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Which 8800 to buy?

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  • 01-12-2007 11:40pm
    #1
    ve
    Closed Accounts Posts: 448 ✭✭


    I don't game very often, but nothing annoys me more than a PC that simply can't run a game with a decent frame rate. I'm also a divil for high res gaming (1650 x 1050). At the moment I'm playing the likes of Timeshift, HL2, Fear, etc all on decent detail levels with my ATI X1800XT 512MB. But I want to give Crysis / COD4 a go, and want to have no cares in the world about whacking detail levels to the max.

    I was about to go and get myself a single Point of View GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB on overclockers for approx €420.

    However what's this I hear about the 8800 GT?. I was looking at some benchmarks online and the GTX stills seems to out perform the GT, but I'm confused. I don't want a GTS as I've heard people say it's excellent, if you don't mind running on 1280 x 1024 (but I do, I won't go lower than 1650 x 1050) especially if I'm paying a few hundred quid for a new card.

    Also people tell me these cards are huge. I have a Coolermaster Stacker 830 case (which is pretty big itself, so I guess I shouldn't have any problems, yeah?). I also have a 600W PSU.

    Now I only have 2GBs of RAM, and a poxy Asus A8n-SLI Premium 939 Mobo, with a AMD 4200+ CPU. I don't have any immediate plans to upgrade this, so have I a real bottleneck here if I do get an 8800, or shall I expect to see much better results anyway.

    Also as I am a Linux fan, I finally want to be able to use Beryl on my Linux distro (had my share of driver issues with the 'ol ATI card, but nVidia driver support on Linux is far better).

    Should I go ahead with the GTX, or pay attention to the GT?


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    #2
    awhir
    Registered Users Posts: 4,227 ✭✭✭awhir


    pay attention to the Gt way better $/performence


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    #3
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    But that aside, even if money was no object, the Gt performs just as good at 1680x1050 in most games (apart from crysis) as the GTX, that is to say, both perform so fast the difference in frames is beyond your perception.

    Don't forget to consider the new GTS, serious performer.


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    #4
    ve
    Closed Accounts Posts: 448 ✭✭ve


    Cheers. So Havok you're saying that the GTX will still be better than the GT with Crysis, because I really want to be able to experience the true eye candy with no lags. A mate who has a 320MB GTS said he ran Crysis fine, except that he had to do the odd "spin around 360 degrees" to cache the environment in order to prevent further lags. I do not want this to happen.

    Also if I do get a 8800 GTX, how many years gaming would you expect to get out of such a card?
    I have nearly 2 years now out of my x1800XT and I'm happy with that.

    Also I've heard that DirectX 10 is still buggy and hogs GPU cycles way too much and that DX9 is still decent for new games. However if I want to play Crysis properly do I have no choice but to upgrade to Vista32 in order to access DX10, or should some of the Crysis DX9 hacks suffice?


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    #5
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    Yes, performance versus money paid aside, the GTX and Ultra are still the best cards immediately available in pure performance terms. Not for long though, they've had a good (and unchallenged) run in that bracket but the new cards will be out early next year. Right now, there's a lot of refreshes of the older cards to more powerful models under the same names, and they come close to the GTX in some scenarios while costing significantly less. So it would be silly to ignore them completely, even if money is no object.

    As for Crysis, having only played it briefly on my laptop, all I can do is repeat common opinion that it runs far better in a tweaked Dx9 mode (to enable effects 'supposedly' only available in Vista) then Dx10 on Vista.


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    #6
    ve
    Closed Accounts Posts: 448 ✭✭ve


    Yeah there is a good price difference alright between the gt and gtx. Saw some videos on google there with Crysis on the gt and they seemed excellent. Perhaps I should consider it.

    Where would you buy?

    Checked the likes of hardwareversand.de but they're not in stock.

    Cheers for your help ;)


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    #7
    astrofool
    Registered Users Posts: 16,681 ✭✭✭✭astrofool


    Crysis stresses all currently available cards, it'll be next year before the true dx10 cards arrive. Situation at the moment is very much like the days of the ATi 9800 and FX 5800/5900 for dx9.


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    #8
    ve
    Closed Accounts Posts: 448 ✭✭ve


    OK, since I started this thread I've been reading all over the place online (on advice of posters above) that the 8800GTX only performs 10% faster than the GT 512MB, but is 100% more expensive. Considering that the new DX10 cards are just around the corner and I want to upgrade now, I would probably be mad throwing money at a GTX.

    So I'm now looking for a 8800 GT 512MB instead. But where to buy? (can they be bought, ebay is the only place I can see them).

    Also I read online that the EVGA e-Geforce 8800GT Superclocked is the one to go for, would you agree?


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    #9
    zonEEE
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,554 ✭✭✭zonEEE


    Gt


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    #10
    Grim.
    Registered Users Posts: 2,855 ✭✭✭Grim.


    or wait till next week and get the new gts


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    #11
    ve
    Closed Accounts Posts: 448 ✭✭ve


    Is the new GTS better again than the current GT I mentioned above. Is there anywhere online where I can get benchmark comparisons.

    Is the GT for sale yet, I keep seeing the word "pre-order" or "out of stock"

    Also: When you say "next week" do you mean Monday (3rd). Do you know of any places that will have it for sale on the day?


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    #12
    awhir
    Registered Users Posts: 4,227 ✭✭✭awhir


    http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1234/1


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    #13
    Anti
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,401 ✭✭✭✭Anti


    Why are people considering the GT. The GTS is about 20% faster. Runns cooler, and will only be 50$ more epensive. Oh and alot less power hungry.


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    #14
    ve
    Closed Accounts Posts: 448 ✭✭ve


    awhir wrote: »
    http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1234/1

    Yeah I saw that in my travels during the last hour. Cheers though ;)

    It does look tempting. If I can get a new (g92) GTS delivered for not much over €300 I'd be well happy. I wonder will this be possible?


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    #15
    Anti
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,401 ✭✭✭✭Anti


    Sure, buy from the us. You just have to employ a mexican drugs mule to import it up his ...... YOu catch my drift ?


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    #16
    Fizman
    Registered Users Posts: 6,605 ✭✭✭Fizman


    Anti wrote: »
    Sure, buy from the us. You just have to employ a mexican drugs mule to import it up his ...... YOu catch my drift ?
    I just received my 8800GT xxx on thursday. Bought it off a US powerseller on eBay, took 10 days to get to me from day of ordering (not bad IMO) and paid no customs (the seller assured me I wouldn't have to).

    On the card itself, i've only had the chance to try Far Cry on it so far (prob buy Crysis later) and i'm very impressed with it. Everything maxed out and running very smooth so happy days.


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    #17
    stephenmarr
    Registered Users Posts: 838 ✭✭✭stephenmarr


    Ive and 8800gtx 768mb wouldit be worth it to buy a second 8800gtx card or wait till new year buy a 9*** series card or fit two 8800gt cards?

    ive a 24" monitor running 1900x1200 res

    Crysis plays pretty good with the single 8800gtx card with these settings

    Texture Quality: Very High
    Objects Quality: Very High
    Shadows Quality: Medium
    Physics Quality: Medium
    Shaders Quality: Low
    Volumetric Effects Quality: Very High
    Game Effects Quality: Very High
    Post Processing Quality: Low
    Particles Quality: Medium
    Water Quality: Very High
    Sound Quality: Very High

    AA set to Off


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    #18
    Lord Deco
    Closed Accounts Posts: 182 ✭✭Lord Deco


    stephenmarr wrote: »
    Ive and 8800gtx 768mb wouldit be worth it to buy a second 8800gtx card or wait till new year buy a 9*** series card or fit two 8800gt cards?

    ive a 24" monitor running 1900x1200 res

    Crysis plays pretty good with the single 8800gtx card with these settings

    Texture Quality: Very High
    Objects Quality: Very High
    Shadows Quality: Medium
    Physics Quality: Medium
    Shaders Quality: Low
    Volumetric Effects Quality: Very High
    Game Effects Quality: Very High
    Post Processing Quality: Low
    Particles Quality: Medium
    Water Quality: Very High
    Sound Quality: Very High

    AA set to Off

    Wouldnt bother mate,the performance increase in crysis and other games is just not worth €400.....

    I think the 8800GTX should be ok pushing that many pixels at v high settings in most games besides Crysis of course,(though dont quote me on that lol)

    What fps are you getting at the moment at 1900x1200?

    20?

    Wait for the 9800gtx or whatever they call it in feb and sell the 8800gtx....


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    #19
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    stephenmarr wrote: »
    Ive and 8800gtx 768mb wouldit be worth it to buy a second 8800gtx card or wait till new year buy a 9*** series card or fit two 8800gt cards?

    :rolleyes: What mobo have you? Does your mobo have 2 16x pci-e slots? or is it 16x + 4x, or 8x + 8x. Only worht thinking about if u got 2 16x slots and even at that sli doesn't really give that much improvement


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    #20
    DirkVoodoo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,504 ✭✭✭✭DirkVoodoo


    Anti wrote: »
    Why are people considering the GT. The GTS is about 20% faster. Runns cooler, and will only be 50$ more epensive. Oh and alot less power hungry.

    Actually, according to that tweaktown review the total system draw is nearly in the 2900XT range.


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