Which is better?

[TheNiceGuy]

I'm looking to either buy a second identical card for my system, or replace it with a single 6800 GT. Which is better?

 

[AzN]

6800gt probably better but why? You are on a PCI-E board and you should just upgrade to cheap $90 8800gs and would be leaps ahead of 6800gt or 6600gt sli.

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: Azn
6800gt probably better but why? You are on a PCI-E board and you should just upgrade to cheap $90 8800gs and would be leaps ahead of 6800gt or 6600gt sli.

Agreed. A 6800Gt will probably set you back about $70 I'm guessing, so you really might as well do a real upgrade and get an 8800 series card.

 

[Chosonman]

whoa! how did this post from 2003 get here?

6800GT > 2 6600GT SLI

For the money though I would get a 7600GT AGP or 2600PRO AGP

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Chosonman
whoa! how did this post from 2003 get here?

6800GT > 2 6600GT SLI

For the money though I would get a 7600GT AGP or 2600PRO AGP

Erm... PCI-e??

 

[Chosonman]

I'm assuming the reason we're still talking about 6XXX series cards is because they're AGP or else there would be not need to discuss them ever again.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Chosonman
I'm assuming the reason we're still talking about 6XXX series cards is because they're AGP or else there would be not need to discuss them ever again.

Well, if you would take a sec to look at the OP's sig, you would see his SLI motherboard. No AGP involved here. And, you cannot SLI AGP cards, at all. Just PCI-e SLI capable cards.

And FYI: 6xxx series cards came in both AGP and PCI-e. In fact, there was even a 59xx series card that was PCI-e. I think that was the first PCI-e from Nvidia. Bridge chip or not, I don't know.

Cheers

 

[Chosonman]

ah ha. Nice catch, that's probably why I never enjoyed reading "Encyclopedia Brown" books as a kid, I was never too good at picking up on the clues....

In that case wth is the op still looking a 6800GT's for?? Get an 8800GT!

 

[BassBomb]

The original 5 series that had PCI-e were using the bridge chip to get to PCI-e

The 6 series came out for PCI-e and use bridge chip to go back to AGP (hence the rotated coolers for 6600's

Your CPU is quite old but I'd go for something along the lines of 8800GS. Good bang for the buck

 

[TC91]

try oc'ing the cpu if you havent done so after you get the graphics card too, it may alleviate a little bit of the cpu limitation.

 

[Andrew1990]

Well, maybe the OP wants to experiment a little? Depends on the Resolution as well. Higher resolutions I would go for the 6600s, but for anything 1600x1200 or less, the 6800 all the way.

Of course if you are going to buy it for "gaming", then go for something newer like a 8600GT or 9600GT depending on funds.

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: Andrew1990
Well, maybe the OP wants to throw money in the toilet. Depends on the Resolution as well. Higher resolutions I would go for the 6600s, but for anything 1600x1200 or less, the 6800 all the way.

Of course if you are going to buy it for "gaming", then go for something newer like a 8600GT or 9600GT depending on funds.

There's just no sense in it.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Thank you so much all. Excellent ideas.
I was just looking for a cheap upgrade.
My system is so old that I think its better to wait a couple of more years and just upgrade the whole thing. With this system I can't play the new highend games anyway.
Also, I live in Japan. The cheapest 8800GT I could find was about $180. GS was $130.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Andrew1990
Well, maybe the OP wants to experiment a little? Depends on the Resolution as well. Higher resolutions I would go for the 6600s, but for anything 1600x1200 or less, the 6800 all the way.

Of course if you are going to buy it for "gaming", then go for something newer like a 8600GT or 9600GT depending on funds.

Not bad dude- remembering the 6600GT SLi won at high res like 25X16 if the AA wasn't on is some arcane lore indeed.

:beer:

 

[unr3al]

There are 3 options I would currently consider, seeing as the OP has an nVidia board: 7600GT if strapped for cash, 7900GS if a little more can be paid, or an 8800GS if thats affordable enough. If the money is there, though, I would recommend a 8800GT of course. Maybe even a 9600GT but the performance v price difference makes the 8800GT the better buy imho.

SLi is definitely not an option I would consider here, two 6600GT's (as an upgrade option) are simply too old, even at my standards and I'm currently using an IGP!

High-end vs midrange SLi/Crossfire? High-end for me anyday.

 

[betasub]

6600GT = 128bit memory bus (OP has 128MB vRAM). Fast core clock (GPU almost as good as 6800 card GPUs), but limited by memory interface/size. Not worth going SLI.

Put the cash towards getting a modern card that you can carry forward to your next rig.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Not bad dude- remembering the 6600GT SLi won at high res like 25X16 if the AA wasn't on is some arcane lore indeed.

Right on! My rig is lore! :thumbsup:

I think I'll go for an 8800GT (if at all). I have 2 babies now (real ones, not computers), so somehow building a new PC has lost it's thrill. :laugh:

Is there a huge difference in what I can play if I do this upgrade? IIUC, I can't play newer games like Assasin's Creed, etc., even if I get a hot GPU. Ideas?
BTW, for anyone board enough, this is where I buy all my stuff, to give you an idea of pricing/availability here in Japan:

http://kakaku.com/pc/

This site is in English, a little more expensive, but not far off:

http://www.primepc.jp/goods_pc/goods_pc.php


In any case, thanks again for the stellar input everyone!


EDIT:
I just noticed this card: Aeolus F86GT-DC256X PCI-E / GeForce8600GT /
for about $100 on the latter site. Is that a reputable card?

 

[taltamir]

I see multiple 7900GS sold for 30$ on ebay...

Why in the WORLD would you buy a 6 series card in 2008?

And SLI? you would burn MORE then 30 dollars a year on the EXTRA power cost both from idling and from load usage. And you will get so much less...

 

[TheNiceGuy]

With my system, is a minor upgrade not advisable?
Am I correct in thinking all the newer games available require basicaly a completely new PC? DX10 requires Vista, which would require more RAM, a new CPU, and a new MB. And I would also require a new GPU.
How much would I be looking at aprox. to do an upgrade like that, assuming I got a current mid-range "best bang fo' the buck" system?

 

[A554SS1N]

Alot of newer games seem to use the unreal 3 engine, and that should still work with your processor ok, so you'd not be cut off from all newer games - you're a bit limited with 1GB RAM though, even in XP (i assume that's what the [2] 512mb thing means). Games don't need DX10 yet, it's just there for people who have Vista.

 

[Jakeisbest]

Originally posted by: TheNiceGuy
With my system, is a minor upgrade not advisable?
Am I correct in thinking all the newer games available require basicaly a completely new PC? DX10 requires Vista, which would require more RAM, a new CPU, and a new MB. And I would also require a new GPU.
How much would I be looking at aprox. to do an upgrade like that, assuming I got a current mid-range "best bang fo' the buck" system?

Dude just get 2gigs of ram and a 9600gt. You should be able to get both of these for about $200.

Want to go a bit farther? Then get a E2200 and a Gigabite P35 MOBO, then OverClock it!

Want to go even farther? New case and PSU!

You will be able to play most games really well, then you can wait to upgrade when Intel comes out with its new processors later this year.

 

[Jakeisbest]

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 $130.00
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-P35-S3G $75
RAM: 2GB G.Skill (2x 1GB) DDR2/800 $40
HARD DRIVE: Western Digital 160GB SATA $45
OPTICAL DRIVE: Lite-on 20x DVD+-R $20
CASE: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 $50
MISC: Ghirardelli chocolate bar $3

Sub-Total $363

Optional Monitor: ACER 19" 5ms Widescreen $170

Sub-Total $533 + lets say $30 for shipping = $566


Then all you have to pick out is your graphics card. I would say spend about $170 and get a 8800GT.

GRAPHICS: EVGA 8800gt 512 $160


TOTAL PRICE::::::: about $$$ 700!


Please note the my prices generously rounded to allow for tax and price changes. That would be a pretty kick ass system to work with, and a great budget build.

The point is that even if the OP went with a higher end graphics he could get away for less than $800

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: Jakeisbest
Optional Monitor: ... 19" 5ms Widescreen

Nooo! Don't waste your money on a tiny low res monitor. 1440x900 is teh suck.

When it comes to recommending monitors, Jakeisn'tbest

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: TheNiceGuy
I just noticed this card: Aeolus F86GT-DC256X PCI-E / GeForce8600GT /
for about $100 on the latter site. Is that a reputable card?

Definitely go for the first Gigabyte card on this page, the 512MB 8600GT. That's a good price, compared to the other cards they have to choose from, and is much faster than your 6600GT. It's roughly as fast as a 7600GT, yet is much cheaper than the 7600GS's. It's also not much faster than your processor, so you won't be wasting your money like you would if you bought a much faster card.

 

[happy medium]

9600gso for 15000 yen. Thats how much in US money? Seems cheap.

http://www.primepc.jp/cart/cart.php

edit: 138.00$ not bad.