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Graphics card upgrade question.

N

nib95

Senior member
Basically, I just realised I'm going to be buying quite a few PC games this year. Those being:

Crysis
Quake Wars
Unreal Tournament 3
Bioshock
Hellgate: London
Stranglehold
Orange Box
Call of Duty 4

And maybe more. As is, I currently have an 8800 GTS (640mb) OC'd to pretty much 8800 GTX levels. Actually a little faster. 630/2000. Will this GPU be able to handle the above games at max settings 1680 x 1050 or 1920 x 1200? Ideally with 4xAA and 16xAF. Basically, the predicament is that someone has offered me an 8800 Ultra for £350. I reckon I can get £250 for my 8800 GTS. Which means £100 towards the new GPU. 8800 Ultra's generally retail from anywhere between £400 - £500 in the UK, so I'm getting a damn good deal.

Question is, do I upgrade to the Ultra, or just wait till the 9800 GTX/GTS get released later this year. My guess is that when the 9800 GTS arrives, it will be £350 (same price as what I can get the 8800 Ultra for and my max budget) and the 9800 GTX will be around £500. And I have a suspicion that the 9800 GTS will not perform as good as the 8800 Ultra. So shall I just go ahead and purchase the 8800 Ultra? What are your predictions and thought's? I'm personally leaning towards the 8800 Ultra over the 9800 GTS.

 
If you already have your GTS OCed to GTX levels, IMO it's a total waste of money to upgrade to an Ultra. Of course, no one knows how games as yet to be released will perform at a given resolution/AA/AF setting with a particular hardware rig. But Ultra vs. GTX (at stock GTX speed) is like 10-15% difference in performance at most. Since it's a virtual guarenty that Nvidia will have something else on the market before years end, and these games aren't out yet, it doesn't really make sense to pursue this upgrades. That's just IMO of course. YMMV.

- woolfe
 
Ok appreciate the post. But I've read that the higher the resolution and IQ, the bigger the performance differences between the cards. Isn;t there any truth to this?

40 views and one reply, lol.
 
1) None of those games are out. Why would you even contemplate upgrading for them?
2) You should upgrade when you are not happy with performance not to futureproof.
3) No one can say with certainy if 8800GTS will be sufficient for any of those games - so wait until they are out.
 
I agree. I'll upgrade to the 9800GTX if I find I'm not satisfied with my 8800GTS performance in many of those same games later this year. Also, I'm sure the 9800GTS will be faster than the 8800 Ultra. Just wait, what's wrong with your GTS OC'd to GTX levels? Don't buy just for the sake of buying, save your money and wait to buy something better when you actually need it.

In the mean time... preoccupy yourself with something else so you won't be so tempted to buy.
 
Originally posted by: LightningRider
I agree. I'll upgrade to the 9800GTX if I find I'm not satisfied with my 8800GTS performance in many of those same games later this year. Also, I'm sure the 9800GTS will be faster than the 8800 Ultra. Just wait, what's wrong with your GTS OC'd to GTX levels? Don't buy just for the sake of buying, save your money and wait to buy something better when you actually need it.

In the mean time... preoccupy yourself with something else so you won't be so tempted to buy.
Click to expand...


Best advice yet. You're right, I'm too much of an impulsive buyer and as a result need to pre-occupy myself (goes back to playing Resistance). I need to sit my ass down and relax lol. No rush. I'm buying Bioshock and Stranglehold (PC versions) this month, hopefully the 8800 GTS stacks up. But Crysis, unless I see it in full visual glory I don't think I'll be satisfied lol.
 
I don't think that you really need any upgrade now.
as long as you have 40+ fps it does not really matter for gaming.
if you want to pay extra money for scores, you always can if it make you feel better 🙂
i have less powerful machine (only E6300@3.06Ghz) with eVGA 8800 GTS 640MB @ stock clock
most time down clocked to reduce heat and power consumption.
games like Enemy Territory, Quake, Unreal and Doom with best settings at 1920x1200 playable at 350 for GPU and 400 for mem.
battlefield and call of duty don't make this card to work hard enough.
I do plan to upgrade to 9800 if it will be less hot. (don't like parts at ~70C inside my computer. and it reach 80 with serious load in summer 31-35C ambient). and it should be considering 65nm process.
 
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