Video card - opinions?

[floppybootstomp]

I'm probably in the market for a new video card.

I started by thinking I'll replace the 256Mb 7600GT in my AMD machine, I rather feel it's letting down a 4000+ dual core 3.2Ghz CPU with 2Gb memory.

But then it occured to me that maybe I should buy something better than my current 8800GTS 640Mb in my main machine and put this card into the AMD machine.

So I gathered together a table of all the cards I was interested in with all their specs including my own current card.

I was really rather shocked to see how low specced my 8800GTS is. When I purchased it 18 months ago it had just come onto the market, was the second fastest video card around and I think cost me around £300.00

I have become locked into a mindset where I think my card is still the bizness, but it's not anymore, is it?

So, below is a table of cards I looked at, although my budget won't stretch to the higher priced cards.

I really think the XFX 8800GTX represents the best combination of features and value for money at around £165.00 (All prices were taken from OCUK btw).

But I'd be interested to hear what you fellas think and any comments you may wish to make would be welcomed.

Here's the table I drew up, in price order. It really is, to me, kinda confusing, as there isn't a definite scale emerging, it's a matter of choosing a combination of factors and price and trying to decide which factor is most important to gaming.

 

[TriplexDread]

WOW they have come down in price havent they!!!!!!!!!

I have two XFX although they are only 6800GS cards they have performed brilliantly mate

 

[Alf]

Stick with your card Flops, theres not much point in investing in a 9800 series card and its not much of a improvement - and Nvidia is going to be releasing a new flagship card come June-July anyway.

A 9600GT is a great buy, just no for you
8800 GTS-GT are still better than a 9600GT sooo... why bother?

Save you monies

 

[floppybootstomp]

Too late

I've ordered a BFG 9800GTX, the third one down in the above list.

And I priced it wrong, it is in fact £193.

If we were to always wait until the next big thing we'd be waiting forever.

All the reviews I've read of the 9800 GTX says it owns.

It's a big improvement on my 8800GTS which will now slot nicely into my AMD dualie 3.2Ghz machine.

I'm quite happy with the decision and am rather looking forward til tomorrow

Also ordered 2Gb Corsair Dominator 1066 RAM to go into the AMD machine.

The 2Gb of Corsair 800Mhz memory that will free up will go into my Intel machine, giving me 4 sticks of identical Corsair memory, so my Vista system will have 4Gb of memory.

 

[Ian]

I'm with Alf, I'd hold fire for a little longer personally. Have you found any games where the 8800GTS doesn't cut it yet? I've got one too and it's run everything I've thrown at it so far. The other contenders aren't that much of a technological leap up really.

It might be worth saving for a few more months and then splash the cash ones the next batch of cards come out

edit: haha, I see I posted this at the same time as you

The one you got looks the best from the bunch - I just didn't see much point in another 8800GT/GTX series

 

[Abarbarian]

Wat Alf said . Give it a few more months and see what comes up .

 

[floppybootstomp]

I'm with Alf, I'd hold fire for a little longer personally. Have you found any games where the 8800GTS doesn't cut it yet? I've got one too and it's run everything I've thrown at it so far. The other contenders aren't that much of a technological leap up really.

It might be worth saving for a few more months and then splash the cash ones the next batch of cards come out

See above post

My 8800GTS has only faltered a little with Crysis but I think that holds true for most video cards anyway.

The whole thing here was not so much upgrading the 8800GTS so much as replacing the 7600GT in my AMD machine.

And I thought if I'm going to buy a new video card I may as well get something better than the 8800GTS and put the 8800GTS into the AMD machine.

It make sense, no?

So, it's not so much wanting the latest and greatest, more a case of replacing a 7600GT and getting something a little better for my main gaming machine.

PS: In Assassin's Creed, I'm now in Damascus...

 

[floppybootstomp]

No patience, me, I won't wait.

As I said, I'd be waiting forever if I waited for the next big thing.

So when's the X58 chipset out then?

And another thing - the 9800GTX is a good price, the new range will all cost lots of dough I expect.

 

[Abarbarian]

looks like we are too late guys .

So its round to floppy's for beers and a go on the fastest card around .

 

[floppybootstomp]

The fastest card around is the one at the top of my list above, which costs twice as much as the one I've ordered.

Honestly, as video cards go the one I've ordered isn't that expensive and it's better than my 8800GTS.

And as I keep holding up in my defence the 8800GTS is miles better than my 7600GT, which it will replace.

And you're all welcome to come round for a beer

 

[Alf]

Well, whats the point of asking opinions if ya already made up your mind?

Hope it serves ya well, give us some feed back will ya?

 

[floppybootstomp]

Well, whats the point of asking opinions if ya already made up your mind?

Hope it serves ya well, give us some feed back will ya?

Because I asked Friday evening and waited until Monday afternoon for repsonse, that's why.

Hardly had any response here whereas I had a whole heap of replies and comments at my other forum.

So I did have other peeps' point of views to consider.

It won't be a massive upgrade, probably means I can run Crysis at higher settings, is all.

But, as I keep saying, replacing the 7600GT with my 8800GTS will, hopefully, be a big improvement.

I'm running the games on the AMD/XP Pro machine that I can't run on this Intel/Vista machine, like:

(I don't actually play all these games that much but it's nice to have them there should the mood take me)

TOCA Race Car 3
CoD1 (Yes, I've since heard Cod1 will run ok on Vista on XP emulation mode)
Soldier Of Fortune 2
All 3 Serious Sams
Half Life 1/Opposing Force/Blue Shift/Gunman Chronicles/They Hunger 1 - 3
UT2004
NFS Porsche 2000
Simpsons Hit & Run
Carmageddon TDR2000
MS Train Simulator + SE London Add-on
Return To Castle Wolfenstein
Neverwinter Nights 1
Mafia
Diablo II
Diablo II Lord Of Destruction
Worms Armageddon
Space Invaders
Black & White 2
Halo 1
Dungeon Siege 2
Dungeon Siege 2 Broken World
Max Payne 2
Devastation
FEAR
FEAR Extraction Point

The 8800GTS will enable me to run all of those at max settings I expect.

I'm using an X-Box for PC gamepad with some of those.

And thank you to everybody who did reply here

 

[Abarbarian]

Decent choice of games and offers of beers ---- when is that card arriving ?

 

[MeMateBigDave]

I have 2 new GTS 8800s watercooled and they still wont handle Crysis on very high.....

9800GTX seems like a reasonable chocie, bang for buck wise anyhow

 

[Ian]

I have 2 new GTS 8800s watercooled and they still wont handle Crysis on very high.....

9800GTX seems like a reasonable chocie, bang for buck wise anyhow

That system in your sig won't run Crysis on very high? That's an absolute beast of a PC!

 

[MeMateBigDave]

nope... i can run in Dx9 with very high on most things excepts shadows, but flip the AA up and its just can't handle it. I need to look at some more tweaks that I can do as only had a week to get this far but Crysis really is demanding. Suffice to say it looks dam beautifull anyway, I'm sure a 9800 GTX would do it justice

 

[floppybootstomp]

nope... i can run in Dx9 with very high on most things excepts shadows, but flip the AA up and its just can't handle it. I need to look at some more tweaks that I can do as only had a week to get this far but Crysis really is demanding. Suffice to say it looks dam beautifull anyway, I'm sure a 9800 GTX would do it justice

Sorry to disappoint you but....

Righty ho, card came at 9.30am this morning plus memory.

So my main machine (see sig) now has a 9800GTX and 4Gb of memory. Four identical sticks of Corsair PC6400 C4.

Enabled memory mapping in the BIOS and both BIOS and Vista Home Premium are now reporting 4Gb of memory. This doesn't mean all 4Gb is being used however, Vista 32 bit cannot make use of 4Gb because Microsoft basically set the limit at 4Gb but some space has to be set aside for cache and video memory and that's rather simplifying things but that's basically it).

Whatever, 3.5Gb is still better than 2Gb

Here's some pix of the card (and we'll have no comments about my untidy cabling thank you very much )

The Box:

Contents:

The card - it's rather big:

The old GTS 8800 640Mb in situ:

A couple of shots of the 9800GTX in situ:

As you can see, you do need a case capable of taking this thing, it's huge.

It also requires 2 six pin power connectors so I had to fit the second cable that came with my Corsair 620W modular PSU.

So, what difference did it make over the 8800GTS?

Not a lot, actually, I'm honestly not noticing that much difference.

Assassin's Creed does look a little better, have everything maxed out and v-sync turned on.

I haven't tried all other games yet but the few I have tried were on high settings with the GTS anyway.

And what, you're wondering, about Crysis?

In short - about 5 fps improvement in frame rate and anti-aliasing x 2 running ok.

I'm getting 27fps in intense gameplay and AA x 2 is turned on.

The game runs smooth, I'm running it at 1650 x 1080 and all settings are high.

But I honestly can't see a great deal of difference from using the 8800GTS.

With the GTS I was getting an average of 22fps in intense game scenes with AA turned off.

So yes, it's better, but as an upgrade it would not be worth it, imo. But as I have said, my main upgrade here is my 8800GTS replacing a 7600GT 256Mb card. Now that's a different story - huge difference there .

For me it was a choice between the BFG and the EVGA cards, they had identical specs and both had 10 year guarantees. The BFG card was a fiver cheaper and came supplied with a free T-Shirt and some teflon mouse pads, according to OCUK.

The card arrived with no teflon pads and a leaflet saying if I registered the card I would get a free T-Shirt 'Subject to shipping and handling charges'. That is a cop out and I'm not impressed. My 8800GTS came with a T-Shirt in the box in Nov 2006.

The card's anti static bag had been opened as well so this card may have been a return and that may explain why the card arrived with no teflon pads.

I have two other BFG cards and I've been happy with them but I wish I'd gone for the EVGA card now.

To get the ten year warranty - it's a lifetime warranty if you're an American by the way, what they got against UK folk? - you have to register. It's not an easy process, for a start they want the 'UPC number' which is on the card which, you've guessed it, has already been installed so this involves opening up your PC case again to get the number.

BFG then e-mailed me in pigeon english asking what name I'd registered in at their site. This had already been sent to them

You also have to send proof of purchase, which involved me scanning OCUK's invoice and e-mailing it to BFG. If you don't have a scanner then to get the ten year gurantee you'll have to snail mail or fax a photocopy of the invoice to America.

I e-mailed BFG back mid-afternoon today with the information they requested. I also asked for a T-Shirt and Teflon pads but I ain't holding me breath. So far they haven't replied.

I will report back on this and post the correspondence here.

But, hey, all that aside, I'm happy with the card, should be fine for a year or two with new games and it's performing admirably.

And having 4Gb memory makes Vista move a lot faster, it really does, so that's good news too.

Watch this space

 

[Waynos_Face]

An unrelated question but why do you need two pretty good machines? Plus i think you mentioned on another post that you have 4 machines?

Don't mean to upset just asking is all?

 

[crazylegs]

Cause if you ain't noticed already...Flopp's is a greedy bugger..


He likes to play lots of games preferably FPS and going by some of his posts he likes playing upstairs and downstairs..Games that is of the computer variety..

He's also very rich splashing the cash and waving his wad at the mere very mention of a new faster Graphics card..

Flopp's saying is "why have 1 when you can have 4"

And to be honest if you got the wonga then why not, thats what I say..


By the way nice card Flopp's and pics..

 

[Alf]

Lookin good Flops

Its a shame its a return card instead of sparkling new.