6800GS vs. 9800 PRO: How big an upgrade?

[Kerion]

I am currently running a Radeon 9800 Pro, and frankly, I love it. It's always worked well, given me good performance in most games, etc. Unfortunatley, it's lagging a bit behind. It runs fine with WoW, but in EverQuest 2, Battlefield 2 and F.E.A.R., it can't hold up. I am not looking to go PCI-e quite yet, as I like my currentl AGP motherboard (MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum). I probably won't get a PCI-e board until I go dual-core near the end of '06.

For an upgrade that's only going to sit in my PC for about 10 months (then be moved to my GF's), is the 6800GS going to be a large improvement over the 9800? $225 USD just seems like a really good price if all the rumors I have heard about the GS being a great mid-high enthusiest mainstream card are true. I have read some reviews and they have been overwhelmingly positive, but it's confusing to compare all the video card options and how they stack up these days.

Thanks for the help :) If you guys say this is a good upgrade, I will be ordering it from newegg today.

[jAkUp]

Yes it is definetely a decent upgrade over the 9800 Pro. Remember, the 6800GS is very comparable to the 6800GT in overall speed, so with that being said, the 6800GS would be worth the upgrade.

[agentkay]

I would say its at least twice as fast. If that isn´t enough upgrade for you, I´d recommend the 7800GT or the upcoming 7800GS. Sure both are/will be more expensive, but IMHO, the upgrade jump/per dollar will be bigger.

[Kerion]

I would say its at least twice as fast. If that isn´t enough upgrade for you, I´d recommend the 7800GT or the upcoming 7800GS. Sure both are/will be more expensive, but IMHO, the upgrade jump/per dollar will be bigger.

Remember, I don't have PCI-e :) So I am stuck to whatever cards are still made with an AGP interface :)

I think I am gonna get the GS today. It seems, from all indications, that it's a worthy upgrade.

[jAkUp]

:D

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=63076

[Kerion]

:D

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=63076

Ahh, sweet. Oh well, 6800GS already ordered. I probably wouldn't want to spend the money on the 7800GS anyway, as this is a short upgrade before I go dual-core/PCI-e.

[Richteralan]

Yes it is definetely a decent upgrade over the 9800 Pro. Remember, the 6800GS is very comparable to the 6800GT in overall speed, so with that being said, the 6800GS would be worth the upgrade.

AGP 6800GS is indeed a NV40 core with a quad fp disabled ;)

[lovswr]

I just did this last Friday..Let me say this in very technical terms....





















IT IS FREAKIN' HUGE!!!!!! :D

[Acid Rain]

IT IS FREAKIN' HUGE!!!!!! :DIt's called "power" son. :D Enjoy, till you get the fat platform upgrade you have planned.

You're gonna need it;)

[joshua7]

NF3 and nv40? Bad memories... :thumbdwn:

[Prime]

I upgraded from a Radeon 9700 to a 6800GT, and it's night and day. Everything else being equal, it allowed me to go from 800x600 no aa/af in Q4 & BF2 with poor performance, to 1280x1024 with 2xAA and GREAT performance. It's a huge upgrade.

[zer0]

Huge

[cvearl]

I can give you almost exact difference...

Anywhere from 75% to 100% speed increase depending on the title.

The X800XL and the 6800GS are almost identical in speed. Testing the X800XL I found it to be almost 100% faster than my 9800 Pro across the board.

With the 6800GS though, a few games like DOOM3, PACIFIC FIGHTERS and RIDDICK nearly 200% faster due to ATI driver issues with those specific games.

So in the end like everyone said. You will be able to go up a res setting and add some AA and AF. :)

C.

[wshadow]

6800 GS is almost the same as a 6800GT...

[bkswaney]

I had a GF3 and just installed a 6800ultra. I can say
it's a HUGE upgrade.

Enjoy that GS. I'm guessing you can turn on all the pipes
with RT so it should be a kickass card. :)
I'm playing at 1024 or 1280 with 2xAA and 4xAF. It's sweet. :D

[jeffmd]

hehe, geforce 3? didn't that stop playing games 3 years ago?

[jAkUp]

Doesn't the geforce3 support DX8 features? In that sense it is better feature wise than a geforce4MX :D

[jeffmd]

geforce4MX was just a marketing scam. GF3 was directX8, the first DX8, but really, by the time dx8 games started coming out, it wasn't fast enough. Games like morrowind and Halo just ran a bit to slow.

[Medion]

Remember, the 6800GS is very comparable to the 6800GT in overall speed,

6800 GS is almost the same as a 6800GT...

The AGP 6800GS is not as fast as a 6800GT. The PCI-E version is equal to a 6800GT. They're two very different cards (the AGP and PCI-E GSs).

[Nvidiot222]

The AGP 6800GS is not as fast as a 6800GT. The PCI-E version is equal to a 6800GT. They're two very different cards (the AGP and PCI-E GSs).

CAn you explain a little bit more ?
I know the 6800 GS in AGP is not the same as the PCI-E version, but can you tell in numbers whats`s the difference ?

I mean, in % how slower the AGP version is, compared to the 6800 GT AGP and 6800GS PCIE.

Thanks

[jAkUp]

The 6800GS AGP has lower clocks I believe...

[mark501]

Yes default clocks for 6800gs agp is 350/1000 vs 425/1000 for PCIe.

IIRC 6800gs agp scores around 4500p in 3dmark05 while the pcie version scores around 5000. So the 6800gs agp is roughly 10% slower than the 6800gs pci-e.

[Medion]

CAn you explain a little bit more ?
I know the 6800 GS in AGP is not the same as the PCI-E version, but can you tell in numbers whats`s the difference ?

As stated, the default clocks are 350/1000 (AGP) and 425/1000 (PCI-E).

OC versions seem to top out at 400/1100 (AGP) and 490/1100 (PCI-E).

The difference is more than 10%. The stock clock difference is 17.4% (using 425 as a base, it's more the other way). With equal memory and pipelines, that means the speed difference should be 15%+. It's actually more than that though, closer to 25%.

Another difference is the core. The PCI-E is NV42 (which is 12-pipe native). Its supposed to be a more efficient design. The AGP version is NV40, a 16-pipe native design, with one quad disabled.

The AGP version comes out to being 25% slower than a 6800GT. Going by core/memory/pipelines, the 6800GT should be faster than the PCI-E 6800GS, but it's not. They are virtually tied.