i need a complete list of rebadged nvidia SKUs

[faxon]

A friend of mine who just moved to japan not long ago needs a new graphics card for his GFs computer (her 8600GT died). he is an nvidia fanboy, but he also wants a good deal for his money. what i need is a complete list of all the rebadged nvidia chips (like 8800GT to 9800GT) that dont perform any faster than their predecessor (unlike 8800GTS 512 > 9800GTX, unless im wrong on that one also). the ones i know of are 8800GTX G80>9600GSO, 8800GT > 9800GT, and the 8800GTS 512>9800GTX which i believe is faster. are there any that i missed? also, does anyone know of a good site online that sells computer hardware in japan, or ships to japan? i want to check prices on different cards and i need to see what they cost in yen

 

[MichaelD]

Wow, you don't ask for much, do you?

Basically what it boils down to are what are your friend's needs (big gamer at high res?) and how much does he want to spend? That will dictate what range of cards would be attractive/useful for him.

 

[faxon]

yea i know that. the problem is he wont believe me when i tell him he needs a $200 card for his monitors (2x 1920x1200 samsung 24 inch displays). might be why his GFs card died tbh, wasnt designed to handle that resolution at gaming, and he and his GF do a lot of gaming. they both have 8600GT cards, or at least up until one of them died lol. im more worried about him getting ripped off by one of these rebadged SKUs. i have seen stores selling 1 for up to $100 more than the other, which is just obsurd

 

[MichaelD]

It's kind of you to be looking out for him to ensure he doesn't get ripped off.

That's what the internet and a few minutes of time is for; research. Find a nice card and check prices at a few different sites.

So he has two PCs and each of them uses a single 24" monitor? Or does he have two 24" monitors on each PC? Stretching the resolution across 48" of monitor would kill most cards.

If he's just on a single 24" monitor (and he's stuck on NVidia) then a GTX260 (the new one) would do him just fine. If you game at 19x12 or higher and want eye candy, you've got to pony up to the $250 and above table if you want things to look nice and have a playable framerate.

Nobody ever said this hobby was cheap. :evil:

 

[faxon]

2 and each uses a single. turns out that the card hasnt worked since he moved to japan (from california, i went to highschool with this guy) a month ago. unfortunately he isnt tech savvy really, i couldnt even get him to swap the 8600GT into his comp from hers to see if the problem reproduces there. his phone just died while we were texting back and forth, but i think what might actually be wrong is the card came unseated while the comp was in the mail, but he absolutely refuses to open it up and touch anything inside. i used to fix everything for him, and i actually took the whole system apart, cleaned it, and made sure it worked before sending it to japan. OS was clean install, no bad caps on the motherboard or the video card. only thing i could think of is something came unseated. /sigh, he is probably going to pay some place a ton of money for them to reseat his video card now lol.

 

[MichaelD]

Wow. He's a tech support nightmare. IMO, anyone who is completely unwilling to try to help themselves deserves whatever bending over they receive. :Q Especially if they are physically able to do so. I.E. he's not your 98-year old grandpa who has arthritis and can't see.

I agree with you that most probably the card came unseated during the move. CPU heatsinks also have a high probability of coming unseated as well.

So, in actuality, this thread is not about finding a replacement card for a failed 8600GT. We don't know if the card is bad b/c your buddy is afraid the monsters inside his computer will eat his face if he opens it to check. LOL! I crack me up.

 

[faxon]

yea he totally left that little detail out. he also wont go picking around on the board to find out what bios he is using (its an ECS mobo with an X2 5600+), since apparently he found the need to inform me he was getting beep codes wasnt important until his phone died

 

[Denithor]

Sounds like that rig took a beating during its trip overseas.

Originally posted by: faxon
...he and his GF do a lot of gaming. they both have 8600GT cards...

Gaming @ 1920x1200 on 8600GT? I wouldn't call it gaming...Slideshow is more like it.

Your rebadge list is all messed up.
8800GS -> 9600GSO
8800GT -> 9800GT
8800GTS ~ 9800GTX (same core, different PCB with higher clocks & better overclocking)

Even the 8800GS/9600GSO (which can be had here for $50) would be an upgrade from an 8600GT. But for 19x12 in any newish games I would say go with the GTX 260. Just make sure his powersupply can handle it.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Gaming @ 1920x1200 on 8600GT? I wouldn't call it gaming...Slideshow is more like it.

All depends on the game. Most MMOs would work okay. Older shooters work fine. Source engine games would probably be fine. Older UT engine games would be fine. Crysis? Not so much.

Also, no need to run at 100% resolution with all eye candy turned up. Heck, I ran COD4 for a while on a fresh install with just resolution cranked and nothing else turned up, because I just wanted to get into it and play. Later on I turned up the eye candy... but can't really tell while in-game (I play only multi).