CARD LAYOUT
256MB of GC20 (2.0ns) GDDR3 memory modules are mounted on the top side of the card covered by a black anodized aluminum heatsink. The cooling system is adequate, keeping temperatures within spec. On my setup I found maximum temperatures registering in the high 70C to low 80C range during intense gaming. Idle temps ran about 60C during testing. While I experience no heat issues during this review I would like to see those temperatures lowered about 10C. Looks like I will be doing some experimenting on cooling after this review.

eVGA e-GeForce 6800GT

(front) (back)

CARD COMPARISON (LAYOUT AND SIZE)

Card Comparison

The different in size is very apparent as well as the layout of each card. The X800Pro is very small (at approximately 7 1/2" x 4 1/4") compared to the 6800 GT (at approximately 8 1/2" x 4 1/2"). While the 6800GT uses heatsinks to help cool the memory the X800Pro uses none and it is apparent that it does not need any, at least not at default clock frequencies. Both ATI and NVIDIA have been consistent in the size of the pcb and whether or not to apply heatsinks on the ram over the last couple of generations of offerings.

TEST SETUP

Case Shot During Testing

Listing the components of the test system leaves me wondering whether the system will be able to push the 6800GT. Nevertheless, this system is fast although reluctantly missing a key component, the Western Digital 10,000 rpm 74.5 GB 'Raptor' HDD, which succumbed to problems which side-lined it for this review. Still, the backup WD 2000JB SE is a good fast 7,200 rpm IDE harddrive and should perform adequately. The potential bottleneck is the Athlon 64 3000+ which has run at 2.2 GHz with a 220 MHz FSB since I purchased it. I did drop it down to its 2.0 GHz specification for the last review but I think I may need the extra megahertz for this review, so the A64 will remain running at 2.2 GHz.

System Specifications

• AMD Athlon 64 3000+ / 512MB L2 Cache
• MSI K8T Neo FIS2R Motherboard w/DualDDR Memory
• Mushkin PC3500, Level 1, DDR CAS2 RAM - (2) 512MB DIMMs - 1GB Total
• Western Digital, 7200RPM, ATA HDD, Model WD2000JB SE
• ViewSonic A90f+ CRT 19-Inch Monitor
• Antec 480 Watt True Power PSU
• eVGA 6800 GT - 350MHz/1.0GHz
• NVIDIA ForceWare Graphics Driver Version 61.45 (SM3.0)
• 32-Bit Color / 85Hz Refresh Rate @ 1024x768
• Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 (Release Candidate 2)
• Microsoft DirectX 9.0c

BIOS Settings

• Memory Timings 2-3-2-6
• 220MHz Front Side Bus

Other Hardware:

• ATI X800 Pro - Catalyst Version 4.7 Driver

Games Tested:

• Call of Duty
• Unreal Tournament 2004 Demo
• Far Cry
• Morrowind

Synthetic Benchmarks:

• CodeCreatures
• 3DMark2001SE
• 3DMark03, Build 340
• AquaMark 3

Notes:

• All applications tested were patched to their latest version.
• Antialiasing and anisotropic filtering settings were configured using the graphics driver control panel or game configuration panel, as required.
• Gameplay tests were conducted with sound options set to each game's default settings.
• Gameplay tests were conducted with in-game graphics options set to their highest quality.
• FRAPS was used to capture and compare average frame rates or confirm frame rates for some benchmarks.