Truth, reason, and 7800 GTX 512 SLI

[jam3]

Every darn thread on here contains someone moaning about the cost of this new card and how ridiculous and unreasonable it is to pay $1400 for these puppies in SLI.

Well thats exactly what I intend to do as soon as water blocks are out for them (and hopefully the price is more around $650 so $1300 for SLI). I run a Dell 2100FP and like to play everything at 1600x1200. And I do play a ton of games, lets see what I want to play at 16x12 with everything turned to max.

Battlefield 2
Call of Duty 2
Civilization 4
Quake 4
Black and White 2
X3 Reunion
ROME TW: Barbarian Invasion
Dawn of War: Winter Assault
World of Warcraft (yeah not a big deal graphically but I play alot)
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (shelved it until I have a better rig).

I also like configuring hardware and doing some overclocking so, I am really happy I waited for this card and yes I am getting two of em. I budget for a refresh on my main machine on a 2 year cycle, I have a seperate account and save according in my monthly budget, I roll over the money into bonds and usually manage a 20-25% increase in available funds over two years ( I shoot for around $3500). Since I started doing this I have never spent the full account, this year I am blowing the whole thing , but this rig should carry me well into q4 07/q1 08 when quad cores will hopefully be available.

I work for a living, make a good wage, and I manage my money and my time well. I come to these forums for insight on hardware and I can say that all of you crying foul on price need to evaluate your own priorities and stop making judgement how other people manage their own.

 

[Rage187]

Yes, we needed another GTX 512 thread.

 

[Janooo]

Wow, lucky Jim how I envy him

On a serious note: good money management!

 

[jam3]

Why don't you go and cut out the 1000 posts with someone making the comment about how the price is ridiculous and only the rich can afford it

blah blah blah

which have nothing to do with the card and its characteristics that actually matter. I for one would like to see an entire thread on water cooling possibilities for this card, especially since there is a new PCB.

 

[remagavon]

$1400 on video cards now might not be the best idea considering DX10 is coming within the next 10 months or so, but it's your money. $700 is an outrageous price for a non professional graphics card, but then so are $1200 CPUs. There is a niche market for those things and it's fine that you fit into that niche. I do think it's slightly humorous you're going to be powering a $450 (or less, depending on deals) LCD with $1400 in graphics hardware.

 

[jam3]

Originally posted by: remagavon
$1400 on video cards now might not be the best idea considering DX10 is coming within the next 10 months or so, but it's your money. $700 is an outrageous price for a non professional graphics card, but then so are $1200 CPUs. There is a niche market for those things and it's fine that you fit into that niche. I do think it's slightly humorous you're going to be powering a $450 (or less, depending on deals) LCD with $1400 in graphics hardware.

2100FP(16x12 native 21.3 in, sub 15ms response), just goes to show that since 16x12 is the new "default" resolution and that this generation of cards pretty much focus on delivering maximum performance for exactly that resolution that the monitor was a good purchase a year ago at ~$700.

Yeah holding my decision off based on DX 10 hopefully coming out in the next year and games being available SOO soon afterwards is real smart considering my 2 year cycle is already at 2.5 years.

And thats exactly why posted, your opinions about cost here is a moot issue, your making a value judgement on me with very little in the way of logic or concrete evidence to back it up. Sure 2 of these is expensive but I get the best and I get to play all of these current gen games in absolute full glory, and whatever pricetag you put on that is nothing more than your own values, no indication of your actual income bracket or attitude towards money.

 

[Crescent13]

I'm waiting for DX10

 

[Polish3d]

I can afford the card, I have 1400 bucks set aside for PC upgrading in the next 3 months, and obviously there isnt much if anything I have to upgrade in that timeframe

But that doesn't mean I want to be wasteful with this money... for 750 bucks this card isn't worth it, that's nearly the price of 2x256mb GTXs and over 100 dollars more than an already overpriced (IMO) MSRP. Add another 15 bucks for shipping and potential sales tax and you're talking about a card that costs nearly 800 dollars, which is absolute horseshit.

Go ahead and buy these, but don't assume that those of us who don't at that pricepoint are complaining about rich people or some such bs

 

[Jagercola]

I just bought a connect3d x800gto and unlocked it. It cost me $140 from Monarch, has VIVO, and gets ~7,000 in 3dmark05. It's basically a band-aid to hold me over for DX10. DX10 is not just for gaming, but for all the aero-like eyecandy in Vista (WGF, Avalon, etc..). So it's not just about the money, it's about timing.

 

[Alkali]

I'm getting a single 7800GTX 512 to run on its own until the day when I cant run in 1600x1200 at 4xfsaa anymore... at which point I will buy another one and a new SLi mobo

 

[CP5670]

Yeah, I can also afford two of these, but it wouldn't be worth it. And I even have a 2048x1536 monitor.

I may well get a single card though, depending on how much the price falls by the end of the year. The current price is indeed too high, especially compared to two 7800GTs.

 

[Zenoth]

I find it useless to go beyond the GTX 256 MB or X1800 XT performance with current games.

And don't even mention F.E.A.R. ... bad coding isn't my problem.

Personally I'm disappointed by the GTX "Ultra". But even if I would have liked it, I wouldn't consider buying it. It too expensive to me. And by the time its price gets lower, it won't be worth it to buy one anymore.

 

[jam3]

Originally posted by: Jagercola
I just bought a connect3d x800gto and unlocked it. It cost me $140 from Monarch, has VIVO, and gets ~7,000 in 3dmark05. It's basically a band-aid to hold me over for DX10. DX10 is not just for gaming, but for all the aero-like eyecandy in Vista (WGF, Avalon, etc..). So it's not just about the money, it's about timing.

That just doesn't make ANY sense.

1) I am sure MS will launch Vista on time Q3 2006, yeah right
2) Of course I'll want to run "DX 10 eyecandy" in Vista, How many of you actually run themes in XP?? Everything on my box is pretty much turned off.
3) DX10 games will be out 3 months after the API is made available, try more like 6 months to a year before we start seeing it in even 10% of games after the API is released, keeping with the timeframe thats q2/3 of 07' (by this point I am only 1/2 a year away from my scheduled refresh).

 

[JimmyH]

I also find it amusing that you seem hellbent on gaming w/ high IQ yet a $100 ebay 21" trinintron would give you a better gaming experience Most here would recommend one 7800gtx and a hi-end gaming monitor or lcd with that budget.

I seen doods w/ $2000 civics w/ $4000 rims, so whatever floats your boat. They also seem bent out of shape when they get those disapproving looks from people. Enjoy your purchase and don't worry about what MOST peeps think, its your $$. :thumbsup:

 

[Markbnj]

Heck, I can afford two of them. In fact I could buy four of them if there was such a thing as SLI^2.

I can buy anything I want to!







[ouch]

My wife hit me.

 

[Ronin]

Originally posted by: JimmyH
I also find it amusing that you seem hellbent on gaming w/ high IQ yet a $100 ebay 21" trinintron would give you a better gaming experience Most here would recommend one 7800gtx and a hi-end gaming monitor or lcd with that budget.

I seen doods w/ $2000 civics w/ $4000 rims, so whatever floats your boat. They also seem bent out of shape when they get those disapproving looks from people. Enjoy your purchase and don't worry about what MOST peeps think, its your $$. :thumbsup:

1. Ever used an LCD (say, the one in my sig?). I will NEVER go back to a CRT.
2. Ditch the tagline in your sig (and the image it links to), before we shuffle it off to the mods and have them do it for you.
3. The 2001FP is a decent monitor (I'm staring at 2 right now on either side of a 2405FPW). How can you state that you'd get a better experience out of a $100 Trinitron?

 

[Jagercola]

JimmyH,

Hey man, how are you cooling that x800GTO? I'm on air with the stock heatsink and haven't pushed beyond 560/560. Would have sent you a PM, but you don't have them enabled.

Thanks

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: remagavon
$1400 on video cards now might not be the best idea considering DX10 is coming within the next 10 months or so, but it's your money. $700 is an outrageous price for a non professional graphics card, but then so are $1200 CPUs. There is a niche market for those things and it's fine that you fit into that niche. I do think it's slightly humorous you're going to be powering a $450 (or less, depending on deals) LCD with $1400 in graphics hardware.

A. DX 10 wont matter for a long time
B. First generation hardware will most likely choke on it anyways.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: jam3

Originally posted by: Jagercola
I just bought a connect3d x800gto and unlocked it. It cost me $140 from Monarch, has VIVO, and gets ~7,000 in 3dmark05. It's basically a band-aid to hold me over for DX10. DX10 is not just for gaming, but for all the aero-like eyecandy in Vista (WGF, Avalon, etc..). So it's not just about the money, it's about timing.

That just doesn't make ANY sense.

1) I am sure MS will launch Vista on time Q3 2006, yeah right
2) Of course I'll want to run "DX 10 eyecandy" in Vista, How many of you actually run themes in XP?? Everything on my box is pretty much turned off.
3) DX10 games will be out 3 months after the API is made available, try more like 6 months to a year before we start seeing it in even 10% of games after the API is released, keeping with the timeframe thats q2/3 of 07' (by this point I am only 1/2 a year away from my scheduled refresh).

DX10 adoption will most likely be slower than DX9 because there wont be DX10 for WinXP. This means the millions upon millions of people with WinXP will be cut out of the loop if you design a game requiring DX10.

 

[remagavon]

Originally posted by: jam3

Originally posted by: remagavon
$1400 on video cards now might not be the best idea considering DX10 is coming within the next 10 months or so, but it's your money. $700 is an outrageous price for a non professional graphics card, but then so are $1200 CPUs. There is a niche market for those things and it's fine that you fit into that niche. I do think it's slightly humorous you're going to be powering a $450 (or less, depending on deals) LCD with $1400 in graphics hardware.

2100FP(16x12 native 21.3 in, sub 15ms response), just goes to show that since 16x12 is the new "default" resolution and that this generation of cards pretty much focus on delivering maximum performance for exactly that resolution that the monitor was a good purchase a year ago at ~$700.

Yeah holding my decision off based on DX 10 hopefully coming out in the next year and games being available SOO soon afterwards is real smart considering my 2 year cycle is already at 2.5 years.

And thats exactly why posted, your opinions about cost here is a moot issue, your making a value judgement on me with very little in the way of logic or concrete evidence to back it up. Sure 2 of these is expensive but I get the best and I get to play all of these current gen games in absolute full glory, and whatever pricetag you put on that is nothing more than your own values, no indication of your actual income bracket or attitude towards money.

The response time on the 2001fp is actually 16ms, not sub 15ms, and it's a fairly lacklusted panel by today's standards. I've had 3 of them and was simply stating that it's a little silly to me to spend so much more on hardware inside your pc rather than to spend it outside where you actually interact with your machine. I wasn't judging you at all, simply stating my opinion. You might have posted this thread to feel better about your purchase, and that's fine. But don't try to say I said something I did not .

As others have stated, spending the money on a lower end video card and a better monitor would probably be an option worth considering. Now is a very bad time to go 'all-out' on a computer, with DX10, Vista, DDR2 (for the A64s), and Merom/Conroe/Woodcrest/Yonah on the horizon from intel. I'm aiming to get GTX cards myself, but I would never make the claim that people's opinions on price are blatantly wrong simply becuase I'm good with money and can save up.

 

[JimmyH]

Jagercola
AS5 on stock cooler w/ 80mm fan blowing over it. Lots of excess paste on stock cooler. I

Ronin
1. Yes
2. Done but do I have to?
3. $100 21" trinitron offers better color reproduction, orders of magnitude better responce times, true black, no native resolution, no scaling on non-native resolutions.... Have you ever gamed on an aperture grill?

 

[CP5670]

Yeah, the black levels are incomparable. I got a chance to play around with a 2405 where I worked last summer and the contrast was pretty average even by LCD standards.

 

[remagavon]

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: jam3

Originally posted by: Jagercola
I just bought a connect3d x800gto and unlocked it. It cost me $140 from Monarch, has VIVO, and gets ~7,000 in 3dmark05. It's basically a band-aid to hold me over for DX10. DX10 is not just for gaming, but for all the aero-like eyecandy in Vista (WGF, Avalon, etc..). So it's not just about the money, it's about timing.

That just doesn't make ANY sense.

1) I am sure MS will launch Vista on time Q3 2006, yeah right
2) Of course I'll want to run "DX 10 eyecandy" in Vista, How many of you actually run themes in XP?? Everything on my box is pretty much turned off.
3) DX10 games will be out 3 months after the API is made available, try more like 6 months to a year before we start seeing it in even 10% of games after the API is released, keeping with the timeframe thats q2/3 of 07' (by this point I am only 1/2 a year away from my scheduled refresh).

DX10 adoption will most likely be slower than DX9 because there wont be DX10 for WinXP. This means the millions upon millions of people with WinXP will be cut out of the loop if you design a game requiring DX10.

Do you have a source for that? I'm almost positive there's a developer build of avalon for Windows XP out, and that they went back to focusing on DX10 after the Vista-specific graphics build (DirectX Next) didn't work out, though I might be mistaken.

 

[Ronin]

DX10 will make it's appearance in Vista, so for all intents and purposes, sometime next year (provided MS sticks to their timeline).

3. I've played games on just about anything you can think of, and for the money, a solid LCD will blow away a CRT, no matter which one (if you talk about price comparisons).

Previous to my 2405FPWs (and before that, a 2005FPW), I was using a Dell P1130, which was an excellent monitor, imo. The 2405FPW, as well as the 2005FPW, are head and shoulders above it.

 

[hemmy]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
I find it useless to go beyond the GTX 256 MB or X1800 XT performance with current games.

And don't even mention F.E.A.R. ... bad coding isn't my problem.

Personally I'm disappointed by the GTX "Ultra". But even if I would have liked it, I wouldn't consider buying it. It too expensive to me. And by the time its price gets lower, it won't be worth it to buy one anymore.

People are saying such stupid things these days, you cant expect a refresh to double the performance of the previous high end, if you do you will be disappointed every time

Maybe it is too expensive for you (it is for me), but a lot of people are buying them, and that doesn't justify every god damn person on earth that doesn't have 750 bucks for a video card (more for SLI) to go crying over the internet about high prices)