Replace an 8800GTS for under $200 with another NVIDIA card. Need recommendations

[DNyholm]

Hello,

I have a friend whose 8800GTS just fried. He is looking to get a replacement for under $200 (preferably closer to $100). From reading, it seems that it would make more sense to get another NVIDIA card due to the old drivers that are really hard to remove completely. Could you make some recommendations on a card for him that would be equivalent performance (or better) for playing Everquest 2? His current board is not a PCI x16 version 2, but a regular x16 if that matters. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[thilanliyan]

Hard to remove drivers?? That's a bit of a poor excuse.

If it must be nVidia then a GTX260 216 or GTX275 would come in around that price. If it can be ATI then a 4890 would be suitable and it's usually cheaper than the GTX275 and sometimes faster and even competes with the GTX285 sometimes.

 

[v8envy]

I've had zero pain replacing nvidia cards with ati and vice versa with XP. Including simultaneously.

That said, the cheapest near exact replacement would be the hot deal $70 AR/coupon/bing 9800GT. There have been some deals for the 260 216 around $150 as well -- this would be a very impressive upgrade.

I would recommend an ATI 4850 or 4870 for both an upgrade and a $ savings. The driver removal won't be that bad.

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: thilanliyan
If it must be nVidia then a GTX260 216 or GTX275

I agree.

 

[DNyholm]

Well, i am going by what I have read here about it may be difficult to remove all the drivers, i'm sorry that you feel it is an excuse. I come here for help, not to be ridiculed.

If he was to go with an ATI card, the 4890 seems at the top of the price range, does the 4870 seem like a decent upgrade then?

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: DNyholm
Well, i am going by what I have read here about it may be difficult to remove all the drivers, i'm sorry that you feel it is an excuse. I come here for help, not to be ridiculed.

If he was to go with an ATI card, the 4890 seems at the top of the price range, does the 4870 seem like a decent upgrade then?

I'm not trying to ridicule you...just saying that kind of stuff is overblown and shouldn't stop you/your friend from looking at all options. I've changed cards several times and even had both an nVidia and ATI card in the same system at the same time (Windows 7) and never had problems. 4870 is also a good card...it's what I upgraded to from a 8800GT and I like it.

 

[evolucion8]

Buying an nVidia card at this point when the new ATi cards are available is quite odd, but if that his call, then I recommend the GTX 260+ which is under the $200 budget, if you can find the GTX 275 for such price go for it but they're only DX10.0 and support PhysX

But also you can get the HD 4870 which is under $150 and is as fast or slighly faster than the GTX 260+ depending of the game scenario and supports DX10.1, also can get the HD 4890 (Another DX10.1 card) which is slighly faster than the GTX 275 and cheaper, or get the HD 5770 which is slighly slower than the HD 4870 and gives you DX11 support and Eyefinity, there's so many choices that you can't go wrong, but going with a DX10/DX10.1 card at this point is a bit akward, but you can buy the cheapest card that you can get and then later upgrade to an ATi or nVidia DX11 card which surely will be faster than all the cards that I mentioned above.

 

[brencat]

GTX 260 216 for $155 - $165 and overclock it to 650 - 660 core / 2200 mem and he will have very nice performance.

 

[Concillian]

It'll be like this, price lowest to highest:
9800GT ~same performance <$100
ATi 4850 noticeable performance over 9800GT ~$100
ATi 4870 noticeable performance bump over 4850 ~$150
nVidia GTX260 equal or slightly worse than 4870 for like $10 more than a 4870.
ATi 4890 small bump over 4870 <$200
nVidia GTX275 equal or slightly worse than 4890, ~$10 more

If he's going on the cheap, 4850 is a nice upgrade from 8800GTS. otherwise, I think 4870 is a good choice, I think a better choice than the new 5770 at this point in time. 4890 / GTX275 are the ultimate in his price range, but I think lose a bit of value compared with the 4870. The 4870 is at a pretty good price / performance right now.

If you must have nVidia right now, you'll pay a little extra for similar performance. It's not a huge price difference if it's important to you.

 

[Janooo]

If you do not want to upgrade in the near future then you should consider DX11 5770/5750.

 

[s44]

Buying an EVGA/BFG GTX260 wouldn't be the worst idea. Surely Nvidia will release Fermi in three months...

 

[crisium]

Even the "slow" Radeon 5750 1GB will outperform an 8800GTS (even the G92 model). It has super low power consumption which is cool too. It has a slight price premium over the similar performing Radeon 4850, but the much lower power consumption makes it admirable. For $129 it's not a bad idea. Nvidia GTS 250 performs about the same but uses higher power.

But yeah, 9800GT is a step faster than an 8800GTS 320/640, and barely slower than the 512. So if you only a want a replacement that's a good, cheap Nvidia choice. 5750 is still my recommendation though. Driver Cleaner:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: brencat
GTX 260 216 for $155 - $165 and overclock it to 650 - 660 core / 2200 mem and he will have very nice performance.

:thumbsup:

 

[Wreckage]

Everquest 2?

Get a GTS250.

Or even a 9600GT

 

[EarthwormJim]

Originally posted by: DNyholm
Hello,

I have a friend whose 8800GTS just fried. He is looking to get a replacement for under $200 (preferably closer to $100). From reading, it seems that it would make more sense to get another NVIDIA card due to the old drivers that are really hard to remove completely. Could you make some recommendations on a card for him that would be equivalent performance (or better) for playing Everquest 2? His current board is not a PCI x16 version 2, but a regular x16 if that matters. Any help would be appreciated!

It's not hard to remove drivers...

 

[Gikaseixas]

5770 for $160

DX 11, runs cooler, lower consumption

but if your friend must have Nvidia get a GTX 260 for around the same price

Supports PhysX but still a DX 10 card, runs a bit hotter, higher consumption

 

[faxon]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
Everquest 2?

Get a GTS250.

Or even a 9600GT

no, get him any current gen $50 graphics card with a 1GB frame buffer (think 48SP 9600GSO performance). the game is coded all fucked to hell, it can use the frame buffer but it doesnt need any more compute power at all lol. use the money saved to upgrade him to a fast CPU he can OC past 4GHz. if he dual boxes a Q9550 clocked to 4.2GHz will be a godsend, if he doesnt get an e8500 and take it to like 4.6 or something stupid. im not sure if this link works since it's in the member section of my guild's forums, but it shows me utilizing 79% of my Q9650 @ 4.2GHz and 6.33gb of ram running ACT, vent, 5 tabs in firefox, and 2 copies of EQ2, one in palace of the ancient one in a 24 man raid and the other one in the moors over by the shard armor merchants.

http://www.wonguild.com/forum/download.php?id=633

i used an HD5870 for this, but i could have just as easily used my 2900PRO 1GB instead and got the same results. i dont only play EQ2 before you ask why the hell i have 2 5870s if it doesnt do anything for me