How about showing the results of an overclocked gto? These things overclock pretty well, and should get to x850 pro speeds.

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I didn't really find benchmarks that just compared 6800GS cards to other 6800GS cards that helpful. As a buyer I'm going to probably pick the 6800GS card that is selling for the best price or has the best warranty or some other such feature, if I decide that a 6800GS is the right card for me. In order to do that, I need to see how this card compares to the competition, both from other nvidia cards and from ATI's cards.

Ideally, these comparisons should also include SLI tests. Does the lack of pipelines come into play when running in SLI mode or not, compared to a 6800GT, for example?

When you write these reviews, you guys need to be asking yourselves the questions that a Anandtech readers, as consumers, will be asking.

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Didn't the previous 6800 GS article do just what you wanted? I think I even picked the 6800 GS based on that article.

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This review has missed the mark by failing to include the "AGP" versions of the 6800GS. Test results for the AGP version are important not only because there is still a very large contigent of gamers still using APG graphics supported motherboards but also because the clocking is very different on the AGP versions vs. the PCIe version. Dissapointing that AT had there tunnel vision visors on for this exersize.

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AGP is dead which is why it wasn't tested. This IS an enthusiast site not a J6P site.

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I'd like to see the AGP 6800GS tested anyway. As Anandtech is a worldwide website (as it was said in the article), they should be aware that in less developed countries AGP is still a big deal, even for new computers. Here in Brazil, buying a Semprom 3100+ with Palermo core and putting it to work at 2.5GHz on air is becoming a national sport [sort of :)], and most of them are AGP based systems. It's not cutting edge technology, but still is enthusiast stuff!
I'm not a cry-baby though, as I found the review really good (Zalman kicks the stock cooler's a**!). They may test the AGP version on other occasion. It's just a reply for those who think AGP is already dead and gone, specially in this price range.

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I don't see why anyone would still be buying an AGP card when the prices differences between AGP and PCIe are negligible. And why buy a card like the 6800GS for an older board when the video is going to be bottlenecked by the old CPU?

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I'm running a 6800GT with an Athlon XP clocked at 2.3GHz, and they are a good match for each other. Why should I upgrade a whole system when a better video card is enough to let me keep up with my gaming needs (mostly BF2 these days). The 6800GS is priced about right and the performance is about right for use in systems with the rough equivalent of a Pentium 3.0 GHz processor. And, the range of AGP cards still available is getting narrower; so, the interest in those that are still being made is sharper.

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Bob, umm, I don't know how to tell you this, but any Athlon64 socket 939 has AGP motherboards available for it. Bottlenecked by "old" CPU's..... And the price differences are more than negligible. PCI-e is significantly cheaper, actually.

The problem is that for Intel users, most will need new memory and everybody will need a new motherboard.

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This article was good and informative if a consumer is only looking @ 6800GS cards. Now, if they were smart they would consider the 7800GT for more money, and the 6600GT to save money. If they were not opposed to supporting the red team, they could look at the x800gto2 and it's unlockable quad and overclocking that part too. They could also look at the x1600's and the entire x850/800 pro series would not be far from this price range.

It's nice to have information available. It's even better when reviewers pull it together for consumers rather than consumers having to do the legwork.

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