Trying to justify a 8800GTS purchase

E

eddie500

Gawd
Joined
Jan 23, 2003
Messages
987
I'm trying to justify purchasing a 8800GTS 640 meg card for $295 shipped.

RIght now I have a 7800GT running on a 1680x1050 resolution monitor. My CPU is what is in my sig which is a athlon XP 3800 overclocked to 2.4gig.

A couple of questions I had to help me justify this purchase. Will the 8800GTS price drop significantly below 300 dollars any time soon?

WHen is the next nvidia series cards supposed to come out? LIke the 9000 series?

Will my CPU greatly bottleneck a 800GTS card?

so is it worth the upgrade?
 
I dont think that the GTS' will be dropping anytime soon i think maybe in a week or so it will hit its minimum for the next few months. The next series as everyone is speculating is in Q4. If you OC your CPU you should be fine. At 2.4ghz my X2 4200+ scores about 8300 in 3dmark06 which is double of what my 7800gt was scoring. :D
 
For 1680x1050 id save up a lil more and try to get the gtx when it hits its minimum price ceiling.
 
I'd got for it. Your cpu shouldn't be a bottleneck, but I'd try and OC it a bit higher to about 2.6GHz.
 
High qualtiy AF and AA is where it's at. I play at the same resolution, trust me, it's worth it.
 
I'm trying to justify buying a GTX myself. So far, there are no games that warrant such firepower.
 
do it!

I saw that buy.com deal on the Hot Deals forum as well. its way too good to pass up and when looking at how much other retailers are still offering fro the card.

However....if you are actually thinking, and can actually wait for N90.....then you probably don't *really need the card now.

Status: Sent to Wharehouse. :)
 
Do it!!!

Before I went C2D a couple months ago I had your same setup except I think I had my 3800+ oced to 2.5ghz. It didn't hold the GTS back at all and made a fine gaming machine.

And I went from a 7900GT 512MB to the 8800GTS and the difference was immediate and profound. You'll be in heaven going from a 7800 to an 8800. :D
 
Usually, when you have second thoughts about getting a video card, you're better off not getting it.

Really, there isn't a single game that's worth buying a new video card for right now. They're all 'OK' games to mediocre.

I'd say hold off.
 
Ask yourself if you need it. If you are struggling with frame rates or have to play with settings dumbed down then get it. Even if your cpu is a bottleneck it wont be by alot, and you will see a big difference in performance. If not then hold off. Also depending on what games you are playing you may want to add another gig of ram.
 
Spoil yourself and get it. However, I suggest you get one from a brick and mortar store with an extended warranty. Hell, most of them condone using the warranty to upgrade hardware on the documentation.
 
chaikovski2002 said:
For 1680x1050 id save up a lil more and try to get the gtx when it hits its minimum price ceiling.
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Come on. I run at the res, and no issues with the GTS. You dont need the GTX to run extrememly well at that res..

So lets not give him the wrong idea, ok?
 
jordan12 said:
Come on. I run at the res, and no issues with the GTS. You dont need the GTX to run extrememly well at that res..

So lets not give him the wrong idea, ok?
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Well, do you play with all eye candy and 4xAA and 8xAF with 60+ frames and no stuttering? I dont want the OP to get the gts and then wish he had gotten the gtx instead for more gpu power. When it comes to gaming were all always gonna be gpu limited over anything else.
 
Monkey_feces said:
Spoil yourself and get it. However, I suggest you get one from a brick and mortar store with an extended warranty. Hell, most of them condone using the warranty to upgrade hardware on the documentation.
Click to expand...

Why? When most of the Nvidia cards come with life time warranty.
 
For 1680x1050 oer less, get the GTS and save some cash for the next generation or a bigger display. I HAD a 21" widescreen when I bought my GTS, and after getting the larger 24", it does pretty good but at 1920x1200 that pushes a GTS to the max and I wish I had gotten a GTX. But hey, I saved some cash and will get a faster card sometime in the next 6 months after the new games like Crysis hit.

And I will be slapping my GTS into my son's new rig that I am working on.....his 19" widescreen lcd and an X2 cpu at 2.4ghz will rock along fine at 1440x900 and max eye candy.
 
So you guys think a GTS is a good bet for 1680x1050 4xAA with Transparency AA? I was thinking about picking one up but I'm kinda concerned that it is barely capable of handling these settings even in current titles.
 
THe way Im looking at it is I want to play the following games at 1680x1050 resolution.

Oblivion and stalker.

I notice that with my 7800gt, its just not cutting it now that I have this widescreen 22" monitor.
 
Yeah the GTS is good for now but reality is that it will be toast in what? 3 months or so? I don't think it's worth it really. If you understand that upgrading for Crysis will be getting the next model of either ati or nvidia for high res/max settings fun.
 
spaceman said:
Yeah the GTS is good for now but reality is that it will be toast in what? 3 months or so? I don't think it's worth it really. If you understand that upgrading for Crysis will be getting the next model of either ati or nvidia for high res/max settings fun.
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I hear what your saying, but you can always go SLI and get a 2nd card. Its suprising how many people are using 7000 series in cards and running close to 8800GTS speeds.

But will this card really be outdated in 3 months? Thats what worries me about buying one.
 
eddie500 said:
I hear what your saying, but you can always go SLI and get a 2nd card. Its suprising how many people are using 7000 series in cards and running close to 8800GTS speeds.

But will this card really be outdated in 3 months? Thats what worries me about buying one.
Click to expand...

All these projections of these cards being outdated so soon is really just rubbish at best. Eventually a new generation will make these cards outdated, no doubt, but that doesn't mean that they are incapable of playing games well.

A lot of people on here seem to get this misconception that once true DX10 hits, these cards will only display slideshows at best. It's all just speculation. The next generation of hardware and even software isn't even out yet and it's already outdated? I hardly think so.

All I can say is that if you're buying top of the line (aka. GTX) or near top of the line (aka. GTS) now you should be pretty well off with the games that are actually available now as well as games that will be out for the next year or two. These cards just don't all of a sudden become unusable the moment something new comes out. I mean, if you're the kind that cannot possibly survive without a minimum of 60 fps then unfortunately you'll have to buy the very best as soon as it comes out. But I'm willing to bet that the majority of users can deal with an average of 60 fps (which in its own right is just fine). I'm even willing to bet that Crysis, Bioshock, Unreal Tournament 3, and any other upcoming game will play just fine on these cards too. :cool:

Don't let some of the negative impressions prevent you from getting that gaming experience that you're looking for. Once you pop in that 8 series card and fire up Stalker and/or Oblivion, all the worries about this card's longevity should disappear. ;)
 
eddie500 said:
A couple of questions I had to help me justify this purchase. Will the 8800GTS price drop significantly below 300 dollars any time soon?
Click to expand...
Significantly below any time soon? Like in a couple of months?
I would think so. But it will largely depend on what competition is doing.
And you can safely say that from now on ATI will be putting lots of pressure on the market, price wise.
 
get it!!
I score 8840 on 3dmark06 barely OC'd I am back to Nvidia!!! ATI has fallen off for the moment. DVD's look so much better and HD stuff and of course the games
 
SentToSchool said:
Usually, when you have second thoughts about getting a video card, you're better off not getting it.

Really, there isn't a single game that's worth buying a new video card for right now. They're all 'OK' games to mediocre.

I'd say hold off.
Click to expand...

F.E.A.R is worth it.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
you can get an evga 640mb gts for under $300 now.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1195161

toast in 3 months. lol. i would like to know how this pearl of wisdom was calculated.
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In addition, if the GTS ends up being insufficient (unlikely). you can also trade up (if you get evga) within the first 90 days.

http://www.evga.com/stepup/default.asp?switch=3

I ordered my GTS and should be getting it this week. From all the comments, it looks like EVGA is a great company products and service wise.
 
@ OP. You'd be going from a 7800 GT to a 8800 GTS.......... Major improvement, and way worth the $300. I don't see why you wouldn't get an 8800.

Just this week I got the 8800 in my sig. I really liked my x1900xt 512MB, which could hold it's own at 1680x1050 or 1920x1200. But, the 8800 just thrashes the x1900. Running 16x AF in everything right now, with MSAA where needed, all while running at 1900x1200. Butter smooth man. STALKER, Oblivion, you name it. The 8800 will eat it for lunch.

The 8800's are without a doubt the best cards nVidia has ever made. I'm very glad I made my purchase, even if it won't be top dog in three more months. If things work out right, I might be able to trade up for little expense out of pocket.
 
If an 8800 won't be able to play Crysis, I have to wonder what are they developing this beast on?
 
PipChaos said:
If an 8800 won't be able to play Crysis, I have to wonder what are they developing this beast on?
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QFT!

I think everyone is taking the Lost Planet and Call of Juarez benchmarks a little too far. True, they help tell a part of the story, but not the whole thing.
 
covertash said:
QFT!

I think everyone is taking the Lost Planet and Call of Juarez benchmarks a little too far. True, they help tell a part of the story, but not the whole thing.
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I agree, go ahead and get the card now, if youre gonna be waiting to upgrade you will always be waiting since every 6 months something new comes out instead of enjoying your current games.
 
I was still trying to figure out how he had an Athlon XP processor and a PCI express slot. Then i saw his sig lol. Definately get the 8800,its worth 300 dollars,the performance increase of the GTX is not worth it at 1600x1200.
 
if your happy with your 7800, why not wait until Q4? dont see purpose in upgrading if it suits your needs now.
 
That is nonsense, 8800 will play crysis and play it well. Maybe not max setting & max resolution, but it will be able to play it well. They are not going to release a game that the top performer on market (8800) could not handle, and there is no guarantee of a release from either NV or AMD for a new gen of card before crysis is released. Crytek would be shooting themselves in the foot if 8800's could not play it well.

PipChaos said:
If an 8800 won't be able to play Crysis, I have to wonder what are they developing this beast on?
Click to expand...
 
DerComissar said:
$295 Shipped?
8800GTS 640Mb= Great card, Great price=Buy it:D
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Yeah I got that deal. But I'm running a 1680x1050 monitor and I'll warn that I find performance marginal at 4xAA so far in Prey at stock speeds. And that's a relatively old title. If you really want to be ready for max settings in the likes of Crysis I'd recommend going for the GTX. Looks like you might have to dial back some settings on the GTS. The GTX is 50% faster than the GTS on average so that's a lot more headroom to work with.
 
apcor said:
That is nonsense, 8800 will play crysis and play it well. Maybe not max setting & max resolution, but it will be able to play it well. They are not going to release a game that the top performer on market (8800) could not handle, and there is no guarantee of a release from either NV or AMD for a new gen of card before crysis is released. Crytek would be shooting themselves in the foot if 8800's could not play it well.
Click to expand...

When Crysis releases, there will be a new crop of the next gen cards for sale.
It's infinitely more likely for the game, rather than the hardware to be delayed
Stop dreaming. You probably will be able to play Crysis on the current hardware with low settings, but that's about it.
 
trinibwoy said:
Yeah I got that deal. But I'm running a 1680x1050 monitor and I'll warn that I find performance marginal at 4xAA so far in Prey at stock speeds. And that's a relatively old title. If you really want to be ready for max settings in the likes of Crysis I'd recommend going for the GTX. Looks like you might have to dial back some settings on the GTS. The GTX is 50% faster than the GTS on average so that's a lot more headroom to work with.
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That is a lot higher than I am, I have a 19" Viewsonic and I run the native res. at 1280 x 1024.
1680 x 1050 must look good on your 20" Dell though. I don't max out the AA on mine either for most games, but have had no problem running Prey, FEAR, etc. at adequate framerates.
When I bought my card six months ago, I had my finger on the button to buy an 8800 GTX but changed my mind, price was a factor in buying the GTS. It would have cost over $250 more for the GTX:rolleyes:
 
eddie500 said:
I'm trying to justify purchasing a 8800GTS 640 meg card for $295 shipped.

RIght now I have a 7800GT running on a 1680x1050 resolution monitor. My CPU is what is in my sig which is a athlon XP 3800 overclocked to 2.4gig.

A couple of questions I had to help me justify this purchase. Will the 8800GTS price drop significantly below 300 dollars any time soon?

WHen is the next nvidia series cards supposed to come out? LIke the 9000 series?

Will my CPU greatly bottleneck a 800GTS card?

so is it worth the upgrade?
Click to expand...


YES YES IT IS
you have nearly the same setup i do and i also had a 7800GT be for getting a 8800GTS
and its huge upgrade
every thing i play i can max out at 1680x150 with 4x or better AA and 16xAF i have on in the driver all the time
 
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