nVidia 6200 or 6800?

by djRobbieF on 08/10/2006 17:40, 30 messages, last message: 08/17/2006 16:40, 7842 views, last view: 05/18/2024 21:36

Hey gang.
I need a little advice, because I am on a low budget for a new video card, and really don't know much about them.

I have a chance to get either of the following:

512MB nVidia 6200
or
256MB nVidia 6800

SO - my question is, do I go for the higher chipset, or the higher RAM? The issue is, they're both the same prices... so to me, because I don't know the advantages of the newer chipset, I want to believe that the higher RAM would be the better card for the low budget; but anyone's knowledge is VERY much appreciated.

I'm thinking specific for Sauerbraten. I use Linux only, so I really want the OpenGL support that either nVidia card will provide. Either card is supposed to support the shadowing technologies, so WHAT is my best option, and why?

Thank you so much in advance for your help in choosing a video card...

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#1: ..

by hampus_ on 08/10/2006 18:01

I would take the 6800.

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#2: ..

by Max of S2D [Fr] on 08/10/2006 19:13

Gotta thinking the same, you should take the 6800...

Cause 256mb of RAM is even good.
My FX 5200 with 128mb support Sauerbraten with all features (bump-map, FSS...) at 75 fps without VSYNC.

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#3: ..

by makkE on 08/10/2006 19:29

I got the 6600gt and it runs sauer just great. I´d take the 6800 too. Sauer´s vram requirements aren´t THAT high that you´d need 512mb.. 256 should be way sufficient for sauer. I´d rather take the 6800 so I´d be sure it will handle the shader stuff efficiently.

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#4: ..

by Passa on 08/10/2006 23:35

NEVER
EVER
EVER
EEEEEVVVVVEEERRRR
buy a budget card with 512MB of VRAM. Its overkill. Did you know the 9600XT came in two types? 256MB of VRAM and a 128MB of VRAM model. Guess which one is faster? The one with 128MB VRAM. Why? The 128MB one had faster RAM.

And I can guarantee you, no modern game atm needs more than 256MB VRAM. I have a nVidia GeForce 7800GT, and it has 256MB of VRAM.

Get the 6800!!! You have no idea at how much faster it is! As in, it will be able to play Quake 4 on highest detail, I can guarantee you the 6200 will not be able to.

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#5: Re: ..

by kurtis84 on 08/11/2006 02:26, refers to #4

I have to agree with passa here...a large vram on a cheapy card means slow vram. I have a 6800gt here in 128, and 256mb versions...both the same model. The 128mb card is faster, AND runs slightly cooler.

However, a low amount of system ram will effect this greatly. If you don't have 256mb or more of FREE system ram, and you have a 128mb video card, there are several games on the market right now that would cause this system to studder ( swap file usage ). I run the 128mb card on a system with 1gb of system ram...it runs every bit as fast as the 256mb version, with any game I own.


Oh yeah...a 6200, or 6800...thats a no-brainer ;)

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#6: 6800

by Aardappel_ on 08/11/2006 05:35

the 6200 is seriously handicapped. Do you hear that flushing sound?

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#7: ..

by Max of S2D [Fr] on 08/11/2006 09:38

Do you now if the RAM of the 6800 is faster ?

(or i didn't read correctly all your posts ?)

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#8: Re: ..

by Passa on 08/11/2006 10:58, refers to #7

You didn't correctly read all our posts.

Even if the VRAM was FASTER on the 6200, its just simple brains to figure that a 6800 shits all over a 6200 ;-)

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#9: Re: ..

by kurtis84 on 08/12/2006 00:39, refers to #7

If you do your homework on the card before you buy it, you will know the vram speed already. Just do some searches for reviews, or go to the card manufacturers site for data sheets on the cards you're considering. I've never had any trouble looking up a video card this way, and I'm constantly buying them, or just reading about the new ones.

Doing a little homework is VERY important when buying a video card. Some manufacturers just rip features out of chipsets, to lower the costs...you do not want those cards, and the info to avoid them is all over the net.

Theres a long list of gf6xxx cards that have vram running at 50% of the speed they should be. All of them will run with 128bit memory, even though nvidia originally intended 256bit. Sure they're cheap cards, but they have no memory bandwidth, and this is important with newer games that can use multiple layers per texture, on every visible surface.

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#10: ..

by pushplay on 08/12/2006 03:34

I got sick of this discussion so I went to tomshardware and none of the guides even listed the 6200. That probably suggests it's not a serious contender.

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#11: Re: ..

by Passa on 08/12/2006 03:49, refers to #10

toms hardware is the crappest site ever.

They benchmark gpus with like Athlon 5000+ x2 systems, with 8gb of ram in 64bit mode, how is that a real-world benchmark?

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#12: ..

by djRobbieF on 08/12/2006 15:28

Thanks everyone!! You've helped me a LOT. Both cards have the same grade of RAM (Dual 400 MHz GDDR3).

I also just got access to another card... a 7600 GS.

RAM specs for this are:
Video Memory: 256MB
Memory Type: 256-bit GDDR2
Core Clock: 400 MHz
Memory Clock: 800 MHz
Memory Bandwidth 12.8GB/sec.

Also has 12 pixel pipelines (Whatever that means; but I realize the bigger the number, the better, right?) :)

So the 6200 is DEFINITELY *out* based on all you've told me. If I can come up with an extra ~$40 I will get the 7600 and if not, I'll get the 6800... But I'm thinking it might be a good idea to just save up the extra $40 and go all out... ?

Thanks again!! It's all starting to make sense to me now LOL

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#13: ..

by makkE on 08/12/2006 15:35

If you want a gfx card specifically to make sauer run nice, the 6800 will fully satisfy you. The 7600 might be intresting if you want to play other current and next gen games. But current gen should run fine on the 6800 as well.

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#14: Re: ..

by Passa on 08/12/2006 16:13, refers to #12

If you go for the 7600GS, dont bother, just get the 7600GT, its only a little more ($60 aus dollars more here, so around $35 US dollars or so)

The 7600GT will satisfy any gaming needs of yours.

After a bit of research of my own, the 6800 vanilla is $15 cheaper than the 7600GT. thats like $9 us dollars!! And the 7600GT is WAAAY better.

Get the 7600GT.

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#15: Re: ..

by pushplay on 08/13/2006 01:09, refers to #11

Obviously the idea is to make the component you're benchmarking the bottleneck in the system.

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#16: Re: ..

by djRobbieF on 08/13/2006 01:50, refers to #14

Passa, well, I didn't want to spend that much ($60 more than the GS) - so is the GS no good? Why would I have to go with the GT if I went with a 7600 chipset? Or shall I still just stick to the 6800?

Thanks!!

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#17: Re: ..

by djRobbieF on 08/13/2006 01:52, refers to #14

Passa - continued.. just had a look at my suppliers, and it looks to me that the GT model is PCI Express only... because I'm AGP, the GS would be my only solution based on this... so what is the problem with the GS that you would say not to go with it?

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#18: Re: ..

by Passa on 08/13/2006 02:02, refers to #16

Well the price difference between the 6800 and the 7600GT is soo small.

This is because the 6800 series is no longer manufactured, so its more expensive than it should be. The 7600GT whips the 6800. You are ripping yourself off if you dont get the 7600GT. It even plays next gen games.

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#19: Re: ..

by Passa on 08/13/2006 02:05, refers to #17

6800GS then ($8 aus dollars more than a 6800).

OR try find a cheap second hand 6600GT.

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#20: Re: ..

by djRobbieF on 08/13/2006 02:13, refers to #18

your prices must be very different there. The 6800 is about $150 cheaper than a 7600GT here. However, I can get the 7600GS for only $40 more than the 6800...

Thanks for all the advice. It's such a major purchase but it does sound to me that the 6800 is going to do for me... my big thing is I just want to be able to support 1) OpenGL (I get so sick of ATI when I try to run my good screensavers and games) and 2) be able to see and experience all the bumpmaps and advanced shadowing in sauer... right now everything is pretty flat... ;)

Only games I play really are stuff like NFS, UT, FEAR, which all run fine on my ATI, so I'm sure they'll do even better (more effects!!) on the 6800...

So I guess the question really is now... do I get the 7600 GS for only an additional $40 (GT is out of the question; it's both not in my price range nor is it compatible with my system), or do I stick to the 6800 and save myself the $40 ??

:) Thanks again!!

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