Upgrade from 7950gx2 to 8800gtx?

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Gawd
Joined
Dec 8, 2004
Messages
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I got the 7950gx2 in August and it has served me very well but I'm wondering if there would be a reason to replace it with a 8800gtx. Other than the DX10 support, do you think I'd have a reason to upgrade now or should I wait for the 8800 version of the gx2? I play at 1920x1200 and recently have been obsessed with Supreme Commander which does have frame drops when the action really heats up. The system is a C2D 6600 @ 3.4 and 2GB of pc26400. Thanks for any advice.
 
I'm in the same situation.

I simply cannot justify paying £400 for a 8800GTX so soon after paying £375 for the 7950GX2

The 7950GX2 is basically about as fast as the 8800GTS just without the DX10 support, DX10 support alone isn't worth the update, because we simply DO NOT have any "proper" DX10 content yet, and probably wont have for a good few months, in fact I'd bet the R600 and 8900/8950 cards will be out before we see ANY DX10 content outside of a tech demo/benchmark.

Just bide your time, wait for the refresh to come out and then you'll have more options, it might turn out that the 8900 or R600 cards are significantly better at DX10, at the very least drivers will have matured by then.

I'll definately be getting a Nvidia refresh card, most likely the 8950GX2 variant since I was so impressed with the 7950GX2, that should be just in time for some of the first decent DX10 content.
 
In your shoes i would put the GX2 on the FS/FT forum and shoot for an 8800GTX. I would buy an EVGA one as well that way if the refreshes are all thier cracked up to be you can just step up to one of those.

DX10 games will be here before we know it and when they come i would expect the price of DX10 cards to go up a bit because they will be selling like hotcakes.
 
In your shoes i would put the GX2 on the FS/FT forum and shoot for an 8800GTX. I would buy an EVGA one as well that way if the refreshes are all thier cracked up to be you can just step up to one of those.

DX10 games will be here before we know it and when they come i would expect the price of DX10 cards to go up a bit because they will be selling like hotcakes.

Hmm, I dunno about that. I'd say the price is going to be significantly lower by the time any large amount of DX10 content is out, it's not as if the 7950GX2 really struggles to run todays games, it's still the 2nd-3rd most powerful card on the market today.
 
After reading some reviews, it does look like the 8800 series kills the 7950 on higher resolutions with the eye candy on. Interesting......
 
After reading some reviews, it does look like the 8800 series kills the 7950 on higher resolutions with the eye candy on. Interesting......

All the reviews I've seen put the 7950GX2 on par with the 8800GTS. I wouldn't say the 8800GTX "kills" it, it's a lot faster for sure but for the price? You'd have to be mad.
 
This shows a different story...

http://xtreview.com/review159.htm

The 7950GX2 actually beats the 8800GTS in several of the high end tests.

Theres no doubt that the 8800GTX is a killer card, but you have you weigh cost vs performance increase, if you've got loads of money to blow on these cards then great (could you get me one too while you're at it?)

With the refresh just around the corner it's silly not to wait to see what that has to offer. You'll be kicking yourself if you spend £400 now on a 8800GTX and the 8950GX2 is released in a few months time for £550
 
You certainly raise a very good point.
My wallet will end up dictating what I'll do. It does seem silly to buy a card that will be bested by a refresh in only a few months.
 
You certainly raise a very good point.
My wallet will end up dictating what I'll do. It does seem silly to buy a card that will be bested by a refresh in only a few months.

But...the way things are, there should always be a better card just a few months away...
 
But...the way things are, there should always be a better card just a few months away...

Exactly, IMO you just have to bite the bullet and do it sometime, but in your case, i would wait a little just because your card doesn't BLOW yet. My old card was the 9600xt.... gg lol
 
Personally I just sold my 7950gx2 and I am using an x700 I have laying aroudn and will pick up a 8800gtx or 8900gtx in about 3-4 months when prices drop or good games start coming out.

I would sell your 7950gx2 while you can still get money for it. I got 300 on eaby.
 
But...the way things are, there should always be a better card just a few months away...

Not really true, refreshes tend to be 6 months + and whole card cycles tend to be much higher than that again, 12 months+

If you've only got approx 2 months to wait for not only a new whole line of cards from ATI, plus a refresh of cards from Nvidia then it just makes sense to wait.

I fully aknowledge you can always wait for something better and there is limits, but at the moment we're coming upto a very important time in the hardware world, DX10 is right around the corner and those who bide their time and wait it out to see who comes out on top are going to be those best set up for DX10 games.

If this was someone with a Geforce FX 5500 or something like that, and they were desperately in need of an upgrade then I'd probably suggest an "update now and enjoy the extra performance" path, this is hardly the case here, he has the 3rd best card on the market right now.
 
I got the 7950gx2 in August and it has served me very well but I'm wondering if there would be a reason to replace it with a 8800gtx. Other than the DX10 support, do you think I'd have a reason to upgrade now or should I wait for the 8800 version of the gx2? I play at 1920x1200 and recently have been obsessed with Supreme Commander which does have frame drops when the action really heats up. The system is a C2D 6600 @ 3.4 and 2GB of pc26400. Thanks for any advice.

How much is the drop bothering you? Will fr still drop off with a GTX?

I'd likely hang onto the card you have for a bit. Wait for refresh and try a card out (gtx) before moving up to whatever the top end card is if you still think you need it (via Evga step-up).
 
I seen bench marks where the 7950GX2 beats the 8800GTX in some tests, but otherwise would get beat in others. I'd wait, I'm getting a 2nd 7800GT for SLI to hold me over.

I'm already hearing about there being a dx revision of DX10.1 and don't know if its going to be a issue with the current g80 cards that are out. I also fear it might be like when DX9 and geforceFX cards came out that the FX cards couldn't run DX9 for crap cause of the way the GPU was made.
 
From what I've read over the course of the day, I think plugging another 2GB of RAM into the computer might help with the SupCom issues. Since I have XP64 it shouldn't be too tough.
 
I'm in a similar boat. I have the 7950gx2 and am looking at the 8800gtx. I don't think I would even consider this upgrade if everything worked at it's optimal performance. However, the game I play most, WoW, does not support SLI... thus, half of the gx2 is useless. If I were to upgrade to an 8800gtx, I would think I would see a noticable difference in framerate vs the gx2.

And ya, I know WoW isn't the most graphics heavy game out there, but I'm running on a 30" panel at 2560x1600 and with everything maxed out, framerates can drop below 30 in certain situations.

Unfortunately, I didn't even look at the eVGA step-up thing when I bought my card. By the time I did look, it was already 20 days too late :(
 
Even 8800gts 320m beats gx2 - especially if all the settings are maxed out on res. preferably 12x10 or under 16x12.

Oh crap i didn't see what res. you are using sory, in that case id either get 2nd gx2 in sli, because they are known to be good performers on very high resolutions, or get 8800gtx they are even better.
 
i always like single card solution

i upgraded from a 7800GTX 256 SLI
to xt1900XTX
was so happy as i don't need to try get the SLI to works in games..
then i got my 8800GTX..
it was the best thing
i can play any games with highest setting possible.. with 8X AA and 16XAF
at 1680*1050

couldn't do that with my old XT1900XTX 512mb
 
Exactly, IMO you just have to bite the bullet and do it sometime, but in your case, i would wait a little just because your card doesn't BLOW yet. My old card was the 9600xt.... gg lol


I agree there, if you want the speed bite the bullet, if not then dont worry about it, take me for example im still using a TNT2 and a K6-2 450
 
I seen bench marks where the 7950GX2 beats the 8800GTX in some tests, but otherwise would get beat in others. I'd wait, I'm getting a 2nd 7800GT for SLI to hold me over.

I'm already hearing about there being a dx revision of DX10.1 and don't know if its going to be a issue with the current g80 cards that are out. I also fear it might be like when DX9 and geforceFX cards came out that the FX cards couldn't run DX9 for crap cause of the way the GPU was made.


The FX deisgn was good, MS just changed the direction DX9 was going and Nvidia already had tapped out the NV30 and had to stick with it.
 
I'm in a similar boat. I have the 7950gx2 and am looking at the 8800gtx. I don't think I would even consider this upgrade if everything worked at it's optimal performance. However, the game I play most, WoW, does not support SLI...

Um, games don't need to "support SLI" it should be forceable in the control panel?
 
Um, games don't need to "support SLI" it should be forceable in the control panel?

Wow running in SLI caused all kinds of bugs with no framerate increased. This has been acknowledged on their tech support forums. Disabled my 7800 GTX SLI in the game profile, no problems since.
 
Wow running in SLI caused all kinds of bugs with no framerate increased. This has been acknowledged on their tech support forums. Disabled my 7800 GTX SLI in the game profile, no problems since.

I don't actually have any experience with WoW, however it seems any games which get no benefit from SLI tend to issues with the game itself rather than the drivers, just from experience with other games.
 
Um, games don't need to "support SLI" it should be forceable in the control panel?

Ya, I know you can force SLI, but WoW doesn't seem to make use of the second GPU. I haven't had issues running the game in SLI, but it just doesn't take advantage of the second GPU. Which is kind of a bummer since it's one of the few games I play. Also, Blizzard's official stance is, SLI isn't supported in WoW.

And this is my dilemma... playing WoW at 2560x1600 with what is essentially a single 7900GT. There is some significant slowdown. Upgrading to an 8800GTX I would imagine would nearly double my performance since it's a single GPU. It just sucks that I paid so much for the 7950gx2 and only get the performance of a 7900gt.

I'll probably just wait til the next gen cards come out since the game is still very playable (usually 40-70fps). It's just that little bitter taste when you know you have a fairly fast card, but because of compatibility, you COULD upgrade to something else and get twice the performance.
 
Just an update: I ordered the BFG GTX OC2 yesterday along with a Q6600. I should have them installed by tomorrow. I'll let you all know how it works out :).
 
I don't know why people keep comparing a DX10 card to a DX9 card with DX9 games. Not exactly apples to apples now is it?
 
Since there are currently no games capable of running DX10 content, it is simply comparing the cards of the current generation to those of the generation prior.
 
I don't know why people keep comparing a DX10 card to a DX9 card with DX9 games. Not exactly apples to apples now is it?

Card you have vs. card you want in applications you want to use--who cares if it's "apples to apples"? It tells you the info you care about. And in this case, the application is the apple, so yes it is.
 
This card has VASTLY improved the image quality in Supreme Commander. I can't wait for my Q6600 to get here.
 
take me for example im still using a TNT2 and a K6-2 450

yeah, i still love playing doom too :p

@ the op, i would wait for the release of new cards, your card is still more than capable, it doesnt make sense to spend another 400 - 500 on a new card when the one u have is perfectly acceptable, but at the end of the day its your money so do as you please :)

EDIT: and you did spend it as you please, as i have just noticed, i really need to pay more attention.
 
With lower quality, the results are somewhat similar. Once high quality is chosen, however, it definitely comes into its own:

http://www.bcchardware.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3457&Itemid=40&limit=1&limitstart=5

That review is full of shit. I can run fear 1600x1200 maximum with soft shadows on the rig in my sig which includes a 7950GX2. Mine IS overclocked to 600/1400 but that wouldn't make up for the bogus results those guys got. Nvidia must have payed for that review.
 
That review is full of shit. I can run fear 1600x1200 maximum with soft shadows on the rig in my sig which includes a 7950GX2. Mine IS overclocked to 600/1400 but that wouldn't make up for the bogus results those guys got. Nvidia must have payed for that review.

Maybe thier using an unpatched version of f.e.a.r. with soft shadows enabled and AA without the patches performance takes a nose dive. Or possibly drivers that dont work so well with the GX2. It does seem a little low for the GX2 but the 8800 FPS seems on track.
 
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