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extreme4377

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
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I have an 8800GTS 640MB card now and am looking to replace it with either a 9600GT or 9800GT card or maybe an ATI equivalent card. Is this a good choice? How does the 96 or 9800GT card compare to the 8800GTS 640MB? What ATI cards are equivalent to the 96/98GT cards?

I want to spend around $125 and get a single slot card with better performance than my current card. My current card is not over-clocked at all.

Thank you in advance
 
I think the only thing that will give you an appreciable performance increase at that price point is a 4850 but they are more like $150. The 9600GT is definately not worth upgrading to from your existing card. I'm not sure about the 9800GT, maybe someone else can provide some insight. I don't think you'll have much luck getting a $125 card that provides much of an upgrade.
 
nvidia - 8800gt/9800gt for around that budget (free games on some brands like xfx-cod4, pny-frontlines, evga-crysis, asus-alone in the dark) as low as 100 open box at newegg, some are dual slot so be careful if you only looking at single slot

ati - 4850 (faster card than 8800/9800 - about 20-30% on avg) for slightly higher (open box newegg for 140 from asus/msi right now)

both would be fairly modest upgrades, though from a 8800gts640

a gtx260 or 4870 would be more substantial but double your budget...nm they are dual slot

btw, why only a single slot over your previous dual slot card?

if it were me, i would just get a 9800gt and overclock it as high as i can and call it a day, just get the one with the free game of your choice

where you planning to sell the 8800gts640 to offset the cost? or just keep it and use if for gpu physx?

or you can always sli another 9800gt later on and see a great performance boost overall.
 
The 9600/9800GT's have almost exactly the same performance as your current card. You will see literally NO difference. The only single slot card out right now that will give you an appreciable performance increase is the ATI 4850, which edges out the 8800GTX in performance. You'll have to decide if that performance jump is worth the money you'll be spending.

The cheapest way to bump up your performance would be to pick up another GTS 640. It will take up more room, but you've got the board for it and from what I see in your sig you really aren't hurting for space in your case. Why are you limiting yourself to single slot cards at all?
 
Yes, I am selling my current card and it comes with the ThermalRight HR03+ cooler too along with the stock hsf. I'm selling it for $125 shipped if anyone is interested. It is posted in the FS section. I was just trying to keep up to date with video card tech while not spending more than 20-40 extra dollars on the new card. I just like the single slot aspect of the card that could allow me to possibly upgrade my Antec P180 case to a SFF case like a shuttle in the near future.

The only game I play is Team Fortress 2 really, nothing more graphic intensive than that.

Basically, I either upgrade my video card or upgrade my 2gb of ram to 4gb, keep in mind Im running Windows XP Pro.

Your thoughts?
 
Yes, I am selling my current card and it comes with the ThermalRight HR03+ cooler too along with the stock hsf. I'm selling it for $125 shipped if anyone is interested. It is posted in the FS section. I was just trying to keep up to date with video card tech while not spending more than 20-40 extra dollars on the new card. I just like the single slot aspect of the card that could allow me to possibly upgrade my Antec P180 case to a SFF case like a shuttle in the near future.

The only game I play is Team Fortress 2 really, nothing more graphic intensive than that.

Basically, I either upgrade my video card or upgrade my 2gb of ram to 4gb, keep in mind Im running Windows XP Pro.

Your thoughts?

shoot, if that's the case and you can get your card for that much, might as well and get as close to a free upgrade while you still can right now, even though tf2 is the only thing you play right now. there might be another game that catches your fancy in the near future. you can always get memory on the cheap right now as well. 2gb shouldn't be more than 30-40 bucks. so if you sell your card for that price, you can get a 9800gt with a free game, overclock it to the max, and get the 2gb of memory, all for around 50 bucks, i bet. a modest video card upgrade, free game, and 2gb memory for 50 bucks? now that's value! or you can get the faster ati 4850 for a slight premium, depending if you want to spend more. but for me, i can't resist cards with free games, especially if it's a game you like. something like the evga 9800gt w/ crysis would have appealed to me. either way, sell that card and go for it!

p.s. don't expect to get any performance boost in team fortress 2 though, as you should expect only about 5% boost with a 9800gt (unless you overclock it), and 15-20% with a 4850. hopefully, you will find other games you want to play as there will be more of a difference in performance.
 
Going to a 9800GT is a waste, in my opinion - if you are going to upgrade go ahead and upgrade to a newer technology (4850), not just a faster, smaller process version of the same thing (which is essentially what the 9800GT is for you).
 
Thank you guys for the input, I appreciate it and am considering the 4850, however Ive come across a deal on a 9800GT that may allow me to break even so we'll see what I end up doing. Im going to read reviews and do some comparisons.

Any other info is always appreciated though, so keep it coming. Thanks
 
The 9800GT is roughly 10% faster than the 8800GTS 640MB. So don't expect to notice a huge performance increase in gaming.
 
sell your 8800gts 640mb for $85 shipped, spend the $60 you make off of it towards an ATI HD4850, Nvidia 9800GTX, or Nvidia GTX260
 
$85? Talk about a low ball offer, the card and HSF combo Im selling is worth over $170. I'm asking $125 shipped and I think thats a very reasonable price. Thanks again for the input, Im going to continue reading reviews and check out my options
 
I'm not low balling(I don't want to buy it). I'm telling you the reality of how much they are worth.

Here are used prices:

9600gt & 8800gts 640mb -$85 shipped

8800gt- $100 shipped

8800gts 512mb- $110-115

8800gtx- $120-125 shipped

You can buy new 9800gt's for $110 shipped with a rebate and COD4.
 
Keep in mind that the card I am selling comes with the Thermal Right HR-03+ heatsink and the stock heatsink. Thanks for the prices Scheibler.
 
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