9800 pro 128 to 6800GT?

[TQB]

I am very serioulsy considering upgrading my video card from the 9800 Pro 128 to a BFG 6800GT.

What do you guys think would this be a big difference or isnt it worth money to upgrade to that card yet?

Also do you think the 6800GT could last about 1.5 years before the next upgrade?

 

[Megatomic]

Yes, that'll be a big upgrade especially if you plan to up the resolution and turn on AA/AF.

Yes, there is some true longetivity with the 6800GT. I don't think the next feature set (like PS/VS/etc) are going to come out until DX10 is released, and we're not supposed to see that until Longhorn goes Gold.

That'll be a nice upgrade, go for it.

 

[Regs]

The 6800's are a huge leap from the older cards. If there was any upgrade worth putting your money on, it's a 6800 series graphics card.

Will it last you a year and a half? Nothing is for sure, but my instincts say yes. What games do you see out there now that really test the limits of a 6800? D3, Far Cry, and Half Life 2. Only 3 games which are considered leap games into what the future is suppose to bring us. These games were a stretch to bring out to market because not many people have super computers to run them (Even though HL2 is very scalable compared to the others).

Like Megatomic said, I also don't expect any more demanding games than D3 or Far Cry in the next year or two.

 

[CraigRT]

I went from a 9800 Pro 128MB to my 6800GT.. decent performance upgrade... I mean it's hard to say because the 9800 ran everything well! but when I crank the settings and still get zero slowdowns you begin to realize how strong the 6800 is.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
I went from a 9800 Pro 128MB to my 6800GT.. decent performance upgrade... I mean it's hard to say because the 9800 ran everything well! but when I crank the settings and still get zero slowdowns you begin to realize how strong the 6800 is.

You know -

It was only 16 months ago when I noticed how increasing the resolution of a game that it displayed a lot more detail than low res.

Who could of figured. ha.

 

[apoppin]

it's a good upgrade . . . . of course depends on what resolution you game at and what games you play.

 

[McArra]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
I went from a 9800 Pro 128MB to my 6800GT.. decent performance upgrade... I mean it's hard to say because the 9800 ran everything well! but when I crank the settings and still get zero slowdowns you begin to realize how strong the 6800 is.

The same here. Now I play Half Life 2 1280x1024 4xAA 16xAF smooth as butter. Still only a day with my Asus 6800GT 256mb.

 

[Spike]

Man, I jumped from a 9600 pro to the 6800 GT... man, what a difference. UT2K4 @ 16x12, everything highest, and 4x aa 8x as. No more Doom 3 at 800x600, I crank it to 1280x1024 ultra... so NICE. HL2, 1600x1200, high everything, 2x aa 4x as. Only slow downs were from that stupid buggy (dropped as low as 30 fps there... grrr....)

-spike

 

[kamranziadar]

Not bad, but you could have wait for new cards. I know it will give you some difference in 3D marks score, but i don;t think so it is worth to spend another $400 after a year on graphic card.

 

[Boogak]

I went from a 9800 Pro to a 6800 GT OC, no regrets at all. I can crank up AA/AF settings to my heart's content in most games.

 

[nataku00]

I was debating this upgrade path as well and I have a similar config to you as you can see in my sig. It really is a 'it depends' answer to your question.

I personally decided to wait on upgrading since I have only had the 9800 pro for about 9 months and the games I play (HL2 and other HL mods, MOHA, WoW) all work fine at 1280x1024 with some of the eye candy off and still looks great. If the 6800GT ever dropped to sub $300 levels, I might jump on it, but I think my next upgrade will most likely be to a socket 939 processor and pci-e video card late next year.

Again, I think it comes down to 'Are you happy with your current gaming experience?'

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: TQB
I am very serioulsy considering upgrading my video card from the 9800 Pro 128 to a BFG 6800GT.

What do you guys think would this be a big difference or isnt it worth money to upgrade to that card yet?

Also do you think the 6800GT could last about 1.5 years before the next upgrade?

I'm in the same boat (only don't have $400 for an upgrade). I think I'd wanna know what size monitor you have b4 I'd say. With my 9800p, FC and D3 played just fine. But I've now got a 17" monitor so 12 x10 or 11 x9 is just fine. So no need ATM for an upgrade. If I still had my Viewsonic Prof 22" monitor I would want the upgrade cuz 16 x 12 looked good on it. But 16 x 12 is overkill for me on a 17"

Fern

 

[TQB]

Originally posted by: Fern

Originally posted by:

I'm in the same boat (only don't have $400 for an upgrade). I think I'd wanna know what size monitor you have b4 I'd say. With my 9800p, FC and D3 played just fine. But I've now got a 17" monitor so 12 x10 or 11 x9 is just fine. So no need ATM for an upgrade. If I still had my Viewsonic Prof 22" monitor I would want the upgrade cuz 16 x 12 looked good on it. But 16 x 12 is overkill for me on a 17"

Fern

i have a 19" Monitor and I like to play games at 1600x1200

 

[Bartokomus]

funny, you have a system slightly better than mine, and i play everything @ 16x12 full AA & AF with few exceptions (Far Cry and Silent Storm). Extremely playble framerates. I'd have waited for a while to get the value out of my 9800...

 

[TQB]

Originally posted by: Bartokomus
funny, you have a system slightly better than mine, and i play everything @ 16x12 full AA & AF with few exceptions (Far Cry and Silent Storm). Extremely playble framerates. I'd have waited for a while to get the value out of my 9800...

I dont really think my 9800 is running up to snuff. I have benchmarked it several times and I dont really get close to what other people are getting.

In doom 3 with 1280x940 I am only getting like 25fps on high settings. I think it should perform bettter than that. i did have it OC'd for a little while I think maybe I might have hurt it.

 

[HappyNic]

well, I still using my 9800 pro and from the looks of things, it can still last about 1.5 years,, so if you can wait it out,, you'll be able to skip a generation.

 

[Rhentno]

If you can wait, they're saying that the new Ati 850, the one priced at 299, will be competative wit the 6800gt. The 850 will have 16 pipes as does the GT. I have a gt though, and I love it. I also went from a 9800pro to a GT. In ut2k4, what I play mostly, I can see a marginal difference. ATi cards run that game good. But when I play other games, it's a good bit better. I love painkiller with this card. Good luck, but be sure to look into the 850, might save you some money for the same performance.

 

[Megamixman]

That?s the Ati X800XL and I doubt it will be priced at 299 when it comes out. Retailers have known to up the price initially and bring it down as stock piles up. If your willing to wait for it to drop to MRSP, then go for the X800XL, otherwise the GT is a good card. I flashed mine to a Quadro FX 4000 and I?m loving how fast my Maya previews come up.

 

[Pete]

TQB won't be able to use the X800XL, as it'll be PCIe only.

A 6800GT should be up to twice as fast as a 9800P with AA+AF, as any review will show you; not a bad upgrade at all, and inline with being twice the retail price.

Then again, a 6800 would be a nice upgrade, too. I see CompUSA is selling the PNY 6800 for $230 + tax. If you can sell your 9800P for ~$150, an upgrade to a 6800 won't cost you that much, but should net you a nice performance gain (30+%). You'll still be limited to 10x7 or maybe 12x9 with AA, though; 16x12 4xAA generally requires too much memory for just 128MB of RAM.

 

[TQB]

I have decided I am going to either get a 6800Gt or Ultra.

I was gonna go with a overpriced X800XT PE till I seen where it didnt suppourt Pixel Shader 3.0 and the Ultra does so I am sure the Ultra would be more future proof.

Only thing I dont like is that it requires a 480W PS and mine is a Antec True 430

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: TQB
I have decided I am going to either get a 6800Gt or Ultra.

I was gonna go with a overpriced X800XT PE till I seen where it didnt suppourt Pixel Shader 3.0 and the Ultra does so I am sure the Ultra would be more future proof.

Only thing I dont like is that it requires a 480W PS and mine is a Antec True 430

excellent choice - especially since you game at 16x12!

The Ultra will run fine on your PS - IF you don't o/c it (too much.

the 'GT' is considered the best "bang-for-buck" as it has much more modest power requirements then the ultra - and in many cases, it will o/c to ultra speeds (or close enough).

 

[TQB]

Originally posted by: apoppin

excellent choice - especially since you game at 16x12!

The Ultra will run fine on your PS - IF you don't o/c it (too much.

the 'GT' is considered the best "bang-for-buck" as it has much more modest power requirements then the ultra - and in many cases, it will o/c to ultra speeds (or close enough).

Well I might go higher on the res but I have never had a card that would do more than that at any game and I am not sure my monitor would support any higher either.

Does the Gt have all the same features as the ULTRA but with just lower core and clock speeds or does the ULTRA contain some extra gadgets?