Nvidia 6800GS AGP arrives next week

[LanceX]

Yay! w00t! -- I'm excited, it's what I need! (mikec)
NVIDIA is fulfilling its promises and will start shipping its Geforce 6800 GS AGP cards next week. We already reported that Nvidia has a massive shortage of AGP chips and that it can not print enough 6600 based chips and bridge it back with HSI bridge chip. Its time for the new old card.

Unlike the 6800 GS PCIe, the AGP version will be based on good old NV40 chip and it will be native AGP card without any bridges. We still don’t know about the clock speeds but we heavily suspect that it will have the same clocks as its PCIe brother.

The card will start at a similar price - we expect $249 - and you should see some Etailers listing these cards in the next few days.

ATI is happily shipping its X800 and X700 based AGP chips and it's expected that X1600 based AGP cards won't take to long after its PCIe brother. Nvidia still hopes to cash in the Yule AGP shopping madness.

theinquirer.net article 02 Dec 05 (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28094)

theinquirer.net article 17 Nov 05 (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27760)

[deimos47ca]

Excuse me, but that is just nuts.

First of all, you post and link to theinquirer (no less) with such certainty and trust, that few non-naive people even devote to mainstream media like cnn or bbc.

Do you have any doubts? The good old NV40 chip was made by IBM at Fishkill (New York) using 130nm.. IBM is moving away from manufacturing so unlikely they would take more orders(all AGP: 6800, 6800GT and 6800U are all the same die that was made by IBM). The chip used for PCIE 6800 is totally different and a separate die, made by TSMC 110nm, and hence the reason you hear all the PCIE people getting such good overclocks with their 6800's (6800GT and 6800U PCIE are a third die, which ironically, is still 130nm, even though the parts require higher clock).

The announcement of the 6800GS PCIE was very natural, because as I mentioned earlier, most people were getting very good overclocks (440.. even 460Mhz) thanks to the finer manufacturing process, which also allowed to do this without voltage increase and producing relatively little extra heat.

If nVidia does force a 6800GS AGP on the market, we can be sure that it will be small production (not many NV40 chips left), and like 6800GT and 6800U, will require higher voltage than the original 6800 AGP.

And ofcourse whatever benefits the 6800GS gained by using the 7800GT/GTX PCB, will be lost, because that is a PCIE PCB, and nobody is going to go out of their way to design a custom PCB for a few AGP consumers.

prognosis negative
(I'm a skeptic)

[mark501]

Excuse me, but that is just nuts.

First of all, you post and link to theinquirer (no less) with such certainty and trust, that few non-naive people even devote to mainstream media like cnn or bbc.

Do you have any doubts? The good old NV40 chip was made by IBM at Fishkill (New York) using 130nm.. IBM is moving away from manufacturing so unlikely they would take more orders(all AGP: 6800, 6800GT and 6800U are all the same die that was made by IBM). The chip used for PCIE 6800 is totally different and a separate die, made by TSMC 110nm, and hence the reason you hear all the PCIE people getting such good overclocks with their 6800's (6800GT and 6800U PCIE are a third die, which ironically, is still 130nm, even though the parts require higher clock).

The announcement of the 6800GS PCIE was very natural, because as I mentioned earlier, most people were getting very good overclocks (440.. even 460Mhz) thanks to the finer manufacturing process, which also allowed to do this without voltage increase and producing relatively little extra heat.

If nVidia does force a 6800GS AGP on the market, we can be sure that it will be small production (not many NV40 chips left), and like 6800GT and 6800U, will require higher voltage than the original 6800 AGP.

And ofcourse whatever benefits the 6800GS gained by using the 7800GT/GTX PCB, will be lost, because that is a PCIE PCB, and nobody is going to go out of their way to design a custom PCB for a few AGP consumers.

prognosis negative
(I'm a skeptic)

Yes one should be very sceptic when reading theinquirer. I also agree that it seems strange that Nvidia will be using the old nv40. Guess thats their only option but it would also mean that they need new chips from IBM, since nv40-chips are a very endangered species. It would also mean the nv40 on 6800GS needs to get higher than Ultra core-clocks which also sounds a little doubtfull.
But theinquirer seems very certain and I dont understand why they would make a thing like this up. And there doesnt seem to be much room for interpretation or speculations. We will know in a few days if they speak the truth :)

But to me it makes perfect sense to get a new midend AGP-card out. Right now Nvidia has few AGP-cards for the midend/performance market (6800s), while ATI actually has a number of different options available for AGP-users, x800s, and x850. And I suspect there will soon be x1600s for AGP. And Nvidia currently have no midend cards of its new 7series and the 7600 ETA is march next year.

There is still alot of AGP-customers out there, especially midend-users. The latest Steam-survey (although 2 months old) showed that over 70% were using AGP, 20% used 9600 or 9800-cards. There even seems to be some demand for highend cards. Xbitlabs current poll says that 56% of their readers would buy an AGP flavour of the GeForce 7800- or RADEON X1800 for $349 or more.

[LanceX]

Here are a couple of other sites that have linked to this article. Just an FYI.

http://www.hardocp.com/index.html#15980-2

http://www.nforcershq.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4803

[Hunter32]

I'm going to get 1 and replace my 9800 Pro. (xmassign)
That's in my other computer.

[john19055]

The 6800GS is looking to be a real good card ,even just haveing 12pipes it is useally faster then the 6800GT.

[$n][pErMan]

Its good to know Nvidia is still putting out some kick ass stuff for AGP users who are not ready to go PCI-E. Im sure this card will be a great upgrade for anyone not willing to dump the cash into a PCI-E system yet who are currently using any line of cards below the 6800's :) My 6800GT AGP is still going strong so I suspect this will kick ass for sure ;)

[LanceX]

...still waiting for this! Hurry up already!

[Airbrushkid]

Well next week is almost over and no word on the 6800GS AGP. Can't trust theinquirer.net what they say!!

[Joe Public]

I saw some webshops over here listing it. None in stock though. :rolleyes:

[shoes]

Well next week is almost over and no word on the 6800GS AGP. Can't trust theinquirer.net what they say!!

You could FS/T what you have and move to an AsRock PCIe mobo with a 3200 venice and keep you're drives etc... I have the PCIe version in my secondary PC (Wife's gaming unit too) and it's an extremely nice little card. But yes, a 6800GS AGP would look to be a very good card for your XP3200 system, and you could also go with the AsRock later and just use the AGP card on it too (another option).

[mark501]

One webshop in Sweden listing it now. Guess theinquirer were correct.

[Airbrushkid]

I'm not going to keep throwing money away everytime they have something new. The 3200 Barton is new and the ram I have. I don't need to switch for at lease 2 more years. Theres aready rumors running around the net saying Nvidia is going to stop making the 7800GTX 512 mb card this Feburay...


You could FS/T what you have and move to an AsRock PCIe mobo with a 3200 venice and keep you're drives etc... I have the PCIe version in my secondary PC (Wife's gaming unit too) and it's an extremely nice little card. But yes, a 6800GS AGP would look to be a very good card for your XP3200 system, and you could also go with the AsRock later and just use the AGP card on it too (another option).

[hectorsm]

There even seems to be some demand for highend cards. Xbitlabs current poll says that 56% of their readers would buy an AGP flavour of the GeForce 7800- or RADEON X1800 for $349 or more.

The survey doesn't address the manstream population which is the largest and where the OEMs make the most on their money. Most of the systems out there are OEMs and most owners of OEM machines will never upgarde to high end AGP anyway. I don't see the need for high end from this poll.

[mark501]

The survey doesn't address the manstream population which is the largest and where the OEMs make the most on their money. Most of the systems out there are OEMs and most owners of OEM machines will never upgarde to high end AGP anyway. I don't see the need for high end from this poll.

Agree. Its not at all profitable for manufacturers to produce high-end AGP-cards. The big money is made on low to midend-cards.

[shoes]

I'm not going to keep throwing money away everytime they have something new. The 3200 Barton is new and the ram I have. I don't need to switch for at lease 2 more years. Theres aready rumors running around the net saying Nvidia is going to stop making the 7800GTX 512 mb card this Feburay...

Then i would look to get a 6800GT in a FS/T forum, or ebay, or wait and see if the 6800GS comes out in AGP. I was mentioning FS/T what you have because while the older XP3200 is very nice and fast enough you can get at least 15-20 more FPS in games just by switching out he processor and mobo you have (and nothing else). About 6 months ago, for my wife's gaming rig i sold an XP3200 and K7 NF2 mobo and easily swithed to A64 and i ended up paying a difference of only $40.00 at the end of it all (out of my pocket) - one reason is that a true "authentic" XP3200 is hard to find so i got a good price for it, and that let me easily get a Fry's special A64 mobo/CPU combo (A643200) for $170.00. Instant 15-25 FPS in EVERY game nearly without even changing the graphics card (but we did that too later on). To add to that - the older AXP series though venerable, caps out after about a X800 Pro/6800GT in performance whereas when you put that same graphics card on an A643200 or better you get a huge difference, and it only increases more as you move up in graphics cards quality and speed wise. But yea, you would be fine with a 6800GS AGP and most games.

[Airbrushkid]

Well I see nothing has showed on the 6800GS AGP.

[HotFox]

Too Late for me

[joshua7]

Too Late for me

For me too.
We have the same mobo. (santa2) :)

[Redeemed]

Actually, if you want a bang for the buck performance part- go SLi on s754. I'm even considering it.

[Airbrushkid]

Cannot see wasting money on a 754!! When I go 64 its going to be 939.

[LanceX]

Well I see nothing has showed on the 6800GS AGP.

I guess it depends how much you search. While I haven't seen it on newegg yet, a quick search on google pointed me here: http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=316258&cks=PRL

hmmm.... and the article that pointed me there from bit-tech.net was posted on Dec 8. So uh.. /shrug

[Airbrushkid]

But if you notice it's not in stock! And they can at anytime pull that listing.

[bkswaney]

As much as I need to upgrade my whole system I might would
buy a GS if the price was right for my rig.
I sold my 6800GT a while back and then had to spend my funds
on something else so my system upgrade is on hold.
I could get by with just picking up a 3.2 or 3.4 OC it to about
4ghz and slap a GS in it and get by 12 to 18 more months easy.

The dang prices on the 6800GT "AGP" have went up and
not down. :(

I would have thought the 6800GT AGP would have dropped
to around 150 bucks by now.
Thought about just getting a used GT but would love to have
a GS because they claim it will be made on the NV40 core and not the 42.
So they may be able to turn on all 16 pipes and get some very high OCing speeds.
Most GT's top out around 380/90 core and 1100 memory.
Makes me wonder though will nvidia be able to get the NV40 core up to the same clocks
as the NV42 runs at. I think this might be an issue. The NV40 cores did not like
running 450+ core speeds.

[Airbrushkid]

I buy a 680GT if the prices weren't over $300.00. I saw the 6800GT OC 256 for $364.00. To me for something thats old now the price to far off.