EVGA 8800GTS 640mb - Keep it or move on to something new??

JJ650

Golden Member
Apr 16, 2000
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I have just recently acquired a 22" LCD and purchased a e8400 and P5Q Pro board from the egg.
The previous panel was a viewsonic 19" which did fine with most games.
After getting the 22" and going to higher resolutions, it's stuttering and not doing as well.
I am hoping the new processor and mobo will help that out a bit (cpu limit issue with the old system noted in my sig is what I was running off before??).

Is this card still viable or is it time for a new one?
 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
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I did a side upgrade like you. Went from an E6600 to an E8400 but kept my 8800GTS640. So far the games I play it still works great. Which game is giving you stuttering? I have 4GB of ram, maybe that helps a bit.

I am happy the card is lasting as long as it has. Ill probably get through 09 without having to spend on a major upgrade.
 

JJ650

Golden Member
Apr 16, 2000
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Originally posted by: Genx87
I did a side upgrade like you. Went from an E6600 to an E8400 but kept my 8800GTS640. So far the games I play it still works great. Which game is giving you stuttering? I have 4GB of ram, maybe that helps a bit.

I am happy the card is lasting as long as it has. Ill probably get through 09 without having to spend on a major upgrade.

It could very be the ram causing stuttering. I only have 2gb right now.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
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Originally posted by: Ocguy31
4870 or 260/280. Do it.

I have one of those 8800 GTS 640's. The plan was to eventually get another and do SLI with it, but I had to use the available PCI_E x16 slot. I was able to over-clock the 8800 GTS a bit, and it never gets hotter than 60C at load conditions because I paid attention to the cooling issue. (and that's at nearly 80F room-ambient.)

I just posted a thread that reads like Shakespeare: "To SLI, or not to SLI, that is the question."

Those 8800 cards were "high-end" in early 2007. The 9x00 models were released less than a year later. Now, it's the "280/260/240" line. When will this end? That 8800 card cost me $400+ as I remember. And frankly, I thought it was perfectly fine by itself. I'm at least as concerned about power-consumption issues with my choice of GFX cards, and this was addressed with the 9x00 line of nVidia adapters. It appears that SLI only adds at most an additional 50% peak power consumption.

Have a friend who's building a new system, and with the choice between 2x0, 9x00 and 8800 cards -- he picked an 8800 GT. Fancy that!
 

coloumb

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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GTX260 will run you about $215.00 right now [get the card and sell off your old 8800 card]. :)
 

nenforcer

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2008
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I sold my EVGA 8800GTS 640 just a couple of months ago for $130 before the priced on them dropped tremendously after the new GTX series came out.

Just last week I upgraded to 2 x 9800GT for SLI not because of necessity (I haven't played Crysis yet) but because I wanted to try out SLI for the first time.

Got it working quite easily and should not need to upgrade for quite a while.
 

FalseChristian

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2002
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Nice. Your 9800GT is equal to my 8800GT but yours runs cooler. You won't be disappointed at all. Happy gaming!:thumbsup:
 

NoSoup4You

Golden Member
Feb 12, 2007
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Nice thread, I've been pondering the same question myself. I bought my 8800GTS 640MB on launch day back in November '06 (at least I think it was Nov...). This card has served me well over the nearly two years I've had it. And with the shaders overclocked, it still puts up a fight in every game I've thrown at it, reaching max settings on each one (at 1600x1200) except Crysis. Granted, I don't have every game and I'm sure there are others it would struggle in, but this card is still a beast, by my standards.

And yet, the 216 core GTX260 looks awfully tempting... I still haven't picked up Warhead yet, and I'd think a 260 would really run it nicely at the resolution I play at (I would hope for all Enthusiast settings except the Motion Blur, which I keep at medium in the original Crysis). Hell, the 192 core 260 looks like an even better deal at close to $210 after rebate.

The only other game I'm playing on PC at the moment besides Crysis is GRID, which my GTS 640 already handles quite nicely at max settings 4xAA.

I guess I'm leaning towards waiting this one out a little longer, although the GTX 260 is so much cheaper than I originally paid for my 640MB back in '06 ($450 before tax). Perhaps the 55nm parts will persueade me otherwise...
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
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Originally posted by: NoSoup4You
Nice thread, I've been pondering the same question myself. I bought my 8800GTS 640MB on launch day back in November '06 (at least I think it was Nov...). This card has served me well over the nearly two years I've had it. And with the shaders overclocked, it still puts up a fight in every game I've thrown at it, reaching max settings on each one (at 1600x1200) except Crysis. Granted, I don't have every game and I'm sure there are others it would struggle in, but this card is still a beast, by my standards.

And yetl, the 216 core GTX260 looks awfully tempting... I still haven't picked up Warhead yet, and I'd think a 260 would really run it nicely at the resolution I play at (I would hope for all Enthusiast settings except the Motion Blur, which I keep at medium in the original Crysis). Hell, the 192 core 260 looks like an even better deal at close to $210 after rebate.

The only other game I'm playing on PC at the moment besides Crysis is GRID, which my GTS 640 already handles quite nicely at max settings 4xAA.

I guess I'm leaning towards waiting this one out a little longer, although the GTX 260 is so much cheaper than I originally paid for my 640MB back in '06 ($450 before tax). Perhaps the 55nm parts will persueade me otherwise...

you won't get much out of 55nm; not as much as Nvidia will :p

it IS time for an upgrade
:clock:
- Best Buy has the VT4870 for $225 and GT260 is pretty cheap also and they are significant upgrades over your card - especially if you like DX10/details/filtering

i just compared 5 GPUs with each other at 19x12 and 16x10 - i.e. 4870-512MB, 4870x2, GTX280, 8800GTX and 2900xt. As my platform, i used my e4300@3.33Ghz, my e8600@3.33Ghz and also at 3.99Ghz on both my p35 and x48mbs [4GB RAM/Vista32]

For the cliff's conclusion, 2900xt class is pretty equal to the 8800GTS-640m and it struggles even at 16x10 in many games with maxed details as much as an 8800GTX now struggles at 19x12. 2900xt CF is probably slightly slower than a single 4870-512 or GT260, to give you an idea of the relative performance increase you would get by upgrading to 4870 or 260 - or by SLi'ing with another 8800GTS

imo it a significant upgrade from your 8800GTS/9600GT/2900/3870 class to 4870 .. 280GTX is faster still and X2 is probably overkill for 16x10 unless you just love max details and filtering

Warhead is a beast for any PC; fortunately not quite as demanding on Enthusiast as Crysis is on Very High
- it is just playable i think as you describe if you adjust some individual settings a little bit
rose.gif


if you are leaning toward Nvidia, i'd go for the '+' core
 

clarkey01

Diamond Member
Feb 4, 2004
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I would wait until the next gen....

It's always nice to get that warm upgrade feeling, but only do it when you absolutely need it ..
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
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Why do you have a SLI motherboard if you're not going to use it? I'd buy another GTX used for ~$80 tops. Will beat both new cards most of the time.
 

NoSoup4You

Golden Member
Feb 12, 2007
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I forgot to mention that I will not be getting a second GTS 640 unless nvidia has resolved the issue with dual monitors not being supported with SLI. I used to have dual 7900GT 256MB's in SLI and I was stuck without use of my second monitor unless I manually disabled SLI everytime I was done gaming. Way too much of a hassle. Needless to say, I greatly prefer single gpu solutions.

I guess I'll either bite on a 192 core 260 soon or wait a little longer to see what happens. My GTS 640MB is still providing me an outstanding gaming experience, but the new cards are a huge upgrade and for so cheap too...
 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
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Well I do want to update this thread and say my 8800GTS640 bit the dust :(

I ended up getting a 4850 which appears to be worse performing in Warhammer lol.

Oh well it isnt like it doesnt work, just seems to be a bit slow sometimes when panning. It is only a 12-16 months bandaid anyways. Ill survive hehe.
 
Oct 25, 2005
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I went from my 8800GTS 640 to an 8800GT this spring. Only about a 20% boost in performance, but I was able to sell the GTS for $25 more than I paid for the GT due to getting the latter on sale. ;P

I'd say even a 4850 would be a decent upgrade from an older GTS, although 4870 or GTX 260 would be even better if you want to spend a bit more.