My 8800GTX is my friend

[Hauk]

The 8800GTX, as its been said, is truly a beast.

As CPUs get cooler and cooler, the GTX gets hotter. We feed it 12v times two. It gets warm enough to remind you of the power coarsing through it.

If you listen carefully, you can hear it buzzing as its encounters intense rendering.

I really like the 8800GTX. For now... it's the king of the jungle.

 

[McArra]

Medic please... LOL

 

[terentenet]

Correct. I have 2 of them in SLI. If i listen carefully during intense rendering, besides the cards buzzing, I can hear the nuclear powerstation nearby buzzing as well. That's 12v x 4.
Until these cards arrived, I thought my CM Stacker 830 was a big case. Now I had to mount the MB tray up side down (BTX style) so everything will fit.
Nvidia did a good job. With both this 8800GTX and 680i mobo design. They seem preety tough. I had some water leaks from the watterchiller, all water poured on the video cards and the mobo. I didnt even wipe it, just kept it running. Works flawlessly.
Now, that we're talking 8800GTX, I am having drivers issues. Every here and there I get a blue screen (nv4_disp.dll) using the 97.02 drivers. What drivers are you using?

 

[Pugnate]

I love my 8800GTX... but goddamn it is huge. Just too big.

 

[Keysplayr]

Heh, dont forget the 12V it's grabbing from the PCI-e slot. So it is actually 12V x3 for you OP, and 12V x6 for the SLI gent.

 

[adairusmc]

I love mine as well. Driver issues aside, there is a big difference between this and my old 7950GX2.

 

[JAG87]

Originally posted by: SteelSix
The 8800GTX, as its been said, is truly a beast.

As CPUs get cooler and cooler, the GTX gets hotter. We feed it 12v times two. It gets warm enough to remind you of the power coarsing through it.

If you listen carefully, you can hear it buzzing as its encounters intense rendering.

I really like the 8800GTX. For now... it's the king of the jungle.

:Q

time for counselling?

 

[KeithTalent]

NSFW

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

Originally posted by: terentenet
Correct. I have 2 of them in SLI. If i listen carefully during intense rendering, besides the cards buzzing, I can hear the nuclear powerstation nearby buzzing as well. That's 12v x 4.
Until these cards arrived, I thought my CM Stacker 830 was a big case. Now I had to mount the MB tray up side down (BTX style) so everything will fit.
Nvidia did a good job. With both this 8800GTX and 680i mobo design. They seem preety tough. I had some water leaks from the watterchiller, all water poured on the video cards and the mobo. I didnt even wipe it, just kept it running. Works flawlessly.
Now, that we're talking 8800GTX, I am having drivers issues. Every here and there I get a blue screen (nv4_disp.dll) using the 97.02 drivers. What drivers are you using?

Thank you. I was seriously concerned about that buzzing noise, but it seems that it's 'normal' to these cards. Indeed, they are noisy SOBs, not annoying, but noticeable - I'm running it in an open case to boot.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: SteelSix
The 8800GTX, as its been said, is truly a beast.

As CPUs get cooler and cooler, the GTX gets hotter. We feed it 12v times two. It gets warm enough to remind you of the power coarsing through it.

If you listen carefully, you can hear it buzzing as its encounters intense rendering.

I really like the 8800GTX. For now... it's the king of the jungle.

:shocked::laugh:

 

[allies]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
NSFW

lmao...

 

[Ricochet]

Originally posted by: terentenet
Correct. I have 2 of them in SLI. If i listen carefully during intense rendering, besides the cards buzzing, I can hear the nuclear powerstation nearby buzzing as well. That's 12v x 4.
Until these cards arrived, I thought my CM Stacker 830 was a big case. Now I had to mount the MB tray up side down (BTX style) so everything will fit.
Nvidia did a good job. With both this 8800GTX and 680i mobo design. They seem preety tough. I had some water leaks from the watterchiller, all water poured on the video cards and the mobo. I didnt even wipe it, just kept it running. Works flawlessly.
Now, that we're talking 8800GTX, I am having drivers issues. Every here and there I get a blue screen (nv4_disp.dll) using the 97.02 drivers. What drivers are you using?

Jeezus, I didn't think anyone is crazy enough to run SLI with this monster. I thought the ideal use of a 8800 card is to replace the SLIs and Crossfires of yesterdays.

Exactly, what game requires a dual 8800GTX setup?

BTW, you should put a radiation/hazard symbol on your computer case.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Originally posted by: SteelSix
The 8800GTX, as its been said, is truly a beast.

As CPUs get cooler and cooler, the GTX gets hotter. We feed it 12v times two. It gets warm enough to remind you of the power coarsing through it.

If you listen carefully, you can hear it buzzing as its encounters intense rendering.

I really like the 8800GTX. For now... it's the king of the jungle.

5 years, 377 posts...and you give us this?
:laugh:

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: ricochet

Originally posted by: terentenet
Correct. I have 2 of them in SLI. If i listen carefully during intense rendering, besides the cards buzzing, I can hear the nuclear powerstation nearby buzzing as well. That's 12v x 4.
Until these cards arrived, I thought my CM Stacker 830 was a big case. Now I had to mount the MB tray up side down (BTX style) so everything will fit.
Nvidia did a good job. With both this 8800GTX and 680i mobo design. They seem preety tough. I had some water leaks from the watterchiller, all water poured on the video cards and the mobo. I didnt even wipe it, just kept it running. Works flawlessly.
Now, that we're talking 8800GTX, I am having drivers issues. Every here and there I get a blue screen (nv4_disp.dll) using the 97.02 drivers. What drivers are you using?

Jeezus, I didn't think anyone is crazy enough to run SLI with this monster. I thought the ideal use of a 8800 card is to replace the SLIs and Crossfires of yesterdays.

Exactly, what game requires a dual 8800GTX setup?

BTW, you should put a radiation/hazard symbol on your computer case.

I dont know how many times I have to say it on these forums... If you're going to use the horsepower you can never have too many FPS!!!!!!!!!!

I dont like when people who either can't afford SLi or are unwilling to pay for it, make comments about how people dont need SLi and they just wasted their money. Totally untrue.

I see he's only running 1680x1050, but can you say 32x AA??

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Originally posted by: Matt2

I see he's only running 1680x1050, but can you say 32x AA??

I consider myself a person with great eyesight and attention to detail - and by this, I don't mean blowing a BF2 screenshot to 400% zoom and dissing ATi/nVidia for having 1 jaggie more on an electrical line that is somewhere out on the horizon

I have gone through several Image Quality comparisons - as a matter of fact, just an hour ago, I was checking out this G80 Image Quality Investigation thread on Rage3D forums by that ChrisRay dude. I was also looking at an older article and I honestly had a hard time telling 4xAA from 8xS in most screenshots. I could see a few chain-link fences in HL2 and BF2 looked better with 8xS but apart from that, I was stumped. I can imagine how hard it would be to tell the difference while playing a frantic first-person-shooter.

I look at at the 16xQ and 16xCSAA comparison - and I don't see a difference. I look at 8xQ and 8xCSAA - and I don't see a difference. I compare 4xMSAA with 16xQ - and I still need the reviewer to point out where to look. And these are screenshots - not a mad BF2 Conquest I am playing and losing while single-handedly trying to reverse my team's ill fortunes

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel

Originally posted by: Matt2

I see he's only running 1680x1050, but can you say 32x AA??

I consider myself a person with great eyesight and attention to detail - and by this, I don't mean blowing a BF2 screenshot to 400% zoom and dissing ATi/nVidia for having 1 jaggie more on an electrical line that is somewhere out on the horizon

I have gone through several Image Quality comparisons - as a matter of fact, just an hour ago, I was checking out this G80 Image Quality Investigation thread on Rage3D forums by that ChrisRay dude. I was also looking at an older article and I honestly had a hard time telling 4xAA from 8xS in most screenshots. I could see a few chain-link fences in HL2 and BF2 looked better with 8xS but apart from that, I was stumped. I can imagine how hard it would be to tell the difference while playing a frantic first-person-shooter.

I look at at the 16xQ and 16xCSAA comparison - and I don't see a difference. I look at 8xQ and 8xCSAA - and I don't see a difference. I compare 4xMSAA with 16xQ - and I still need the reviewer to point out where to look. And these are screenshots - not a mad BF2 Conquest I am playing and losing while single-handedly trying to reverse my team's ill fortunes

I totally understand what you're saying, but as they say... beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If teretenet can see the difference, or if he made an adult decision and decided he needed SLi, who are we to tell him that he doesnt need SLi?

That is my problem with blanket statements like "You dont need 8800GTX SLI." Maybe he had the money now and didnt want to upgrade AGAIN when Crysis or Alan Wake hits the shelves.

It's like when I had my 7800GT SLi and only had a monitor capable of displaying 1280x1024.

I cant even begin to describe to you how many people on these forums told me I was foolish for spending $600 on a setup limited to 1280x1024. What they didnt understand is that I play with max IQ settings. in COD2 I only got about 40-50 fps avg wiht max IQ settings and 4x/16x AA/AF. A single 7800GT would have choked at those settings.

And when I played games that I had a lot of FPS to spare, 8x/16x SLi AA was a god send.

 

[terentenet]

Originally posted by: Matt2

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel

Originally posted by: Matt2

I see he's only running 1680x1050, but can you say 32x AA??

I consider myself a person with great eyesight and attention to detail - and by this, I don't mean blowing a BF2 screenshot to 400% zoom and dissing ATi/nVidia for having 1 jaggie more on an electrical line that is somewhere out on the horizon

I have gone through several Image Quality comparisons - as a matter of fact, just an hour ago, I was checking out this G80 Image Quality Investigation thread on Rage3D forums by that ChrisRay dude. I was also looking at an older article and I honestly had a hard time telling 4xAA from 8xS in most screenshots. I could see a few chain-link fences in HL2 and BF2 looked better with 8xS but apart from that, I was stumped. I can imagine how hard it would be to tell the difference while playing a frantic first-person-shooter.

I look at at the 16xQ and 16xCSAA comparison - and I don't see a difference. I look at 8xQ and 8xCSAA - and I don't see a difference. I compare 4xMSAA with 16xQ - and I still need the reviewer to point out where to look. And these are screenshots - not a mad BF2 Conquest I am playing and losing while single-handedly trying to reverse my team's ill fortunes

I totally understand what you're saying, but as they say... beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If teretenet can see the difference, or if he made an adult decision and decided he needed SLi, who are we to tell him that he doesnt need SLi?

That is my problem with blanket statements like "You dont need 8800GTX SLI." Maybe he had the money now and didnt want to upgrade AGAIN when Crysis or Alan Wake hits the shelves.

It's like when I had my 7800GT SLi and only had a monitor capable of displaying 1280x1024.

I cant even begin to describe to you how many people on these forums told me I was foolish for spending $600 on a setup limited to 1280x1024. What they didnt understand is that I play with max IQ settings. in COD2 I only got about 40-50 fps avg wiht max IQ settings and 4x/16x AA/AF. A single 7800GT would have choked at those settings.

And when I played games that I had a lot of FPS to spare, 8x/16x SLi AA was a god send.

Matt, you're 100% right. I am not mad at ppl though, if they think they don't need SLI, they don't get SLI. I upgraded from 7900GTX SLI to 8800GTX SLI... you know why? Cause Oblivion gave me a hard time.... 120fps indoors, 15-65 (avg 30) fps outdoors with only HDR enabled, no AA, no CPL AF, no nothing and ingame settings at default.
But now it's a different story... can you say 1680x1050 HDR, 16xAA, 16xAF, Gamma corrected, Supersampled Transparency AA, with no optimizations (HQ), Clamped negative LOD, with all in game settings at MAXXXX, running at 300fps indoors and 45-200 (avg 80) fps outdoors? That's how it should have been from the beginning and you got to love it.

 

[Ricochet]

Originally posted by: Matt2

Originally posted by: ricochet

Originally posted by: terentenet
Correct. I have 2 of them in SLI. If i listen carefully during intense rendering, besides the cards buzzing, I can hear the nuclear powerstation nearby buzzing as well. That's 12v x 4.
Until these cards arrived, I thought my CM Stacker 830 was a big case. Now I had to mount the MB tray up side down (BTX style) so everything will fit.
Nvidia did a good job. With both this 8800GTX and 680i mobo design. They seem preety tough. I had some water leaks from the watterchiller, all water poured on the video cards and the mobo. I didnt even wipe it, just kept it running. Works flawlessly.
Now, that we're talking 8800GTX, I am having drivers issues. Every here and there I get a blue screen (nv4_disp.dll) using the 97.02 drivers. What drivers are you using?

Jeezus, I didn't think anyone is crazy enough to run SLI with this monster. I thought the ideal use of a 8800 card is to replace the SLIs and Crossfires of yesterdays.

Exactly, what game requires a dual 8800GTX setup?

BTW, you should put a radiation/hazard symbol on your computer case.

I dont know how many times I have to say it on these forums... If you're going to use the horsepower you can never have too many FPS!!!!!!!!!!

I dont like when people who either can't afford SLi or are unwilling to pay for it, make comments about how people dont need SLi and they just wasted their money. Totally untrue.

I see he's only running 1680x1050, but can you say 32x AA??

I know you don't like to hear it, but yeah they've just wasted their money. Yeah these people can afford it, but that doesn't mean they spent wisely. Especially for those who bought at launch. Those who actually waited a few weeks saw that they could buy it for over $100 off at Dell.

I'm not making any judgement on the OP, though. For all we know, he could be really rich and this is all chump change by comparision. I do know quite a few people who are PC gamer enthusists who work regular jobs. When they read forum reviews, benchmarks on various sites, they get caught in the moment. There is a high they get, just like a megalomaniac at a shopping mall (ok, maybe bad analogy). All of a sudden they end up with an expensive toy that is hard to justify. And they deserve the b1tch slapping they get from their gf/wife.

When will you guys step back and do a reality check? Ask yourself how many games you actually play now that require a significant upgrade. Is subtle graphics improvement worth a $1000? When that money could have gone to a trust fund for example. And you all know full well that the price of these hardware will drop significantly in 6 months.

This is what I hate most about the PC gaming market. It is entirely hardware driven. There are relatively few developers that actually make games with optimized codes. They've taken a brute force method on graphics. Emphasis on the hardware feature to overcompensate for the lackluster abilities of the artists. Crunch out less than stellar models with unnecessary amount of polygons, but will dress it up with highly detailed textures, AA, and HDR.

The console gaming scene makes more sense. It's software driven (or use to be before PS3). Since the gaming console has much less horsepower than a PC, artists actually are forced to utilize real talent to achieve good grahics. Take Donkey Kong Country for example. Who would have thought that a SNES was capable of such graphics. But it was done with optimize code and required skilled artists for it. If you look at the file size of that game, you'd be shock at how small it is.

Yeah, we are of a different mindset. Don't get me wrong. I would love to have a 8800GTX like the next guy, but I have to look at my wallet and pinch myself. I'm not trying to brag, but I do make a low 6 figures and still young. While not impressive by todays standard, it's much more than most of my friends. Some of these friends drive Audi TT, Lexus, and Acuras while I stick with my lowly Honda Accord. I worked too hard to get where I'm at so the value of money means more to me. Priority goes to house, retirement, and emergency funds.

I do love a hot deal now and then (which is why I'm always perusing the HD and FS/FT forums). If something of good value comes along its hard for me to resist.


Alas, I'm sorry for hi-jacking this thread.

/My rambling

 

[Hauk]

Thanks to all for the input. Yes, buying an 8800GTX at product launch is a poor economic choice. Not that buying computer hardware at any point is a good one. It's a mad cycle that will continue so long as we continue buying.

And while our eyes will never see the difference between 100 and 200fps, it sure is nice to see your rig at the upper end of a 3dmark graph.

Hey, people waste money on stupid s^&t every day. But what value we get out of it, well that's what counts. I date a woman who wanted a boob job, so I bought her one. Was that a wise investment? Hell no. But they sure are fun to play with...

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: ricochet

Originally posted by: Matt2

Originally posted by: ricochet

Originally posted by: terentenet
Correct. I have 2 of them in SLI. If i listen carefully during intense rendering, besides the cards buzzing, I can hear the nuclear powerstation nearby buzzing as well. That's 12v x 4.
Until these cards arrived, I thought my CM Stacker 830 was a big case. Now I had to mount the MB tray up side down (BTX style) so everything will fit.
Nvidia did a good job. With both this 8800GTX and 680i mobo design. They seem preety tough. I had some water leaks from the watterchiller, all water poured on the video cards and the mobo. I didnt even wipe it, just kept it running. Works flawlessly.
Now, that we're talking 8800GTX, I am having drivers issues. Every here and there I get a blue screen (nv4_disp.dll) using the 97.02 drivers. What drivers are you using?

Jeezus, I didn't think anyone is crazy enough to run SLI with this monster. I thought the ideal use of a 8800 card is to replace the SLIs and Crossfires of yesterdays.

Exactly, what game requires a dual 8800GTX setup?

BTW, you should put a radiation/hazard symbol on your computer case.

I dont know how many times I have to say it on these forums... If you're going to use the horsepower you can never have too many FPS!!!!!!!!!!

I dont like when people who either can't afford SLi or are unwilling to pay for it, make comments about how people dont need SLi and they just wasted their money. Totally untrue.

I see he's only running 1680x1050, but can you say 32x AA??

I know you don't like to hear it, but yeah they've just wasted their money. Yeah these people can afford it, but that doesn't mean they spent wisely. Especially for those who bought at launch. Those who actually waited a few weeks saw that they could buy it for over $100 off at Dell.

I'm not making any judgement on the OP, though. For all we know, he could be really rich and this is all chump change by comparision. I do know quite a few people who are PC gamer enthusists who work regular jobs. When they read forum reviews, benchmarks on various sites, they get caught in the moment. There is a high they get, just like a megalomaniac at a shopping mall (ok, maybe bad analogy). All of a sudden they end up with an expensive toy that is hard to justify. And they deserve the b1tch slapping they get from their gf/wife.

When will you guys step back and do a reality check? Ask yourself how many games you actually play now that require a significant upgrade. Is subtle graphics improvement worth a $1000? When that money could have gone to a trust fund for example. And you all know full well that the price of these hardware will drop significantly in 6 months.

This is what I hate most about the PC gaming market. It is entirely hardware driven. There are relatively few developers that actually make games with optimized codes. They've taken a brute force method on graphics. Emphasis on the hardware feature to overcompensate for the lackluster abilities of the artists. Crunch out less than stellar models with unnecessary amount of polygons, but will dress it up with highly detailed textures, AA, and HDR.

The console gaming scene makes more sense. It's software driven (or use to be before PS3). Since the gaming console has much less horsepower than a PC, artists actually are forced to utilize real talent to achieve good grahics. Take Donkey Kong Country for example. Who would have thought that a SNES was capable of such graphics. But it was done with optimize code and required skilled artists for it. If you look at the file size of that game, you'd be shock at how small it is.

Yeah, we are of a different mindset. Don't get me wrong. I would love to have a 8800GTX like the next guy, but I have to look at my wallet and pinch myself. I'm not trying to brag, but I do make a low 6 figures and still young. While not impressive by todays standard, it's much more than most of my friends. Some of these friends drive Audi TT, Lexus, and Acuras while I stick with my lowly Honda Accord. I worked too hard to get where I'm at so the value of money means more to me. Priority goes to house, retirement, and emergency funds.

I do love a hot deal now and then (which is why I'm always perusing the HD and FS/FT forums). If something of good value comes along its hard for me to resist.


Alas, I'm sorry for hi-jacking this thread.

/My rambling

Of course consoles are going to be software driven. Developers can code and optimize till they get blue in the face and squeeze every last bit of performance out of the console.

How can anyone do anything even close to that on PC? The game has got to run on everything from a 9600 to 8800GTX SLi. Just too many variables.

This is the price we pay to game on PC.

I personally have preferences on what games I play on PC and which I play on consoles. Sports, racing and very selected shooters are strictly console territory. RTS, 99% of first person shooters on PC.

I really like to watch the PC plat form evolve too. We can awesome visual enhancements within a years time period where on consoles, it's going to be half a decade until we see substantial improvements in visuals.

 

[imported_Crusader]

Agreed, Im loving my 8800GTX as well.

Nothing on the market compares for performance or IQ. Its funny cuz my GTX idles at 50C and my buddys 7600GT idles at 58C! Couldnt be happier with this purchase. Just beat Dark Messiah last night (16xHQAA/16xAF/HQ/SS TransAA) Woot!