BFG 6800 GT OC Review

[ForeverUnknown]

Well guys, here?s my first review. Ok on the reviewing block I have a new BFG 6800 GT OC.

Introduction

First off, lets look at the card and the packaging.

*thanks to 2s2k for hosting the pics*

As you can see, the card comes with an analog connector, DVI connector, and S-Video out. I love the way they have a clear window to show the card off in the box. It?s not a big deal, but it?s cool. Well, it?s a very simple package, but that makes it nice. Everything was nice and organized in the package. The card comes bundled with 2 CDs, a ?Y? power cable, a DVI adaptor, and a quick start manual. The CDs include: video card drivers, nVDVD software, windowblind skins, and game demos (Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, Silent Storm, and Painkiller). Nothing big to say the least, but it covers all of your basic needs.

The card is cooled by a good size hsf. It covers both the gpu and the memory. DDR3 does run cooler than DDR and DDR2, so additional ram heatsinks aren't necessary.

Here are the specs for the GT, and you can compare it to the Ultra.

6800 GT

Pipes: 16

Memory 256MB GDDR3

Core Clock: 350MHz

Memory Clock: 1000MHz

RAMDAC Dual 400MHz

Memory bandwidth: 32.0GB/second

555 million vertices/sec setup

6800 Ultra

Pipes: 16

Memory: 256MB GDDR3

Core Clock: 400MHZ

Memory Clock: 1100MHz

RAMDAC Dual: 400MHz

Memory bandwidth: 35.2GB/sec

638 million vertices/sec setup

*Specs taken from BFGtech.com*

The Ultra of course has higher clocks, but the GT should be able to be overclocked to match them. We'll take a look at overclocking soon. A big difference between the Ultra and the GT is the 2 molex connector. The GT doesn't need it meaning the card doesn't need as much power. The packaging recommends just a 300W psu. Another difference between the 2 cards is that the GT uses single-slot cooling while the Ultra uses the pci slot under the card. This is helpful for the space conscience consumer.

The nice thing about the BFG 6800 GT OC is that it?s slightly overclocked from the factory. Instead of a 350MHz core, BFG sets it to 370MHz. The memory clock is the same at 500MHz (1000MHz DDR3) though. It might not be much, but for people who don?t want to dabble into overclocking their own card, BFG helps them out a little. It?s like more power for the same money. Also ;)nce the name OC ;)

Unlike ATI?s x800 series, Nvidia 6800 series comes with support for SM 3.0, DX 9.0c, and UltraShadow II. SM 3.0 doesn?t really give a increase in visuals, but it does increase performance a little. Many say that SM 3.0 isn?t a big deal right now, but many games will be featuring SM 3.0. Games include: HL2, Far Cry, Stalker, Tiger Woods 05, Painkiller, and so on and so forth. I don?t know that much about UltraShadow II, but it will increase performance in shadow intensive games such as Doom 3.

I?m sorry I don?t have any other decent cards to compare this to. I have a BBA 9600Pro 128MB, PNY FX5200 128MB, PNY Geforce3 TI200 64MB, and ASUS TNT2 32MB, but those won?t even be remotel:pclose. No point now is there :p

Lets move on to something a little more exciting. Overclocking this baby! This thing matches Ultra speeds at no problem at all and no artifacts. The highest overclock that I got without image corruption was 415/1150. At 420MHz there starts to be image corruption. The memory might be able to get over 1150MHz, but I don?t want to go anymore right now. I'm pretty sure the clocks will be able to go higher if I raise the agp voltage and add some better cooling.

Sorry I can?t do 1600x1200 since my LCD won?t let me, and I don?t have a monitor that will. Sorry high res kids.

Benchmarks

Now on to the awaited benchmarks!

Test System:

P4 3.0c @ 3.3

Corsair TwinX1024-3200LL @ 220MHz 2-3-2-6

WD Raptor (Windows XP Home)

WD 120 SE (Games and Benches)

BFG 6800 GT OC

Audigy 2 Platinum

DirectX 9.0b

*I will be using ForceWare 61.71. It is not WHQL certified. 61.71 is a big improvement from the earlier drivers that other sites have used for revi3Dmark03and fps will be higher*

3Dmark03 (Default settings @ 1024x768)

370/1000: 11524

400/1100: 11669

410/1100: 12428

415/1150: 12521

*I did 3 tests for each speed and averaged the score*

The overclock to Ultra was ok giving us a increase in about 150 points in the score. Once you get above 400MHz is when you really start to see this card shine. I only went an extra 10MHz to 410 on the core from the Ultra speed, and the score went up by about another 800 points. That?s incredible! Setting was 410/1100 and the temp was about 63C. At 415/1150 there is a small increase in performance from 410/1100 while the temp stays about the same at 63C.

*Game BeFar Cry v 1.1 Fort Demoan370/1000r Cry v 1.1 Fort Demo

370/1000

1024x768: Average FPS: 46.71, Min FPS: 31.73, Max FPS: 61.91

1280x1024: Average400/1100n FPS: 21, Max FPS: 44.98

400/1100

1024x768: Average FPS: 48.86, Min FPS: 33.96, Max FPS: 62.70

1280x1024: Average FP415/1150PS: 22.85, Max FPS: 46.35

415/1150

1024x768: Average FPS: 49.83, Min FPS: 34.18, Max FPS: 68.26

1280x1024: Average FPS: 39.23, Min FPS: 23.89, Max FPS: 49.41

*Does high aa in Far Cry equal 4x?*

Settings were at the highest in game settings: 4aa/4af, ultra water, etc. These frame rates were all very acceptable to play with. Of course frames will drop a little in high combat situations, so expect that. The SM3.0 patch should be out prUnreal Tournament 2004er370/1000nreal Tournament 2004

370/1000

>>1024x768 (highest settings on everything. 4aa/16af):

126.72 fps botmatch (dm-rankin: 158.52 fps, as-convoy: 81.46 fps, br-colossus: 140.19 fps )

>>1280x1024 (highest settings on everything. 4aa/16af):

92.71 fps botmatch (dm-rankin: 98.19 fps, as-conv400/1100br-colossus: 101.55 fps )

400/1100

>>1024x768 (highest settings on everything. 4aa/16af):

132.16 fps botmatch (dm-rankin: 167.55 fps, as-convoy: 81.47 fps, br-colossus: 147.47 fps )

>>1280x1024 (highest settings on everything. 4aa/16af):

97.53 fps botmatch (dm-rankin: 104.38 fps, as-conv415/1150br-colossus: 107.85 fps )

415/1150

>>1024x768 (highest settings on everything. 4aa/16af):

135.50 fps botmatch (dm-rankin: 173.36 fps, as-convoy: 81.59 fps, br-colossus: 151.55 fps )

>>1280x1024 (highest settings on everything. 4aa/16af):

100.81 fps botmatch (dm-rankin: 108.90 fps, as-convoy: 81.64 fps, br-colossus: 111.88 fps )

As you can see the 6800 GT does very well in Unreal. I didn?t bother posting the min and max fps because frames were always pretty high. In single player mode, frames never dropped below 50 @ 1280x1024 for me if I remember correctly. In multiplayer, internet connection speed is a factor too, so fps will drop some. I had 1280x1024 set to the highest, and I Aquamark (Default Settings)gy370/1000mark (Default Settings)

370400/1100ge FPS: 61.97

Score: 61,908

40415/1150age FPS: 63.95

Score:63,798

415/1150

Average FPS: 64.63

Score: 64,626

Conclusion

Nvidia hit it right with the 6800 series. New technology and incredible performance. What more could you ask for? I say this is the best bang for your buck for the new generation cards. This card can hit Ultra speeds pretty easily, saving you $100. This card is expensive for some because it?s retail is $400US, but I believe this is a worthy upgrade if you in the market for a new card.

I cannot say enough about this company though. This is a true lifetime warranty. Lets say you?re BFG card breaks down a few years from now. Well, they?ll replace it with a new card that is the ?equivalent? to you broken card. I think I?ve seen a Geforce4 Ti4200 get replaced with a FX5900. I don?t remember if it wPros:ltra, but that?s still great no matter what.

Pros:

Pre-overclocked

Can be overclocked up to and beyond a stock 6800 ultra

Cons:X9.0c support

UltraShadow II

Lifetime warranty

Rating:ing special in the bundle

Expensive for some

Rating:

5/5 Stars

I didn't proofread so if there are errors or if i just left something out, please tell me. BTW I will try add more game benches later.

Edited July 2, 2004 by ForeverUnknown

[DigitalN.]

NICE I envy you, but I better not talk here long, Enisada might get on MSN and start bitching at me for liking nVidida benches :p

*runs*

P.S. great card man, congrats

[ANova]

How much did you pay for your card exactly? Everywhere I look they are priced above retail which is just rediculous and for that reason I would rate it 4 stars, but that is imho. Also, we haven't seen if Ultrashadow 2 or SM3 will provide any real advantages yet so I would take those 'benefits' with a grain of salt until DX9.0c and Doom 3 are released. I would also like to see some image quality comparisons between it and say your 9600 Pro. Other then that, nice review.

[Cody]

i hate that big sticker they put on the heatsink of the 6800 i wish they would jsut leave it alone

[oik]

Unlike ATI?s x800 series, Nvidia 6800 series comes with support for SM 3.0, DX 9.0c, and UltraShadow II.

do i smell *sniff* why, yes, i do believe i smell a bit of bias!

[ForeverUnknown]

How much did you pay for your card exactly?  Everywhere I look they are priced above retail which is just rediculous and for that reason I would rate it 4 stars, but that is imho.  Also, we haven't seen if Ultrashadow 2 or SM3 will provide any real advantages yet so I would take those 'benefits' with a grain of salt until DX9.0c and Doom 3 are released.  I would also like to see some image quality comparisons between it and say your 9600 Pro.  Other then that, nice review.

Carmack already said that UltraShadow will improve Doom3 performance a good deal. I put SM3 as an advantage because it supports it. SM3.0 will be implemented into quite a few upcoming games so that's somehting to look at. We dont know how well it'll do yet but for people who don't upgrade their cards with every gen, this would make the card last a little longer for them. I think that made sense

outpost.com bestbuy.com $399

oik: yeah ok sure. does ati have those features? no they dont. ati does have temporal aa and 3dc though. i was stating known feature facts. i never brought ati down. just trying to give more insight to what features the card has. if people are having conflicts on which card to buy, knowing what cards have what features might help

Edited July 1, 2004 by ForeverUnknown

[JonathanVP]

Great review!! Where did you buy your card?

[Oblivion]

The card looks very nice and quite big......i just have one question...is it okay to buy a new card like the X800 or the 6800 at this time or should we wait till Doom releases? If the price is $399 then it's managable to buy but some people told me that the price is around $599....This is some sort of discount or the model of the card are different.

[ForeverUnknown]

i bought my card at outpost.com for $399 + state tax (damn CA) + overnight shipping for a total of $440

[oik]

oik: yeah ok sure. does ati have those features? no they dont. ati does have temporal aa and 3dc though. i was stating known feature facts

no, they don't have those features. does it matter in respect to the review? not one bit. this is an nvidia card review, not an ati vs. nvidia flamefest. you weren't stating known feature facts, you were trying to cut on ati for not having them. hence the "Unlike ATI's X800". there was never any need to even mention ati. imo, trying to make a cut like that on a company only lowers your credibility by showing previous bias and lack of objectivity.

[Hupp]

I'll see how my BFG compares to yours @ my 2.4 @ 2.8ghz tomarrow :) It should be here @ 3:00pm CST. Nice review you gave me something more to look forward to tomarrow

[LOC Veteran]

Hmmm, I don't think he brought ATI down at all. I don't think his credibility or objectivity were questioned either.

I think he did a damn good review and that's that. If he had bought an X800 XT, I would imagine the review would be just the same. (And include "Unlike Nvidia, the X800 supports 3Dc" etc)

[ForeverUnknown]

Hmmm, I don't think he brought ATI down at all. I don't think his credibility or objectivity were questioned either.

I think he did a damn good review and that's that. If he had bought an X800 XT, I would imagine the review would be just the same. (And include "Unlike Nvidia, the X800 supports 3Dc" etc)

thank you LOC.

lol i still have my x800xt pe on order from gateway :laugh:

[rogerlb]

thanks for the review before i go buy one

[salterbomb]

Unlike ATI?s x800 series, Nvidia 6800 series comes with support for SM 3.0, DX 9.0c, and UltraShadow II. 

um, why wouldn't ATI support dx 9.0c?

[ForeverUnknown]

um, why wouldn't ATI support dx 9.0c?

dx 9.0c is needed for sm3.0, and maybe because ati isnt using sm3.0, they didnt bother. i'm not sure though :wacko:

anyone know?

[Premgenius]

I thought ATI supported DX9C :(, men this card war can give you a headache I was think of buying a X800XT now i don't know

[salterbomb]

dx 9.0c is needed for sm3.0, and maybe because ati isnt using sm3.0, they didnt bother. i'm not sure though :wacko:

anyone know?

ati is supporting any version of dx 9.0.

what you are thinking is that in order for SM3.0 to work in full, it needs 9.0c to run. ati is supporting 9.0c and any version of it that comes out.

[Chouzan]

To my knowledge, ATi's latest generation of cards (X300, X600, X800) does not support DirectX 9.0c hardware-wise.

[salterbomb]

To my knowledge, ATi's latest generation of cards (X300, X600, X800) does not support DirectX 9.0c hardware-wise.

you're right.

hardware wise ati does not support it.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Congratulations Forever Unknown (Y)

And as a true comparison of what the GT OC can do compared to the BFG 6800 Ultra OC model, I will also do a review when I get the Ultra OC card myself. I will use FRAPS as well (also use in game FPS when applicable) so it is very similar to this review so we have common grounds to compare, except I will also push the res to 1600*1200 as well.

My card is supposed to ship between the 4th and the 6th so I should have it no later than the 7th (keeping fingers crossed because it did get pushed back from June 28 already)

Once I do my review, we can all see if I was a dumb ass for spending the extra 100$ on the OC'd Ultra version or not. :unsure:

[ANova]

The X800 supports SM2b. Realistically SM3 only offers more options to developers which makes it easier to code and can lead to speed enhancments because of dynamic branching and other additions, but that only applies to shaders with long instructions. SM3 will not show any benefits to the end consumer for at least another year, at which time the card will be slow at any rate. Unreal Engine 3 is a good example of this. You can see the differences between the various shader models here.

The real advantage the 6800 has over the X800 is FP blending which can speed up HDR rendering and is much easier to implement.

[2s2k]

Nice card :)

No problem for hosting the pics :D

[Jason the Eighty Eighth]

sorry for sounding like a n00b, but what's that long spiky black thing on the right of the HSF? another heatsink (i think i could tell by the clips)?

Edited July 1, 2004 by Jason the Eighty Eighth

[2s2k]

he has posted his specs already, or just look @ his sig