PNY Verto GeForce 6800 GT 256 MB AGP Graphic Card

September 15th, 2005

5 out of 5 stars

A month or two ago I upgraded my PC one of the components I needed to upgrade was the graphic card. I had always used graphic cards made by nVidia and will continue to use them until I find something better and easier to use. This PNY Verto GeForce 6800GT 256MB video card as I wanted to be able to play the latest games and have the best possible video quality on my computer (it is not the best now, but it was when I bought it). I paid about $400.00 for this card, but let me tell you this, it is worth every penny; I did not want to get the GeForce 6800 Ultra because I knew I could overclock the GT and make it perform the same as an Ultra or even better. I did not get the regular 6800 because it would require a lot of overclocking and that would result in over heating as well.


ABOUT MY PC :
After researching for about a month or two I decided to upgrade my computer about two months ago. I did a lot of research on the processor (AMD Athlon 64 4000+) I wanted to buy, the motherboard (Asus A8V Deluxe) I had in mind, but I knew exactly which video card I wanted. When I bought this the nVidia 7800 GT was still in the making, so the 6800 GT was the best video card for me at that time.

I was upgrading from my old PNY Verto GeForce 5200 FX 128MB video card which was good, but I craved more graphic power and I would need to spend a much greater amount to acquire that. The reason I chose PNY is because I read good reviews about them and I have on-hand experience with one of their products.

My Computers Specifications :
Kingwin Inc. Mutant X ATX Mid-Tower Case
AMD Athlon 64 4000+ 2.4 GHz Processor
Asus A8V Deluxe Motherboard
Kingston 2 x 512MB PC3200 400MHz Ram
PNY Verto GeForce 6800GT 256MB Video Card
1 x Centon 512MB PC3200 Ram
1 x 40GB 7200RMP Internal Hard Drive
1 x 160GB 7200RMP Internal Hard Drive
1 x 200GB 7200RMP External Hard Drive
1 x Sony DVD-DL 8x Drive
1 x Sony DVD-RW 4x Drive
ThermalTake Silent Tower Heatsink
ULTRA X-Connect Modular 500W Power Supply
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Operating System
Fedora Core 4 Linux Operating System


ABOUT THE VIDEO CARD :
This particular version of the nVidia 6800GT is for an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) interface; AGP is faster than PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) which means faster graphic performance as well. There is a new much faster interface available now called the PCI-E or PCI-Express which is twice as fast as AGP. It was available when I purchased the 6800GT, but the reason I did not go the PCI-Express way is because I already had a motherboard that supported AGP only and there are no video cards available today that can harness the full power of PCI-E. I am not saying that you should not buy PCI-E if you want to because it is clearly the future of video cards; as technology advances, future video cards will eventually be able to take advantage of the PCI-E technology.

The PNY Verto GeForce 6800GT has three connections (DVI, S-Video, and VGA) which will allow you to connect most display devices. VGA and DVI can be used to connect the huge and bulky CRT or the light weight and space saving LCD monitors. The S-Video can be used to connect your TV monitor, but some of the newest TV’s have DVI connections available. Since I have an old TV, I cannot use the S-Video and test it.

The card itself is pretty big lengthwise, but it is thin enough to only use up one slot in the back of your computer. The heatsink is very large also that keeps the GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) cool at all times (even after overclocking).

PNY provides a one year standard warranty, but it is generously extended to three years after you register it with PNY. Just visit pny.com to register your product and find out more about the warranty.


THE PACKAGE :
1. nVidia GeForce 6800 GT AGP 8X Graphics Card
2. Quick Installation Guide
3. CD which includes:
- Detailed Installation Guide (PDF file)
- nVidia GeForce Drivers
- Microsoft DirectX 9.0c
- nVidia GeForce Demos
- PNY & nVidia Desktop Wallpapers
4. DVI-to-VGA Adapter
5. S-video Cable
6. External Power Cable


THE INSTALLATION :
The installation did not take too long at all (5 to 10 minutes). The only thing new you have to do in this installation is to plug in the extra power connector. This card requires more power than the AGP interface can provide; you must also have a power supply that is 350 watts or higher as recommended by nVidia.

I did not use the drivers that were provided in the CD because I wanted to have the latest up-to-date drivers, so I went to nvidia.com and downloaded the latest available drivers. The up-to-date drivers provide better performance and stability.

Since the card is longer and a bit thicker than older versions, it may be a bit troublesome to install if your computers case is small. So make sure it will fit in your computer before you open the packaging. The thickness does not bother me at all as I have a lot of slots in my computer and do not need the PCI slot next to the AGP slot, but would still be able to use it if I needed it. Just for installation purposes, free the PCI slot next to the AGP slot and reinstall it after installing this video card.


THE DRIVERS :
Once you install the drivers an additional tab is added to the “Display Properties Advanced Settings” window; this tab will have the name of the video card (in this case Verto GeForce 6800GT or something similar). This tab has all of the settings that can be controlled by the drivers available. You can change the display settings, performance and quality settings, color, refresh rates, multiple or single display options, and some other helpful settings.

There is a Microsoft Windows registry settings add-in (hack) that will allow you to unlock some advanced features like the overclocking mechanism, the card temperature monitor, and more. I like this because I do not have to download an additional utility that will do this for me and take up hard disk space and system resources.


PERSONAL EXPERIENCE :
I have been using this video card for a little over three months now and I have only had been happy with it. My benchmark scores and my game performance have increased dramatically. I played Doom3, Half-Life, Need-4-Speed, Deer Hunter, and Flight Simulator games at all of the settings at high and this card does not blink, flicker, or twitch ever.

I performed some benchmarks with 3DMark 2003 and 2005 at stock speed and overclocked speed. Here are the results:

Stock Speed :
6800GT 3DMark 03 = 11489
6800GT 3DMark 05 = 5695

Overclocked Speed :
3DMark 03 = 12657
3DMark 05 = 5885

By result looking at these results, I can proudly say that the PNY Verto GeForce 6800GT 256MB video card is the best I have ever owned. I have searched and found out that my result beat most of the GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB benchmark results. Combined with my system components I think I this video card performs extremely well. Even at full load and with overclocked speeds, the temperature stay well below 63 degrees Celsius (with the stock heatsink).

Well compared to the noise of the heatsink fan of my processor the heatseink fan of this video card is silent. I never hear the fan at all.


FINAL THOUGHTS :
From my personal experience I can proudly say that I am fully satisfied with my new PNY Verto GeForce 6800GT 256MB video card. It has provided me with the ability to overclock, flawless performance and stability, and no major disadvantages. The three year warranty is another advantage that I like because I would like to be protected in case a defect surfaces after a year or so of use. The drivers are easy to install and use. I think it was worth every penny for me to purchase this video card. I will highly recommend this video card to everyone in need of more power graphic wise.

Manufacturer:

PNY

FIND ARTICLES