What would be a worthwhile upgrade to 8800 GTS320

[phexac]

I am using the 8800 GTS320 OCed to 575 from stock 500.

It runs most games fine, however there is a number of games that it cannot push past 30FPS (minimum that is really playable) at 1920x1200 (the resolution on my monitor). Problem is, most cards that are out there today are not a significant upgrade to my card, especially seeing as it's OCed.

I want to play The Witcher, Oblivion, NWN2, STALKER, and some other graphically intensive games maxed out at my native resolution. From what it looks like, the only real solution that will serve me well for sometime into the future is a GX2 card, likely the 9800GX2 since the 3870GX2 isn't that much faster than the 8800GTX and has some cooky driver issues in some games.

I want to avoid Xfire and SLI because of all the driver issues, I would rather have the two cards in one solution.

So is a $600 card the only real solution for me, or are there some cards coming out that could do what I need that would set me back less than $600?

 

[CalvinHobbes]

Nvidia should have some new cards coming out within a month. I would wait.

 

[chizow]

Unfortunately the 320MB on that GTS is what's really hold you back at 1920x1200. Any G80 or G92 part with 512MB or more RAM would perform significantly better than that 320MB GTS. If you had the 640MB version I'd say its not even worth upgrading.

A single G92 GT or faster card would be sufficient to run all of those games you listed with varying levels of AA @ 1920x1200. I've played through all of them on my current set-up and they all play very well at 1920. There's not much point in waiting, maybe a week or so for the 9800GTX which will have a trickle down effect of dropping prices.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: phexac
I am using the 8800 GTS320 OCed to 575 from stock 500.

It runs most games fine, however there is a number of games that it cannot push past 30FPS (minimum that is really playable) at 1920x1200 (the resolution on my monitor). Problem is, most cards that are out there today are not a significant upgrade to my card, especially seeing as it's OCed.

I want to play The Witcher, Oblivion, NWN2, STALKER, and some other graphically intensive games maxed out at my native resolution. From what it looks like, the only real solution that will serve me well for sometime into the future is a GX2 card, likely the 9800GX2 since the 3870GX2 isn't that much faster than the 8800GTX and has some cooky driver issues in some games.

I want to avoid Xfire and SLI because of all the driver issues, I would rather have the two cards in one solution.

So is a $600 card the only real solution for me, or are there some cards coming out that could do what I need that would set me back less than $600?

I'm in exactly the same boat (Inspiron 530, Quad, 8800GTS/320, 24" 1920x1200) and await a better card. The 8800GT just doesn't seem like that much of an upgrade; anyone have benchmarks directly comparing the two *at that resolution* in any modern games?

 

[TC91]

im in a similar situation as you as well, but i will recommend holding off until the "real" next gen video cards. in the meantime, you can try oc'ing the card further to see if it helps. IMO a heavily oc'ed gts320 is not a large enough amount slower than any of the g92 cards to warrant the cost of upgrading; unless of course, you can find a buyer for your current card for a decent amount. i would recommend against a gx2/x2 card for the foreseeable future, unless of course almost every card will be a gx2/x2 variant since the driver support for those cards has not been too great after the card is a little obsolete (see 7950gx2).

 

[Piuc2020]

Originally posted by: dclive

Originally posted by: phexac
I am using the 8800 GTS320 OCed to 575 from stock 500.

It runs most games fine, however there is a number of games that it cannot push past 30FPS (minimum that is really playable) at 1920x1200 (the resolution on my monitor). Problem is, most cards that are out there today are not a significant upgrade to my card, especially seeing as it's OCed.

I want to play The Witcher, Oblivion, NWN2, STALKER, and some other graphically intensive games maxed out at my native resolution. From what it looks like, the only real solution that will serve me well for sometime into the future is a GX2 card, likely the 9800GX2 since the 3870GX2 isn't that much faster than the 8800GTX and has some cooky driver issues in some games.

I want to avoid Xfire and SLI because of all the driver issues, I would rather have the two cards in one solution.

So is a $600 card the only real solution for me, or are there some cards coming out that could do what I need that would set me back less than $600?

I'm in exactly the same boat (Inspiron 530, Quad, 8800GTS/320, 24" 1920x1200) and await a better card. The 8800GT just doesn't seem like that much of an upgrade; anyone have benchmarks directly comparing the two *at that resolution* in any modern games?

From the benchmarks I saw the 8800GT was a huge upgrade over the 8800GTS 320 especially in higher resolutions, wait a bit let me look for them I might find them.

*EDIT: I found them, the 8800GT gets 70FPS AVG against the 52FPS AVG the GTS 320 gets on Oblivion 1920x1200 and once AA and AF kicks in the difference is 5fps vs a whooping 40fps in favor of the 8800GT. On STALKER the difference is less pronounced but it's still 32FPS vs 24FPS. AOEIII also shows 20FPS gains on both 1920 and 1920 AA/AF.

http://www.tomshardware.com/20...rce_8800_gt/page9.html

I think it might be worthwhile considering you can also overclock the 8800GT and get even better performance.

 

[SickBeast]

The 320mb GTS is pretty much as good as any single-GPU card out there, so long as it's not texture limited.

It's easy enough to tweak any game to run well on your card. IMO it's a complete waste to upgrade to a card like the GT. You might gain 20% at the most, all things being equal.

Wait for R700/GT200. :beer:

 

[dclive]

Agreed - I see going from 52 to 70 fps for non-4XXthis-and-that enabled, and that's just not THAT much. 40% speedup, yes, but I think I can wait a while and get much better. SupCom 30 vs 22, or about 40% better too. Nothing to sneeze at but not worth $170.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: dclive
Agreed - I see going from 52 to 70 fps for non-4XXthis-and-that enabled, and that's just not THAT much. 40% speedup, yes, but I think I can wait a while and get much better. SupCom 30 vs 22, or about 40% better too. Nothing to sneeze at but not worth $170.

Plus you need to keep in mind that lowering the texture settings and/or AA a bit would probably create an even playing field (and relatively equal results).

 

[dclive]

I did - I compared likes and likes and got 30-40% difference.

 

[superbooga]

I went from a GTS 320 to a GTS 512, and I also have a 24" monitor.

To get you an idea of how big (or small) the upgrade is, drop your resolution from 19x12 to 16x10 (1680x1050). That's comparable to the difference between the two when the 320 isn't suffering from the lack of memory. In other words, the GTS 512 is as fast (or even faster) at 19x12 than the old GTS is at 16x10. I'll let you decide whether or not you think it's worth the upgrade.

If I were you, I would upgrade if there's a good deal on a GT or GTS 512. The old GTS (even the 640MB version) is at a point where it's struggling with more and more games at 19x12, while the GT, GTS 512, and GTX can handle that resolution.

 

[mhouck]

If you have the patience, wait until April Fools Day when the 9800GTX, successor to the GTS 512, comes out and evaluate it. If there aren't impressive gains over the 512 GTS, just get the the GTS. The release should push the price down even more. They can be had on newegg for $240ish the last I checked. Then go with an EVGA or a BFG with the step up options for upgrades just in the mythical G200 or whatever its being called does launch in the next quarter.

 

[daveybrat]

I won't upgrade my 8800GTS until i can get almost a 50-100% increase in my current framerates. My 320MB runs any game i play on it just fine.

Recommend waiting for R700/GT200 like SickBeast said.