9800 GTX -----> GTX 260 Core 216 = Worthwhile upgrade ?

[Lord Athlon]

I have been wondering this for a while. Right now i have a E8400 , 4 gigs of RAM , a 9800 GTX (not the + version) and i game at 1680 x 1050 on a 20 inches monitor.

The 9800 GTX is OK and i can pretty much play anything with high details and some AA/AF but i can get the GTX 260 216 for 180 $ tx included and that's quite tempting. I know that the dx 11 GT300 series is just around the corner but the 360 will most likely be 300 $ + and the 380 around 500 $ and i can't really afford that will all the bills i have to pay right now (house , car ect).

For 180 $ , is it worth upgrading from the 9800 to the GTX 260 216 ? Will i notice a big difference or will it be a matter of 5 ? Because if that's the case i won't bother.

 

[lavaheadache]

I think you answered you own question. If your 9800 gtx plays everything the wy you want it to the ofcourse a gtx260 is nbot going to be noticeable. If you feel that you are missing out in some games then yes gtx 260 will make a difference.

I tell you what. Fire up Crysis on very high 1680x1050 with 4xAA. Your 9800 will choke, but wait, so will a GTX260.

Wait until the next cards come around

 

[Lord Athlon]

My 9800GTX does choke on very high with 4 x AA. I can play at very high but with no AA. 2 AA is playable but not fluid enough for me.


I am quite disappointed to hear that the GTX 260 216 would choke too. I was thinking that the 260 was good for 1680 x 1050 and below but nothing above that. I was expecting the 260 to help me for future games even if only a small improvement over the 9800GTX but i guess i was wrong , at least to an extent.

In that context , i'm guessing that the 260 has an hard time handling ARMA II on High as well ? That's pretty much the game i have in my mind right now.

 

[RussianSensation]

ArmA is also cpu limited and needs a quad core to run smoothly.

E8400 can't even beat a Q6600 stock:
http://www.pcgameshardware.com...with-18-CPUs/Practice/

But if you can sell your 9800GTX for $70 or so then upgrading to GTX260 216 will be a lot cheaper. Also 4870 is even cheaper with similar performance.

I sold my 8800GTS 320 mb for $65 and got a 4890 (net upgrade was $130). My card is a lot slower than 9800GTX and 4890 is faster than GTX260 so I noticed a good boost But you may want to wait until 5850 for $200.

 

[crisium]

Hell no. Even if you could sell it for half the price. First off $180 for GTX 260 performance is unacceptable, second off it's not hugely faster. Even if your card is the 9800GTX without the +, the GTX260 is not really phenomenally better. Play the waiting game. I'm more familiar with Radeon cards, so it would be like me upgrading to a Radeon 4870. I would be out of my mind to do that, and the 4870 actually costs less than the GTX 260. I'm still puzzled that the GTX 260 sells at all except for SLI and Physx people. Pay more money for the same performance... yay!!

^Excuse me for getting off topic, but people with a 9800GTX should have no business to upgrading to anything less than a GTX 275 or Radeon 4890 (and modestly overclocking them), and even then I'd say you better have a lot of spending money for it to be a reasonable purchase.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The 260-216 is fairly consistently 30% faster than the 9800GTX. So just add 30% performance on top of what you're currently getting and you'll get an idea of how the GTX behaves. There are exceptions, though. Some games might not see 30%, and other games would see more than a 30% boost. It's best to browse a few benches: http://www.techpowerup.com/rev...890_Cyclone_SOC/6.html