Looking to upgrade my 8800GTS 512. Difficulty: for a 30" monitor

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Monkeypillow

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Aug 30, 2006
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My 8800GTS 512 RMA is coming in tomorrow, and it looks like it's a 9800GTX OCE. Considering they're based on the same core, they should perform pretty closely, right?

Anyway, I'm looking at going to a 30" monitor in the near future, and I'd like to be able to play games on it. I'm not worried about playing Crysis with full detail (though I do enjoy the game) or playing everything with high AA/AF and blistering framrates. Mainly, I'd like to be able to play Source games at high image quality settings, with the added ability to play games like Crysis, but at lower settings.

Crossfire and SLi setups are acceptable, but I'd like to keep the total cost under $400.
 
4870X2 or a pair of 4870 1GBs. 4890s would be even better, if you're willing to consider the AR / after cashback price. I've seen them as low as $185 each already after rebate and cashback from ewiz.com.

The GTX 295 is another options, but too expensive. Dual GTX 260 Core 216s would be a little cheaper, but not quite as fast as 4870 1GBs / 4890s in Source games.

Honestly you might be able to get away with a single 4890 OCed a bit if Source is your primary concern. Source <3s ATI cards.
 
silent-circuit said:
4870X2 or a pair of 4870 1GBs. 4890s would be even better, if you're willing to consider the AR / after cashback price. I've seen them as low as $185 each already after rebate and cashback from ewiz.com.

The GTX 295 is another options, but too expensive. Dual GTX 260 Core 216s would be a little cheaper, but not quite as fast as 4870 1GBs / 4890s in Source games.

Honestly you might be able to get away with a single 4890 OCed a bit if Source is your primary concern. Source <3s ATI cards.
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This sounds like a great idea. This way, I can handle most games well at 2560x1600, without putting money into two cards. That's preferable for me, as I really am waiting for DX11 hardware towards the end of the year.

Edit: The 4850 wouldn't be enough for 2560x1600, would it? What about a 4770 if/when they come out? Two 4770s would be priced about right, I think.

I also really like the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. titles, but I'm not holding my breath on being able to play those at high settings any time soon.
 
The 4870X2 or a pair of 4890s will handle anything. Any less than that and you'll be making serious compromises outside of Source titles. No real way around that.

No, a 4850 will choke at 2560x1600. Not enough video memory.
 
Dual 4870 1gb's or dual 4890's.... pick your poision (or alternatively you could go with dual gtx 260's or 280's or 285's....) but the best spot right now is the 4890's in sli...
 
coolxboxgamer said:
Dual 4870 1gb's or dual 4890's.... pick your poision (or alternatively you could go with dual gtx 260's or 280's or 285's....) but the best spot right now is the 4890's in sli...
Click to expand...

That sounds alright as well. Would I definitely need two GTX 260s, or would one be enough for most titles?

Maybe with the DX11 hardware, we'll finally se a single card that shines at this resolution. :p
 
The GTX 295 is an amazing card, but it ain't cheap. I got mine through EVGA's step up, so didn't have to fork over the full price all at once. I gamed pretty well on my 30" LCD with my previous card (GTX 280), so anything above that should work for you.
 
for a 30" the sweet spot is really a 4870X2, the GTX295 cost more and tends not to do any better once you start cranking the settings. (at 2.3mp its clearly faster, a 4mp its almost a wash) next in line is a pair of GTX260 SLI, can be had for pretty cheap and work good. next would be a 4850X2 2gb card. performance is close to par with the GTX260 sli though louder. a single 4890 though would probably do 90% of what you wanted though, its hard to justify getting two cards for crysis, a single GTX285 might do better there but cost as much (almost) as two GTX260
 
GTX 260s in SLi are looking pretty sweet.

Is the 9800GTX OCE (512MB version) as good as my 8800GTS 512? If not, maybe BFG will let me spend a little extra money and upgrade to a GTX 260.
 
Monkeypillow said:
GTX 260s in SLi are looking pretty sweet.

Is the 9800GTX OCE (512MB version) as good as my 8800GTS 512? If not, maybe BFG will let me spend a little extra money and upgrade to a GTX 260.
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better, and I think they would be willing to do that (not sure that you would get a new one) but that is an option. not as good as a pair of 4890 or a 4870X2 but bang for the buck hard to beat. (the 4870 1gb are coming close now in price, can we say crossfire 4870 1gb for 300)
 
Valset said:
better, and I think they would be willing to do that (not sure that you would get a new one) but that is an option. not as good as a pair of 4890 or a 4870X2 but bang for the buck hard to beat. (the 4870 1gb are coming close now in price, can we say crossfire 4870 1gb for 300)
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That'd be great if I were able to upgrade to a GTX 260. Then I could SLi when I got the 30".
 
I can't believe no one's asked this yet, but what's the specs of the rest of your system, OP?
 
Mr. K6 said:
I can't believe no one's asked this yet, but what's the specs of the rest of your system, OP?
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It's in transition right now, but it will be a Gigabyte EX58-UD5, 6GB of DDR3 Corsair XMS3, and an i7 920. That should be enough to benefit from multiple card configurations.
 
Monkeypillow said:
It's in transition right now, but it will be a Gigabyte EX58-UD5, 6GB of DDR3 Corsair XMS3, and an i7 920. That should be enough to benefit from multiple card configurations.
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I'd highly recommend grabbing a GTX 260 or HD 4890 and testing the waters then. If you think you need more, you can grab a second :cool:.
 
Mr. K6 said:
I can't believe no one's asked this yet, but what's the specs of the rest of your system, OP?
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kinda a given when he said that he could do either crossfire or SLI

OP If you can get the GTX260 then I would do that, if not look hard at the 4890, everyone I have talked to so far loves them. (hell I have a GTX280 on a 2.3mp monitor and I am considering it.)
 
For 2560x1600 setups, I think the GTX 275 1792MB in SLI would be very interesting. Most of the speed of a GTX 280, and lots of texture memory at the one resolution that actually needs that much.
 
I upgraded my 8800GTS to a GTX 295. I got in on the Dell deal, and I actually got mine. I am happily running my 2 2709s with a little breathing room.
 
4870X2 or a pair of 4870 1GBs. 4890s would be even better, if you're willing to consider the AR / after cashback price. I've seen them as low as $185 each already after rebate and cashback from ewiz.com.

The GTX 295 is another options, but too expensive. Dual GTX 260 Core 216s would be a little cheaper, but not quite as fast as 4870 1GBs / 4890s in Source games.

Honestly you might be able to get away with a single 4890 OCed a bit if Source is your primary concern. Source <3s ATI cards.
 
Source games aren't very taxing at all.

Quoting my self from another thread because I don't feel like rewriting this when I just wrote this.... ;)

For the record,
[H]ardocp's reviewed vs a 275 and a 280, not the 285 on apples to apples said:
Crysis warhead, victor 4890 vs a 275 by about 7%. The also reviewed against a 280, NOT 285.
Fallout 3, victor 4890 vs a 275 by about 2%.
Farcry 2, victor 275, not 4890, by 10%.
Fear 2, victor 280 (didn't show 275), by about 4%.

From the same review, the 4890 averaged 10% faster than the 4870. According to [H]ard's 4870vs 216 260 review....
They are amazing video cards and even more unbelievably they both seem to be within a hairs width of each other performance wise.
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(the hair's width going to the 216, not the 4870.
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XFX GTX 260 159.99 AR FS @ TheEgg 30$ rebate no livecash back

Or

4890 184 AR FS @ ewiz w/ livecash back 20 Rebate

Based on the preformance numbers, the cost of the 4890 should be 165 to be the same price/preformance.

However, you do get a little more Vram with the 4890. Outside of crysis at high AA, I'm not sure you'll see the difference and you won't for sure in Left for dead, TF2 or any other source game.
 
tanujpadhy said:
4870X2 or a pair of 4870 1GBs. 4890s would be even better, if you're willing to consider the AR / after cashback price. I've seen them as low as $185 each already after rebate and cashback from ewiz.com.

The GTX 295 is another options, but too expensive. Dual GTX 260 Core 216s would be a little cheaper, but not quite as fast as 4870 1GBs / 4890s in Source games.

Honestly you might be able to get away with a single 4890 OCed a bit if Source is your primary concern. Source <3s ATI cards.
Click to expand...

...what the fuck? You copy-pasted my reply from the first page...

silent-circuit said:
4870X2 or a pair of 4870 1GBs. 4890s would be even better, if you're willing to consider the AR / after cashback price. I've seen them as low as $185 each already after rebate and cashback from ewiz.com.

The GTX 295 is another options, but too expensive. Dual GTX 260 Core 216s would be a little cheaper, but not quite as fast as 4870 1GBs / 4890s in Source games.

Honestly you might be able to get away with a single 4890 OCed a bit if Source is your primary concern. Source <3s ATI cards.
Click to expand...
 
silent-circuit said:
...what the fuck? You copy-pasted my reply from the first page...
Click to expand...

I noticed that the reply was the same, I didn't notice it was by a different author. I agree, wtf.... Hopefully he just ment to quote and say +1 or something not just a dumb fuck idiot plagorist.

oh, and that's the first time in a long time I've seen wtf spelled out!
 
Valset said:
kinda a given when he said that he could do either crossfire or SLI

OP If you can get the GTX260 then I would do that, if not look hard at the 4890, everyone I have talked to so far loves them. (hell I have a GTX280 on a 2.3mp monitor and I am considering it.)
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Upgrade is a no go, according to BFG. Is there anything I can do with the 9800GTX (like PhysX) if I go with a 4890? The GTX 260/GTX 275 route still looks pretty good, though the cost of the GTX 275 seems kinda high.
 
Monkeypillow said:
Upgrade is a no go, according to BFG. Is there anything I can do with the 9800GTX (like PhysX) if I go with a 4890? The GTX 260/GTX 275 route still looks pretty good, though the cost of the GTX 275 seems kinda high.
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not until windows 7, vista does not allow two video drivers to be installed. and honestly, I have had my card for close to a year now and have never had the need to do physx yet (and I have a GTX280) , and the few games out there that do use it are kind of lame. (I enjoyed havok in a few though, esp bioshock). its turning out to be more worthless then DX10.1, at least there are some real games with real benefits for DX10.1 (I can count them on one hand though) Personally I would sell the card and either go to a a GTX275 or a 4890. and right now its the 4890 hands down. under two hundred for a regular one and I believe you can get a XFX one for around 30 dollars more AR here http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010262&prodlist=froogle
 
I bought a 30" Dell in January. I spend most of my time playing Steam games (portal, tf2, etc) and have a BFG GTX280 OC. I have been satisfied with this set up. I started with an 8800GTX but I had to drop the settings more than I wanted to. Next, I upgraded to a 4870 512MB. Little to no improvement. The GTX280 made a decent improvement. Nothing great but I can run TF2 with all the settings pretty much maxed out. I tried Farcry 2 but it was a little choppy with high settings. I will need to tinker with it a bit to get a decent frame rate.
 
coolxboxgamer said:
Dual 4870 1gb's or dual 4890's.... pick your poision (or alternatively you could go with dual gtx 260's or 280's or 285's....) but the best spot right now is the 4890's in sli...
Click to expand...

Haha. And lmfao @ the guy who copied & pasted silent-circuit's response. Must have been sleepy!
 
Valset said:
not until windows 7, vista does not allow two video drivers to be installed. and honestly, I have had my card for close to a year now and have never had the need to do physx yet (and I have a GTX280) , and the few games out there that do use it are kind of lame. (I enjoyed havok in a few though, esp bioshock). its turning out to be more worthless then DX10.1, at least there are some real games with real benefits for DX10.1 (I can count them on one hand though) Personally I would sell the card and either go to a a GTX275 or a 4890. and right now its the 4890 hands down. under two hundred for a regular one and I believe you can get a XFX one for around 30 dollars more AR here http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010262&prodlist=froogle
Click to expand...

I got my first 4890 yesterday and will get a second today, and I run Windows 7 beta as my day to day OS, dual-booting Vista Ultimate 64bit in case I run in to serious compatibility problems. Very briefly I tried to get my old 8800 GTX and the 4890 to "play nice" together under Windows 7 and see if PhysX would make a substantial difference, particularly in 3DMark Vantage scores; I don't care about them, but I have seen several people claim ATI is at a huge disadvantage here and I was curious what difference PhysX acceleration would really make to the score.

No dice there -- I could get the 8800 GTX to work properly, or the 4890, but not both. Perhaps this will be possible Q3/Q4/next year after ATI and Nvidia release up to date WDDM 1.1 complaint drivers, but for the time being the only WDDM 1.1 Nvidia drivers I know of don't have PhysX support and ATI has no proper WDDM 1.1 drivers that I am aware of... you're really just running Vista drivers in 7 if you want anything at all up to date.
 
Fawkes said:
What about getting a second 9800GTX?
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Ehh, that might be kind of hard to do. The board they sent me is a 65nm part, while most of what's available at the moment are 55nm parts, which I don't believe would play nice in an SLi configuration.

That, and at 2560x1600, the 512MB of VRAM is going to absolutely cripple your performance. I'll probably just sell it to a friend running a smaller monitor.
 
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