Worth buying 8800gt now?

[jackace]

As topic says. Is it worth upgrading now or should I wait till after the new stuff comes out and prices drop? Currently have x1950pro.

How much do prices typically drop once new stuff comes out?

 

[crisium]

It's just a week or two before new stuff hits the market. The GTX 260 and 280 are priced so high they won't affect 8800GT prices, but the 4850 just might. You're best bet is just to wait a couple weeks. The 4850 should retail for $199, just above 8800GT prices, so who knows. If it's good enough you may want to consider it, or prices for 8800GT will drop, or if neither one happens you just buy the 8800GT for the same price anyway. Normally I am against the waiting game, but what's 2 weeks?

 

[jackace]

It's only 2 weeks. I thought july 17th was the day? Thats over a month.

 

[crisium]

4850 should be out June 23rd or so.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Keep an eye out cause reviews should be coming out soon

 

[jackace]

nice I will just wait for the 4850 then. If it hits the ~$200 mark and the performance is better then an 8800gt it would easily be worth the wait.

 

[rudder]

Tigerdirect has the alpha dog edition 8800gt for $159 - $30 rebate (-$10 through google checkout). I have also seen ATI 3870's at $140 or less.

So I am torn as well. But I only upgrade video at most every 18 months or so. So for me if I can get much better performance for $70 more, I think I may wait.

If you buy an 8800GT I would not pay more than $130 for one. The price will drop.. but not a whole lot so it is not like buying a $400 video card and have it worth $200 6 months later.

 

[ther00kie16]

8800gt is much better than a 3870. as for 4850, preliminary info show it's comparable to 9800gtx at ~$230-$250 at launch. Might be worth waiting as if those are true, 8800s and 9800s are likely to go down in price a little. Though I'm not sure if you'll see much better than 8800gt for $130ish after rebate.

 

[zod96]

Yeah that's what I'm doing. Holding on to my 8800GT until the Ati 4850 comes out. I want to see some real numbers on it. They say its as fast or faster than a 9800GTX, but with only 1 power connector and single slot, half the heat and half the power so we'll see. And I've heard anywhere from $179 to $229 if that's true Ati might have a winner on its hands because both new nvidia cards are like $500 and $600 and that is way way to much...

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: ther00kie16
8800gt is much better than a 3870. as for 4850, preliminary info show it's comparable to 9800gtx at ~$230-$250 at launch. Might be worth waiting as if those are true, 8800s and 9800s are likely to go down in price a little. Though I'm not sure if you'll see much better than 8800gt for $130ish after rebate.

8800GT is better, not much better, 15% to 20% in best case scenario, recent driver optimizations has made the HD 3870 more attractive. Look at these benchmarks using the Cat 8.3.

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1278&pageID=4849 <<Company of Heroes and World in Conflict performance are anemic for some reason...

http://www.tomshardware.com/re...gtx-review,1800-6.html

http://www.overclockersclub.co...iews/xfx_9800gtx/6.htm <<Abnormally low scores on Crysis with the HD 3870 and abnormally high scores with the same card in Call of Duty 4, strangely the HD 3870 runs performs slighly faster in World in Conflict than the 8800GT, something that is the opposite in the bjorn3d review. Both reviews uses the same CPU but bjorn3d is overclocked, so that might be the explain the performance differences...

 

[aaronjbc123]

Sorry to hijack, but do you predict the 9800GTX prices will be dropping? Was considering buying that now as I've just upgraded from a 17 inch to a 22 inch monitor, and still have a 9600GT.

 

[Munky]

The 8800gt is a good buy, given the current low prices. Unless you're willing to spend at least $200, I wouldn't bother waiting for the new cards. The 9800gtx, on the other hand, will likely be made redundant by the 48xx series, and I don't expect it to drop down to $200. It's not much faster than a 8800gt, and yet costs $100 more.