Should I turn down the eVGA's step-up for a 8800GTS

[videopho]

May be I'm a cheapskate myself but I have pretty much made up my mind to keep my GTO for now until Vista dust has settled and DX-10 games are more abunduntly available.
Besides $250 though, is not exactly a chump change but how much I need to wire to eVGA and I have 12 days left to do so before the term expires.

Or should I not?

 

[xtknight]

Keep the GTO, wait for newer midrange cards to come out, and then either buy one of them, or buy one of the high-end ones then when they will inevitably fall in price.

 

[Matt2]

You could do it and sell it to me for cheap!

 

[jkresh]

if you are thinking of upgrading before summer 07 then go for it now (I doubt you will see a 8800gtx like card under $250 before next fall), if not then wait.

 

[imported_blacken]

Agree. Keep the GTO, wait for spring or summer 07. You'l be able to pick up a (proposed) 8600GTX for a good price and it will probably rock your GTO.

 

[Boyo]

I would take the deal because it will be a long time before you can buy a 8800 GTS for $250. Think about that.

 

[the Chase]

Depends if you want to deal with selling the GTO. If you can sell the GTO for a somewhat decent price then I would wait and get a future cheaper DX10 card and sell the GTO. If you don't want to deal with selling the card then I would step up to the GTS now.

 

[Nightmare225]

GTS. Should be a night-and-day difference on more-demanding games.

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

Get a second GTO if you can find a good price on it.

 

[The-Noid]

I would sell it. You arn't going to get a better deal on a GTS anytime soon. Your last generation card is going to severely depreciate when the next gen comes out.

 

[Conky]

Personally, I'd wait and see what the future brings. There is no game out right now that you can't play and by the time you really need a DX10 card to play one there will be an abundance of cheaper DX10 solutions.

That's my 2 cents anyway.

 

[poohbear]

Originally posted by: Yoxxy
Your last generation card is going to severely depreciate when the next gen comes out.

erm, yeah but the next 8800gts will drop in price when the dx10 midrange cards come out, so it all balances out.

and as for ur question of "should i get a lamborghini when i already have a porsche", well for my needs @ 1280x1024, a porsche will do me just fine.

 

[Dainas]

Originally posted by: blacken
Agree. Keep the GTO, wait for spring or summer 07. You'l be able to pick up a (proposed) 8600GTX for a good price and it will probably rock your GTO.

Since when in the history of Nvidia has a lower model numeral ever measured well in its generation(thinking of 7600GT versus 7800GT, or 6600GT/6800GT) having "GTX" would probably mean just higher clocks for a more castrated core/bus. If it was going to be called a 8900GT or GTS, then sure. Just saying because Nvidia does seem to fallow its stupid naming rules.. atleast in the highend.

 

[nitromullet]

What were you planning on buying after your 7900GTO? A newer card, right... With the step-up program you get the full value of what you paid on your current card towards a newer card. You'll have to be a damn good salesman to get that out of your GTO yourself.

 

[Cookie Monster]

If you grab the GTS now, it will have a better resale value than the 7900GTO by the time Vista hits since the 8800GTS is a DX10 card. Think about that.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: poohbear

Originally posted by: Yoxxy
Your last generation card is going to severely depreciate when the next gen comes out.

erm, yeah but the next 8800gts will drop in price when the dx10 midrange cards come out, so it all balances out.

and as for ur question of "should i get a lamborghini when i already have a porsche", well for my needs @ 1280x1024, a porsche will do me just fine.

Normally I'd agree with you here, but I think that the value of DX9 cards opposed to DX10 is going to drop faster then say the value of an X800/850XT when the faster X1800/X1900XT came out because of the perceived value of the new technology... in other words your 7900GTO is likely to be worth a LOT less in 6 months (like 50%) while the 8800GTS has only lost 10% of its value ... its not like you have a fast AGP card thats going to fill a niche for somone either.

Of course I just upgraded to an 8800GTX from an X1900XTX so i might be the wrong person to ask, although I can tell you that even at 1280x1024 my game performance has on average doubled and i'd say it was well worth the roughly $270 it cost me out of pocket.

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: videopho
May be I'm a cheapskate myself but I have pretty much made up my mind to keep my GTO for now until Vista dust has settled and DX-10 games are more abunduntly available.
Besides $250 though, is not exactly a chump change but how much I need to wire to eVGA and I have 12 days left to do so before the term expires.

Or should I not?

<schwarzenegger>Do it! Do it now!</schwarzenegger>

 

[CurseTheSky]

If you have the money to spare, get the 8800GTS. If you don't, stick with the GTO.

Why? Your chances of paying a 7900GTO + $250 for an 8800GTS any time in the near future are very slim. If you can afford it, I'm sure the extra power won't hurt.

On the other hand, I'm not 100% sure about eVGA's step-up program, since I haven't taken advantage of it yet myself. However, it may be possible to buy a slight upgrade card now (7950GT (not really and upgrade), 7900GTX, 7950GX2) to renew your 3 months, then trade that in for a DX10 card.

 

[SniperWulf]

I think you should do it, you will be hard pressed to get retail value for your GTO. Especially from the cheap bastages on FS/FT

 

[Ricochet]

If you're like me, ebay the GTO while it's still commanding at least the price you paid for it new. Check the completed listing. You have to act fast because the demanding price for it will drop (or already has?). With that cash in hand, wait for someone to post on FS/FT to get a used GTS or GTX. In fact someone was selling a brand new GTS for $400 shipped recently.

With the Step-Up program, you're trading in your card for the initial MSRP of the 8800 card essentially, which is not that great a deal.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: CurseTheSky
On the other hand, I'm not 100% sure about eVGA's step-up program, since I haven't taken advantage of it yet myself. However, it may be possible to buy a slight upgrade card now (7950GT (not really and upgrade), 7900GTX, 7950GX2) to renew your 3 months, then trade that in for a DX10 card.

You can't do what you're suggesting. The card you stepped up TO is not eligible for another stepup.

 

[jevans64]

Having stepped up from a recently purchased 7900GTX to a 8800GTX myself, I'd say DO IT if you don't want to go through the process of selling your 7900GTO. You would also have to sell the 7900GTO SOON to even get 80% of your initial investment back. With step-up, you get 100% back towards a new card; although, eVGA uses MSRP in their program ( which is about $50 above street price now. ) Other posters pointed out that that stepped-up 8800GTS would hold more value than the 7900GTO three months from now.

My step-up took about three weeks but that was over Thanksgiving holiday.

I guess if you waited until March to sell your 7900GTO you would probably get $200 for it. The 8800GTS will probably be around $400 by then. You could wait, purchase an eVGA product, and use step-up at that time. That all depends on how you game. I notice a good boost ( around double the framerate ) between the 7900GTX and 8800GTX because I play at 1920x1200 and have a Conroe E6600 that OC's to 3.6 on air easily. The 8800GTX is CPU-bound so you don't get much boost if you game at 1280x1024 or less. I assume the 8800GTS is also CPU-bound but not as much. BTW. Flight Simulator X benefits greatly with a G80 GPU. The included Dark Messiah game plays real good at 1920x1200 w/ 4xAA/8xAF. I got NFS Carbon but haven't installed that yet.