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Upgrading 8800GT, need recommendations!

B

blindexodus

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 30, 2007
Messages
86
So it has finally come time to upgrade my 8800GT, and I'm pretty much out of the loop. I'm looking for the best "bang for the buck" card with the below requirements.

-$200-300 range. The lower the better, but if there's a huge gain for a little more money I will pay it.
-Not biased when it comes to ATI or nvidia. I've used and liked both.
-DX11 would be great, but if DX10 cards offer a large enough performance gain in this price range, I wouldn't mind sticking with that.
-Can be powered by my Corsair 520HX.
-1920x1200 performance ideal.

Please help me with my research. Any and all help would be much appreciated. Looking to order within the next couple of days!
 
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I'm in the same boat. The ATI 5850 seems to be a good bang/buck deal.
 
Hello blindexodus,

I agree if you are thinking long term and you plan on upgrading your monitor i would go with the 5850, if you do not plan on upgrading your monitor i would say the 5770 is a awesome card esp at the 1920x1200 res you are looking at. In the long term though if you want the high resolution support and really high AA settings the 5850 is the best option.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121363

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121361

Hope this helps and please enjoy the rest of your day.
 
Whoa, quick replies! Thanks guys.

Forgot to mention that 1920x1200 is my preferred resolution. I don't plan on upgrading my monitor soon to be honest.

Also will be adding another 2gb of memory for good measure.

The closer to $200, the better, but if the leap to $300 is night and day, I'll probably go for it. :D
 
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Are you opposed to the used market? $300 should get you a GTX295 on the used market...I almost always buy used. :)
 
get something nvidia based, and keep your 8800gt for physx
I like my GTX275's.
 
Sold the 8800GT today, so now my PC has no video card. Working with laptop until I pick a new one up.
 
I upgraded my 8800GT to HD4890 few months ago, I'm very happy with it.
 
Zoson said:
get something nvidia based, and keep your 8800gt for physx
I like my GTX275's.
Click to expand...

This is bad advice. GTX 275's are hard to find and are almost identical in performance to a 4890. The difference is, a 275 will run you about $280 on average where as the 4890 can be consistently be found for about $160. I know some people have a major preference (bias) for either ATI or Nvidia and some people refuse to buy from the other "team." However, anyone that would drop $280 on a videocard when you could purchase a card with nearly identical performance for $160, they are a blooming fuckin idiot. Especially when you could have run physx with you 8800gt while using an ATI card for graphics.

Dependent on what you wish to spend, a 4890 would be a nice upgrade. I was fortunate enough to to find a 4870x2 for $195 shipped on ebay. Look around, you might get you a sweet deal like that as well. Though, with that powersupply, I wouldnt suggest something that draws as much juice as a 4870x2
 
Would my power supply be enough to power a single card? Be it a 4890, 5770 or 5850? I wouldn't be surprised if these newer cards are more energy efficient than my old 8800 was.
 
blindexodus said:
Would my power supply be enough to power a single card? Be it a 4890, 5770 or 5850? I wouldn't be surprised if these newer cards are more energy efficient than my old 8800 was.
Click to expand...

Yes, you power supply is decent enough to run a single card like so. If you can afford it, a 5850 would be the best option
 
blindexodus said:
Would my power supply be enough to power a single card? Be it a 4890, 5770 or 5850? I wouldn't be surprised if these newer cards are more energy efficient than my old 8800 was.
Click to expand...

i ran 2 4850's, 3hd's and an oc'd core2- later an oc'd i5 off a 520hx for quite awhile. you'll definately be alright with any card you pick
 
outlaw88 said:
Let us know how that works out for you. I'm looking to do the same upgrade.
Click to expand...

Me too!

I'm currently running a 8800GT OC on my Dell 2407WFP (24" 1920x1200).

So with what folks are saying, should I keep my 8800GT for PhysX? How does that work, I just leave it in a PCIe slot with no monitor connected to it? I have 750w PCP&C so power shouldn't be an issue with my 8800GT and a 5850, right?

EDIT: Just realized my mobo doesn't have the PCI-X slots for 2 videocards so no PhysX for me if I go 5850. :(
 
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Depents on your games you're playing, get an GTX260 or a GTX280. They will last you a long time.
 
Hostile said:
What are you talking about? The 285 is $50 more than the 5850 and slower... The 260 may be ~$100 less than the 5850 but it's also retardedly slower.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3650&p=1
Click to expand...

I do agree the point your trying to get across, which myself a 5850 owner I agree very well that the 5850 is the best bang for the buck.

One thing that makes me wonder, if you can find a good deal on a GTX 260/280 and want to save some cash, that would be a good route as well. Yes the review says the 260 is a tad slower but from personal experience a GTX 260 clocked did very well @ 1920x1200 with clocks at 675/1688/1075. Personally I would only go that route if money is tight or might be needed somewhere else soon but a GTX 260 would do fine and be a good upgrade from the 8800GT. Keep an eye out on the FS forum I have seen some good deals that make me want to get a folding rig up.

Like I said as a 5850 owner on 1920x1200, I am very happy. Might of been an impulsive buy that I hope I dont have to get rid of later down the road for something better but we will see.
 
Another vote for the 5850. If you can afford it, go for it; you will not be disappointed. If you can get a GTX260 for <$150 or an HD 4890 <$175, those are also decent deals (new, that is).
 
certainly the 5850. I was gonna write up a nice little post later tonight about my exp with upgrading from a 8800gt to a 5850. I'll add the link to this post later.

Watch for some deals over the next couple of days and just jump on one when you see it. I snagged an HIS 5850 for $269 free shipping from the egg.

I'm still doing some tuning but so far I have been happy. 3DMark06 isn't the best tool for judging performance but with a little oc on the 5850 I jumped from 11k with the 8800gt to just shy of 20k. I'm running it with a q9550 at 3.4ghz
 
i love how the nvidia fanbois are flocking to the op ignorant by the fact that the 5850 hottest card right now.
 
Some Fermi benchmarks were leaked, and people are talking about an early release (this month). I'm wondering if I should wait for that, however it will probably cost more than $300 unless they put something out to compete with the 5850.
 
Just read this on another forum. Purely speculation, of course.

These are just speculations.

Top end card: 512 cores, 384-bit, High clocks ------ performance between gtx295 and 5970 ---------- $599

Second Card: 448 cores, 320-bit, Moderate clocks ---- performance between 5870 and gtx295 ---------- $399

Third card: 256 cores, 256-bit, High clocks ------- performance around 5850 ------ $249
 
5850 will be slightly below double the performance of a 5770, which will be approximately double the performance of your 8800GT in most games.

Consider the cost of each, and the benefit you will get. I made the decision to upgrade from a 9600GT to a 5770.
 
blindexodus said:
Just read this on another forum. Purely speculation, of course.

These are just speculations.

Top end card: 512 cores, 384-bit, High clocks ------ performance between gtx295 and 5970 ---------- $599

Second Card: 448 cores, 320-bit, Moderate clocks ---- performance between 5870 and gtx295 ---------- $399

Third card: 256 cores, 256-bit, High clocks ------- performance around 5850 ------ $249
Click to expand...

That's some pretty generous speculation based on nothing.
 
magao said:
5850 will be slightly below double the performance of a 5770, which will be approximately double the performance of your 8800GT in most games.

Consider the cost of each, and the benefit you will get. I made the decision to upgrade from a 9600GT to a 5770.
Click to expand...

Based on that, it seems like a 5770 would be enough to run anything maxxed out at 1920x1200 given the performance of my old 8800GT, but I'm probably wrong.
 
sethk said:
The 5770 can't run everything maxed out at 1920x1200.
Click to expand...

I think it can come darn close, save for HBAO I don't think it would have a problem running everything else on high. The game, at least in this build is much more CPU then GPU biased.

EDIT: Sorry, thought I was reading the BC2 thread...
 
I'd probably save some cash and just get a HD5770 for now, and upgrade later.
 
Since you seem to upgrade infrequently, anything less than the 5850 is a waste of your time.
 
I upgraded from my 8800 to a gtx 260 a couple months ago ($150 at frys), I'd reccomend getting one if you can find a deal like that :<
 
Is it that great of a deal considering the alternatives? $30 more gets you a 5770 which is faster (marginally) with DX11 and significaly less power consumption.
 
RamonGTP said:
I think it can come darn close, save for HBAO I don't think it would have a problem running everything else on high. The game, at least in this build is much more CPU then GPU biased.

EDIT: Sorry, thought I was reading the BC2 thread...
Click to expand...

How is BC2 running on your system? I have a Q6600 as well and I'm hoping I can max it out at 1920x1200. Even without AA I'd be pretty happy. I'm hoping my CPU isn't going to bottleneck my system too much. I realize your 5870 is better than a 5850, but I'm more concerned about my CPU now. My 8800GT was able to run it at 1920x1200, 0xAA 16xAF, everything else on medium and bloom disabled in INI file. Got 50-60fps average.

Probably going to order the 5850 in a few minutes. :D $299 for the XFX from Newegg.
 
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