Asus N6800/TD/512 or a Sapphire X800GTO AGP

[Graytalon]

Greetings all,
I have been striving on getting the wife to "work with me" to get a new system...sadly, I am running behind on "Hunny Do's" currency lately, but I have arrived at a compromise. Upgrading. Yes, I can pull a Johnny Cash and build a new system from upgrading! (unlike carrying the parts out in a big lunchbox)
So, I have upgraded my RAM and HD recently, but my MoBo supports AGP. So, after droolling on my keyboard for the last month or two, I have come to the conclusion that I need to go ahead and bump up the old 9600xt with something that will keep me happy until next Christmas when I can spring the new system concept again.
I have looked around at the current batch of AGP cards and they seem to be waning away. The two I have found that show promise are the Asus N6800/TD/512 and the Sapphire X800GTO. Both are within .01 of each other on newegg, so money isn't the deciding factor and I haven't been watching lately as to the discussions over Nvidia vs ATI.
So, my friends, I am going to the experts: which is the better deal?

GT

 

[pauldh]

The X800GTO is miles ahead of that junky Asus. The Asus has a crippled 128-bit memory interface and slower clock speeds even than a real 6800 vanilla. The X800GTO is at least equal to a 6800GS AGP. Check you clock speeds and make sure you are getting 980MHz memory not 700 MHz memory. Typically the 128MB ones are clocked much lower than the 256MB GTO's.

By the way, if you are in the USA, look around for the ABit X800GTO which Newegg had for $140. Gone now. Also, this X800XL is better than a GTO, and worth the samll extra $. If it comes back in stock on the 10th like they say, it's the best AGP card you will find for under $200.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814241010

 

[pauldh]

While not up to GTO standards, these cards would save some money and are good buys:

This vanilla 6800 is better than that Asus and is a steal at $130.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814140067

This X1600 pro would be great on the cheap for $130 too. COmes with the quiet vga silencer cooler and the full Flatout game. I'd order this card tonight if it were in stock.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161003

 

[Smoke20]

This vanilla 6800 is better than that Asus and is a steal at $130.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814140067

Unless you get the 6800LE version.

I recommend the $180 PNY 6800GS from Tiger Direct.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1782292&Sku=P56-7024

 

[Scougs]

I have the Sapphire X800GTO (I got mine from newegg in January). I have been pretty happy with the card. I like tweaking my hardware and this is a good card for it. Sapphire uses memory chips that are specefied to go 600MHz (DDR1200) so they overclock well though generally not all the way to 600MHz. The GTO typically comes with one of two cores:

R430: This is the chip used in the X800 XL. About the most you could expect out of it is an extra 50MHz (450MHz total).

R480: This is the chip used it the X850 XT. It overclocks very well usually beyond 500MHz.

Many people will tell you that its not possible but the AGP X800GTOs can unlock to 16 pipelines. I have the R430 and have sucessfully unlocked mine from the stock 12 pipes to 16 which makes it an X800 XL. If you get the card and are interested, I can provide information about unlocking.

The one thing that the Geforce has over the Radeon is that the Geforce supports shader model 3. However, if you are only planning on using the card until Christmas, that probably won't be a big deal for you. As far as I know, the only game that uses SM 3 is FarCry.

 

[Graytalon]

Thanks for all the input! Scougs, can you pm me that info. I plan on getting it today.

 

[rmthompson]

I have the Sapphire X800GTO (I got mine from newegg in January). I have been pretty happy with the card. I like tweaking my hardware and this is a good card for it. Sapphire uses memory chips that are specefied to go 600MHz (DDR1200) so they overclock well though generally not all the way to 600MHz. The GTO typically comes with one of two cores:

R430: This is the chip used in the X800 XL. About the most you could expect out of it is an extra 50MHz (450MHz total).

R480: This is the chip used it the X850 XT. It overclocks very well usually beyond 500MHz.

Many people will tell you that its not possible but the AGP X800GTOs can unlock to 16 pipelines. I have the R430 and have sucessfully unlocked mine from the stock 12 pipes to 16 which makes it an X800 XL. If you get the card and are interested, I can provide information about unlocking.

The one thing that the Geforce has over the Radeon is that the Geforce supports shader model 3. However, if you are only planning on using the card until Christmas, that probably won't be a big deal for you. As far as I know, the only game that uses SM 3 is FarCry.

Scougs... can you please give ME detailed information on unlocking the pipes? I've never "flashed" a bios, and I dont have a disk drive, but I think I am interested in doing this, as I can barely get the clock up to 435 safely.

Thanks.

 

[Scougs]

Sorry guys, but I'll have to get back to you two guys when I get a little more time.

It is finals week at my college so I have some work that I have to do.

I may have a little time this evening. We'll see.

 

[weichieh007]

Can the Saphire GTO pipes be unlocked? I've found a website saying the Saphire GTO2 and the connect3D GTO can be unlocked but Saphire GTO?

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles//overclocking/vidcard/127/1

 

[Scougs]

As I understand it, any X8x0 series card that comes with 12 pipes enabled and satisfies the fuse conditions on the link that you posted can unlock. I don't know for sure but I suspect that a high percentage of Sapphire AGP X800GTOs are unlockable. I have one that unlocked and a guy from my college just got one that unlocked. I think that Sapphire is basically packaging X800XLs with 4 pipes disabled in the bios and calling them GTOs.

BTW guys, if you are still checking this post I will try to get some instructions to you here as soon as I can. I had a really rough finals week.

 

[Scougs]

Okay guys, this is what I have put together for instructions. If you have any difficulties or questions let me know. The directions for the DOS command line are sometimes difficult to understand. I believe that you need to type something like:

atiflash.exe -p 0 16pipe.bin

Download and install ATItool: http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

Click the settings button and choose overclocking in the drop-down menu.

Scroll down until you can see the CONFIG_DIE_FUSES and CONFIG_SUBSTRATE_FUSES.

Verify that your card can be unlocked by checking for an ‘F’ in the indicated positions of the hexadecimal each number. The capital X represents any hexadecimal number (0-9 or A-F).

CONFIG_DIE_FUSES 0xXXXXFXXX
(the fifth character after the little x must be an 'F')

CONFIG_SUBSTRATE_FUSES 0xXXXXXXXF
(the last character must be an 'F')

If ATItool reads an ‘F’ in the indicated spots, you should be able to unlock your card. If not, I am afraid you are out of luck.

Now select miscellaneous in the drop-down menu.

Click the button that says “Save VGA Bios to file...”. Give the file a simple name like “12pipe.bin”. This will be your backup copy.

Make a second copy, which will be modified, and name it something like “16pipe.bin”.

Download the hex editor from this website (I would recommend using the “stable” version instead of the beta version): http://www.mh-nexus.de/programs.htm#HxD
This software will allow you to modify your bios to enable the pipelines.

Extract the hex editor program and run it. Open “16pipe.bin”.

Find the row marked 00000070 and the column labeled ‘A’. You should find ‘61’ at that location. The second bit represents the number of disabled pixel pipe quads. Change the data value to ‘60’ to enable all 16 pixel pipes.

Note: If you ever get bord later you can mess around with disabling pipes. 1 means four pipes are disabled (X800GTO), 2 means eight pipes are disabled (X800GT), 3 means twelve pipes are disabled (yep only 4 left active).

Save the modified bios and exit the hex editor.

Go to this link and read about flashing your VGA Bios: http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/34
I recommend using ATIflash if you plan to do it in DOS.
You can download it at the bottom of this page: http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/
Although I have never done it there is a way to flash the card in Windows. If you choose to do so, I would recommend doing it in Safe Mode if possible to ensure system stability during the flashing process.