Introduction
GALAXY Glacier GeForce 6800 128MB Video CardIt's inevitable that NVIDIA would want to capitalise on the success of its NV40/GeForce 6 series of GPUs at the earliest opportunity. We initially saw the top-of-the-line GeForce 6800 Ultra and limited Ultra Extreme models. Then came the ~£300 GT derivatives, still running with 256MB of onboard RAM but with lower core and memory frequencies, naturally. One step below these two heavyweight NV40 models lies the GeForce 6800, which, again, runs with slower core and memory speeds and only 12 rendering pipelines and 5 Vertex Shaders instead of the GT and Ultra's 16 and 6, respectively. To further cheapen and differentiate it still, DDR1 memory is used. Ryszard summarises the key differences here. Continuing on the cost-cutting theme, most 6800s are equipped with only 128MB of onboard RAM.
What this all amounts to is basic GeForce 6 power at around the £200 mark. All NV40-specific technologies are still intact in the plain 6800, but with less of a performance punch. The vanilla GeForce 6800 should be a good seller. It has a number of positive attributes and is priced at more affordable levels. It's no wonder that NVIDIA's partners are especially keen to have a 6800 card in their respective ranges. GALAXY Technology, A 10-year-old company based in Hong Kong and China, is one of NVIDIA's newer Add-In Board (AIB) partners, so it was refreshing to see a GALAXY GeForce 6800 already shipping. We decided to take a closer look at an intriguing product.
