The holiday season is upon us, and one thing that frequently means is the release of new PC graphics cards to catch the attention of gamers drafting their Christmas wish lists. With tweaky high-end cards costing as much as the average Jane and Joe might spend on an entire computer system, gift givers can struggle to justify the cost of such a purchase (not that this has EVER happened to me). So it’s nice to see the initial reports coming in on the Nvidia GeForce 6 6800 GS card (released two days ago). This card is being offered at the initial SRP of US$249, with the price likely to eventually drop by $20 or so. The core clock speed of the card is 425MHz, but it’s likely that other manufacturers will overlock this.
ExtremeTech got ahold of a pre-release card and offer this preview/review. They’re suitably impressed and think the card might have found the sweet spot between price and performance.
TechReport offers an in-depth analysis and benchmark tests against other cards in the price range (and a few pricier models). The 6800 fairs well here too.
UPDATE The Register chimes in with its (positive) review of this new 6800.