GF 6600gtvs 6800le

[melarcky]

hey i have been searching and im think about choosing between 3 cards
the GF 6600GT, 128MB Asus N6600GT/TD DDR3 AGP8x TV Out or the
GF 6800LE, 128MB 256bit, TV Out or the GF 6600, 256MB Asus N6600/TD AGP8x TV Out

now i know you guys first are thinking, why even the 6600
well cus i dont know but does 256mb make it about equal to the GT
and now the main part is between the 6800LE and the 6600GT
i have always had bad reviews about any LE cards so im worried but it is a 6800

so could you guys help me out or give me a name of an ATI card for about $140

 

[cplpile]

Hello, here's my tuppence worth. If you have an AGP motherboard.
I had a brand new 6600 gt on my system and it scored around 7300 on 3dmark 03.
I also put a standard 6800 le onto the same setup and scored around 5299.
So it's a nobrainer, right?
No, the 6600 is around somewhere near its flat out speed but the 6800 is the same chip as the 6800 ultra it just hasn't passed the rigorous testing that GT and ULTRA chips have to pass to be used in those products. However it can still get pretty close by unlocking the "masked" pipelines that nvidia think are not stable or good enough for commercially viable products.[it's a bit like sell by dates on food]
rivatuner is a software tuning program that, with a little bit of research and thought, even an old codger like me can use to "unmask" those pipelines and shaders that nvidia thought were no good.
I managed to unmask 4 pixel pipelines [so, 12 instead of the le's standard 8]
and an extra 2 sets of shaders.
My 3dmark03 score lept up to 8419 [standard lite version setup]
Then using the same program [rivatuner] overclocked the card to 386 core and 832 memory[300 and 700 are the standard settings I think] and got a final, stable, score of 9916 [latest nvidia driver of course, installed after I ran driver cleaner]
Now some le cards cannot unmask at all, but some can unmask all 16 pixel pipes and all the shader pipes and in that case you get a 6800 gt for pennies, hahahahaha! and then some ,like mine, are somewhere in between.
One last thing, only AGP cards are unlockable in this way. If you have a pci express motherboard [all sli boards for example] then you're out of luck.
My advice would be to watch ebay for a 6800 le card and bid upto about 100 euro's then if it's not unlockable you can resell it and get another.
You can use the saved money to buy some more memory!![always the best tune up]
btw the 6600 256 mb is pants
p.s. these are just the thoughts of one noob to another, if you supernerds have better advice lets hear it!

 

[melarcky]

yes i know about the program but im not much of a over clocker cus its risky and im in Bulgaria so my ability to get new cards is rare so i just stay to STock Gpu's so in the end i got a little confused
thanks, i wont get the 6600 256mb at all now, now as for regular non clocked non unmasked what would you asy
6800le or 6600gt but i also that the 6800le is 256bit is that much a diffrence?

 

[cplpile]

For a Bulgarian you have very good English, Much better than my Bulgarian, lol. Congratulations.
You don't put any stress at all on a card by unmasking the masked pipes.
Only overclocking puts a card under stress,
Masked pipes are just "turned off" at the factory where the chips are made.
This is because of economics, it is cheaper to make all the chips the same and then to take the very best and overclock them from the standard and call them ULTRA [or GT if they will not overclock to the max].
So a 6800 LE has the SAME chip as a 6800 ULTRA the only difference is that it did not come up to the highest standard when it was tested. They only use the best chips from a batch for the extreme versions of thier chips.
So unlocking this "masked" potential is just "FREE" performance that costs you nothing.
An unmasked card is just as reliable as a masked card.
An overclocked card may NOT be as reliable as an unoverclocked card because it runs hotter.
Temperature is the enemy of all things electrical, especially chips, including potato chips, lol.
A chip is just like you, if you have to do more work [like an overclocked chip] you will get hotter, if you do too much work you will get too hot and DIE!!
So don't overclock your card just unlock those free pipes and enjoy.
Alternatively just buy a 6600gt and enjoy playing last years games at "medium" quality and be prepared to buy a new card next year.
The other thing to remember is that you should have at least 1gb of ram, if you don't have this much ram you will find that your system will struggle to make the most of any of the cards you mention. I am assuming you are running xp and you want to play call of duty 2 or some other ww2 first person shooter, am i right?
PLEASE, before you spend your money get some more opinions, i am just telling you what I know and I don't know it all!!

 

[melarcky]

thanks for the compliment but im an american lol, just stuck out here, so if i unmask them i should just go for the 6800le but if i dont i should stay with the 6600gt idea? and yes i know that over clocking will burn up my pc thats the main reason why im not touching it!
but im just really drawn to these cards, and what makes the 6600gt better if you know.
and i have 512ram and i will upgrade when i but the card if i do at all and yes im on Xp.
as for games i mostly play CS:Source and yes COD2 but i would like to play some others and i really dont mind the thought of medium. because im with an Mx440 128mb so trust me anything is an upgrade right now.
and if you are saying that the 6800le is in the same chip as the 6800ultra but the pipelines are just masked maybe that is what i should with, and do you have advice on to any ATI cards?

 

[cplpile]

Can't help you with ati cards, I've never used one.
the 6800 chips are manufactured to the same design but all the pipes don't always work, so you can't always use the unmasked pipes but you can always unmask all 16 pixelpipes, It's just luck if they are stable or not.
I can only use 12 some people get stuck with 8 and some lucky blighters get all 16 for free!
cs source should play well on either card but cod 2 is very demanding. I have to use direct x 7 when I play it online, I think its all that sand and snow and stuff and all that damn smoke.
The 6800 will also give better results at higher resolutions, so if you have a lcd screen you might be better off with that card. At 600 x 800 resolution I don't think you would find much difference but at the higher native resolutions of lcd screens you should see a big difference IF you can use the unmasked pipes!

 

[ikaz]

As far as ATI AGP you may also look at this :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102609

basicaly x800 GTO line they tend to perform(some say eat the the 6600GT) a better than 6600gt (at least the ones that aren't OC'ed) out the box.