The NVIDIA 6800 GS Closer Look: EVGA, Leadtek, PNY, and Evertop
by Josh Venning on January 27, 2006 8:53 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Power, Heat and Noise
Power Load
To test the power load of the card, we measure the total watt usage of our test computer at the wall outlet, recording the power usage of our system in two different states. The first state is with the card installed and the computer is idle, and the second is during intensive performance tests (looped Splinter Cell benchmarks). This way, we are able to get a general idea of how the power usage varies between cards.
Heat
We also wanted to see how much heat these cards generated. We found that the EverTop 6800 GS generated the least amount of heat by a wide margin compared to the other three. The unique HSF design of this card may contribute to its low level of heat.
Noise
We were curious to see what kind of noise these cards generated as well. What is interesting here is that, similar to our heat tests, one card stood out among the rest. The EverTop GS was by far the most quiet of these cards, again perhaps due in part to the radical HSF design. The fact that it is the lowest clocked of these cards also plays a part here. The EverTop is the only card to use a non-reference HSF. Obviously, the Zalman fan, though bulky, does a better job of cooling the card while it keeps quiet. Below are the noise levels for each card.
For reference, the noise level of the room with the system off was 39.1.
Power Load
To test the power load of the card, we measure the total watt usage of our test computer at the wall outlet, recording the power usage of our system in two different states. The first state is with the card installed and the computer is idle, and the second is during intensive performance tests (looped Splinter Cell benchmarks). This way, we are able to get a general idea of how the power usage varies between cards.
Heat
We also wanted to see how much heat these cards generated. We found that the EverTop 6800 GS generated the least amount of heat by a wide margin compared to the other three. The unique HSF design of this card may contribute to its low level of heat.
| Graphics Card | Temperature |
| EverTop GeForce 6800 GS | 56 C |
| EVGA e-GeForce 6800 GS | 64 C |
| PNY GeForce 6800 GS Overclocked | 67 C |
| Leadtek WinFast PX6800 GS Extreme | 69 C |
Noise
We were curious to see what kind of noise these cards generated as well. What is interesting here is that, similar to our heat tests, one card stood out among the rest. The EverTop GS was by far the most quiet of these cards, again perhaps due in part to the radical HSF design. The fact that it is the lowest clocked of these cards also plays a part here. The EverTop is the only card to use a non-reference HSF. Obviously, the Zalman fan, though bulky, does a better job of cooling the card while it keeps quiet. Below are the noise levels for each card.
| Graphics Card | Noise Level |
| EverTop GeForce 6800 GS | 45.9 |
| PNY GeForce 6800 GS Overclocked | 50.1 |
| EVGA e-GeForce 6800 GS | 50.5 |
| Leadtek WinFast PX6800 GS Extreme | 50.7 |
For reference, the noise level of the room with the system off was 39.1.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
56 Comments
View All Comments
swamprat - Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - link
Im interested as to the specific version of the EVGA card tested as the EVGA site has the 256-P2-N389-BX and the 256-P2-N389-AX versions with the same specs ie 450MHz/1.05GHzAlaa - Monday, February 6, 2006 - link
who would buy FX57 with such a midrange product? please test the cards as normal usersspec74 - Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - link
Well i'm in Korea right now and found out it's selling for 217,000 won. With the current exchange rate of 1 Dollar = 964 KRN it's close to $200 here alsospec74 - Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - link
As I was checking the pic of the card also. It looks nothing like the one reviewed. I found it strangewell here's the site if you guys want to see it
http://pc.danawa.com/price_right.html?cate1=861&am...">http://pc.danawa.com/price_right.html?cate1=861&am...
tjpark1111 - Wednesday, February 1, 2006 - link
nice really! I'm korean and I've always thought stuff was more expensive there, it always seemed like it when I lived there... I guess not. You should go buy it hehe.wolf68k - Saturday, January 28, 2006 - link
I've got a problem with how they worded this.All they said, or implied, was that they turned on SM3.0 with the nVidia cards. The GTO doesn't support SM3.0. But did they turn on every options under SM3.0 as well or not?
From the results I would have to say so, I just wish they did.
I've got an AMD XP 3200+, 1GB of PC2100/DDR266 RAM and a completely stock eVGA 6800GS AGP.
When I benched SCCT at 1240x1024 with SM3.0 and Hardware Shadow Mapping turned on, as well as everything else but not including everything in SM3.0 and no AA/AF. I get around 45-50FPS.
With everything on, including the options under SM3.0 but still no AA/AF, then I get around 20-25FPS.
DerekWilson - Sunday, January 29, 2006 - link
We enabled all available options for the GTO, but as we pointed out in the article, it doesn't support SM3.0It should be noted that NV doesn't support support some of the higher end features with AA enabled, so the AA numbers are a more apples to apples sort of comparison here.
tjpark1111 - Sunday, January 29, 2006 - link
eh, who cares about SM3(ok, even i might care). Anyways, I would rather get a x800gto2 and make it faster than a x850 xt pe, and get much better performance than a 6800GS, all for $10 less lol.unclebud - Saturday, January 28, 2006 - link
"Remember, I would have to pay $100 more to get a PCIe mobo with the GS which would cost more than just getting the AGP version."also remember that the typical anandtecher does not have a girlfriend nor a spouse and no prospects of getting one, so they can rationalize that paying such copious amounts of money to match a graph of a demo machine is an incredible achievement... like saving the queen of england from bill collectors or something. that is why they cannot sympathize with us who would stick with agp for whatever reason (especially financial reasons).
thanks for posting!
Spoelie - Saturday, January 28, 2006 - link
Looks like someone isn't getting any...Either way, I'm keeping my gf satisfied while having a pci-e config. Gasp, it's unbelievable, I must be some kind of genious. You can read all about in my new book in stores this spring!
BTW, buying a pcie gs will survive the upgrade to a socket M2, while the agp will not. More money thrown away!