Economical Upgrade to an 8800GT?

[RyanPaulShaffer]

I built my computer in November of 2007, and I got a BFG 512 MB 8800GT as my video card. It works okay, as I really only played WOW, but now I'm possibly looking at playing newer games that are more demanding. I really haven't paid attention to video cards for the past year and a half, so I really have no idea about the new names and numbers and how the newer cards actually perform.

Are there any cards in the $100-$150 range that would be a noticeable upgrade to my 8800GT? It can be ATI or nVidia...I don't really care!

I game at 1680x1050, and AA isn't really that important to me...I use 2x-4x max. I like to have VSYNC on since I hate screen tearing. Noise and power consumption are pretty important to me as well, since I would be willing to sacrifice a small amount of performance for a card that has better power performance. Good 64-bit drivers would be important to me as well, since I have Vista Home Premium 64-bit, and I don't want a shoddy port of the 32-bit drivers that perform horribly in 64-bit.

I don't remember all of my system specs off the top of my head, but I do know that I have a CD2 running at 2.67 GHz (E6750? Does that sound right?), 4 GB of RAM, Vista Home Premium 64-bit...that's really all I can remember at the moment.

Thanks!

 

[StarBlast]

If you already have a 8800GT which is a pretty good card even with today's games, I can only recommend upgrading to a ATI HD 4870 or a Nvidia GTX 260. However, at this time, both are a bit out of your price range to get a decent one. You should probably wait and see if they drop over the next month or so. You might be able to get one around the $150 mark if you watch for deals and rebates. Between $100 and $150, you can only look at the Nvidia GTS 250 or the ATI HD 4850 which would not be much of an upgrade over what you have.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Originally posted by: StarBlast
If you already have a 8800GT which is a pretty good card even with today's games, I can only recommend upgrading to a ATI HD 4870 or a Nvidia GTX 260. However, at this time, both are a bit out of your price range to get a decent one. You should probably wait and see if they drop over the next month or so. You might be able to get one around the $150 mark if you watch for deals and rebates. Between $100 and $150, you can only look at the Nvidia GTS 250 or the ATI HD 4850 which would not be much of an upgrade over what you have.

What about any of these?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...34&bop=And&Order=PRICE

After rebate, they come in at $159.99 to $179.99. Adding ten dollars or so wouldn't be a big deal as long as the card was a decent upgrade to what I currently have.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

So basically, it appears that my options are either an nVidia GTX 260 or an ATI 4870?

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: RyanPaulShaffer
So basically, it appears that my options are either an nVidia GTX 260 or an ATI 4870?

Yup. These should be your minimum upgrade. There's no sense in buying anything bellow them.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: RyanPaulShaffer
So basically, it appears that my options are either an nVidia GTX 260 or an ATI 4870?

Yup. These should be your minimum upgrade. There's no sense in buying anything bellow them.

Thanks. Would they provide me with any noticeable improvement? Or something minor like a 5 FPS increase?

Also, are any of those cooler and/or quieter than my BFG 8800GT? The thing runs pretty loud and hot under load...

 

[StarBlast]

Yes. Look for one that has the 216 processing cores. If you like BFG, the first one on the list does and has free shipping. Personally, I prefer EVGA, BFG or XFX for Nvidia cards.

 

[error8]

The stock 8800 GT cooler is one of the worst cooler for a videocard, I've ever seen. Not only that it would keep the card warm and toasty, but it would also roar like a bear. Hard to find any videocard today with such a horrible cooler.

I can't speak for the GTX 260 , since I don't own the card and I have no idea, but the 4870 stock cooler is pretty decent. If you leave it at stock fan speed it will be whisper quiet, but temps will probably hit 80-85 C under load, in a good ventilated case, which the chip can handle just fine. It depends on the manufacturer and what fan profiles has been implemented. But you can always play with the fan profiles yourself and find your perfect noise/heat ratio. The card can run at 50 C at full load, but that if you can stand the fan at 100%. It depends on your ears.

In terms of performance, you will surely see great improvements with both cards, over your gt, especially with very high levels of AA, but it also depends on the game. Search for benchmarks and you'll see that there is an important performance boost from your card to these two.

 

[StarBlast]

Performance between the two cards is about the same. Since you mentioned noise and power consumption, noise levels would have to go to the HD 4870 as being better and power consumption would go to the GTX 260 as being better especially at idle speeds. The temperatures on the GTX 260 would be lower than the HD 4870 also. This Sapphire seems very popular at Newegg and appears to run cooler.

A lot of times it comes down to whether you just prefer Nvidia or ATI when making a choice like this. It is really kind of a toss up between the two cards.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

I basically have the same system right now for my gaming rig. I've been waiting for the GTX 260's to come down in price so I can upgrade but I'm also considering skipping that revision and waiting for whatever is next.

Make sure you check your PSU before buying a new card. They can require a good amount of power.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbes
I basically have the same system right now for my gaming rig. I've been waiting for the GTX 260's to come down in price so I can upgrade but I'm also considering skipping that revision and waiting for whatever is next.

Make sure you check your PSU before buying a new card. They can require a good amount of power.

I have a 650W PSU.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Which company has the better Vista 64-bit drivers?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

They should be about equal in that area.

 

[Xellos2099]

Just get a gtx 260 for around 200 and then sell your 8800gt for around 80 bucks or something.

 

[angry hampster]

I'm very happy with my upgrade. I had a very overclocked 8800GT with Zalman cooler, and I just picked up a 4870 512mb card last month. Paid about $140 AR. Sold my 8800GT for $85.

 

[1ManArmY]

Originally posted by: angry hampster
I'm very happy with my upgrade. I had a very overclocked 8800GT with Zalman cooler, and I just picked up a 4870 512mb card last month. Paid about $140 AR. Sold my 8800GT for $85.

cool, I still have my 2 year old 8800 GT SC with Zalman VF1000 cooler on it and my temps have come down tremendously after changing cases from a mid tower to a full tower case and adding more fans. My 8800 GT used to idle around 60 now it's in the mid 40's. I plan to get a 295 or 390 or whatever Nvidia calls it's next high end SLI card

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: RyanPaulShaffer
I game at 1680x1050, and AA isn't really that important to me...I use 2x-4x max.

I think what you have now should be be able to do that in most games.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom

Originally posted by: RyanPaulShaffer
I game at 1680x1050, and AA isn't really that important to me...I use 2x-4x max.

I think what you have now should be be able to do that in most games.

Yep. I still plan on using my 8800GT SSC at 1920x1200 for the foreseeable future.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: StarBlast
Performance between the two cards is about the same. Since you mentioned noise and power consumption, noise levels would have to go to the HD 4870 as being better and power consumption would go to the GTX 260 as being better especially at idle speeds. The temperatures on the GTX 260 would be lower than the HD 4870 also. This Sapphire seems very popular at Newegg and appears to run cooler.

A lot of times it comes down to whether you just prefer Nvidia or ATI when making a choice like this. It is really kind of a toss up between the two cards.

I disagree. I haven't owned a 4870, but many reviewers have mentioned in the past year that the 4870 fan is definitely louder than the 260's.

A 4870 512 is more than sufficient at your resolution. I saw one on hot deals for $135 AR the other day. I bought a gtx 260 core 216 OC for $159 shipped about 3 weeks ago. It came with a free game that I was able to sell for $15 also, so that ended up being $144. Look around for a few days and you should find deals like these. If you're extremely noise conscious or you want/need cuda or physix, buy the nvidia card. Ati's big advantage is high AA levels, which you've already mentioned that you don't care about. If you don't care about any of those things just find the card that is the best price.

edit: here's the exact card that I purchased. It still has the same rebate, free game, and free shipping that I got. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127409

even a 4870 512 is currently more expensive, especially when you take the free game into account. That gtx 260 is clocked slightly higher than a 275, though it's missing 4 rops and 24 sps. The higher clocks would help you much more than the extra few rops and sps at 16x10, however, so you'd essentially be getting 275 performance for $144 minus whatever you sell the 8800gt for.

maybe you should rebadge your 8800gt as a 240gts and send some benchies and power consumption figures to a few websites. You'd probably be able to trade even up in that case!

 

[ExcaliburMM]

I got my ASUS HD 4870 1GB DK for 182$ open box a couple of months ago. Extremely happy with it. I'd definitely recommend it over a 260. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814121291R

 

[bryanW1995]

ok, so you'd pay $182 for an open box 1gb 4870 that is about 5% faster than a STOCK gtx 260 and 5 % slower than the gtx 260 that I linked to? Plus the gtx 260 is actually NEW and not open box. Did I mention noise is better, power consumption lower, cuda/physics??? The only reason the OP should consider a 4870 is if he can get one (even a 512 is fine for him btw) for around the $144 actual price that he would pay for that gtx 260. maybe if that $135 AR deal on the 4870 comes back or something.

 

[Sylvanas]

Go with something like this aftermarket cooling included and it comes with Stalker:CS.

 

[bryanW1995]

again, why go with that unit? it will be over $180 after shipping!

My last 3 cards were an x1900xt, a 3870, and a 4850. I have no love for nvidia at all in fact, but the 4870 and gtx 260 are so close in so many areas that unless you're a noise freak, 8xAA at high res freak, or you like cuda/physix, your ONLY reason to buy one over the other should be price. Currently that dynamic favors the gtx 260 by a wide margin. Case closed, quit giving bad advice to the OP.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: StarBlast
Performance between the two cards is about the same. Since you mentioned noise and power consumption, noise levels would have to go to the HD 4870 as being better and power consumption would go to the GTX 260 as being better especially at idle speeds. The temperatures on the GTX 260 would be lower than the HD 4870 also. This Sapphire seems very popular at Newegg and appears to run cooler.

A lot of times it comes down to whether you just prefer Nvidia or ATI when making a choice like this. It is really kind of a toss up between the two cards.

I disagree. I haven't owned a 4870, but many reviewers have mentioned in the past year that the 4870 fan is definitely louder than the 260's.

A 4870 512 is more than sufficient at your resolution. I saw one on hot deals for $135 AR the other day. I bought a gtx 260 core 216 OC for $159 shipped about 3 weeks ago. It came with a free game that I was able to sell for $15 also, so that ended up being $144. Look around for a few days and you should find deals like these. If you're extremely noise conscious or you want/need cuda or physix, buy the nvidia card. Ati's big advantage is high AA levels, which you've already mentioned that you don't care about. If you don't care about any of those things just find the card that is the best price.

edit: here's the exact card that I purchased. It still has the same rebate, free game, and free shipping that I got. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127409

even a 4870 512 is currently more expensive, especially when you take the free game into account. That gtx 260 is clocked slightly higher than a 275, though it's missing 4 rops and 24 sps. The higher clocks would help you much more than the extra few rops and sps at 16x10, however, so you'd essentially be getting 275 performance for $144 minus whatever you sell the 8800gt for.

maybe you should rebadge your 8800gt as a 240gts and send some benchies and power consumption figures to a few websites. You'd probably be able to trade even up in that case!

Thanks for the advice. I have been looking at that GTX 260 that you linked. It seems to be about $30 cheaper (after AR) than the equivalent 4870s.

The 9800GT is just a rebranded 8800GT, right? I've been looking at some benchmarks for some games I am interested in, and they don't mention the 8800GT, but I've read that the 9800GT is just a rebrand.

One comment I've noticed often is that both the GTX 260 and the 4870 are HUGE. How much bigger are they than my current 8800GT? I'd be pretty upset to buy a card then realize that it's too small for my case. I have a standard mid-size case and all, but every comment on NewEgg for both cards have mentioned how huge they are.