Should I get a 8800 GTS card for my 3800 x2?

[DVad3r]

I want to upgrade my video card, currently running a 7800 GTX 256 meg. Im looking into getting a 8800 GTS card. Will this be a smart upgrade and give me a nice boost or is my CPU too weak to power it? My system specs are 3800 X2, 2 gigs of ram.

Thanks

 

[TanisHalfElven]

yes. a 3800+ is more than enough. you'll be able to to bump up the eye candy, AA, resolution, HDR etc etc.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
yes. a 3800+ is more than enough. you'll be able to to bump up the eye candy, AA, resolution, HDR etc etc.

What if he's not a hard core gamer? You havent supplied us with what this machine intends to do. A 8800GTS would not be a smart upgrade if you dont game on something that would require that much power.

The 8800 would save you from a future upgrade, but if you have no use for it right now, it wouldnt merit anything spent.

Whats the machine intended on doing? whats your favorate high gfx requirement game you play? What resolution do you play your games at? these questions should be asked b4 anyone gives advice because a 500 dollar gfx card could get you a C2D E6300 or 6400, aftermarket cooling on the cpu, board and RAM. And i promise you thats a ton better upgrade then a single 8800GTS if you dont require its power.


Also i hope your PSU can handle the 2 PCI-E connectors your gonna need for that card.

 

[Furen]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
yes. a 3800+ is more than enough. you'll be able to to bump up the eye candy, AA, resolution, HDR etc etc.

What if he's not a hard core gamer? You havent supplied us with what this machine intends to do. A 8800GTS would not be a smart upgrade if you dont game on something that would require that much power.

The 8800 would save you from a future upgrade, but if you have no use for it right now, it wouldnt merit anything spent.

Whats the machine intended on doing? whats your favorate high gfx requirement game you play? What resolution do you play your games at? these questions should be asked b4 anyone gives advice because a 500 dollar gfx card could get you a C2D E6300 or 6400, aftermarket cooling on the cpu, board and RAM. And i promise you thats a ton better upgrade then a single 8800GTS if you dont require its power.


Also i hope your PSU can handle the 2 PCI-E connectors your gonna need for that card.

If he wasn't a hardcore gamer he wouldn't be upgrading his video card, a 7800GTX would be more than enough. Since I'm assuming that his X2 3800+ is not overclocked then it's close enough to an E6300 in performance and it costs him nothing to keep it. Yes, he could overclock an E6300 but he could also overclock his current CPU, not to the same degree but that'd still be free performance. Also, what makes you think he requires more CPU power? He never mentioned he did so why spend $500 getting more performance he might not need?

One last thing, the 8800GTS only requires one PCIe power connector.


To OP:
I think you could hold onto your video card for at another month and a half and you'll see some price drops due to new product launches (hopefully ATI's R600 will be out by then). At the very least, the 320MB 8800GTS will be released at ~$300.

 

[DVad3r]

Hey guys thanks for the responses. Game I play the most is WoW Burning Crusade, Half Life 2 (episode 1 etc) FEAR, and I will be getting new games here and there as they come. Play games at 1680x1050 rez and notice that some get sluggish with my 7800 GTX. Also I plan on upgrade my system in 6-8 months and xfering the 8800 GTS to the new one, and building a server/porn backup system with my current components.

 

[DVad3r]

Oh and I forgot to mention, I like to play my games at Quality or Highest Quality settings, and medicore AA maybe 4x.

 

[Roguestar]

Yes, you'll notice the difference. At that resolution, FEAR and HL2: Ep1 will really look much better with everything turned on and up full. You'll also get better framerates than the somewhat dated 7800 gives you and you'll be ready for D3D10 too.

Also, laughing @ "porn backup system". Your honesty is sublime.

 

[aigomorla]

laugh at the porn server....

And yeah since the op does play fear at that resolution, it would be in best interest to upgrade the video card. Thats why we needed more information.

My QX was besting This Opty of mine at STOCK SPEED
And to be honest, most X2's wont go past 2.8ghz

is the reason why i recomended a CPU upgrade shift more then a video card shift.

C2D and i know most can go 3.0ghz on AIR, will dominate if not destory any AMD processor. And i can Vouch for this because a simular clocked X6800 which is dual core is a tad bit faster then my QX at the same clock.

So yeah, if FEAR at 1680x1050 wasnt included, i still would of promoted a CPU change more then a gfx because 8800GTS arent as expensive as they were 2 months ago, and most likely will get a bit cheaper.

And getting DDR2 ram now would save him from future upgrade in the future as well.

 

[thegimp03]

Sorry to get off topic, but you blew a 700w Seasonic aigomorla? How the F did that happen? Man...

As for getting an 8800 gts, I'd agree that you will see a significant performance boost at high resolutions and maxed out settings on games. An 8800 gts would probably allow you to do that with everything that's currently out (maybe with the exception of Oblivion).

However, I'd wait for 1-2 months as a previous poster said. Prices will continue to drop.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: thegimp03
Sorry to get off topic, but you blew a 700w Seasonic aigomorla? How the F did that happen? Man...

As for getting an 8800 gts, I'd agree that you will see a significant performance boost at high resolutions and maxed out settings on games. An 8800 gts would probably allow you to do that with everything that's currently out (maybe with the exception of Oblivion).

However, I'd wait for 1-2 months as a previous poster said. Prices will continue to drop.

to tell the story exact, i was running on orthos, had cards on RTHDRIBL. She was going great for about 3 hours, next thing i know computer just turns off and shuts down. Press the power button, nothing... looked at the rear LCD diag pannel on my striker, blank, looked at ethernet, blank... so ummm.... i have no clue on how the hell i did it, it got RMA'd and i swaped it with my cousin for a PCnC 750. He wanted modular, and i could careless heh..

QX is still on a neo 450 tho. Trying to get my watercooling loop back into order b4 i swap the PSU.