6800GS vs 6800GT and a mem question

[McCloudb182]

well ok, I have the money to buy either, and I know that the GT isnt going to be sold for very much longer. But what should I get? I've heard the gs performs nearly identical to the gt with less pipes... and better in some areas...so am I going to be held back by this card because of the smaller amount of pipes with new games?

XFX 6800gs

core 485
pipes 12
mem clock 1100mhz
256 mem
$215

Aopen 6800GT
core 350
mem 1000mhz
pipes 16
256 mem
$275

the clock/core on the gs is faster, by far.
but less pipes..

also,

I'm looking to order 1 gig of memory this paycheck, and another next..

what is some good overclocking ram that with 2 gigs will be under $300 total?

if I can get it for like 200 and not have any real difference with a $300 set, I would prefer that.

THere are just so many choices for ram that I'm just utterly lost on picking between all the different types.

sigh, im a tad confused

by the way, sys specs
amd 3500+ venice
an8 ultra
74 gig raptor 10k
(insert vid card)
(insert RAM)
super flower case

 

[mpasternak]

Reports i've seen show that that the GS is only slightly less in the performance wise of the GT

it's meant to go head to head with the X1600 from ATI (except crushes it)

 

[McCloudb182]

so it wouldnt really be worth the extra 60$ or so to get the gt?

im looking for some pretty good hardware, if this card isnt up to par really, i am willing to spend the money.

just wondering how much the smaller amount of pipelines will actually affect gameplay.

 

[cleeve]

Well, both the 6800GS and 6800GT have already been benched on brand new games like Quake4, Far Cry, HL2... with performance parity.

The number of pipes is important, but so are the clockspeeds, and the 6800GS has a big advantage there.

In theory, with a hardcore overclock the 6800GT might be a bit of a better bet, but for the price difference you listed - I wouldn't bother with it. The 6800GS is just too awesome for the price.

As far as RAM, I'm not sure about what's the best deal out there but I *can* tell you that 2gb is a waste in most cases, unless you're running a webserver or database machine. You won't see a difference in 95% of games, and in the games you do see a difference you won't get more than a couple percent increase.

You're better off with higher-quality 1gb of ram, that'll overclock like stink.

 

[McCloudb182]

so if I were to just get 1 gig or ram....

should I go with a single stick?

or should i go with 512x2 for dual channel?

and I was going to get 2 gig's for the future, and I heard bf2 benifits from the extra memory

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Practically there's no performance difference between 6800GT and 6800GS.

I would get 6800GS since it's much cheaper and consumes less power (10W less when idle and 23W less at full load)

 

[mpasternak]

go with 2 x 512mb for the ram, the difference isnt so much the dual channel

but 1gig sticks have higher latencies than the 512mb

 

[cleeve]

and I was going to get 2 gig's for the future, and I heard bf2 benifits from the extra memory

Battlefield 2 gets about a 1% performance increase with 2gb instead of 1gb:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/28cpu-games_3.html

Basically, 2gb is more money and limits your perfrormance/overclocking. Useless.

Future proof? It'll be 2 years at least until that much RAM needs to be addressed in games... and in 2 years, 2gb of superfast RAM will be cheaper than 1gb of so/so RAM now.

So save your money for the future... 2x 512 sticks are the way to go.

 

[McCloudb182]

hmmm.

so, tell me if im wrong here, because im probably am.

My an8 likes pc3200/400

but, if I get higher then 3200, isnt it easier to clock at higher mhz, but running at 400 speed...

ugh, im a noob, but im trying....so I hope you guys understand

get pc4000(example) ram, and run it at pc3200, with low cas, but with higher mhz then pc3200 ram can run at?

 

[mpasternak]

and correct me if i'm wrong though

but anything higher than PC-3200 is DDR2 which is not supported by AMD boards yet

am I wrong?

 

[McCloudb182]

I am not sure if you can get higher than 3200 without it being ddr2...anyone know?

I know amd does not support it though.

 

[McCloudb182]

im going to go ahead and get the GS

now for ram

ocz gold series
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227211

corsair xms

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145500

ocz perf. series
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227031

im not partial to any of these, if there is better then these, please link me....these are just what I found....since I dont really know what im looking for besides my basic knowledge...I would appreciate any suggestions

 

[pauldh]

At those prices the GS is better than the GT. Newegg had the GS for $199 yesterday. Zipzoom has an Asus 6800GT for $239.99 with free shipping today. I'd be tempted to do the GT for that price and OC it.

 

[pauldh]

The OCZ Gold with 2-2-2-5 timings. They also have the OCZ platinum 2GB kit on sale for $227.


EDIT: Actually, I am going to take that back. For a gaming rig, I am thinking the money could be better spent. For the price of the 6800GT and the OCZ Gold or Corsair you listed, you could have a 7800GT and 1GB Corsair value Cas 2.5 memory. To me if you can't do both high end mem and the 7800GT, keep the 7800GT. I've used many of those corsair value kits and at stock speeds they are great stable sticks. Never tried OC'in with them though. Anyway, just a thought. Newegg had a 7800GT for $300 yesterday, but seems $320 is the cheapest today.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Practically there's no performance difference between 6800GT and 6800GS.

I would get 6800GS since it's much cheaper and consumes less power (10W less when idle and 23W less at full load)

Where did you get those numbers from? If correct, that is REALLY good! 8)

 

[Snorkius]

Anything that good wont come out for AGP I reckon.

 

[McCloudb182]

that I know of, its only pci-e

so I bought the GS last night


now I just have to get the ram today...

anyone know where I can get an xp licence?

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Practically there's no performance difference between 6800GT and 6800GS.

I would get 6800GS since it's much cheaper and consumes less power (10W less when idle and 23W less at full load)

Where did you get those numbers from? If correct, that is REALLY good! 8)
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2593&p=2

 

[rx7000]

The nice thing about the 6800 GT is it almost begs you to pump up the speed, even if the GS is alittle faster out of the box, considering the extra pipes im sure once you start laying into the GT's clocks you can easily surpass the Gs.