Computerbase.de -- Graphics Card Evolution Performance: 7900GTX/X1800XT to GTX580

[bryanW1995]

Even better, a $25 rebate that I found out about after the fact.

What are your thoughts on the gtx 480 vs gtx 560 ti discussion?

 

[scooterlibby]

\
ATI cards compared:

X1800XT (2005) - $549
X1950XTX (2006) - $449
HD2900XT (2007) - $399
HD3870 (2007) - $219
HD4850 (2008) - $199
HD4890 (2008) - $259
HD5870 (2009) - $379
HD6970 (2010) - $369

Nvidia cards compared:

7900GTX (2006) - $499
8800GTX (2006) - $599
GTX280 (2008) - $649
GTS250 (2009) - $129 (512MB) / $149 (1GB)
GTX480 (2010) - $499
GTX580 (2010) - $499

Sorry, this always bothers me:

Quoting 5 year old launch prices, you really should start to adjust for inflation. If anything, it would add to your point. For example:

X1800XT (2005) - $549 = $637.80 in 2011

 

[Termie]

Sorry, this always bothers me:

Quoting 5 year old launch prices, you really should start to adjust for inflation. If anything, it would add to your point. For example:

X1800XT (2005) - $549 = $637.80 in 2011

LOL - now you're asking him to do a lot of work (even more than I asked him to do when I suggested adding prices). Anyway, while I agree that the adjusted prices better reflect the cost in a comparison to new cards, the difference honestly isn't enough to change anything. You picked the most extreme example, and even there, the difference is not significant enough to affect the outcome. Furthermore, we're really talking about "price points" here, rather than prices - the "$300 card" doesn't cost $300 over time if adjusted for inflation, but we all know what we're talking about - the "$332.17 card" doesn't make as much sense when doing historical comparisons.

 

[bryanW1995]

@scooterlibby: Not sure what number you were using for inflation, but according to the Misery Index, we had inflation of 3.24% in 2006, 2.85% in 2007, 3.85% in 2008, -.34% in 2009, and 1.64% in 2010. I get 11.70 % total inflation over that time period, yielding $549 x 1.1170 = $613. Still a lot of money though.

 

[RussianSensation]

Ok, say your gtx480 is 15% faster at 1080p.. most 560ti OC 15% easily (and more).
.

A GTX560 Ti is only as fast as a GTX470. GTX480 is about 28-29% faster than those cards at 1920x1200 4AA/16AF or 1920x1200 8AA/16AF. A mild overclock on the GTX480 puts you at GTX580 speed, a card that currently retails for over $400.

 

[RussianSensation]

Sorry, this always bothers me:

Quoting 5 year old launch prices, you really should start to adjust for inflation. If anything, it would add to your point. For example:

X1800XT (2005) - $549 = $637.80 in 2011

I included launch prices only as a point of reference. What would adjusting for inflation accomplish exactly? We are looking at what it would have cost a user out of pocket back then to purchase a top-end card, not what it would have cost a user to purchase that card in "today's dollars".

It would also be a daunting task to start documenting the most optimal times to purchase a card, such as HD4890s available for $175 just 12 months after a $650 GTX280. Not to mention GTX280 dropping about $150 within 1 month of release. Very good deals on X1950XT 256mb cards, etc. etc. Then there were amazing deals such as HD4870 for $115-120 and GTX260 216 for $130-150, or a GTX480 for $200.

My general view is that if you are going to buy a top card, then sell it frequently because very quickly the cycle will kick in: mid-range cards will offer that level of performance for half the price within a couple years and within a couple years from that point, low-end cards will give you that performance for about $100-130.

200 for a GTX480? That is an awesome deal.

$185 with a $25 rebate. Not bad. 🙂

 

[Grooveriding]

The 480 is a solid performer and it overclocks well, in my experience. The only negative is the card runs hot and is really noisy. If you can get past that/used it it, at $200 it's such a good deal. I just game with headphones now, using speakers is not an option 😱

For an overclocker who likes to also overvolt, it's definitely not the card to get. They get really hot when you max out the voltage. I messed with it to see how high they could overclock, but would not run them with those voltages because of 100C+ temps.

I spent $1000 on the first two I bought and $250 on the third. So when you are talking $200 for a brand new, warrantied 480, it's an awesome buy. If you manage the 150Mhz overclock, you just got a stock 580 with the same memory, beefy power circuitry etc for $200. :thumbsup:

 

[bryanW1995]

That noise is my biggest concern, but with new TIM + a high flow bracket + undervolting (which has much more impact than clocks anyway) I'm hopeful that I'll be able to keep temps and fan speeds reasonable.

 

[scooterlibby]

I included launch prices only as a point of reference. What would adjusting for inflation accomplish exactly? We are looking at what it would have cost a user out of pocket back then to purchase a top-end card, not what it would have cost a user to purchase that card in "today's dollars".

Being an econ nerd, I think it should be considered. It's about normalizing in order to make an apples to apples comparison. Someone parting with $549 in 2005 was effectively parting with $637.80 in terms of purchasing power. Like I said before, if anything, this supports your argument because those cards were even more expensive than we think than when we just look at launch price in that time period.

I agree it would be daunting, but also not really that difficult, to adjust for real dollars, and is appropriate if you compare prices across different time periods.

The classic example is Avatar being cited as the highest grossing movie of all time, which is true in nominal dollars, but in inflation adjusted dollars it is 14th (Gone With The Wind being 1st).

Not trying to be a dick, just my hangup. Interesting thread!

@scooterlibby: Not sure what number you were using for inflation, but according to the Misery Index, we had inflation of 3.24% in 2006, 2.85% in 2007, 3.85% in 2008, -.34% in 2009, and 1.64% in 2010. I get 11.70 % total inflation over that time period, yielding $549 x 1.1170 = $613. Still a lot of money though.

I used a generic inflation calculator. I could indeed be off.

 

[OS]

i got an x1800xl from family to use in a spare computer.
At the time i got it i thought, wow this card is huge and heavy it must be fast.

Anyways, i plugged it in and ran some valve games, HL2 LC, portal 1/2, it was barely any faster than the integrated HD3000 in my laptop...

Also i bought two 5450s and running them in crossfire as back up cards in my desktop. Also barely any faster than HD3000, something like 60 vs 90 fps in HL2 LC at 1080p.

whats even more amazing is that ivy bridge is coming out soon and that is expected to have a substantially stronger IGP than the HD3000.

 

[bryanW1995]

Intel igp has severe iq problems, don't just look at the gps when comparing anything else to it, even amd igp.

 

[OS]

since we are talking history here also, you have not seen bad image quality until you've seen a RIVA 128, haha

 

[Smartazz]

Wasn't there a time where buying anything that wasn't high end bought you crap? I remember the 8800s being so far ahead of the 8600s when the 8 series debuted. I got into the PC gaming scene with a 7800GT so I don't know how things were before then, but the 7800GT was considerably better than the 7600GT at the time.

 

[bryanW1995]

Nowadays there are usually 3 or 4 good cards per gen for each camp instead of one. Fine by me!

 

[john3850]

Had 7900sli which was slow got a 8800gtx great card then I got greedy went 8800gt sli not worth
So I removed 88sli went back to 8800gtx got a few less fps in Elder Scroll IV.
The 8800gt suked compared to 8800gtx
My evga 88gt just died one month back thats long run for any card