Need help comparing cards across generations

[Special K]

I haven't kept up with video card technology in a few years, but it seems my geforce 6800 gto is dying and needs to be replaced. I went to newegg to look for a cheapo replacement card that can tide me over until next year when I will likely just build a new rig.

The problem I am having is that the generation of video card (i.e. 6, 7, or 8) apparently does not imply that it is higher performing than all of the cards before it. For example, apparently you can have a 7-series card (or maybe even an 8-series card) that loses out to certain 6-series cards, even though the family number would imply the card is superior.

I have read a few reviews of 7 and 8-series cards, but the benchmarks only compare them to 1-2 other cards.

Is there some place I can go that will show me roughly how all of nvidia's 6, 7, and 8 series cards compare to each other in performance?

I want a cheap card, but I don't want to get something that is inferior to what I already have.

 

[waffleironhead]

Toms hardware gpu charts are a pretty good way to compare cards across generations.

 

[Denithor]

I'm assuming you have a PCIe card? If so, just get the EVGA 9600GSO for $50AR at newegg. That's the best value in cards right now. No, it's not the fastest thing available but it also doesn't cost $400 and it should be fairly well balanced with a several year old system (don't want to get a high end card only to find you're severely cpu-limited). At $50 it should make a perfect stop-gap solution to last until you do a full system upgrade.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
Toms hardware gpu charts are a pretty good way to compare cards across generations.

Cool, I had actually just stumbled on that site through random google searching right before I read your post.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Denithor
I'm assuming you have a PCIe card? If so, just get the EVGA 9600GSO for $50AR at newegg. That's the best value in cards right now. No, it's not the fastest thing available but it also doesn't cost $400 and it should be fairly well balanced with a several year old system (don't want to get a high end card only to find you're severely cpu-limited). At $50 it should make a perfect stop-gap solution to last until you do a full system upgrade.

That's a good deal, although I can't find that card anywhere in THG's benchmark database that waffleironhead posted. I can't find the 8800 GS, the card the card the 9600 GSO is based on, in the benchmark database either.

 

[jyjjy777]

That 9600gso deal is the best around at the moment. If you want something more powerful you can grab a 9600gt for a little under $100 or an 8800gt for a little over. If you have the money the hd4850 is a great card for $150.
With any of these cards you want to make sure your PSU can handle it. If that's an issue you probably want the new hd4670. It's on par with the 9600gso but doesn't need an extra power connector. It's $80 at the moment but if you wait a little bit the price is likely to come down as it was just released.

 

[jyjjy777]

This chart is easier to understand and fairly accurate;
http://www.tomshardware.com/re...phics-Card,2011-6.html

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: jyjjy777
That 9600gso deal is the best around at the moment. If you want something more powerful you can grab a 9600gt for a little under $100 or an 8800gt for a little over. If you have the money the hd4850 is a great card for $150.
With any of these cards you want to make sure your PSU can handle it. If that's an issue you probably want the new hd4670. It's on par with the 9600gso but doesn't need an extra power connector. It's $80 at the moment but if you wait a little bit the price is likely to come down as it was just released.

The 9600 GSO only has a 1 year warranty, which is a concern for me, as I have had 2 6800's die on me including the current one, which was a replacement for the first one that died about 2 years ago.

Still, the 9600 GSO is a very good deal for the money.

 

[will889]

I believe the eVGA brand would have a lifetime warranty just like the rest of their cards. Unless this one somehow deviates from that policy. No doubt, the 9600GSO is great for the real gamer (that doesn't just sit around benchmarking). Heck I may pick one up to go with some spare parts I have and make a new box.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: will889
I believe the eVGA brand would have a lifetime warranty just like the rest of their cards. Unless this one somehow deviates from that policy. No doubt, the 9600GSO is great for the real gamer (that doesn't just sit around benchmarking). Heck I may pick one up to go with some spare parts I have and make a new box.

Interesting, newegg's info page for the card says it has a 1 year warranty, but if I look up the same card on TigerDirect's website, it says it has a lifetime warranty:

link

 

[will889]

^Maybe it's a slightly different skew# hence the eVGA @ newegg being so low priced? In any case - a year is "ok" for $50.00 AFAIC. Usually you will see issues within 1-3 months if there's going to be trouble. I think i'm still going to order it myself though (for that extra box I mentioned) - i'll just run it hard through some tests for 48HRS to make sure it's super stable.

 

[Roguestar]

Although nVidia's naming conventions have gotten even worse with the GTX 200 series, if you want to compare 6, 7 and 8 range cards, use this:
XYZZ
X = generation
Y = performance level compared to others in the generation
ZZ = minor revisions
with left-to-right positional significance (ie: a 7900 is not necessarily better than a 8800 because its second digit is a 9).

so a 6800 is an "8" on the scale of GeForce 6s. Exactly one generation up, the 7800 is likely a little better. The 7900 will then be better again than that.



Man ATi's cards are much easy to compare like that.

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: Denithor
I'm assuming you have a PCIe card? If so, just get the EVGA 9600GSO for $50AR at newegg. That's the best value in cards right now. No, it's not the fastest thing available but it also doesn't cost $400 and it should be fairly well balanced with a several year old system (don't want to get a high end card only to find you're severely cpu-limited). At $50 it should make a perfect stop-gap solution to last until you do a full system upgrade.

That's a good deal, although I can't find that card anywhere in THG's benchmark database that waffleironhead posted. I can't find the 8800 GS, the card the card the 9600 GSO is based on, in the benchmark database either.

Look at figures for the 8800GT. THe 9600GSO/8800GS should be about 10-15% slower.

 

[Special K]

Unfortunately it seems the 9600GSO requires a 400W power supply minimum. I only have a 350W. It looks like I'll have to go with one of the lower-end cards.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Special K
Unfortunately it seems the 9600GSO requires a 400W power supply minimum. I only have a 350W. It looks like I'll have to go with one of the lower-end cards.

What's your monitor resolution?

To me this seems like a no win situation if you're at 16X10 with a 350W psu.

The money you spend will largely be wasted with that PSU, for $100 both ATi and NVIDIA have much better parts than anything that the 350W will run.

There comes a time to spend the money, this might be it.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: nRollo

Originally posted by: Special K
Unfortunately it seems the 9600GSO requires a 400W power supply minimum. I only have a 350W. It looks like I'll have to go with one of the lower-end cards.

What's your monitor resolution?

To me this seems like a no win situation if you're at 16X10 with a 350W psu.

The money you spend will largely be wasted with that PSU, for $100 both ATi and NVIDIA have much better parts than anything that the 350W will run.

There comes a time to spend the money, this might be it.

My current video card, a GeForce 6800 GTO, is dying. I need to get a replacement now, but I'm not planning a brand new rig until early next year.

I need something that will offer equal performance to what I am getting now, while spending the least amount of money possible.

The monitor is 1680x1050.

The 9500 GT looks like it could be an option. According to nvidia's website, it's the best card I can use with a 350W power supply.

Other possibilities include the 8600 GT and the 7600 GT, although they are 1 and 2 generations older than the 9500 GT, respectively. The 7600 GT also costs the same as the 9500 GT, and the only 8600 GT card available at newegg actually costs more than the 9500 GT cards.

Other possibilities include the 8500 GT and 7300 GT, but both of those offer worse performance than my 6800 GTO according to that Tom's Hardware guide above. I don't want to replace my current card with something inferior.

 

[will889]

What's the loadout of your system? EG how many HD's, CD-DVD drives, and finally the exact specs of the PSU you have? If you only have one HDD, one optical, and a decent (quality wise) 350W with enough amps rating on the +12v you might be fine with a 9600GSO.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: will889
What's the loadout of your system? EG how many HD's, CD-DVD drives, and finally the exact specs of the PSU you have? If you only have one HDD, one optical, and a decent (quality wise) 350W with enough amps rating on the +12v you might be fine with a 9600GSO.

I have:

2 HD's
2 optical drives

Here are the specs on the PSU:

+5V / 22A MAX
+5V(FP) / 2A MAX
+12V-A / 18A MAX
-12V / 1A MAX
+3.3V / 17A MAX
+12V-B / 18A MAX

Combined power on +3.3V and +5V rails not exceed 150W. Combined power on +12V-A and +12V-B rails not exceed 336W. Max continuous total DC output power shall not exceed 350W.

 

[will889]

If it were me I would try it, but pull one optical, then monitor the voltages for stableness, fluctuation, variance, watch the bootup and shutdown process closely. With one HD and optical you would be fine more than likely.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

http://www.gpureview.com/show_...hp?card1=200&card2=574

There are the two, 6800 GTO, and 9500 GT, side by side.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Kiwi
http://www.gpureview.com/show_...hp?card1=200&card2=574

There are the two, 6800 GTO, and 9500 GT, side by side.

It doesn't show their benchmark performance though. It only gives their tech specs.

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: Special K
My current video card, a GeForce 6800 GTO, is dying. I need to get a replacement now, but I'm not planning a brand new rig until early next year.

I need something that will offer equal performance to what I am getting now, while spending the least amount of money possible.

The monitor is 1680x1050.

The 9500 GT looks like it could be an option. According to nvidia's website, it's the best card I can use with a 350W power supply.

Other possibilities include the 8600 GT and the 7600 GT, although they are 1 and 2 generations older than the 9500 GT, respectively.

Wrong. The 8600GT *is* the 9500GT.

Same card.

With your crappy PSU, you should bite the bullet and get a ATI 4670.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: will889
If it were me I would try it, but pull one optical, then monitor the voltages for stableness, fluctuation, variance, watch the bootup and shutdown process closely. With one HD and optical you would be fine more than likely.

Well I actually use all of the components in my system, so I'd rather not have to remove anything to allow the video card to function correctly.

 

[AzN]

6800gto would be like 850xt of the day. Something in lines with 7600gt which is also in line with 8600gt.

With modern games however your 6800gto is much slower like 3x or even more slower than a 8600gt.

I think S44 has the right idea. If you don't want to buy a new power supply and have a PCI-E slot you should go with 4670 that should be okay even with a older power supply.

I've heard stories where 9600gso could be ran with 300watt power supply. It's not it eats more power than a mainstream card but the 12volt rail might need more than 17 amps like your power supply.

 

[jyjjy777]

There's a good chance your power supply can handle the 9600 gso. If you don't want to risk it then what you want is the hd4670 which is good as the GSO with minimal power requirements and much better than the other cards you are thinking about. It's $80 at the moment but it just came out and the price will likely come down before too long if you can hold of for a little.