8800 GTX, good or bad idea?

[ZzZGuy]

Well, this is my first post on this website. I have a o.k. knowledge of computer components and a fuzzy picutre of the future (a computer savy freind basicly desgined my current computer)

The reason for this post, current video card fryed and decided to take make a vane attempt at future proofing my system and i got money to drop into that bottom-less pit called "Gaming Computer".


I'm currently toren between 8800 GTX/GTs/x1950 XTX/x1950 XL.

-The 8800 GTXi is the best out there right now and what i'm most intrested in. Nvidia seems to have fixed their AA problem and appears to be twice as fast as the x1950 xtx and on par - if not slightly slower - with the x1950 xtx crossfire, is fully directX 10 ready (i assume that also applies to direct3D 10) AND appears to be able to connect 3 of these beats togeather (in the future due to software?).

I'm thinking that it'll work with all the games that will come out over the next 2/3 years and by the time games start to take a toll, the prices on the 8800GTX will have droped a lot so I go SLI and i'm back with the big boys.

- Or should i go with the the -edit- 8800 GTs -edit- and wait to see if a GPU comes out that makes the 8800 GTX look like a antique voodoo card. I'm thinking the next ATI card, but i can't imagine them beating nvidia as bad as they themselves got beaten.

-Then there's the x1950 XTX. Seems on par with the 8800GTS (+almsot same price), but my concern is that it's not directX 10 ready. Or is there a problem with the G80's that make the x1950 xtx superior (such as drivers)?

-And lastly, the x1950 XL. Best bang for your buck, thinking this might last me a year while handeling all the new games like oblivion, EVE (with the upcoming graphics update), world in conflict, supreme commander, FEAR, and others without having to crank the graphics on min.


My final consideraton, is DirectX 10 really going to be that much of a improvement, is windows Vista needed to make use of games that can use DX10 and can games using DX10 be able to run on say the x1950 XTX/XL?

So correct me if i'm wrong, but the 8800 GTX should keep me up to date for a good while and be cost effective down the road when i need more power.

Last question (i thinking i should make another thread), 550 watts (psu listed below) enough for the 8800 GTX, and do i need to worry about damage if it's under powered?

And thanks for any advice you guys got.

Here is my system:
AMD X2 3800 + Zalman CNPS9500 (BIG round copper one, 92mm fan i think)
Video Card Pending (was a x1800 XL all in wonder)
A8N32-SLI Deluxe MoBo
4 OCZ Platinum EL PC3200 ram (2 Gbs of ram) -edit-
2 WD 250Gb SATA 2 @7200 RPM, 16mb cache
Antec Neo HE 550 watt PSU
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card
LiteOn 16x DVD-RW drive
Antec Super Lanboy case (i'll have to remove the HD bay to get the 8800 GTX to fit, but i already have the HD's in the CD Drive bay)

 

[CurseTheSky]

My honest, and quick suggestion:

Get an eVGA 8800GTX or 8800GTS. It's up to you depending on how much performance you want, and how much you want to spend. eVGA offers a set-up program that allows you to trade in the retail price of your card toward your next eVGA card within three months. I doubt anything will beat the 8800GTX in three months (unless ATI releases some kind of unforseen killer), but it's always a nice option to have.

On a side note, I'm very pleased with eVGA's tech support. Even on their forums, my questions were being answered by eVGA techs within an hour or two of posting.

You won't be disappointed with your purchase.

 

[krotchy]

If you have the money for an 8800GTX, get it, in the long run it will be a much better buy than a DX9 card at the moment.

Also 8800GTS over the X1950XTX for SURE, no contest.

DirectX 9 cards CANT run DirectX 10, DX10 games will revert into a DX9 mode to use them.

DX10 cards can run DX10 games and DX9 games and seem to be kicking butt even in the land of DX9.


Pretty much if your willing to drop 450+ on a card the 8800's are the only choice at the moment in my opinion. Your only other option if your in that price range should be to wait for ATI's X2800XTX or whatever it will be called.

 

[ZzZGuy]

just thoguth of ooonneeeee last question. Will my system be able to fully use the 8800 GTX, or do i have a bottle neck? (such as the cpu).

 

[Ruptga]

The latest Core 2s are a bottleneck for the 8800GTX. A better question would be, is my CPU good enough to last me a while. My guess is yes, especially if you (or someone else) overclocks it a bit, but I'm not a gaming expert by any means.

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger
The latest Core 2s are a bottleneck for the 8800GTX. A better question would be, is my CPU good enough to last me a while. My guess is yes, especially if you (or someone else) overclocks it a bit, but I'm not a gaming expert by any means.

core2? bottleneck? I don't think you'll have huge bottlenecks man, especially when you consider how fast the slowest conroe chip is. you are better off looking at how long the card will last you, rather than how long is your system going to last.

 

[SoMBrA]

I saw some benchmarks and the Core2Duo were a bottleneck at low resolutions (most people res. 1024*768, 1280*1024).
After they overclocked the CPU (even the 6800 extreme) they had like 25fps more . At really high resolutions the CPU was not the problem, the graphic card was hehe (100fps@2560*1600@8800 SLI playing FEAR i think it was )

 

[imported_Truenofan]

this is just my 2 cents, but im not a fan of dx10 right now, since microsoft wont have it with the inital launch of vista from what i've heard/told and the price of the 8800's is rather outragous.

edit: then there's the decrease in performance in vista.

 

[George Powell]

I have just got an 8800GTX myself and it does everything I want it too at the moment. Which to put it simply is to run everything at 1680x1050 with all the eye candy turned up, AA and AF turned up and for the game to always be smooth and playable. This is exactly what this card allows. My previous setup of 7800GTX SLI didn't acheive this at all, especially in some of the more demanding titles like Oblivion and NWN2.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

Originally posted by: SoMBrA
I saw some benchmarks and the Core2Duo were a bottleneck at low resolutions (most people res. 1024*768, 1280*1024).
After they overclocked the CPU (even the 6800 extreme) they had like 25fps more . At really high resolutions the CPU was not the problem, the graphic card was hehe (100fps@2560*1600@8800 SLI playing FEAR i think it was )

And who plays at 1024*768 with a 8800gtx?

 

[stogez]

Just remember that for DX10 you need Vista too, so thats another $400 if you go ultimate.

 

[biostud]

since your current video card is a x1800xl I would suggest the 8800GTX or GTS as the X1900 isn't that much of an upgrade. Your CPU is fine as the video card is the limiting factor in most cases. If you haven't done it already you should easily be able to get 400Mhz extra from overclocking your CPU.

The last option is to wait for R600 and G81 to appear, but then you might end up waiting for ever

 

[ZzZGuy]

thanks for the info and opinions. I'm 90% sure i'll get the 8800 GTX.
I'm not waiting for the price to drop because A- with the merger of AMD/ATI and the new website, they do not have their act togeather yet (2 weeks and no response of any kind to my inquiries and warrinty request, and their phone service sucks)-edit- so i won't have a video card for about a month or more -edit-, B- i have the time now to figure out the best card out there, i won't in 2 months time, C- If i wait for the price to drop, i'll want the next GPU that comes out instead.


All that is left is to figure out the difference between the EVGA/BFG/ASUS/XFX brands.

 

[treskin]

Though I wanted an 8800, there's not really any games I desperately want to play until after x-mas, so I just bought an EVGA 7900GS for my new core2 system, then will step up in 90 days when the 8800GTX is hopefully closer to $450-500 and drivers are worked out.

 

[ZzZGuy]

Originally posted by: treskin
Though I wanted an 8800, there's not really any games I desperately want to play until after x-mas, so I just bought an EVGA 7900GS for my new core2 system, then will step up in 90 days when the 8800GTX is hopefully closer to $450-500 and drivers are worked out.

Great idea. I would do that BUT more then likley will be unable to do so because i'll be getting a new job soon that will require me to move (not as simple as moving to a new city, long story).

 

[SparkyJJO]

The 8800 is still young and nvidia doesn't have their drivers worked out all the way. One 8800 is fine but don't try to SLI them yet..... the X1950 crossfire outperforms the 8800GTX in SLI at the moment, and a single X1950XTX outperforms the 8800GTS when AA is turned on for the most part. LINK This of course is all DX9 stuff, and knowing nVidia and the way they are with drivers sometimes they'll have that fixed within the next driver revision or two.

The 8800 series is still the better way to go though because of the DX10 support and after nvidia gets the driver kinks worked out.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
the X1950 crossfire outperforms the 8800GTX in SLI at the moment.

I only saw a single benchmark where this occured when I was looking at G80 reviews, I don't get where you can infer that it always beats it. Typically, there was a vast improvement over a single 8800GTX when you put them in SLi. In fact, in most tests, the solo GTX performed a bit below if not faster than the X1950XTX Crossfire setup .

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: Aikouka

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
the X1950 crossfire outperforms the 8800GTX in SLI at the moment.

I only saw a single benchmark where this occured when I was looking at G80 reviews, I don't get where you can infer that it always beats it. Typically, there was a vast improvement over a single 8800GTX when you put them in SLi. In fact, in most tests, the solo GTX performed a bit below if not faster than the X1950XTX Crossfire setup .

Sorry I generalized too much. I get a little confused on those charts sometimes. I wish they'd make all nvidia lines green and ATI ones red, it would help me out

My other point still stands though: for the 8800GTS vs the X1950, the X1950 does better right now in many cases. But with DX10 and then nVidia's newer drivers to fix bugs I'm sure that'll change

Cheers :beer:

 

[ZzZGuy]

*sigh*

Long story short, can't get the 8800 GTX so i'll get the x1950 XTX. I really want to wait for the next gen ATI card but i can't since i don't have a vid card at the moment and i wont have time to fool around with getting one after X-mas. So in 10/12 months from now i'll upgrade to which ever GPU is king, if it's ATI then i have a excuse to upgrade my MoBo, CPU and PSU.

It'll also let me weight out the bugs (i hope) that will follow the release of new GPU's, vista and directx 10.

All the advice you guys have given has been welcomed.

 

[bob4432]

imho i would go a x1900xt vs a 8800gtx unless you needed it to play certain games *oblivion" at high resolutions.

although i think the 8800gtx is one kick a$$ card, the price is ridiculous atm. and with dx10 being put off with vista and games more than likely not going to take advantage of it for at least another year, i would wait and spend less now, then in a year of 2 get whatever you want after dx10 is actually used.

a gaming machine is a bottomless pit, but you can make it take less of the $$$ by not being an early adopter and get 1gen old stuff.

and also, by the time you will actually be taking advantage of dx10, there will be cards out there that are more than twice as fast as the 8800gtx (this always happens - look at the 7800gtx vs 7900gtx)

edited because i was incorrect on the price of the x1950xt, so i now recommend a x1900xt 256MB for ~$250USD over the 8800gtx

now i see happy mediums post underneath and those are the x1950xts i was thinking of....so back to the x1950xt 256MB for ~$269

 

[imported_RedStar]

"imho i would go a x1950xt vs a 8800gtx unless you needed it to play certain games *oblivion" at high resolutions.

although i the 8800gtx is one kick a$$ card, the price is ridiculous atm"

What is ridiculous is buying a 500$ cdn dx9 card that won't do dx10 and then upgrading that 3 months later.

You might well just pay the 1050$ (500$ x1950xt + the 550$ 8800 gts) for the card now then. Yes, that is expensive!!

Even if you are able to sell the card..chances are you will still be paying a 250$ premium.

---
As for utimate --let's not quote retail. I'm sure everyone on the planet has a copy of windows about now --just about. Plus, premium will do you fine.

----
DX10 not shipping with vista in january? Please, have you been reading the inq again. lol

 

[happy medium]

Grab one of these till the 8800 refresh in a few months and prices drop.x1950xtx speeds for 269.00$ and good cooling.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102067

And this thread

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=31&threadid=1959031&enterthread=y

Looks very similar to this card less 256 megs memory. If your not gaming at ultra high resolution I'd grab the 1950xt

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102045

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: RedStar
"imho i would go a x1950xt vs a 8800gtx unless you needed it to play certain games *oblivion" at high resolutions.

although i the 8800gtx is one kick a$$ card, the price is ridiculous atm"

What is ridiculous is buying a 500$ cdn dx9 card that won't do dx10 and then upgrading that 3 months later.

You might well just pay the 1050$ (500$ x1950xt + the 550$ 8800 gts) for the card now then. Yes, that is expensive!!

Even if you are able to sell the card..chances are you will still be paying a 250$ premium.

---
As for utimate --let's not quote retail. I'm sure everyone on the planet has a copy of windows about now --just about. Plus, premium will do you fine.

----
DX10 not shipping with vista in january? Please, have you been reading the inq again. lol

my bad, i thought the x1950xt were cheaper, must have been a hot deal i saw. then i would recommend a x1900xt for ~$250usd, i will edit my other post to reflect this

edit - now i see happy medium's post above and those are the x1950xts i was talking about, so now the recommendation goes back to them

 

[ZzZGuy]

well, i did think about getting the 1900xt but decided against it.

I'm in a point in my life where i do not know what part of the country i will be in in 2 months time (canada being the second biggest country in the world), or what i'll be doing where i'm now job searching. I want something that can run everything now with really nice quality and be able to play some of the games that are due to come out next year, i really don't care if i don't use every last bit of juice this card can pump out by the time Dx10 is really in use. By the time i'm setteled down i can take my time (i'm without ANY GPU atm), see what the best is and see what's coming around the bend, i'll also have (i hope) the cash to go with that.

Short version: I want to roast everything (well, almost) that is out there right now and do pritty ****ing good with whats to come, i can't wait around to see what the best is as i'll be luckly if i can mail myself my computer at all, let alone upgrade it. In a year or 2 i'll basicly build a new computer anyway.

Btw, by this time tomorrow i'll have the ASUS x1950 xtx in my computer.

And thanks for your advice, just that i was ready to buy a 8800 GTX, and the 1950xtx is a lot cheaper.

 

[happy medium]

What I was trying to tell you is to buy the x1950XT not the x1950XTX.
The performance difference is like 4 % but the price for the x1950xtx is like 150.00$ MORE!