Upgrade from an 8800GT

[dpodblood]

I am looking to find a card in the $200-$250 price range to replace my 8800GT 512MB. I was looking at the HD 5770, but would this be a significant enough upgrade to warrant the money spent? I would like to upgrade the whole system, but don't have the money right now.

Current system:
Gigabyte P35 mobo
Intel e8400 3.0GHz Dual Core
4GB DDR2
Galaxy 8800GT 512MB
Thermaltake 500W PSU

Thanks!

 

[toyota]

yeah I would probably just get a 5770 but you didnt mention what res you play at. and you could sell your 8800gt to offset a bit of the cost of a 5770 too.

 

[Qbah]

That's a really bad price point now. The HD5770 is not really a significant boost over your 8800GT and it's ~$150. The next card is a HD5850 for ~$300. HD5830 is a bad value card - not much faster than a HD5770, sucks a lot of power and is ~$250.

And nVidia has absolutely nothing at this price bracket - only last-gen stuff which would be an even worse value purchase than a HD5770. The slowest Fermi is a GTX465 for ~$280 and it's as bad as a HD5830 in terms of value (slow and power hungry).

I would say sit tight for the moment. Is the 8800GT really so bad for what you're playing now? If you really need to buy something, try to cough up $50 more and grab a HD5850. Otherwise it's not worth it imo.

 

[dpodblood]

I will probably stick it out until I can afford a complete upgrade then. Currently I am running game's in 1680x1050 on a 20" display, but I was considering upgrading to a 27" 1080p display. More pixels = need for a better pixel pusher .

 

[toyota]

That's a really bad price point now. The HD5770 is not really a significant boost over your 8800GT and it's ~$150. The next card is a HD5850 for ~$300. HD5830 is a bad value card - not much faster than a HD5770, sucks a lot of power and is ~$250.

And nVidia has absolutely nothing at this price bracket - only last-gen stuff which would be an even worse value purchase than a HD5770. The slowest Fermi is a GTX465 for ~$280 and it's as bad as a HD5830 in terms of value (slow and power hungry).

I would say sit tight for the moment. Is the 8800GT really so bad for what you're playing now? If you really need to buy something, try to cough up $50 more and grab a HD5850. Otherwise it's not worth it imo.

on average it seems like a 50% better card to me at 1680 and even better than that at 1920 so it isnt a bad jump. http://www.anandtech.com/show/2856/5

he could always sell the 8800gt for 50 bucks so a 5770 would only cost 100 bucks in the end.

 

[Qbah]

on average it seems like a 50% better card to me at 1680 and even better than that at 1920 so it isnt a bad jump. http://www.anandtech.com/show/2856/5

he could always sell the 8800gt for 50 bucks so a 5770 would only cost 100 bucks in the end.

Yeah, it's roughly 50% more. It really depends on the OP, but for me 50% more is weak, as I was giving my personal opinion

And here's also a nice overview from TPU:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/EAH_5830_DirectCu/4.html

Every game shows the relevant cards (look at 9800GT to see your 8800GT's speed). However, those are done on a 3.8GHz Core i7. The E8400 is not a bad CPU (one of the best dual cores), but the results wouldn't be really the same.

 

[dpodblood]

Will a PSU upgrade be necessary to step up to the 5770?

 

[Qbah]

Will a PSU upgrade be necessary to step up to the 5770?

No. Your 500W Thermaltake will easily handle a HD5770. It will also handle a HD5850 fine

 

[CurseTheSky]

No. Your 500W Thermaltake will easily handle a HD5770. It will also handle a HD5850 fine

Wattage wise, yes. However, some Thermaltake PSUs are of lesser quality. You might want to Google it for reviews (real ones, like JonnyGuru or HardOCP - hint, if they don't test voltage drops, ripple, and efficiency, look elsewhere) before dropping $300+ on a high-end card. For something of equal or lesser power consumption, like an HD 5770, it wouldn't sweat it.

 

[Termie]

Yeah, it's roughly 50% more. It really depends on the OP, but for me 50% more is weak, as I was giving my personal opinion

And here's also a nice overview from TPU:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/EAH_5830_DirectCu/4.html

Every game shows the relevant cards (look at 9800GT to see your 8800GT's speed). However, those are done on a 3.8GHz Core i7. The E8400 is not a bad CPU (one of the best dual cores), but the results wouldn't be really the same.

I agree with everything here, except that the review doesn't actually list the performance of the 9800gt.

But yes, the 5770 is about 50% faster, and like I said, I agree that 50% isn't enough for an upgrade. I went from an 8800gt to a 5850 and think it was a good investment, at about 2.2 times faster.

So how about this 5850 for $260 with shipping after Bing Cashback from Tigerdirect:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...083&CatId=3669

 

[Qbah]

I agree with everything here, except that the review doesn't actually list the performance of the 9800gt.

But yes, the 5770 is about 50% faster, and like I said, I agree that 50% isn't enough for an upgrade. I went from an 8800gt to a 5850 and think it was a good investment, at about 2.2 times faster.

So how about this 5850 for $260 with shipping after Bing Cashback from Tigerdirect:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...083&CatId=3669

Whoops! I was checking the summary (that does have a 9800GT listed at every resolution) and assumed it was the case for the games included. My bad, sorry. But the summary has a really nice overview

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/EAH_5830_DirectCu/28.html

And that's a great deal, $260 for a HD5850 is an excellent price.

 

[Face2Face]

Don't get a 5770. I just bought one --And compared it to the performance of my overclocked 8800 GT it's not that big of a boost. Running the FC2 Benchmark I saw an addtional 8 FPS to my my avg Framerates and even less with AA enabled. I just returned it! I am going to wait for my 9800 GTX to come back from RMA and wait for the prices on the current Gen cards to drop some more.

 

[toyota]

Don't get a 5770. I just bought one --And compared it to the performance of my overclocked 8800 GT it's not that big of a boost. Running the FC2 Benchmark I saw an addtional 8 FPS to my my avg Framerates and even less with AA enabled. I just returned it! I am going to wait for my 9800 GTX to come back from RMA and wait for the prices on the current Gen cards to drop some more.

that Anandtech review I linked to sure said otherwise. it had the 5770 basically doubling the 8800gt in Far Cry 2 with 4x AA at 1680 and more than doubling it at 1920 with 4x AA. of course that was mainly due to the 8800gt only having 512mb.

 

[Face2Face]

Maybe I got a crap card?? But I was not impressed--Which really sucks because I have a crossfire board. My 8800 GT only has 512. For the OP I would go for a 5850 at least or GTX 275 or GTX 285. Also the OP is not gaming on high-end Core i7 so the benchmarks you read at AT are not CPU Limited like his dual-core would be for FC2.

 

[toyota]

Maybe I got a crap card?? But I was not impressed--Which really sucks because I have a crossfire board. My 8800 GT only has 512. For the OP I would go for a 5850 at least or GTX 275 or GTX 285. Also the OP is not gaming on high-end Core i7 so the benchmarks you read at AT are not CPU Limited like his dual-core would be for FC2.

oh I agree that he would not get ALL a 5770 could do at 1680 but if he was using ultra high settings and 4xAA his E8400 would still be close. the 5770 isnt a top of the line card and an E8400 will come pretty close to getting the job done. my gtx260 is about on par with a 5770 and I am basically gpu limited passed 3.4 on my E8500 using ultra high settings and 4xAA at 1680x1050.

 

[Leyawiin]

An HD 5770 should provide a nice boost on a 22 inch monitor over an 8800 GT. I got a very nice improvement (mainly being able to max out eye candy) going from an 8800 GTX to a GTX 260 @ 1680x1050 (with an X4 955). The OP would have a bigger jump in GPU power than that going to an HD 5770 from an 8800 GT.

 

[Face2Face]

The E8400 is a great CPU and it still plays most games very very well. However, FC2 does like quad cores. I have a buddy with a e8400 overclocked to 3.4 and he has a 9800 GTX and he still runs about 5-8 AVG FPS slower than me with my current setup. A overclocked 8800 GT (700/1800/950) can hang very well with a 9800 GTX. All I am saying is that I was not impressed with the 5770's performance coming from a 8800 GT --But he might? I am going 5850 or 5870 when prices come down.

 

[StinkyPinky]

I went from a 8800gt to a 5850. I don't think anything less is worthwhile imo. Although I guess you could get a single 5770 and then in 6 months get another for crossfire action.

 

[dpodblood]

The E8400 is a great CPU and it still plays most games very very well. However, FC2 does like quad cores. I have a buddy with a e8400 overclocked to 3.4 and he has a 9800 GTX and he still runs about 5-8 AVG FPS slower than me with my current setup. A overclocked 8800 GT (700/1800/950) can hang very well with a 9800 GTX. All I am saying is that I was not impressed with the 5770's performance coming from a 8800 GT --But he might? I am going 5850 or 5870 when prices come down.

I used to have my e8400 overclocked to 3.8 GHz, but it wont run stable anymore for some reason >_>. Also my 8800 GT is an overclocked edition (overclocking it more isn't an option I've tried.. lol...)

Anyway I think I'll just stick it out a bit longer until I can do a complete overhaul. When the time comes I can sell my current system, and replace it with something better.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Any idea when AMD will be coming out with their next generation of cards?

I also have a 8800GT and currently leaning towards picking up a 5850.

 

[pmv]

Also have a 8800gt. I keep thinking about a 5770, then comparing it with the 5850 and thinking what a weak upgrade it is in comparison. Then thinking how extravagantly expensive the 5850 is and then deciding to stick with the 8800gt. Its possible that if either of the 5770 or 5850 didn't exist I'd have bought the other. But each of them seems to show up the short-comings of the other one, leaving me deciding to stick with the 8800.

If only nvidiots would start upgrading to the 4x0 cards and dumping their gts250s for a pittance. A gts250 would be good if it were really cheap (like $50).. Where are all the cheap discarded nvidia cards on ebay? What's wrong with you guys? Why aren't you dumping your cards in favour of nvidia's latest space-heater? Do you have more sense than money or something?

 

[Will Robinson]

Then thinking how extravagantly expensive the 5850 is and then deciding to stick with the 8800gt.

umm...just...no.
You must have it confused with the $500 furnace from NVidia.

 

[pmv]

umm...just...no.
You must have it confused with the $500 furnace from NVidia.

Jeez, why do some folk have to interpret everything in the context of some sort of video-card Holy War?

For _me_ the 5850 is far too expensive. Its about double what I've ever spent before on a video card (barring the first geforce and that was only out of frustration that the voodoo3 I had was faulty). I paid half that for the 8800GT, which gave a much bigger performance improvement over the 1950xt I had before. That kind of performance improvement for that kind of cost is what I would consider worthwhile.

Right now seems a bad time to upgrade.

This has nothing directly to do with nvidia vs ATI (the gtx4x0 series is utterly out of the question from my p.o.v., where did I say otherwise?).

 

[NoQuarter]

Also have a 8800gt. I keep thinking about a 5770, then comparing it with the 5850 and thinking what a weak upgrade it is in comparison. Then thinking how extravagantly expensive the 5850 is and then deciding to stick with the 8800gt. Its possible that if either of the 5770 or 5850 didn't exist I'd have bought the other. But each of them seems to show up the short-comings of the other one, leaving me deciding to stick with the 8800.

If only nvidiots would start upgrading to the 4x0 cards and dumping their gts250s for a pittance. A gts250 would be good if it were really cheap (like $50).. Where are all the cheap discarded nvidia cards on ebay? What's wrong with you guys? Why aren't you dumping your cards in favour of nvidia's latest space-heater? Do you have more sense than money or something?

I know what you mean, the 5770 was a bigger upgrade for me than over your 8800GT so it was well worth it, but I *wanted* to spend $200-$220 on my video card, there was just nothing in that range for me to buy. The 5830 is there now, which I think isn't bad if it's at $200 and you wanted to spend $200 to begin with, but if you're actually looking for good value then you have to go 5770 or 5850 and that leaves $200-$220 empty still

 

[jimhsu]

Also have a 8800gt. I keep thinking about a 5770, then comparing it with the 5850 and thinking what a weak upgrade it is in comparison. Then thinking how extravagantly expensive the 5850 is and then deciding to stick with the 8800gt. Its possible that if either of the 5770 or 5850 didn't exist I'd have bought the other. But each of them seems to show up the short-comings of the other one, leaving me deciding to stick with the 8800.

If only nvidiots would start upgrading to the 4x0 cards and dumping their gts250s for a pittance. A gts250 would be good if it were really cheap (like $50).. Where are all the cheap discarded nvidia cards on ebay? What's wrong with you guys? Why aren't you dumping your cards in favour of nvidia's latest space-heater? Do you have more sense than money or something?

It's a brilliant setup by AMD and Nvidia, I tell you. They managed, through pricing changes and supply/demand, to create a videocard market with absolutely no sweet spot for price/performance. As such, I can find no suitable upgrade for my 8800GTS.