Overclocking

Using coolbits, we were able to overclock the 6800LE from its default core and memory speeds of 300MHz and 700MHz to a very nice 400MHz and 850MHz respectively. At these speeds, the card was left to loop benchmarks for almost two consecitive days and it did that without a single glitch. The following are the benchmarks produced by the LE at these speeds.

3D Mark 2001SE
Product Score Graph Difference MSI FX6800 Ultra 24,485 +12% Sapphire x800 PRO 24,466 +12% nVidia FX6800 21,895 0% nVidia 6800LE (OC) 21,841 Gigabyte 9800XT 21,176 -3% nVidia 6800LE 19,347 -11% Ennyah 5900 Ultra 19,296 -12% MSI 5900XT 17,823 -18% ASUS 9600XT 14,038 -36%

Aquamark 3
Product Score Graph Difference MSI FX6800 Ultra 67,187 +24% Sapphire x800 PRO 55,246 +2% nVidia FX6800 54,973 +1% nVidia 6800LE (OC) 54,186 Gigabyte 9800XT 47,062 -13% Ennyah 5900 Ultra 43,245 -20% nVidia 6800LE 42,274 -22% MSI 5900XT 37,460 -31% ASUS 9600XT 31,329 -42%

Far Cry (1024x768)
Product Score Graph Difference MSI FX6800 Ultra 76.19 +10% nVidia FX6800 70.89 +2% Sapphire x800 PRO 70.30 +1% nVidia 6800LE (OC) 69.50 Gigabyte 9800XT 65.92 -5% nVidia 6800LE 61.96 -11% Ennyah 5900 Ultra 52.23 -25% ASUS 9600XT 34.47 -50% MSI 5900XT 0 -100%

Far Cry (1600x1200)
Product Score Graph Difference MSI FX6800 Ultra 64.64 +127% Sapphire x800 PRO 50.59 +78% Gigabyte 9800XT 32.02 +12% nVidia FX6800 29.11 +2% nVidia 6800LE (OC) 28.48 nVidia 6800LE 26.42 -7% Ennyah 5900 Ultra 25.43 -11% ASUS 9600XT 15.34 -46% MSI 5900XT 0 -100%

UT2004 (1024x768)
Product Score Graph Difference MSI FX6800 Ultra 165.31 +7% nVidia FX6800 164.24 +6% Sapphire x800 PRO 161.53 +5% Gigabyte 9800XT 160.62 +4% nVidia 6800LE (OC) 154.26 nVidia 6800LE 150.67 -2% Ennyah 5900 Ultra 150.23 -3% MSI 5900XT 138.42 -10% ASUS 9600XT 116.36 -25%

UT2004 (1600x1200)
Product Score Graph Difference MSI FX6800 Ultra 161.25 +29% Sapphire x800 PRO 139.22 +12% nVidia FX6800 135.79 +9% nVidia 6800LE (OC) 124.53 Gigabyte 9800XT 99.74 -20% nVidia 6800LE 99.07 -20% Ennyah 5900 Ultra 97.21 -22% MSI 5900XT 82.64 -34% ASUS 9600XT 52.43 -58%

In one word- amazing. The card performed as well as the standard 6800 in most of the benchmarks with an improvement of over 20% in two tests.

Conclusion

To sum up the 6800LE, it utilizes nVidia's latest core, performs faster than their previous core and costs less. Sounds like nVidia has a winning card in their hands. The strategy of selling this card only through the OEM channel is also an interesting one. Although most of the people reading this are DIY users, there is still a very large segment of the market that will never open their PC and still like to play the latest games at respectable frame rates. The 6800LE would be the perfect choice for system integrators at the moment who want to provide a moderately priced system that can do that job very well.