Geforce 8800 GTS 320 MB to Geforce 8800 Ultra 768 MB

[pcslookout]

Current system specs 19 inch CRT Monitor, Intel Core 2 Duo E6420, 4 GB of DDR2 ram, 15,000 rpm Raptor 150 gig,
Hitachi 500 gig 7200 rpm. Its a EVGA so I can step up to it but not sure if its really worth it ? I want my pc to be able to have a good amount of time out of it. At least 2 years if possible. I may upgrade a few parts along the way like the cpu to a quad core when July 22 comes around.

 

[ArchAngel777]

This is one of those questions where only you can truly know the answer.

Is there a reason you need to purchase a video card 'today'? If not, then why not just wait a little while longer and see what comes out, or watch the prices drop? Seems most logical.

I always get the urge to buy a computer part (every day, actually), but then I ask myself this very important question. "What games can I currently not play that is compelling me to upgrade my computer"? Of course, I know the answer "None" and then I remind myself no upgrade is needed at this time.

Seriously, for what i have the system listed in my rig plays everything I want. I might not be able to play with 4XAA, but so far I am pretty much play everything very smooth with 16XAF @ 1280 X 768. So for me, not much is gained from upgrading except some more AA. Is it worth it? Not really, because when I finally get a game that I play that cannot run the game, changes are a new card will be out OR the current cards will have dropped in price. That is just my opinion... But hey, the 8800GTX is an awesome card

 

[pcslookout]

Is the Geforce 8800 Ultra really just a 8800 GTX or something?

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: pcslookout
Is the Geforce 8800 Ultra really just a 8800 GTX or something?

People are argueing about that. My opinion is that the ultra's are cherry picked GTX cores. The reason I think that is because the GTX can overclock to the GTXU levels... Who knows and I really don't care if they are cherry picked or not. I just know that a GTX can overclock to GTXU levels.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777

Originally posted by: pcslookout
Is the Geforce 8800 Ultra really just a 8800 GTX or something?

People are argueing about that. My opinion is that the ultra's are cherry picked GTX cores. The reason I think that is because the GTX can overclock to the GTXU levels... Who knows and I really don't care if they are cherry picked or not. I just know that a GTX can overclock to GTXU levels.

Does the Geforce 8800 GTS 320 vs the 640 one still have a huge performance difference when FSAA or AF is turned on ? I was reading the older anandtech review of the 320 card vs the 640 and in quake 4 and BF2 the difference was huge when FSAA or AF was turned on.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777

Originally posted by: pcslookout
Is the Geforce 8800 Ultra really just a 8800 GTX or something?

People are argueing about that. My opinion is that the ultra's are cherry picked GTX cores. The reason I think that is because the GTX can overclock to the GTXU levels... Who knows and I really don't care if they are cherry picked or not. I just know that a GTX can overclock to GTXU levels.

Does the Geforce 8800 GTS 320 vs the 640 one still have a huge performance difference when FSAA or AF is turned on ? I was reading the older anandtech review of the 320 card vs the 640 and in quake 4 and BF2 the difference was huge when FSAA or AF was turned on.

Yeah, there is a very large performance hit when you start dealing with AA/AF and even more so if you enable FSAA. 320mb isn't going to cut it much longer. The card is going to struggle with the next release of games in my opinion if you want to enable AA/AF. If you are content leaving AA off, you will be fine for a few years to come with some exceptions.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777

Originally posted by: pcslookout
Is the Geforce 8800 Ultra really just a 8800 GTX or something?

People are argueing about that. My opinion is that the ultra's are cherry picked GTX cores. The reason I think that is because the GTX can overclock to the GTXU levels... Who knows and I really don't care if they are cherry picked or not. I just know that a GTX can overclock to GTXU levels.

Does the Geforce 8800 GTS 320 vs the 640 one still have a huge performance difference when FSAA or AF is turned on ? I was reading the older anandtech review of the 320 card vs the 640 and in quake 4 and BF2 the difference was huge when FSAA or AF was turned on.

Yeah, there is a very large performance hit when you start dealing with AA/AF and even more so if you enable FSAA. 320mb isn't going to cut it much longer. The card is going to struggle with the next release of games in my opinion if you want to enable AA/AF. If you are content leaving AA off, you will be fine for a few years to come with some exceptions.

Even video cards need huge amounts of ram just to run games well. Its almost like video ram is going the way ram has gone just a lot quicker. Before we know it we will need 2 GB of video ram on our video card alone.

 

[the Chase]

One vote for waiting for something better from Nv/ATI in 4-5 months. All the "big" games - Crysis, UT3, En. Terr. Quake Wars, etc. - are all being constantly delayed anyway.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: the Chase
One vote for waiting for something better from Nv/ATI in 4-5 months. All the "big" games - Crysis, UT3, En. Terr. Quake Wars, etc. - are all being constantly delayed anyway.

If I wait should I still go from a 8800 GTS 320 to 640 or just keep my 320 ?

 

[SergeC]

Keep what you have. Once it's actually no longer good enough, buy what's available then. If nothing else, you'll save a bit of money, as prices will only go down.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: SergeC
Keep what you have. Once it's actually no longer good enough, buy what's available then. If nothing else, you'll save a bit of money, as prices will only go down.

Ok thanks. I can step up because I have a EVGA video card and have around a little over a month left of my step up.

 

[Cookie Monster]

8800ultra is actually twice or three times as fast as the 320mb when you raise res/AA/AF since the 320 gets killed in those settings due to the lack of framebuffer. (but i keep hearing that G80 GTS models suffer from a vram bug that cripples performance abit)

Anyway, you can make the jump now, or wait for the refreshes coming this fall (Late Q3 or Q4).

Currently, all the G80s cores being shipped NOW are A3 revision. (Ultras use A3 revision). And these A3 revisions OC like mad. Some are reporting core clocks of 660mhz on their GTS640 etc. These OC slightly better than the A2 revisions. If your lucky, you might even reach past 700mhz on stock cooling which some have done WITHOUT vmods or any mods done on the PCB.

Id say go for it if your main focus is DX9 gaming. DX10 looks pretty horrible right now.

 

[betasub]

Although the eVGA step-up is tempting, the immediate gains at your playing resolution won't be huge. Sticking with the GTS320 until newer games or a newer monitor arrives, and then picking out a new graphics card seems to be the sensible choice.

As for "future proofing": in the graphics card market it's fruitless. For future value you should be investing in stock, not in computer hardware

 

[RussianSensation]

I my opinion, futureproofing for graphics cards does not make sense. We have seen this with DX9 which was too slow to run for 9800 series, PS3.0 which was too advanced for 6800 to run HDR and probably we'll see the same thing with DX10 and 8800GTX.

Buy what you feel is the best price/performance ratio for you given the games and resolutions you play TODAY. Do people buy fuel efficient cards "hoping" prices of gasoline go to $10 a gallon in 5 years so they justify to themselves the premium they pay for hybrid cards? No, they buy it to realize the benefits of lower fuel costs from day 1.

Why pay $530 for 8800GTX to have possibly 20 more frames in 2 years compared to 8800GTS? 8800GTX targets those who can afford it easily and those who play at high resolutions. If you review performance of cards from generation to generation you will see after 2 years all top cards are fairly similar in performance where 6800GS/GT and Ultra, X850XT are all equally slow at similar settings.

At the very least if you do decide to step up, get 8800GTX, not the Ultra.

 

[Nathelion]

Word. Well, except for the part about the hybrids. People get them to save the environment, not to save money

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Nathelion
Word. Well, except for the part about the hybrids. People get them to save the environment, not to save money

Right of course, but I was looking from a financial perspective as well. There are other ways to save the environment too. I somewhat doubt if hybrids delivered SAME fuel economy but lower emissions which saves the environment, consumers would be as willing to pay premiums for them.

Ok here is another example then. Did people buy $10,000 plasmas 5 years ago because they wanted to futureproof themselves? No. The target market for 10k plasmas are people to whom 10k TV is like a $500 TV for me. Similarly, those who buy 8800GTX for "futureproofing" are completely missing the point of high end cards. You wouldn't buy X1950XT to play Starcraft 1 at 640x480 today if you have a 6600 (me) to "futureproof" yourself for Starcraft 2 when it comes out. Why wouldn't you just wait until your graphics card is insufficient for your needs and buy best price/performance card when you need it?

Futureproofing is like buying a 4-door Toyota Camry when you are 18, so when you have 3 kids at 25 you justify to yourself it was worth it to buy a family car many years ago.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
I my opinion, futureproofing for graphics cards does not make sense. We have seen this with DX9 which was too slow to run for 9800 series, PS3.0 which was too advanced for 6800 to run HDR and probably we'll see the same thing with DX10 and 8800GTX.

Buy what you feel is the best price/performance ratio for you given the games and resolutions you play TODAY. Do people buy fuel efficient cards "hoping" prices of gasoline go to $10 a gallon in 5 years so they justify to themselves the premium they pay for hybrid cards? No, they buy it to realize the benefits of lower fuel costs from day 1.

Why pay $530 for 8800GTX to have possibly 20 more frames in 2 years compared to 8800GTS? 8800GTX targets those who can afford it easily and those who play at high resolutions. If you review performance of cards from generation to generation you will see after 2 years all top cards are fairly similar in performance where 6800GS/GT and Ultra, X850XT are all equally slow at similar settings.

At the very least if you do decide to step up, get 8800GTX, not the Ultra.

What if I can't afford the 8800 GTX would it still be worth going to the 640 version of the Geforce GTS 8800?

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: pcslookout
What if I can't afford the 8800 GTX would it still be worth going to the 640 version of the Geforce GTS 8800?

Keep the card & the cash. Wait for a newer game or newer monitor that the GTS320 can't handle; by then you'll probably have the refresh cards to consider

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: betasub

Originally posted by: pcslookout
What if I can't afford the 8800 GTX would it still be worth going to the 640 version of the Geforce GTS 8800?

Keep the card & the cash. Wait for a newer game or newer monitor that the GTS320 can't handle; by then you'll probably have the refresh cards to consider

Thanks. The only problem is I am seeing like huge black shawdow like spots that are totally black in games like Far Cry, etc now when using my Geforce 8800 GTS 320 and not sure if its because of my video card only having 320 mb of video ram or not. I have details on the highest at 1280x1024. I want to be able to play at this resolution if possible. If not I guess 1024x768 is ok.

Is this a problem with my video card ?

 

[superbooga]

At 1280x1024 4xAA, whether or not we are going to hit shader/fill rate limitations first or memory size/bandwidth limitations first in future games is anyone's guess. However, current games strongly suggest the former.

In Anandtech's test, the 320 faired the worst in BF2 (but still got 70fps at 1920x1200 4xAA) and Quake 4 (near the bottom). However, are ultra quality settings really necessary in Q4, and are they representative of future games? In Firingsquad's GTS 320 roundup, the 320 kept up with the 640 at 1920x1200 4xAA, but with high quality settings. In the large majority of benchmarks, the 320 seems to keep up with the 640.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Thanks. The only problem is I am seeing like huge black shawdow like spots that are totally black in games like Far Cry, etc now when using my Geforce 8800 GTS 320 and not sure if its because of my video card only having 320 mb of video ram or not. I have details on the highest at 1280x1024. I want to be able to play at this resolution if possible. If not I guess 1024x768 is ok.

Is this a problem with my video card ?

Have you tried reinstalling your videocard/motherboard drivers?

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Thanks. The only problem is I am seeing like huge black shawdow like spots that are totally black in games like Far Cry, etc now when using my Geforce 8800 GTS 320 and not sure if its because of my video card only having 320 mb of video ram or not. I have details on the highest at 1280x1024. I want to be able to play at this resolution if possible. If not I guess 1024x768 is ok.

Is this a problem with my video card ?

Have you tried reinstalling your videocard/motherboard drivers?

It only happens on certain games though. Not all games. Could that still be the problem even if it only happens on certain games?

 

[tuteja1986]

nope , just wait for august i can grantee you that new gpu are coming out.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986
nope , just wait for august i can grantee you that new gpu are coming out.

How do you know new GPUs are coming out in August?

 

[Rage3kMoiz]

The 320MB 8800GTS is a good card but struggles with high AA and AF at very high resolutions. The 640MB version eliminates this problem completely. So it wouldn't be a bad upgrade. But as stated earlier, think if you really NEED it. I have an X1900XTX Crossfire configuration I bought quite a while back and I'm still happy with its performance.