Palit 6800GS Super User manual

LABTESTED_FINAL.FH11 Mon Mar 27 11:22:01 2006 Page 8
62. APR | 2006
Beyond Reach No More
About a year ago, when NVIDIA's 6800 reigned
supreme over the screaming ast graphics category,
most could only dream o playing, let alone see
Doom 3. With the 7000 series and ATi's X1000
series now overshadowing their ormer generation
crown jewels, and with new games like Oblivion
due in the next couple o months demanding
more GPU power, one would think that in this
upgrade-mad gaming world we'd all have to
jump into the latest bandwagon to get into the
latest 'in' game. Well, one doesn't have to get
into the bleeding edge just to get the most out
o 3D games, as Palit has unleashed the power ul
yet a ordable Palit 6800GS Super. Now, one can
inally own a high caliber 6th generation GeForce
without the risk o getting a good verbal beating
rom a signi icant other.
The 6800GS is built very similar to its original
counterpart, the 6800. Unlike the 6800, which
was designed with a total o 16 pixel pipelines
but had 4 disabled, leaving only 12 to work with,
the 6800GS only has 12 to start with plus 5 vertex
pipelines. Palit's treatment o the 6800GS matches
its Super label: it stands out rom its peers by
wielding 512MB o memory and much aster
core (485MHz) and memory clock (652MHz DDR)
speeds as compared to the regular GS lavors
that usually come with 256MB o memory and
with core and memory speeds o 425MHz and
500MHz (DDR), respectively. The Super also carries
an ultra-slim cooler, but the card comes with only
the usual VGA, DVI and S/HDTV outputs.
Dreaming o dual 6800s? Make that a reality
since Palit's slim GS is also SLi capable.
Slender and Better Than Before
In our tests, the Palit managed to obtain
respectable points in 3DMark 2003 and 2005
(no AA/AF), mustering scores o 12,738 and
5,926 3DMarks respectively. When comparing
the results obtained rom a 512MB 6800 Ultra
card running on system based on the Intel Pentium
4 plat orm with almost similar specs, the Palit
manages to consistently leave the Ultra behind
by a couple o hundred points. We only managed
to boost our sample to 509MHz and 715MHz
with its core and memory clock requencies,
meaning the card doesn't tolerate much
overclocking. As such, this is understandable since
it's already overcharged out o the box.
In A Nutshell
The 6 series looked as good as dead, or so it
seemed with NVIDIAs release o the rest o the
G70 amily. With the new 6800GS and Palits
choice o implementation in their GS Super, they
proved that the 6 series can still put up a good
ight, o ering per ormance that alls between
today's midrange and top-o -the-line models.
Maintaining the same design choices as the
regular GS such as the slim cooler and orm actor
while throwing in abundant surprises such as a
he ty overclock straight rom the actory and
loaded with ultra- ast 512MB DDR3 memory, the
Palit 6800GS Super (tagged at PhP 11,940.00) is
going to be an extremely di icult o er to pass
up or those looking or value or money.
Irresistibly Sweet Deal
ON TEST Palit 6800GS Super BY LESTER CO
OUR RESULTS
GEARIN UP :LAB-TESTED!
GPU: NVIDIA 6800GS Chipset
ASIC: NV42 (Revisio A1)
Core Frequency: 485MHz
Memory: 512MB DDR3
Memory Bu : 256-Bit
Memory Frequency: 652MHz x 2
Interface: PCI Express x16
Pixel Pipeline : 12
Vertex Pipeline : 5
Video Interface : DVI-D, D-Sub VGA a d S/HDTV Out
Multi-GPU Support: NVIDIA SLi
Bundle: S-Video / Composite / Compo e t Cable, DVI-CRT Do gle,
Driver CD, Ma ual, Molex to 6 Pi power cable, Cyberli k Power
DVD 5, Co flict: Global Storm
Warranty: 2 Years
Contact: PC Tre ds I c.
Tel.No.: [phone]
Web ite: www.palit.com.tw
SPECIFICATIONS
NVIDIA
6800GS
(NV42 Rev A1)
GPU
512 MB
DDR
Memory
D-SUB +
DVI-D
Interface
PCIe
Interface
PhP
11,940
Price
HWMs Rating
Features: 8.0
Performance: 9.0
Value: 9.0
Overall Score
It may not be crowned as the
fastest, but it's got a tough
price/performance ratio to beat. 9.0
Out of 10
3DMark 2003
1024x768, No AA/AF
1024x768, 4x AA/8x AF
1280x1024, No AA/AF
1280x1024, 4x AA/8x AF
3DMark 2005
1024x768, No AA/AF
1024x768, 4x AA/8x AF
1280x1024, No AA/AF
1280x1024, 4x AA/8x AF
Palit 6800GS 512MB
12738
7795
9886
5829
5926
4896
4882
3859
Leadtek 6800 Ultra 512MB
12562
7642
10034
5786
5378
4430
4555
3616
Testbed: AMD Athlo 64 3200+, MSI K8N Neo4 Plati um, 2x Ki gmax 512MB DDR400, Hitachi 250GB 7200RPM SATA Drive, A tec NeoPower 480W
Software: Microsoft Wi dows XP (SP2), Direct X 9.0C, Futuremark 3DMark03 (ver. 340), Futuremark 3DMark05 (ver. 120), NVIDIA v.82.12 Driver.
Testbed (6800 Ultra): I tel Pe tium 4 3.2GHz (Extreme Editio ), I tel D925XCV, 1GB DDR2-533 RAM (Micro ), Seagate 7200.7 80GB SATA
Software (6800 Ultra): Microsoft Wi dows XP (SP2), Direct X 9.0C, Futuremark 3DMark03 (ver. 340), Futuremark 3DMark05 (ver. 120), NVIDIA v.71.24 Driver.