Any recently published roundups which includes an 8800 GTS?

[Bat123Man]

Hi,

I just found out that it is not really worth my while to try to track down a second 8800 GTS 320 MB card to build an SLI rig, rather it seems I would be better off spending the money on a 250 GTS. I would end up with a faster rig, no SLI, and no doubling up on power consumption. I have been looking for one of those roundups Anand used to do which lists off 20 or so cards at once, and does game performance comparisons. Does anyone know of a fairly recent one which has the 250 or at least the 9800 GTX+, as well as the 8800 GTS 320 MBs?

Thanks,
BM.

 

[angry hampster]

Check tom's hardware's GPU charts.

 

[error8]

You don't need any charts to realize the extra performance a 250 GTS would give you over your current card. It's pretty big, so go for it.

 

[Puffnstuff]

You know for as cheap as the gtx260 216 cores are right now why not just go there instead.

 

[Bat123Man]

Well it depends man. If we are talking about getting 96 FPS at 1680*1050 vs 48 on my 8800 GTS when playing Crysis, then I won't bother because I won't notice a diff. But if it means getting 50 FPS vs 16 FPS, then that becomes much more interesting.

Thanks,
BM.

 

[Bat123Man]

The 260 GTX currently retails for 300 bucks, that is more than I had intended to spend since I had already put out that much for the 8800 GTS when it was pretty new (I'm in Canada, so add 20% or so to US prices).

BM.

 

[bryanW1995]

ok, so your resolution is 16x10. what else can you tell us?

cpu?
ram?
os?
games that you play?
how long do you want to own it?
psu?


btw, you're not getting 48fps playing crysis at 16x10 on a gts 250 unless you're cranking the details down a lot. the price difference from a gts 250 to a gtx 260 is minimal ($20-$30), but the performance difference is immense. The gts 250 is an oc'd 8800gts 512 with a better pcb and 3 or 4 name changes, while the gtx 260 is the brand new generation from last june that still kicks major ass and trades punches with 4870 1gb.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: Bat123Man
The 260 GTX currently retails for 300 bucks, that is more than I had intended to spend since I had already put out that much for the 8800 GTS when it was pretty new (I'm in Canada, so add 20% or so to US prices).

BM.

what? I know that you're in canada, but you're saying that gtx 260 is twice as much there as it is in the US???

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127409

that's $159 AR shipped, has a free game that you can sell for ~ $15, and has a decent OC on it. Add 20% and take out the free game, and you're still at $190 shipped.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127422

that's the cheapest gts 250 that they have. It's $124 shipped, has a similar OC to the other card, but has no free gaem. Even without the free game taken into account, it's only $35 more.

 

[lopri]

8800 GTS 320 to 9800 GTX is not an upgrade, IMO. (I'd even say it's a downgrade in some cases)

Skip G92 based cards if you're upgrading from G80. Go for GT200/RV770 or higher.

 

[Rifter]

the GTS 260 is going for around 225-235 CAN on newegg.ca i dunno where you buy parts from but newegg.ca usualy has the best prices in canada.
NCIX also has this one for 229 after rebate http://www.ncix.com/products/i...ture=eVGA&promoid=1033

 

[nitromullet]

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/P...x?Item=N82E16814143155

BFGTech GTX 260 $221.99 CAD

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: lopri
8800 GTS 320 to 9800 GTX is not an upgrade, IMO. (I'd even say it's a downgrade in some cases)

Skip G92 based cards if you're upgrading from G80. Go for GT200/RV770 or higher.

in no way is it a downgrade. even a 9600gt is usually faster than an 8800gts 320mb. a 9800gtx would easily be faster. that being said I would agree to just skip it and go with a gtx260 or better. of course this is dependent on the rest of his system specs.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: lopri
8800 GTS 320 to 9800 GTX is not an upgrade, IMO. (I'd even say it's a downgrade in some cases)

Skip G92 based cards if you're upgrading from G80. Go for GT200/RV770 or higher.

Eh?
It's mostly certainly not a downgrade, but it's also certainly not a worthy upgrade IMO.

I agree, don't waste time on G92.

Get a GTX 260 (they are not $300 CND as has been shown here; buy from NCIX/DirectCanada/Newegg.ca.)
Or even 4870 1 GB cards can be found for < $250: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/P...-Powercolor-_-14131148

 

[cusideabelincoln]

You can use the 9600GT or HD3870 (or take off about 15-20% from an 8800GT/9800GT) as a substitute for an 8800GTS 320 since they basically peform within 5% of each other, and there are many reviews available that have a 9600GT as well as a GTS250/9800GTX.

http://www.techpowerup.com/rev...rcolor/HD_4890/22.html
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15752/4
http://xbitlabs.com/articles/v...si-9800gt_7.html#sect1
http://xbitlabs.com/articles/v...-en9600gt_6.html#sect1
http://www.techspot.com/review...ce-9800-gtx/page3.html
http://techgage.com/article/gigabyte_9600_gt_512mb/3
http://www.pcgameshardware.com...6-ALUs/Reviews/?page=4
http://www.computerbase.de/art...schnitt_call_of_duty_5

To do such an upgrade, you'd probably be looking at getting at least 30% and up to 50% more performance. If you were to upgrade to a GTX275 or HD4890, you would most likely double your performance. But if you're running into situations where the 320MB framebuffer is not enough and causing performance drops, then I think an upgrade to a GTS250 would certainly be worthwhile.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: lopri
8800 GTS 320 to 9800 GTX is not an upgrade, IMO. (I'd even say it's a downgrade in some cases)

Skip G92 based cards if you're upgrading from G80. Go for GT200/RV770 or higher.

The 320MB GTS is an oddball though, as a lot of newer games will need more video RAM than that and performance will tank.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: aka1nas

Originally posted by: lopri
8800 GTS 320 to 9800 GTX is not an upgrade, IMO. (I'd even say it's a downgrade in some cases)

Skip G92 based cards if you're upgrading from G80. Go for GT200/RV770 or higher.

The 320MB GTS is an oddball though, as a lot of newer games will need more video RAM than that and performance will tank.

yeah the only card sillier than that was the 8800gt 256mb. I just scratched my head when I saw people silly enough to sli those cards.

 

[Bat123Man]

Here, this is where I usually get stuff :

http://pccyber.com/?v=product&i=VC-MSI-N260GTX-T2D896

286 for that MSI card bryanW1995 posted.

To answer the other questions :

cpu? Core2Duo 2.133 Ghz (not o'ced)
ram? 4GB OCZ PC6400
os? Vista 64-bit
games that you play? Bioshock, BF2142, NHL08, Crysis, C&C 3, FarCry2
how long do you want to own it? As long as possible
psu? 380W, Antec TruPower 2.0
mobo - Asus P5N-E SLI

BM.

 

[Bat123Man]

As to finding 260 GTX in Canada for 300 bucks, cheapest I could find was at directcanada.com :

$239.34 + 9.99 shipping + 13% tax = 281.75. Not quite 300, that's true, but pretty damn close....

BM.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Bat123Man
Here, this is where I usually get stuff :

http://pccyber.com/?v=product&i=VC-MSI-N260GTX-T2D896

286 for that MSI card bryanW1995 posted.

To answer the other questions :

cpu? Core2Duo 2.133 Ghz (not o'ced)
ram? 4GB OCZ PC6400
os? Vista 64-bit
games that you play? Bioshock, BF2142, NHL08, Crysis, C&C 3, FarCry2
how long do you want to own it? As long as possible
psu? 380W, Antec TruPower 2.0
mobo - Asus P5N-E SLI

BM.

that power supply probably wont cut with anything more than a gts250. also you certainly need to oc that cpu a little to get more use out of whatever card you get.

 

[Bat123Man]

The PSU won't be a problem, this one has given me a pretty long run (edit - as in I know I have to replace it).

I have been thinking about O'Cing the CPU, I used to do that automatically ever since my first successful OC in 1993 (DX2-66 all the way to 70! - or more correctly, 2*35 instead of 2*33). This is the first CPU I haven't bothered to OC even though I have read it is fairly easy to hit 3.0 with it.

But still, before I grab a new vidcard, I would like to see a performance comparison if possible. Any game will do, I have found the FPS comparison's are pretty accurate for the most part. I'll keep searching, but if anyone knows of an 8800 GTS to 9800 GTX+ (or 250), let me know.

Tks,
BM.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: Bat123Man
The PSU won't be a problem, this one has given me a pretty long run (edit - as in I know I have to replace it).

I have been thinking about O'Cing the CPU, I used to do that automatically ever since my first successful OC in 1993 (DX2-66 all the way to 70! - or more correctly, 2*35 instead of 2*33). This is the first CPU I haven't bothered to OC even though I have read it is fairly easy to hit 3.0 with it.

But still, before I grab a new vidcard, I would like to see a performance comparison if possible. Any game will do, I have found the FPS comparison's are pretty accurate for the most part. I'll keep searching, but if anyone knows of an 8800 GTS to 9800 GTX+ (or 250), let me know.

Tks,
BM.

You didn't even read my reply, did you?

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
You can use the 9600GT or HD3870 (or take off about 15-20% from an 8800GT/9800GT) as a substitute for an 8800GTS 320 since they basically peform within 5% of each other, and there are many reviews available that have a 9600GT as well as a GTS250/9800GTX.

http://www.techpowerup.com/rev...rcolor/HD_4890/22.html
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15752/4
http://xbitlabs.com/articles/v...si-9800gt_7.html#sect1
http://xbitlabs.com/articles/v...-en9600gt_6.html#sect1
http://www.techspot.com/review...ce-9800-gtx/page3.html
http://techgage.com/article/gigabyte_9600_gt_512mb/3
http://www.pcgameshardware.com...6-ALUs/Reviews/?page=4
http://www.computerbase.de/art...schnitt_call_of_duty_5

To do such an upgrade, you'd probably be looking at getting at least 30% and up to 50% more performance. If you were to upgrade to a GTX275 or HD4890, you would most likely double your performance. But if you're running into situations where the 320MB framebuffer is not enough and causing performance drops, then I think an upgrade to a GTS250 would certainly be worthwhile.

And I'll add an important review:
http://firingsquad.com/hardwar..._performance/page5.asp

That review has the 8800GTS-320, 9600GT, and 8800GT/9800GT. As you can see, the 8800GTS is just a tad bit slower than the 9600GT in all of the tests. Use this to extrapolate the performance difference between an 8800GTS and 9800GTX/GTS250 in the other articles I linked to.

Otherwise, have fun with the following, which does include the 320MB 8800GTS:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/...D=on&prod%5B2081%5D=on

 

[Bat123Man]

Hi,

Thought I might just add one more post to this thread. I just bought FarCry 2. I run the game in 1440*900 (my preferred widescreen mode for all games), with the default video settings (most are set to High or Very High), and the game plays beautifully on an 8800 GTS 320 MB. No lag, no choppiness, at least 30 FPS (I haven't actually figured out what the real FPS is, I just know that it must be over 30 as there is no slowdown).

So no need to upgrade!

To cusideabelincoln :

I have to learn to read a little better. Thanks for posting all those comparison charts which I somehow missed the first time I read the replies, I found just what I was looking for on the Techspot review. http://www.techspot.com/review...ce-9800-gtx/page9.html
- Very little difference in perf at 1440*900 between my current card and the 9800 GTX. So since the 250 is just a renamed 9800 GTX, I would be looking at almost no increase in performance (ie. lopri was correct in his post).

Thanks,
BM.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I think the 8800GTS (G80) is still a pretty decent GPU, but the 320MB version is limited by its low VRAM. Probably fine for low-res gaming but my brother's 8800GTS 320MB has problems in Company of Heroes. Probably a 512MB card (any decent 512MB card) would be an upgrade for him, since he games at 1680x1050.

As long as things are running fine for you, just hold on. Vid card prices are always dropping and new ones are always getting faster and cheaper.

I was thinking of getting him a GTS 250 or 4850 for his birthday in a couple months... if you still wanted to try that SLI rig I think I can convince him to let me have his old GTS 320MB. I was thinking of hooking it up and using it for PhysX but I doubt that's worth it. So if you're still interested in trying that out I might be able to hook you up.