6800 GTOC -> $99 3870 or $140 8800GT?

[alkemyst]

is 8800GT hands down the way to go now for $140? How do you know the card you get (at newegg for example) is a G92?

Looking to maybe upgrade my 6800GT OC (ultra speeds).

My CPU is a Opteron dual core at 2.75GHz

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[HumblePie]

4850 for about the price of the 8800GT after rebate.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

G92 means 256bit memory architecture and thus RAM quantities in 256MB, 512MB, 1024MB, etc...

Some might say you're a bit anemic on the CPU side of things but you should definitely be able to get away with a newer card. Strictly considering price I'd probably go with that 3870. Still don't know your your expectations (games you're looking to run and at what resolution(s), any extra features such as AA you might want, and any other stuff such as noise factor considerations) that would help zero in on something

 

[MarcVenice]

Must say the HD3870 isn't a bad buy for 100$ compared to a 140$ 8800gt, knowing the 8800gt is only 15-20% faster, at most, then a HD3870. Then again, for 165$ you have HD4850 that blows both out of the water.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles
G92 means 256bit memory architecture and thus RAM quantities in 256MB, 512MB, 1024MB, etc...

Some might say you're a bit anemic on the CPU side of things but you should definitely be able to get away with a newer card. Strictly considering price I'd probably go with that 3870. Still don't know your your expectations (games you're looking to run and at what resolution(s), any extra features such as AA you might want, and any other stuff such as noise factor considerations) that would help zero in on something

What games are CPU limited at dual core 2.75GHz now?

I am not an active gamer, but I tend to play at 1600x1200 mostly WoW, UT2004 now. I like FarCry so I may pick up Crysis next.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Must say the HD3870 isn't a bad buy for 100$ compared to a 140$ 8800gt, knowing the 8800gt is only 15-20% faster, at most, then a HD3870. Then again, for 165$ you have HD4850 that blows both out of the water.

I worry about heat on that 4850...I didn't see 4850's below $185 really once shipped.

I was hoping to score a $100 card. The 3870 would be a no-brainer if it was an nvidia card.

I can only do SLI on my motherboard as well. I don't plan on dual GPUing though.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Considering what you've said thus far you shouldn't have to worry about CPU or GPU limitation much. Crysis will still crush just about any hardware if you go into it not expecting to lower settings, but considering the extremely poor replay value compared to multiplayer oriented games like WoW and UT2004, upgrading for Crysis might be a good excuse, but its a poor reason. I'd still lean towards the 3870.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
is 8800GT hands down the way to go now for $140? How do you know the card you get (at newegg for example) is a G92?

Looking to maybe upgrade my 6800GT OC (ultra speeds).

My CPU is a Opteron dual core at 2.75GHz

Å

8800GT is a G92... there has never been any other chip used to make a card with that name.

 

[alkemyst]

I am torn...I can go to $150 and pickup a nice 8800GTS 512MB even...or stick to my original plan at $100 for the 3870 which can usually still hit playable fps at 1600x1200 in most games the 8800GT can do. I don't care if I can hit 100FPS+...as long as I can get to 25-30fps.

I need to think about it more. Everything is dropping like mad though.

I am looking for something that is not going to be a space heater as well...my case is quiet fans only right now....if my vid card starts cooking the other components I will have to back down my overclocks or go to louder fans.

 

[bryanW1995]

sapphire 4850 is down to $145 AR shipped in hot deals section right now. this is just as bad for nvidia as that msi oc 8800gt with the dual slot cooler that newegg had for so long last year was for amd. There is nothing that nvidia makes that comes close to this price/performance. I'm trying to keep myself from buying it b/c I want to hold out for some dual slot/oc units, but I might just jump on this and get an accelero to put on it instead...

 

[bunnyfubbles]

The 4850 would be a great choice if you could grab a deal, but they're still the ones with reference single slot fans and I generally only recommend them if the users is either willing to accept that (and it doesn't sound like this is what you'd want) or willing to invest in aftermarket cooling (which is extra $$ and worsens the deal)

 

[MarcVenice]

You're worrying about buying a space heater. But ALL videocards are spaceheaters. It's just that the HD4850 dumps the heat in your case, whilst dualslot coolers dump it outside your case, in your room.

You have to think of it like this, they all generate heat, somewhere around 90-110w of heat. It doesn't matter how hot a videocard runs, because that's something the cooling takes care of, it's just that the HD4850 runs a little hot, because the fan on it runs rather LOW. If you download the new bios, and flash it, it will have very acceptable idle/load temps though. And if you have sufficient airflow in your case, the heat will be expelled just as easily.