Pipelines??

[Twizted_3kgt]

- What are pixel pipelines?

- Whats the difference between the 6800GS's 12 and the GT's 16?

- Is it possible/worth it to "unlock" the other 4 pipelines on the GS?

 

[JoshSB]

Unsure in all truth, I do know the diff between the 7800GTs 20 pipelines and the 7800GTX (256mb) 24 pipelines is like 10 FPS roughly according to tomshardware.com reviews/benchmarks on various games, so I would not think its that much of a diff.

 

[Alex81388]

Well, thats not valid. Its dufferent comparing to of the highest cards to two of the middle range cards.

think of it like this... Those extra 4 piplines are a 25% loss in performance from the GT.

Instead of your 60fps, you're getting 45.

I would say that it is a pretty generous difference in almost every case ive seen before the pipelines get into the 20's.

HOWEVER, although I havn't seen them myself, people on this forum claim benchmarks are rating the GS right near the GT anyways. And if that is the case I'd be surprised, but if the price difference is much, go with that GS.

BTW, I'm selling an EVGA 6800gt.

 

[Twizted_3kgt]

oh I already have the xfx 6800gs which comes oc'd, then i oc'd it more, past the gt's performance (in sig)...but if i could get those extra pipelines then i was thinking i might be able to touch 7800gt territory.

 

[Alex81388]

No way you'll hit 7800GT territory, since theres just better hardware components on it's board, especially the cooling which I would be afraid of.

However, I'm not sure if the GS has the 4 piplines onboard and are locked or if it really just has 12.

Either way, IDK how to unlock the pipelines, as I would never want to risk that with a 200 dollar component.

 

[weringo]

THe pipelines do make a big difference, they help determine the pixel fillrate (no. of pipelines multiplied by clock speed).

The pipelines cannot be unlocked on the modern cards but they can be on some of the older ones such as the 6800 vanilla can be unlocked to the 6800gt, the x800GTO2 can be unlocked to the x850XTPE

 

[Twizted_3kgt]

ahh ok...i was just curious.

 

[Mr_Threepwood]

People are saying that the AGP 6800gs can be unlocked to 16 pipelines effectively making it a 6800gt. Since the PCIE version is completely different it cant, but it has way better clock speeds. I just got my 6800gs, I'm gonna try and see if I can unlock them then I'll post.

 

[Sh0r_ty]

What are pixel pipelines?

pixel pipelines dictate the number of pixels that the gpu can process each clock. this is why a 400mhz 12 pipe gpu is better than a 500mhz 8 pipe gpu

for instance the 6600GT as compared to the 6800GT
the 6600GT has an 8 pipe gpu @ 500mhz and these give it a pixel fill rate of 4000 pixels while the 6800GT has a 16 pipe gpu @ 350mhz giving it a pixel fill rate of 5600.

beacause of this the 6800GT is faster even though looking at the gpu speed alone the 6600GT seems faster

also it is impossible to say that losing 4 pipes is like 10fps cos benchmarking differant games will give very differant results. for instance if u are comparing a X800XT (16) and an X800Pro (12)and they are both clocked at 300mhz (no idea why anyone would ) and you benchmark them in Fear on medium settings then u might have a 10fps differance. but if you were to then go to unreal tournament 2004 on medium settings the differance would be somthing like 50fps.

beacause the pixel fill rate is the multiplication of the pipes X gpu speed a card like the X1800XT (16) can compete with a card like the 7800GTX

 

[Riceball]

You can't unlock the GS pipelines, but you can OC it, and it will perform better than a 6800GT.