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Update (12/30/2004): The review sample as shipped to us by Gigabyte made use of a faulty BIOS which was enabling only 8 of the 12 pipes of the 6800 core. We were made aware of this by a kind member of our forums, and we promptly re-flashed the card with the latest BIOS (F1 -> F3). As such, we have re-run all of our benchmarks and updated the charts. The previous scores of the 8-pipe 6800 are also provided on some of the charts for comparison. We are quite disappointed at Gigabyte's failure to mention such a significant piece of information. Had we not been informed of it by a 3rd party, some of our previous poor benchmark scores which turned out to be good could have definitely influenced someone's buying decision.
There is practically no price point at which a consumer cannot find a GeForce 6 family product - NVIDIA announced that they would be creating a top-to-bottom lineup of products, all based on the NV4x core. At the entry level is the 6200, in the mid-range is the 6600/6600 GT, and at the high-end is the 6800/6800 GT/6800 Ultra. When we say "mid-range", we don't just mean regular run-of-the-mill average performers -- the $200 price-point 6600's can hold their own, even surpassing last generation's high end parts like the 9800XT in many instances
In the 300$ range of NVIDIA's line up is the often looked over GeForce 6800. At the 400$ range is the very popular 6800 GT and at the 200$ mark is the 6600GT AGP and sometimes it seems like the 6800 has been neglected. Up for review today is Gigabyte's GV-N68128DH, a passively cooled AGP GeForce 6800 with 128 MB of memory, utilizing heat pipes and massive heat sinks on both sides of the card.
Specifications
| 5700 Ultra | 5950 | 6200 | 6600 | 6600 GT | 6800 | 6800 GT | 6800 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | NV3x | NV3x | NV41 | NV43 | NV43 | NV40 | NV40 | NV40 |
| Manufacturing Process | 0.13u | 0.13u | 0.11u | 0.11u | 0.11u | 0.13u | 0.13u | 0.13u |
| Transistor Count | 82 M | 130 M | ? | 146 M | 146 M | 220 M | 220 M | 220 M |
| Pipelines | 4x1 | 4x2 | 4x1 | 8x1 | 8x1 | 12x1 | 16x1 | 16x1 |
| TMUs/Pipe | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Clock Speed | 475 | 475 | 300 | 300 | 500 | 325 | 350 | 400 |
| Fillrate (megapixels) | 1900 | 1900 | 1200 | 2400 | 4000 | 3900 | 5600 | 6400 |
| Memory Interface | 128-bit | 256-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| Memory Size | 128 | 256 | 128 | 128 | 128 | 128 | 256 | 256 |
| SLI-Capable | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Looking at the last three columns, it is obvious that the plain-vanilla 6800 is merely a clock-reduced NV40 with four of its pipelines disabled. This core variation still manages to edge out the 6600 GT, except where fillrate and raw core clock speed are concerned -- at least on paper. Since the plain 6800 is still a 6800, it sports a full 256-bit memory interface giving the 6800 a fairly hefty advantage in the memory bandwidth department.
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