Product Listing

Palit 6800GS Blitz (GeForce 6800 GS 256MB)

By Vincent Chang - 7 Feb 2006

Conclusion

Conclusion

The recent introduction of the GeForce 7800 GS (albeit with a slight handicap) for the AGP market may bring sighs of relief from those who are still clinging on to their AGP systems but for those hoping to get the PCIe version, NVIDIA has declared that it has no plans to release such a card commercially, thereby ending any hopes of a card to bridge the gap between the GeForce 6 and 7 series. GeForce 6800 GT and Ultra cards are already on its last legs, with no new injection of supply. This means that between the GeForce 6800 GS and the GeForce 7800 GT, there is a void of more than US$100 that is currently unfulfilled by any NVIDIA product. Maybe NVIDIA feels secure about its overall position to feel comfortable about this scenario but if you are looking for something more than a GeForce 6800 GS, Palit may just have the answer.

It worked for the GeForce 7800 GT so why not the GeForce 6800 GS? Palit's Blitz series certainly has showed that it can blow away the opposition.

The performance of the Palit 6800GS Blitz lives up to its billing in our benchmarks, with an average of 15% gain over the reference clock speeds. Thanks to its 1.4ns memory chips, most of the overclocking was in the memory frequency, thus the 6800GS Blitz powered ahead of all its rivals. The closest was the overclocked XXX Edition from XFX, which had a similar core clock but was hindered by its stock memory. Noise and temperature readings were mostly on par with an overclocked card (like the XFX), which is a relief especially after the high temperatures encountered with the 7800GT Blitz. However, the assembly of the card did seem a bit shoddy at times, from the rather messy application of thermal paste to the improperly seated heatsink for the memory chips. While these may not be showstoppers, it does convey the impression of a hasty and sloppy production.

Palit has also redesigned the PCB and its layout to meet its needs, with high quality capacitors that complement its excessive overclocking - the winning formula found in its other 7800GT Blitz graphics card. Unfortunately, the apple does not fall far from the tree and despite all the overclocking, the NV42 core of the Palit 6800GS Blitz will not even come close to that of the superior GeForce 7800 GT, though it does an excellent job of closing the gap. In truth, the gap between the GeForce 6800 GS and the GeForce 7800 GT is probably too great for any overclocked GeForce 6800 GS to surmount. Hence, while the overclocked 7800GT Blitz stunned us with its close imitation of a GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB, it would be impractical to expect the 6800GS Blitz to do the same. What made the 7800GT Blitz more remarkable in our eyes was its attractive price tag as it remained competitive with a reference GeForce 7800 GT while being streets ahead in terms of performance.

Luckily, this is another trait shared by the 6800GS Blitz. Palit quoted us a recommended retail price of US$188, placing it right in the lower half of the GeForce 6800 GS price range, which varied from US$179 to US$219 (at the time of publishing), depending on the brand. When you consider the faster memory and the guaranteed overclocking, this makes the 6800GS Blitz a steal just like its 7800GT counterpart. The only dampener is that we have yet to see stocks of these Blitz cards available at retail but with its performance and price, and the polished retail bundles that we have seen, we expect Palit to blitz the stores soon with these great cards. Finally, we think that, like the 7800GT Blitz, you'll agree that the price and performance of the Palit 6800GS Blitz certainly deserves our Most Value for Money award.

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