Author Topic: Buying new GFX card (Read 2775 times)

queenmetroid · « **on:** July 16, 2009, 09:09:03 PM »

So I've got money, and I'm upgrading. (Finally!) I currently have a 8800 GT Superclocked which has served me well, but I'm building a better system now (with SLI), and I'll grab GFX cards first because I can use them right now. Personally, I'd be fine with picking up a second 8800 GT SC, but I can't find one, and I'm not willing to pay much because better cards are available for cheaper. I'm not waiting for DX11 because it won't drop the prices *that* much. If anyone's got opinions, I'll be happy to hear them out. One thing, I need two cards, and no ATI, unless someone can show me compelling benchmarks for a better price. I also don't want to spend more than $120 a card.

Money wise, this is the best deal I've found so far.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339

I don't really care about the free games, but if they want to give them out for free, that's cool with me.

kyanwan · « **Reply #1 on:** July 16, 2009, 10:37:23 PM »

If you're looking for value - I bought this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150365

... and it is fucking sweet. $15 more than what you were looking at. It's basically a slightly kicked up version of that same card.

If you're already spending that much, consider going up one more step.

IceRiccy · « **Reply #2 on:** July 16, 2009, 11:00:14 PM »

pfff If i were you I would not waste the money on 2 cards right now if your able to dish out 240 dollars.

Its better to just make the wait and run that single 8800 GS for now, its not a bad card and it will definitly keep you happy for atleast a nother 6 months. for around 300, you could get yourself a dx11 videocard that will blow most other then the GTX type of cards in SLI out of the water on there own. your only looking at a 6 month wait anyway.

ut if your really fixated on getting a new one, do yourself a favour and forget about the sli on that 9800 and just buy yourself a GTX 295.

sdedalus83 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2009, 12:17:00 AM »

The 8800gt is the most tenacious video card since the geforce 2 mx. Either stick with it until nvidia stops rereleasing it with new branding as their current midrange card, or pick up a gtx275 if you can find it for 150 or less.

kyanwan · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2009, 01:04:21 AM »

OOOOH! I missed that you *want* SLI. More isn't always better. The performance gain of SLI is 25%, some people say 30%.

SLI is stupid & a waste - the only one who gains anything out if it - is Nvidia or ATI. Just put your money in the best SINGLE card you can get.

Scratch off what I said.

Get THIS card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143199

And forget about SLI. It's a waste.

Read THIS - they're talking about 4X 9800's. 4 OF THEM. 1x 275 has more punch than 2 9800s. 2x 275s, now that's a different story.

https://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=100615476

Arveene · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2009, 02:44:28 AM »

I really would suggest waiting as well, but if you have to I really would suggest just grabbing a single card. GTX 260 or 275 would be good deal.

EVGA is really good btw, my 8800 finally died on me and they sent me back a 9800 with a bit more memory and slightly higher clock speeds. If you must have SLI and want 2 cards around the 120 range the 9800 would be the one I suggest.

Regarding using your upgrade now, are you sure your current PSU will be able to support an upgraded card. I'm fairly certain the PSU in my old desktop (the one with the 9800) wouldn't be able to support even a single 200 series card.

My next point would be even if DX 11 didn't drop prices you would be picking up a card(s) that support DX11 features and, therefore, you are futureproofing your Gfx cards by waiting.

kyanwan · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2009, 09:50:46 AM »

Quote from: Arveene on July 17, 2009, 02:44:28 AM

I really would suggest waiting as well, but if you have to I really would suggest just grabbing a single card. GTX 260 or 275 would be good deal.

EVGA is really good btw, my 8800 finally died on me and they sent me back a 9800 with a bit more memory and slightly higher clock speeds. If you must have SLI and want 2 cards around the 120 range the 9800 would be the one I suggest.

Regarding using your upgrade now, are you sure your current PSU will be able to support an upgraded card. I'm fairly certain the PSU in my old desktop (the one with the 9800) wouldn't be able to support even a single 200 series card.

My next point would be even if DX 11 didn't drop prices you would be picking up a card(s) that support DX11 features and, therefore, you are futureproofing your Gfx cards by waiting.

The pathetic thing is - if you went SLI 9800s - they're still going to be a hair *UNDER* the performance of a single 275 --- yet you're likely to spend more on 2x 9800s than you would on a single 275.

IceRiccy · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2009, 01:07:05 PM »

Sli is rather tenecious.

With 2 cards, the second card gives you a 25 performance increase.

the third card will give you a 15% performance increase, if not lower and even if you decide to go all out and run 4 cards in sli, you are looking at 10% or less increase on the fourthcard,.

Giving you a netto of around 50% increase. Not to shabby, but not worth the cash when new cards that will perform better are on the way.

queenmetroid · « **Reply #8 on:** July 17, 2009, 03:08:40 PM »

Quote from: kyanwan on July 16, 2009, 10:37:23 PM

If you're looking for value - I bought this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150365

... and it is fucking sweet. $15 more than what you were looking at. It's basically a slightly kicked up version of that same card.

If you're already spending that much, consider going up one more step.

Well, I was looking at the GTS line, but I'm wondering if they deliver any significant performance boost. Spec wise, it's barely faster than what I have now, and if I'm getting SLI anyway, is it going to matter. Screens of my current card specs:

As you can see, the GTS 250 isn't *that* much faster. Whether it gets better framerates or not, I don't know, but I doubt the small increase in clock speed on paper will translate to any real world gain. I've also seen benchmarks showing that the 9800GTX+ isn't that much faster either. The main thing I have against buying another 8800 GT SC is that I will have to track one down, and it will cost more than what I will pay for a 9800GTX+ or a GTS series card. By way of comparison, here's my friends card(s) which he paid 95 bucks apiece for about 4-5 months ago. I wish I would have had the money back then, it would have been fine to have a couple of those.

I've already resigned myself to the fact that prices go down, that's the way it is. One of the reasons I opted not to wait for DX11 is because it's anything like the disaster DX10 was, there won't be much mainstream support for it anyway. Crysis is the only modern game that *requires* more than one video card anyway. I'm going to use SLI because it will make my games smoother overall. I dunno about a GTX275, I'd have to see how it performs versus an SLI setup.

I'm going to have to track some benchmarks for some of these cards. All I really want is the best bang for my buck. A current SLI setup should easily last me 2-3 years, and then I'll upgrade again.

Edit: I'm making some money today, so it's possible I might be able to afford 2 of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130433

Or should I just go with a single GTX 275 as kyanwan suggests? Ah, decisions, decisions...

mgz · « **Reply #9 on:** July 17, 2009, 03:17:36 PM »

its true you dont get massive performance gains but if im not mistaken the load on each GPU should be lower when running SLI or Xfire so it should in theory run a little cooler too

sdedalus83 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 17, 2009, 04:44:04 PM »

In the best case scenario, dual 9800/GTS250s will slightly outperform the 275. Do you really want to spend $250 for a bit more performance in half a dozen games when you can get a much more reliable, more consistent, and considerably less power hungry $170 card?

kyanwan · « **Reply #11 on:** July 17, 2009, 06:11:21 PM »

Dual 250s are an option too. Would cost slightly more than the 270 - but ... maybe would match or come close.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gf-gts250-sli.html

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gf-gts250-sli_14.html#sect1 <= THIS

Holy shit - so you can get the kick of a 285 for $100 less than a 285. I suppose, if the deal is right - SLI can be cool. There ya go.

queenmetroid · « **Reply #12 on:** July 17, 2009, 06:38:48 PM »

Quote from: kyanwan on July 17, 2009, 06:11:21 PM

Dual 250s are an option too. Would cost slightly more than the 270 - but ... maybe would match or come close.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gf-gts250-sli.html

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gf-gts250-sli_14.html#sect1 <= THIS

Holy shit - so you can get the kick of a 285 for $100 less than a 285. I suppose, if the deal is right - SLI can be cool. There ya go.

Interesting numbers...it also shows the superiority of EVGAs superclocked edtion cards, which do almost as well as 2 normal GTS 250s in SLI...
I'll have to see if I can find one or two for a decent price.

*edit* OK, I'm almost sold on a GTS 250 SC. I'll still look around at some other benchmarks before I'm sure. Now, the real question. Which one, 1 gig or 512 MBs? The age old argument about whether large amounts of slow memory benefit you or not...Since they tested a 1 gig card, I might just grab a single 1 gig card. Hmm.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048%2050001402%20106793024&name=EVGA&ActiveSearchResult=True

Arveene · « **Reply #13 on:** July 17, 2009, 06:42:30 PM »

Quote from: queenmetroid on July 17, 2009, 03:08:40 PM

~snip~
Crysis is the only modern game that *requires* more than one video card anyway. I'm going to use SLI because it will make my games smoother overall. I dunno about a GTX275, I'd have to see how it performs versus an SLI setup.
~snip~
All I really want is the best bang for my buck.

Oh I should probably mention. The 9800 is just a rebranded 8800 in case you couldn't tell from GPU-Z. The 2x 260s would be a pretty good SLI setup, and it would outperform the single 275. Do a bit of searching for benchmarks on teh google to be sure. Just make sure you have a large enough case and a motherboard to fit 2 of those things in there. The same applies to any of the GTX line of cards. (I think)

Edit: kyanwan just found the winner I think. 2x of these and you'll be rocking. Edit 2: I'm an EVGA fanboy, but at least numbers / excellent customer service support my claims of EVGA being so great.

I'm surprised no one has asked this (also surprised I didn't ask this myself), what games / what do you intend to do with the new setup?

Funny note about Crysis: I've been able to run it at 20fps @ 1920x1080 and max settings on a single GTX 285 (soon to be sli), but that's a bit higher than what you wanted to spend.

queenmetroid · « **Reply #14 on:** July 17, 2009, 06:56:30 PM »

Quote from: Arveene on July 17, 2009, 06:42:30 PM

Quote from: queenmetroid on July 17, 2009, 03:08:40 PM
~snip~
Crysis is the only modern game that *requires* more than one video card anyway. I'm going to use SLI because it will make my games smoother overall. I dunno about a GTX275, I'd have to see how it performs versus an SLI setup.
~snip~
All I really want is the best bang for my buck.

Oh I should probably mention. The 9800 is just a rebranded 8800 in case you couldn't tell from GPU-Z. The 2x 260s would be a pretty good SLI setup, and it would outperform the single 275. Do a bit of searching for benchmarks on teh google to be sure. Just make sure you have a large enough case and a motherboard to fit 2 of those things in there.

Edit: kyanwan just found the winner I think. 2x of these and you'll be rocking. Edit 2: I'm an EVGA fanboy, but at least numbers / excellent customer service support my claims of EVGA being so great.

I'm surprised no one has asked this (also surprised I didn't ask this myself), what games / what do you intend to do with the new setup?

Funny note about Crysis: I've been able to run it at 20fps @ 1920x1080 and max settings on a single GTX 285, but that's a bit higher than what you wanted to spend.

You said exactly what I was just thinking (and edited into my post above before I read your post). I'm sold on EVGA, for sure. I knew about the 9800 being an 8800, which is why the 8800 GT SC can outperform an 9800 GTX+.

In any case, I currently play Dawn of War 2, F.E.A.R. 2, CoD: WaW (I get another copy for free, how ironic), and will be playing Command and Conquer 4 (which probably won't even tax my 8800 GT SC, stupid EA for sticking with the SAGE engine), and I plan on buying some other games in the future. I could easily get away without having SLI, but it's all about bragging rights, lol.

I suppose I could pick up just one for now, and then use the other money to buy a quad core, but I was planning on getting a Core i7 sometimes next year when the price drops, so a CPU upgrade now would be pointless.

kyanwan · « **Reply #15 on:** July 17, 2009, 07:23:00 PM »

Quote from: Arveene on July 17, 2009, 06:42:30 PM

Edit: kyanwan just found the winner I think. 2x of these and you'll be rocking. Edit 2: I'm an EVGA fanboy, but at least numbers / excellent customer service support my claims of EVGA being so great.

BFG's a great co too - I've got cards from both BFG and EVGA, and would buy again from both.

Customer service stories from EVGA - there are the same from BFG. ( * Though, BFG seems to be pricier for the initial buy. )

Zayras · « **Reply #16 on:** July 17, 2009, 10:50:00 PM »

Umm... no one has mentioned the HD4770?
It's one affordable, two highly overclockable, 3 gives great performance, 4 two of these in crossfire outperform or match (can't remember) a single HD4890/GTX 275.

IMO it's the way to go... just look for it on newegg because if I put up the link it might get taken down (they're in high demand). Some manufacturers sell it for $110, others for $120.

mgz · « **Reply #17 on:** July 18, 2009, 04:33:46 AM »

Quote from: Zayras on July 17, 2009, 10:50:00 PM

Umm... no one has mentioned the HD4770?
It's one affordable, two highly overclockable, 3 gives great performance, 4 two of these in crossfire outperform or match (can't remember) a single HD4890/GTX 275.

IMO it's the way to go... just look for it on newegg because if I put up the link it might get taken down (they're in high demand). Some manufacturers sell it for $110, others for $120.

comparison of 4770 vs 4870 ? cuz you can get a 4870 for like 120 or 130

Zayras · « **Reply #18 on:** July 18, 2009, 05:36:45 AM »

Wow that's actually true, although most are over $150... jeez the price dropped a lot on them. Yeah 4870 is better no doubt, the 4770 gives you about the same performance (better if you overclock) than the 4850 at much better temps.

queenmetroid · « **Reply #19 on:** July 18, 2009, 03:25:45 PM »

The main reason I did not want an ATI is because of power consumption/heat issues. Nothing against them personally (My last card was an X700 Pro, and a great card), but their latest cards run pretty inefficiently.