Seriously Considering 6800nu

[dna]

What you need to do is... start up a thread to give you the extra incentive.
Worked for me.

[drkCrix]

I started with a 2GB upgrade, next thing I know I am ordering a 2nd 19" LCD, be careful!

[dna]

Holy Crap. Order status says shipped already. Though I bet it won't actually leave the warehouse till Monday since I placed the order so late today - probably missed the pickup.

[Lenny]

I could cheap out and just get buy another 2x512 kit of Corsair VS for under $100 easy. It would be matched and all but then I would have 4x512 which means at a minimum I have to run 2T instead of 1T and since I have a Winchester core its also likely I would have to drop to running DDR333 instead of the usual DDR400. It's hit and miss. GhostDog recently said when he went to 4x512 he can still run DDR400 but at 2T with a Winchester.

But to do it right I should buy 2x1024 for $200-$220 and then I would still be able to run DDR400 1T for sure. That would also free up my existing 2x512 for later use in Buu's PC for whenever I upgrade him to an A64.

The bottom line is I'm just not real keen on spending $200 on memory right now. I know I need 2 GB for BF2 and I'm sure it will help the upcoming generation of games. I'm just not used to spending a lot of money on memory, rather spending it on something more tangible like a Venice or better video card.

[Niner]

I ordered a Leadtek 6800LE the other day since it seems alot of people can unlock the extra pipes with Rivatuner. I still plan on keeping my X800 in my main rig but this will be a nice upgrade for my Lan rig which has a 9800SE softmodded to a pro.

[dna]

I could cheap out and just get buy another 2x512 kit of Corsair VS for under $100 easy. It would be matched and all but then I would have 4x512 which means at a minimum I have to run 2T instead of 1T and since I have a Winchester core its also likely I would have to drop to running DDR333 instead of the usual DDR400. It's hit and miss. GhostDog recently said when he went to 4x512 he can still run DDR400 but at 2T with a Winchester.

But to do it right I should buy 2x1024 for $200-$220 and then I would still be able to run DDR400 1T for sure. That would also free up my existing 2x512 for later use in Buu's PC for whenever I upgrade him to an A64.

The bottom line is I'm just not real keen on spending $200 on memory right now. I know I need 2 GB for BF2 and I'm sure it will help the upcoming generation of games. I'm just not used to spending a lot of money on memory, rather spending it on something more tangible like a Venice or better video card.

Yeah, I don't get what the problem is with using all 4 slots. Just bad engineering on their part I think. It's definetly worth it to get the 2x1024 over the 4x512.

[Lenny]

Yeah, I don't get what the problem is with using all 4 slots. Just bad engineering on their part I think. It's definetly worth it to get the 2x1024 over the 4x512.

It's the memory controller on the A64. Venice is an improvement over Winchester. Most Venice cores can do 4x512 with DDR400 will still need 2T. It's the older Winchesters than sometimes need to drop to DDR333. Like I said, it's hit and miss - don't know until you try.

[tlemaste]

Right now I'm thinking 2GB of RAM is next for me. Just trying to convince myself to spend the cash - not sure how long that's going to take

Len, your wife called me at work the other day and asked what you wanted for your birthday. I told her I didn't know it was your birthday, and she said it wasn't but just wanted to be nice to you. I told her you didn't really want anything, but that you absolutely needed 2 sticks of 1gb memory from one of the really hot memory places. She agreed that you were having memory problems because you had been forgetting things for her, and she said that if it would help your memory problem then she was for it.

[Lenny]

Len, your wife called me at work the other day and asked what you wanted for your birthday. I told her I didn't know it was your birthday, and she said it wasn't but just wanted to be nice to you. I told her you didn't really want anything, but that you absolutely needed 2 sticks of 1gb memory from one of the really hot memory places. She agreed that you were having memory problems because you had been forgetting things for her, and she said that if it would help your memory problem then she was for it.

LOL, if the memory in our brain was upgradable she would be ordering me 100 GB !!

[dna]

If only...

[IAmGhostDog]

GhostDog recently said when he went to 4x512 he can still run DDR400 but at 2T with a Winchester.

That is correct.
But I had to go into BIOS and reset timings as it wasn't automatically detected as it was when I put in 2x512.
I'm running two matched pairs (2x512) Corsair XMS XLPT 3200 dual channel @201mhz.

[Blix]

Waht is your major malfunction, dna? Last night I ordered Gigabyte 6600GT for $160 and this is what I read this afternoon. I just wanted see what people say about 6600GT so did a little search in this forum. Oh I wish I did it right before, not after. I checked with zipzoomfly and it's already shipped. Bastards. They are so fast nowadays.

So my question is should I return 6600GT wasting about $20 for restocking fee and order this 6800nu card or just stick with 6600GT? Do you think it's worth to go through all the returning process?
If I decided to go with return and get the faster one, what brand do you think it's better choice? I heard a lot of good things about eVGA lately with their graphics cards. But same goes with XFX. Other than XFX one has 2 DVI port, I am not sure.
One more question. This pipeline and shader unlocking thing... I read the user reviews of both cards at newegg. It looks like some users have more successful unlock than others. Is it just luck of the draw or there's some way to ensure unlocking all pipelines and shaders without any artifacts/hiccups?

Thanks for any help.

[dudecat64]

Well the 6600gt will beat the 6800nu at 1024X768 without aa/af but when u crank up the af/aa then the 6800nu will spank the 6600gt. Just some info for ya. I would keep the 6600gt and build another system with a 6800gt or 7800gt.

[dna]

Well the 6600gt will beat the 6800nu at 1024X768 without aa/af but when u crank up the af/aa then the 6800nu will spank the 6600gt. Just some info for ya. I would keep the 6600gt and build another system with a 6800gt or 7800gt.

The question is how much do you assume you can unlock? I know it's a bit of luck but I've seen enough people that make it work that I'm going to try. Then that nu gets quite a bit more than the 6600GT.
Eh, time will tell if it's the better buy.

[Niner]

Got my 6800LE 128MB today and unlocked all 16 pipes and 6 pixel shaders... Fairly easy too, now i have to see what this thing will do as far as overclocking. The only drawback on this card was the 128MB of memory other that that it was a good deal at $120.. By the way Newegg doesn't even list these cards on their site anymore. They must have quit making them.