Overclocking Buyer's Guide - September 2004
by Wesley Fink on September 17, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
AGP Video
AGP Overclocking Recommendation: eVGA 256MB GeForce 6800 GTPrice: $383 shipped
While the dust is still settling in this round of the video wars, we do know that the new generation of video cards from nVidia and ATI are twice as fast as the previous generation in many benchmarks. We also found in our testing of the new nVidia nForce3-250 chipset that it performs a bit better with an nVidia graphics card. With that in mind, we included a GeForce 6800 GT in our Overclocking system to match the nForce3-250 Ultra-based MSI K8N Neo2.
Why a GT instead of a 6800 Ultra? The 6800 GT is unique in also sporting 16 pipelines just like the 6800 Ultra. In fact, the only real difference that we can find between the 6800 GT and the more expensive 6800 Ultra is the clock speed. The two 6800 GT that we tested both reached 6800 Ultra clock speeds pretty handily, so if you want 6800 Ultra performance, you may well get it with a 6800 GT overclocked to 6800 ultra speeds. You can also buy 6800 GT cards, which is more than we can say for 6800 Ultras, which are very difficult to find.
The 6800 GT is clocked at 350MHz with memory at 1.0Ghz; the 6800 Ultra clocks the GPU at 400MHz, and the memory at 1.1GHz. Both have 256MB of DDR3 memory and 16 pipelines. The easiest way to try your hand at overclocking a 6800 GT to Ultra levels is with a widely available utility called Coolbits, which adds Clock Frequencies to the advanced tab of the nVidia properties. Coolbits even offers a Test and Optimal Settings button so you can check to see if your 6800 GT can support 400HMHz and 1.1GHz speeds.
If budget is a concern for your overclocking system, there is also a 12-pipe 6800 available for about $300. The 6800 is sill a decent performer and even easier to find, but it is not likely that you will push a 6800 to 6800 Ultra performance levels, and you will be still stuck with 12 pipelines instead of the 16 available with the 6800 GT and 6800 Ultra. There is also an even faster version of the 6800 family, called the 6800 Ultra Extreme, but as rare as 6800 Ultra cards are right now, we would hesitate to recommend an even rarer card, which is just a higher-clocked 6800 Ultra. Perhaps a 6800 Ultra, when you can find one, will overclock to Extreme levels.
The best way to see what the 6800 Ultra can do is to read the latest AnandTech Video Card review, which compares ATI X800 and nVidia 6800 in both AGP and PCI Express flavors.
The AGP Overclocking Recommendations will work very well on the MSI K8N Neo2, DFI LANParty UT nF3 250Gb, or Chaintech VNF3-250. However, a PCI Express Video Card is required for the Socket 775 Asus P5AD2 Premium.
Listed below is part of our RealTime pricing engine, which lists the lowest prices available on ATI video cards from many different reputable vendors:
If you cannot find the lowest prices on the products that we've recommended on this page, it's because we don't list some of them in our RealTime pricing engine. Until we do, we suggest that you do an independent search online at the various vendors' web sites. Just pick and choose where you want to buy your products by looking for a vendor located under the "Vendor" heading.
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jeeptrkr - Friday, December 10, 2004 - link
Perfect timing and very infomative article. I'm looking to buy a MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum w/ an AMD 64 FX-55 cpu.How would Crucial Ballistix PC4000 2.5-4-4-8 compare to PC3200 2-2-2-5 on the MSI mb? Faster bandwidth ver tighter timings?
decptt - Thursday, September 30, 2004 - link
Thank you, Fink.I ran Athlon64 Mobile 3200 2.0@2.55 Vcore 1.8
I will drop to 10x250 vcore1.7 for safer :>
Ballistix run@ 1:1 2.5-4-4-8 (I don't want to set 2.5-3-3-5 like the review for make sure that it works fine)
I'll tell the testing result again.
P.S. I had reached to 10x260 V1.8, windows works but Prime95 doens't work stable.
southernpac - Sunday, September 19, 2004 - link
Wesley,If Raid 1 is used (mirrowing), is the slow down negligble for a simulations gamer - or would it be noticable? Would the same be the case with 7,200 rpm SATA's?
I also notice that you listed the eVGA 6800, but the July High-End Guide listed the Gigabyte 6800 (Ultra). Have you noticed performance or manufacturing differences between the 6800 vendors?
The photo of the Crucial Ballistik PC3200 512 memory has a CL113V.X1 part number on it. I can't find that part number listed on the Crucial web site. ? Bill Mackay
thebluesgnr - Saturday, September 18, 2004 - link
This is one interesting article, but I wish it had the same idea of a "Value" system as other AT articles. The Value system of this guide is too much for me, here's what I came up with:AMD Athlon XP Mobile 2400+ 45W $77
ASRock K7V88 Raid $44
512MB (1 X 512MB) Corsair Value Select DDR400 CAS2.5 $79
128MB GeCube Radeon 9550XT $99
Antec SLK3700-BQE Black ATX Midtower w/ 350W PSU $90
Seagate 80GB 7200RPM SATA (8Mb Cache) – ST380013AS $71
HSF not included, total of $460.
One could change that system to a Chaintech VNF3-250 + Sempron 3100+, but I would rather upgrade the video card first.
PrinceGaz - Saturday, September 18, 2004 - link
#25 Wesley Fink- its great to hear a Value RAM roundup is being planned, listening to and where necessary addressing your readers comments is one of the main reasons AT is such a valuable website.Gholam - Saturday, September 18, 2004 - link
You have a mistake on page 13 - you list CM Stacker as an all-aluminium case, while it definitely isn't. It has aluminium panels, but the chassis frame is made of steel. It also weighs 14.9kg... ouch. On the other hand, there is no other case where ducting the PSU is as easy...Wesley Fink - Saturday, September 18, 2004 - link
#24 - I mentioned in the Value conclusion that you can cut $300 by choosing a cheaper case and an ATI 9800 PRO instead. Perhaps I should make those recommendations part of the Value OC chart in the future.#22 - I recommended one 512MB stick of Crucial Ballistix to get the cost down on the lowest priced system and still have great overclocking. We do plan a Value RAM roundup in the future.
cnq - Saturday, September 18, 2004 - link
Wesley,Keep up the good work!
Only nit is that like last time, you "forgot" (maybe it was intentional) to present a value video card. The price of the video card stuck out like a sore thumb in the summary pricing table for the value system!
The power requirements are ugly, but consider putting the 9800pro in the summary table for the value system next time. Until the X700XT and 6600GT's come out (and in AGP), you can't do better for $190. [Or at least you could have downshifted from a 6800GT to a 6800 to save a hundred bucks on the value system.]
ksherman - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
you know what would kick arse? doing comparison tests! Compare all the different rigs you guys reccomend and see who the winners are. i.e. Performance OC vs your high end setup etc.PrinceGaz - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
I really don't know why anyone here is so keen on the Sempron 3100+. You'd be a fool to buy one when the A64 2800+ is available at only a slightly higher cost, has twice the L2 cache, and most importantly 64-bit support. Anyone who buys a Sempron 3100+ today will regret it in a year or two when x86-64 Windows is supported.If you only keep a CPU for a year or so though, it makes even less sense getting something like the Sempron 3100+ with hopes of high overclocks unless you like always having an overclocked substandard processor.
The non-high end memory issue is important and really needs to be covered, CAS 2.5 modules form the likes of Corsair are available at very competitive prices compared to CAS 2 modules. We need an article that looks at CAS 2.5 and also CAS 3 PC3200 modules from the major manufacturers so we can see how far they overclock, and at what voltages and timings. Most people don't buy CAS2 modules unless they're getting a top of the range CPU (2.4 GHz A64 or 3.2+ GHz Prescott), so if you look at an A64 3200+, you need to look at the memory most people will use with it.