Can't justify upgrading 8 series card

D

Dmitri

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Joined
Jun 12, 2007
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Having a hard time justifying upgrading my 8800GTX. It's years old, but still runs most games fine at 1920x1200. There just don't seem be that many games on the horizon that really push visuals. The Id Software engine release train that used to mean a large jump in gaming visuals is dead. Years old console hardware dictates the quality of high budget mainstream games. Stagnation. The 5870 looks like a great card. But where are the games worth playing?

Perhaps I shouldn't complain, my 2007 card certainly was value for money, more than I can say for the highend cards of previous generations I was purchasing every year or so.
 
Dmitri said:
Years old console hardware dictates the quality of high budget mainstream games. Stagnation.
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+1 Now imagine how long you'd be able to keep that card if all the pc ports were done even semi-well!
 
This is where im at too. I dont see any point in dropping the cash to upgrade my 8800gts.
 
www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html

8800 series, THE most popular card still.
There are a few DX11 games, I guess the main reason to buy a card is to enjoy that console port in much better graphical quality. That and waiting for the new Crytech engine to come out :)

One game that is worth playing if you have a dx11 card is that outer space multiplayer only fps (Shattered Horizon?)
 
I find it hard you can run at 1920x1200 maxed out on an 8800GTS.

Especially in games like BC2, Metro 2033, AVP, etc.
 
This all seems opinion based, and there are plenty of factors that play into this that you guys did not mention like specs of your rig, the resolution you play at and biggest of all if what quality you find acceptable. That being the case I am upgrading my 8800 in my sig because I have noticed it starting to be sluggish in many of the games I am playing, not all of which are new. IE: Dragon age, BF2 BC2, Crysis warhead. I for one do not find medium setting at my native res of 1920 x 1200 acceptable and when I try to sprinkle in some AA to fight the jaggies it drops the frames down into the 40's with 30's when there is allot of action. Of course the newer cards offer DX 11 and tessellation as well but those may or may not play a role in your decision. I upgraded to I-7 last year this time to boost my capabilities and stretch more life from my card but I feel with FERMI doing what it did it is time to get a new card.

So, I am curious what game are you two (Dmitri and cbags101) playing and at what res / FPS with what rigs that you feel no need to upgrade?
 
*hugs my 8800GTX* I want a 5870, but the BC2 slow loads means I'll keep my 8800GTX longer. This card is just fucking amazing how it can still hold it's own years later. Best investment I ever made in regards to computer parts.
 
The performance between the 8800GTX and the mid-range of current generation (5750, 5770) is comparable. Now, All these cards are fine unless you game at 1920*1200 and higher. In this case, an upgrade is easy to justify.
 
Is the slow load in BF2BC2 only during the initial load of the map or everytime you spawn? I thought it was the initial load only.
 
If you want to game at 1920x1080 or around there with max settings then you probably want to upgrade. Otherwise the 8800 gts 640/gtx/ultra are still good.

On my system the 8800 GTS 640mb (Overclocked @ 660/1000) does about 20-35 fps in Just Cause 2 at 1920x1080 with almost max settings. Enhanced Water Detail/SSOA/VSync off with no AA.

.........Damn crossfire 5870's rock
 
I would have left 8800gts 640 off that list myself if you are saying near max @ 1920 x 1080, i find that very hard to belive as my 8800gts g92 512 cannot do that.

I will say the 8800GTX and Ultras that my friends bought were most likely the best investement as far as longest lasting bang for the buck that i can remeber. I was trying to keep my EVGA7950 KO going until COD4 Modern Warfare (the first one) came out and made me jump to this card.
 
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I have a 8800GTS and a 8800GT KO card. Both are eVGA brands. They work fine for me on 22" LCDs when it comes to gaming. Only reason I plan to upgrade the 8800GT this year is because I'm thinking I want to go 3x22" Eyefinity. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't plan to replace the 8800GT til maybe next year.
 
yeah my bud bought his g92 8800GT the same time i bought my 8800GTS and we both noticed the slow downs on our 24"'s

If it wasn't for that I wouldn't plan to replace the 8800GT til maybe next year.
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Again this is a matter of what frames & in what games. I cannot take 30FPS in FPS's heck under 40 is getting iffy.
 
I just upgraded from my 8800GT to a 5850. I was in the same boat as you guys, not really seeing the need, but I heard that BC2 was rough on the 8800GT. In comparison, I my BC2 runs at 45+ FPS at 1920x1200, all highest settings, 8xAA 16xAF, HBAO on, DX11. I put my 8800GT in my sons rig, he is able to play BC2 at about 30-40 FPS at 1280x1024, mostly medium settings (effects at low), no AA or AF, DX10. My rig is in my sig, his is an AMD 5000BE OC'd to 3 GHz, 2 GB DDR2 800 RAM.

I find that a pretty justifiable reason for my upgrade. I can also play the original crysis at max settings w/ the 5850 at 1920x1200, currently at no AA, but I wouldn't be surprised if I could put that up a notch.

I also pretty much tripled my graphics score in 3DMark Vantage.

The 8800GT is/was a very sweet card, probably the best investment I've ever made in a gaming card, but the 5850 does blow it away. I would think that once the 5850's price drops down, it would definitely be a worthy upgrade. I wouldn't go with anything less though.

Also, I don't seem to have slow loading times in BC2 w/ my 5850. Maybe I just don't notice it, but load times seem fine for me. Anyone remember Battlefield 2's 'optimizing shaders' hell, where you would watch it doing nothing for minutes?
 
Yeah my bud just bought a XFX black edition or something or other 5850 and he is digging it in BC2 and sees no slow down in loads 20s or so he says. Even coming from a 4870X2 he says he sees an improvement.
So I am expecting my XFX 5870 tonight and I will bench BC2 load times for this specifically looking at this and will post back here.
I think in general people saying their 8800’s (unless they are using GTX/Ultras in SLI ) are just fine are either not playing demanding games, using a 1680 x 1050 or lower res, or just don’t know what they are missing and are happy with low frames and medium/high setting or low setting with decent fps.
 
T3ch said:
Is the slow load in BF2BC2 only during the initial load of the map or everytime you spawn? I thought it was the initial load only.
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It occurs during initial loading only.
 
I'll need to log in but I am fairly certain I'm not even close to the 30s mark on my initial BFBC2 loads... I'd say under 20... at the slowest.

Edit: XFX 5850 Black Edition
 
I haven't time it but on my system I'll spawn in and all the vehicles are gone and my team is pretty much half way across the map. Normally I'm used to spawning in and waiting on everyone else.
 
Dmitri said:
Having a hard time justifying upgrading my 8800GTX. It's years old, but still runs most games fine at 1920x1200. There just don't seem be that many games on the horizon that really push visuals. The Id Software engine release train that used to mean a large jump in gaming visuals is dead. Years old console hardware dictates the quality of high budget mainstream games. Stagnation. The 5870 looks like a great card. But where are the games worth playing?

Perhaps I shouldn't complain, my 2007 card certainly was value for money, more than I can say for the highend cards of previous generations I was purchasing every year or so.
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If you like Crysis upgrade it. I just upgraded to 5870 and is replaying Crysis Warhed on Delta difficulty and maximum graphical settings. It is SO different from 8800 I had before. Smooth and fun to play!
 
I had 3 8800GTX's in 3-Way SLI and I've upgraded every generation since then. Well almost everyone. At any rate I can't imagine being happy with a single 8800GTX at 1920x1200 at this point in time. Not with games like BFBC2, AvP, etc.
 
It always comes down to money. If you have the money to spend and play a lot of games, you've probably upgraded already.
 
Hey Dan what ya running for GPU(s)?

with my 8800GTS i run @ meduim everything and keep my frames in the 50-60's but i like being the first or second on the map usualy get my choice of abrams, brad, or ATV to go snag a flag and set up a OP and start popping peeps. :D
 
T3ch said:
Hey Dan what ya running for GPU(s)?

with my 8800GTS i run @ meduim everything and keep my frames in the 50-60's but i like being the first or second on the map usualy get my choice of abrams, brad, or ATV to go snag a flag and set up a OP and start popping peeps. :D
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Right now I'm running a single Radeon HD 5970. I considered two of them for some CrossfireX action but the scaling sucks in a lot of games. That and Microcenter has been out of stock on them for some time. I got mine for $599.99. I won't pay more than that for a reference board. Stock clocks or not.
 
I was starting to find my 8800GTX was not performing to my liking in newer games at 1920x1200. So i jumped ship and grabbed a 5870. Couldn't be happier. TF2 gets twice the FPS, and the terrible FPS drops are not as jarring. (TF2 issue, not the 8800 series.)
 
No doubt the 8800GTX had long legs. I had mine for two years easily. However, they just aren't up to the challenge of the newest games. Not at max settings and high resolution anyway.
 
Well, I think it's true that you should match your video hardware against your requirements just as with everything else. If you can wait, even more advanced hardware will become available and the older stuff will become cheaper.

In my case, I had upgraded my whole system around the 8800 GTX, because of its improvement in image quality. It was a big advance at the time and a great card. Might still have it, but it died a little after two years and I ended up replacing it with a GTX 285 last year. Another great card I think. Plan to hold off on Fermi until they put out a fully enabled revision and hopefully get it to run cooler...

In any case, though I'm also a big fan of AMD/ATI, NVIDIA's got me. :) I have their 3D Vision and also the 3D camera to go with it. Great stuff...

(Trying to limit myself these days to upgrades only when something really big happens...A voluntary upgrade last year was to a solid state drive....)
 
WorldExclusive said:
It always comes down to money. If you have the money to spend and play a lot of games, you've probably upgraded already.
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Very accurate general asessment here, but I have always been curious about posters that every generation say "My xxxxxx is just dandy! i dont need to upgrade"

Well this time they used my actual current card as thier reference point, and other than that GPU I think i have a ok/ decent mid range system and I just do NOT see what they are saying. So I need to no more about there settings etc. Of course if they say they are playing MW1 or CS:S only that makes sense.
 
Well I upgrade failry often due to the fact that I'm running a 30" panel. 2560x1600 is almost 4x the resolution of 1920x1200. It usually takes multiple GPUs to continue to max out newer games on this thing. I am usually OK with turning down the AA somewhat but I want max AF and all details set to their absolute highest levels.

Now I don't upgrade everytime new cards come out. I typically buy the first generation of newer GPUs/technology and skip the refresh cycles unless they can offer something significant that their predecessors could not. I stuck with the GeForce GTX 280's for a long time as the GeForce GTX 285 wasn't a compelling replacement. It wasn't much faster and the GeForce GTX 295's scored about the same as my GeForce GTX 280 3-Way SLI setup did in most game. Given that the individual GTX 280 GPUs are faster than those used on the 295's that made a fair amount of sense. Additionally Quad-SLI scaling just sucked so I found no compelling reason to upgrade from what I had. Though I did try some Radeon 4870 X2's and though the single card was much faster than the GeForce GTX 280, dual 4870 X2's couldn't match 3 GeForce GTX 280's in 3-Way SLI. I also had a ton of problems with my 4870 X2 configuration but that was a Skulltrail issue. I'm not gaming on that anymore so that wouldn't be a problem today.

What I'm running right now isn't really a step up from what I had in terms of raw performance. It's probably a solid match for GeForce GTX 280 SLI, but not 3-Way SLI. However I got the 5970 for Eyefinity and DX11. I've been very pleased with it so far though I did notice that performance in a couple of games isn't what it used to be. Most notably Street Fighter IV. I'd step up to CrossfireX with a pair of 5970's but the poor scaling (and sometimes worse performance) is holding me back. I may have to go with 3 GTX 480's to get the performance I need for a triple monitor setup.

I'll be picking up two more 30" panels which will of course force me to stay on the cutting edge of GPU technology in order to get the performance I'm looking for. Will Fermi deliver on that front? Not sure. We haven't seen how well it handles multi-monitor gaming yet. I'll make my next GPU upgrade decisions once that performance is known.
 
WorldExclusive said:
It always comes down to money. If you have the money to spend and play a lot of games, you've probably upgraded already.
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I don't think this applies to everyone. Money is not an issue for me (homes owned outright, no running debt), but I've never been able to reason spending more than $300 on just a video card. Most expensive card I bought was the 8800gts 320mb for about $260 after rebate 3 years ago when these cards were all the hype. It served me well for 3 years in most games except 1) Crysis and 2) BFBC2.

Since the card's speed got in the way of smooth multiplayer performance for me, I had no choice but to upgrade. I held back for one week of playing BC, then upgraded to the 5850 for $230 from the COMPUSA deal. Had it not been for the deal, I might have spent about $300 on the 5850, but not anymore than that.
 
I think it's really subjective. Me, I had a chance to upgrade from 8800gts 640 to 8800gts 512 and I took it. Of course, since then I've gone through 280 to 5970 so....
 
RadXge said:
The performance between the 8800GTX and the mid-range of current generation (5750, 5770) is comparable. Now, All these cards are fine unless you game at 1920*1200 and higher. In this case, an upgrade is easy to justify.
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no... the HD 5750 trumps the 4850 by quite a bit while the 8800GTX would get mopped by the 4850... and the HD 5770 is at the level of the GTX 260, and 4870 and can surpass them if you overclock it... so no i wudnt say that the 8800GTX is on par with todays mid range offerings...
 
Dan_D said:
I may have to go with 3 GTX 480's to get the performance I need for a triple monitor setup.
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good luck with that mate... even nvidia confessed that back to back SLI configurations with the GTX 480 is dangerous... oh and ur gunna need one hell of a PSU too
 
I am usually first in with my 8800 GTS 512 SLI, But I am also running a SSD with my games. To me this has been a worthwhile upgrade.
 
Honestly i upgraded 4850 to gtx 260 only because i felt the need to upgrade something and wanted to push a little bit more details and AA in 1920x1200.
 
I built my compy around an 8800GTS three years ago...
Plays a new game like BC2 three years later at max settings *without* AA like a charm

If i were to construct a completely new tower should i retain the GTS and somehow SLI a second one or just get a new ATI card? (i aint touching no nVidia nuclear reacto-- i mean Fermi just yet)
 
CompletelyClueless said:
I built my compy around an 8800GTS three years ago...
Plays a new game like BC2 three years later at max settings *without* AA like a charm

If i were to construct a completely new tower should i retain the GTS and somehow SLI a second one or just get a new ATI card? (i aint touching no nVidia nuclear reacto-- i mean Fermi just yet)
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I would love to hear what exactly you mean by max settings without AA like a charm.

I *just* upgraded from a 8800gts 320mb / e6420 system and had to run on all low settings @ 1920x1200 *just* to get my fps to stay in the 30s.
 
CompletelyClueless said:
I built my compy around an 8800GTS three years ago...
Plays a new game like BC2 three years later at max settings *without* AA like a charm

If i were to construct a completely new tower should i retain the GTS and somehow SLI a second one or just get a new ATI card? (i aint touching no nVidia nuclear reacto-- i mean Fermi just yet)
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What's the res? Because if you say anything over 1280x1024 I really find that doubtful.
 
I'd have to get back home and look at the framerates, im posting from uni campus.
And im sure its at or higher than 1280x1024.

All i can say is on first impression my framerates on BC2 aren't much (or maybe noticably) lower than when i played Battlefield 2 when i first built my computer years ago.

I went by some framerate guide i saw on Gamespot two weeks ago, and the two strongest framerate killers was AA which i killed and some other option that escapes me right now that i set to some middling level.

Everything else was "high" or "ultra high" or whatever.


*edit* Mind, this is on DX9. I think the 8800GTS is the strongest card in existence that cannot do DX10+. which is what i kicked myself for years ago cuz i bought my card just before DX10 just came out, heh...
 
I directly upgraded from two 8800GT in SLI to a single 5850, it was well worth the $259.
 
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