Graphics card upgrade dilemma

[TheVoice]

Hi all,

Hope you can help me out here.

At the moment, I've got an XFX 6800 (slghtly overclocked out the box), on an SLI motherboard. Was the best card I could get at the time, and it seemed to offer some advantages over the barely-cheaper 6600GT. I had the intention of getting another one around February or March, just to keep the games running nicely.

I've now hit a problem however - it seems my 6800 isn't available anymore. Additionally, I now see that a 7800GT can be had for just over £200. Am I correct in assuming that a 7800GT will wipe the floor with two 6800s? My line of thinking is that I could just sell the 6800 (how much would I get for it?), and buy the 7800GT instead. It'd cost the same (or less) than an additional 6800, and, I assume, provide better performance.

Otherwise, I could just wait a while and try overclocking the 6800. Also heard that it's possible to unlock the 6800 pipelines to get extra performance - worth a try? How would I go about doing that?

Thanks for any help at all.

[sawyen]

Well, my new 7800GT wiped even the kitchen floor for my 6800GT even in its native bus at majorly overclocked settings. I guess the best way is just to sell that 6800 and get a GT or an OEM GTX instead (Scan sells them for like £270ish). Getting a second 6800 is well... not very cool. Besides, the performance is at best marginally better than a X850XT which the cleaner 7800GT also wipes.

Considering all the wiping here and there, there isnt any reason to get a second 6800 unless u are superly tight on budget. Unlocking the 6800 will only give u a tad more processing power at higher res. Considering the 6800 cant handle high res that well anyways.. I dont see the reason to do so; thats if u can even unlock them (most newer 6800s) cant, and when they do, they cant clock well.

I guess you cud get like £80ish for that card. But if I was buying it, I'd be looking to pay like £60 or less. But I'm just a nit-picking person.

[ed^chigliak]

The only way to do SLI is to put two highend cards in at the outset and the only reason to do this is to run some crazy widescreen TFT. Delay the purchase of the second card like you have done and this sort of thing is bound to happen. For most people with anything like a sensible budget the SLI motherboard is bit of a waste tbh. The additional upgrade route is a flawed concept given the rate at which next generation graphics cards are brought to market.

Sell the 6800 and buy a 7800GT for £200... maybe one day you'll use the SLI but then again maybe not.

[TheVoice]

£60...ouch. Will have to see if I can do a private sale with someone or something.

But anyways, thanks for the help. Will certainly take it all into account. I suppose getting rid of my 6800 sooner rather than later would be the best option. Oh well!

Thanks guys.

[Rod911]

Unlocking the 6800 will only give u a tad more processing power at higher res. Considering the 6800 cant handle high res that well anyways.. I dont see the reason to do so; thats if u can even unlock them (most newer 6800s) cant, and when they do, they cant clock well.

It's PCI-E. You cannot unlock the PCI-E versions of the 6800, only the AGP variety.

[TheVoice]

Oh...bollocks. Even worse then.

Thanks.