with this graphics card and the rest of the build, he'll be able to handle anything that comes his way for quite a while to come.

I'm going to order this the next few days. I'll give you my views on this once it's up and running (I already know I'm going to be blown away by it!!)

vultura

Just a thought, with such a expensive card might be worth checking the manufacturers warranty before purchase. If it were me I'd hate it to fail after a year and find it wasn't covered.

criminal_smile

Warranties are not the be all and end all. A warranty is offered by the manufacturer of an item to give the consumer some peace of mind, but in general they offer nothing more than the law states you are entitled to anyway.
There are quite a few consumer protection laws available for the common man/woman to use to solve thier problems.

The Sale Of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) is the main piece of consumer legislation in the UK, closely followed by The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000, if buying online or by telephone.


Under UK law, you may have a reasonable claim for repair for a period of up to 6 years from the date of purchase/delivery, or the reasonable expected lifetime of the item, whichever is shorter. These rights would be against the retailer of the item, and not the manufacturer (unless you buy direct from them). This is the reason so many retailers will sell you an extended warranty. It saves them from having to replace faulty items from their profit margin.