GeForce 6800GS Review
Beyond3D has just posted a review of the mainstream GeForce 6800GS. This budget-oriented GPU has been receiving a great deal of press as of late for its price/performance ratio. However, seeing a "new" graphics card from NVIDIA hitting the shelves without the 7xxx family name does raise some questions as to the lifespan of the card. Regardless, this card is certainly an excellent choice for those looking to get the highest framerates for the least amount of money.
The timing of the 6800 GS is fairly interesting and raises a few questions of its longevity. Seemingly NV40 chips are being, or already have been, phased out, so the 6800 GS can be utilised to fill the performance gap between the 6600 GT and the 7800 GT for a while. However, it would appear that NVIDIA are busily readying their 90nm GeForce 7 series for fairly early in 2006, possibly as soon as January, which may mean that the GS might be superseded fairly quickly. The introduction of newer GeForce 7 products to address the mainstream segment may also partially explain 6800 GS's release - with NV40s seemingly out of the channel, NVIDIA may wish to clear out NV42s as much as possible in order not to have significant inventory left for when the newer product do hit.
