worth upgrading from 6800gt to 7800gs?

[Stumps]

Is it worth upgrading from a 6800GT (Asus V9999GT 128MB) to a 7800GS 256mb?

I am not considering upgrading to a PCI-E based system because my mobo and cpu are only 3 months old and do the job fine...but after playing Quake 4, and F.E.A.R, I'm wondering if a 7800gs would boost things along a bit more than the 6800gt can.

My motherboard and cpu are as follows:

AMD Athlon 64 3000+@2.4ghz (E6)
Gigabyte K8NS PRO
1GB DDR400.

the 7800gs I'm considering is the BFG 7800GS OC...but at AU$599 it's a pricey upgrade.

 

[akshayt]

it may help but not very much
not sure of the figures, but do you mind spending that much for a 10-20% gain

 

[keeleysam]

It's not worth it, and you can probably get a new PCI-E motherboard and a video card as good or better than the 7800GS for the same price as the 7800GS alone.

You could also sell your motheboard and video card.

 

[hardwareking]

u could get a new pci-e mobo and get a geforce 7600 gt.That will leave paths open for future gfx card upgrades.

 

[Dkcode]

Have a look at the 512Mb 24pipe gainward card "http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_AGP_411.html"

It aint cheap but prolly the fastest you can go with AGP.

 

[Bateluer]

Its not worth it. Your best bet is to get a new PCIe mobo and GF 7900GT. Much better performance for around the same cost. You could probably get a 7800GT for a little cheaper as well.

 

[RussianSensation]

Not worth it one bit. You'd be better off getting S754/S939 PCIe motherboard and picking up a 7900GT/X1800XT card.

 

[imported_Sincity]

I bit the bullet and jumped on the PCI-e camp early this year. Went from a 1700+ with FX5900XT to a A64 3200 with 7900GTX. But in your case, since you just bought the CPU/Mobo recently, I'd consider how much the 6800GTs are going for on Ebay before making the jump. I'm glad that Nvidia has not fully abandoned AGP.

 

[Nextman916]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Its not worth it. Your best bet is to get a new PCIe mobo and GF 7900GT. Much better performance for around the same cost. You could probably get a 7800GT for a little cheaper as well.

While ide agree with others here to get a pci-e mobo and a pci-e gfx card because he already has a capable cpu, i have to argue that a new pci-e mobo and a 7900gt would be significantly more expensive than a 7800gs, and a 7800gt being more expensive than the 7900gt, that statement did not make any sense either. You need to do your research before recommending upgrades, a EVGA 7800gs co 430/1350 can be had for $285-$15AR at mwave with a free copy of AOE:3 (a $50 value). This is just grazing the field of a 7900gt's price range for the card ALONE. A 7600gt+pci-e mobo would be the way to go, although the 7600gt loses to the 7800gs is every benchmark. However you would be futureproof. A 7600gt is more of a sidegrade then an upgrade, but still shows minor performance gains over the 6800gt. The 7800gs actually might not be such a bad deal, it outperforms a stock 6800gt by 25+fps in every benchmark. Even if oc'ed to ultra speeds the 7800gs still holds the performance gain of around 15fps, you can see this in FS review here- http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/evg...00_gs_co_superclock_review/default.asp Even though thats the superclock version, its only 30mhz higher on the core and 25mhz on memory over the 7800gs co. Easily attainable with an OC and easily over that as well.

Its your decision, you could go the way of the future, with a pci-e mobo and a 7600g. Cons to that is you have only a minor boost in performance and you have to go through the hassle of the installation and config of the new hardware. Pro is that you have a future proof system, with a constant upgrade path. Go the way of the 7800gs, and you'll get the performance gains that will last you 10-12 months, and youll still have the OC headroom. You wont have to do anything to your current rig but pop it in and load up the drivers, but eventually you will have to go pci-e so this just puts you off for a while. Both ways have the feature set of the 7 series, so it will have better video and temps. Up to you.

 

[Stumps]

would my antec 380w truepower be able to supply the 7800gs with enought power or should I upgrade the PSU as well (I was going to do this any way...eventually )

 

[Stumps]

because my mobo and cpu are only a few months old I had planned on keeping them for at least 12 months(my last upgrade was over 3 years ago, that was a 3000+ AXP, GA-7N400PRO and a GV-R9700PRO) as I dont upgrade very often(the cost in australia is very high, my cpu and mobo listed int he first post cost me over AU$650).

The Asus 6800GT I got real cheap from work as it was old stock so I got it half price(AU$300, instead of AU$606 rrp) and I have had it for 5 months now, but after playing Quake 4(1024x768 low quality) and F.E.A.R(1024x768) I got a rude shock that my system struggled with anything higher than low quality, Quake 4 ran OK at medium but when a lot happened on screen the frame rate dropped, but F.E.AR absolutly kicked the crap out of my system, and is choppy at times even when using lower quality settings.

I didn't think that either of these games were a major improvement over Doom3 and I get over 100fps in high quality.

 

[shimsham]

whoa. youve got something wrong other than that card. it should handle quake4 without any problems, really. i can play on medium setting at 1153x864 and all i have is a lowly xp2500->3200 and a 6200->6600.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: shimsham
whoa. youve got something wrong other than that card. it should handle quake4 without any problems, really. i can play on medium setting at 1153x864 and all i have is a lowly xp2500->3200 and a 6200->6600.

My PC can run Quake 4 no problems at all it's just that when I set it to medium Quality, it isn't as smooth as I would like it(I guess I got used to Doom3 at High quality being so smooth), most people would accept it as smooth(my friends don't know what I'm whinging about, they reckon it runs great).

But I feel as if it could be better, it runs pretty good 99% of the time even when a lot is happening but I do see the odd stutter, generally when out doors and 10 of 15 missiles are heading for my tank or when it saves the game mid way through the level, there is a slight pause, usually less than a second but I know it's there and it bothers me, when I switch to low quality it runs sooo smooth, with no stutters.

the problem is probably related to the fact that my 6800GT only has 128mb that runs at 700mhz(350mhz ddr) instead of 1000mhz(500mhz ddr)like regular GT's do.

So I feel that upgrading to a 7800gs should make it run sweet, but I can't find any comparasions of the two cards running quake 4 at 1024x768 low and medium settings, to make an informed decision.

 

[Stumps]

oops double posted....damn internet stuttering

 

[Nextman916]

i think your standards are a little high regarding playable smooth fps. But we all have diff views on this, if you really want smooth fps without any stutter then get a 7900gt or an x1800xt. Although its probably not what you want to spend, you'll be happiest if you save for these cards. The 7800gs will do better than the 6800gt considerably on medium or high settings, but i cant tell you whether you'll be happy with it, im just getting the idea that you want ultra fps and neither will do this for you. I understand you would like to save your new parts but im worried even a 7800gs wont provide you the satisfaction of stutter free gaming.

 

[imported_Reagle]

I just spent a large amount of money to future proof my system a few years ago. Untill this weekend I didnt even know AGP and socket 478 was long since dead. Then I went out and bought Ghost Recon, Quake 4 and Oblivian and I found out real quick that my system is behind the curve big time.

I now have the following choices.

1. Buy the 7800 GS for AGP and scrape by for a year, and then buy a new system.
Cost $ 300 now --> $900 later.
2. Buy a new system now. (motherboard, memory, CPU and 7900 GTX)
Cost $900
3. Buy a HDTV compatible flat screen and an XBOX 360 that I can put under my computer and forget PC gaming.
Cost $600

To tell you the truth I really wonder if the third option is not the best one. I dont know if its worth trying to hang onto PC gaming. The games never work right and you upgrade forever. Now there are great games you can never play on the PC anyway. At least with #3 I will know that when I drop in the CD to play a game I can actually sit there and play the game instead of worrying about framerates and drivers.

I dont know what to do but I am thinking all 3 of these options. I would like some feedback. I noticed that Nextman916 is thinking about 1.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: Stumps
because my mobo and cpu are only a few months old I had planned on keeping them for at least 12 months(my last upgrade was over 3 years ago, that was a 3000+ AXP, GA-7N400PRO and a GV-R9700PRO) as I dont upgrade very often(the cost in australia is very high, my cpu and mobo listed int he first post cost me over AU$650).

The Asus 6800GT I got real cheap from work as it was old stock so I got it half price(AU$300, instead of AU$606 rrp) and I have had it for 5 months now, but after playing Quake 4(1024x768 low quality) and F.E.A.R(1024x768) I got a rude shock that my system struggled with anything higher than low quality, Quake 4 ran OK at medium but when a lot happened on screen the frame rate dropped, but F.E.AR absolutly kicked the crap out of my system, and is choppy at times even when using lower quality settings.

I didn't think that either of these games were a major improvement over Doom3 and I get over 100fps in high quality.

your joking!
my rig below with the x800gt (half as dast a as 6800gt) pleasys quake 4 at high at 1028x768.
i thiink you need more RAM. esp for FEAR if it stutter just a bit in a while.

 

[Nextman916]

Originally posted by: Reagle
I just spent a large amount of money to future proof my system a few years ago. Untill this weekend I didnt even know AGP and socket 478 was long since dead. Then I went out and bought Ghost Recon, Quake 4 and Oblivian and I found out real quick that my system is behind the curve big time.

I now have the following choices.

1. Buy the 7800 GS for AGP and scrape by for a year, and then buy a new system.
Cost $ 300 now --> $900 later.
2. Buy a new system now. (motherboard, memory, CPU and 7900 GTX)
Cost $900
3. Buy a HDTV compatible flat screen and an XBOX 360 that I can put under my computer and forget PC gaming.
Cost $600

To tell you the truth I really wonder if the third option is not the best one. I dont know if its worth trying to hang onto PC gaming. The games never work right and you upgrade forever. Now there are great games you can never play on the PC anyway. At least with #3 I will know that when I drop in the CD to play a game I can actually sit there and play the game instead of worrying about framerates and drivers.

I dont know what to do but I am thinking all 3 of these options. I would like some feedback. I noticed that Nextman916 is thinking about 1.

Well ive already ordered the 7800gs co from mwave, i just missed the better deal at monarch but they both come with a free copy of AOE:3(which no other seller provides). Just have to wait a couple days, ill tell you how it works out. I decided goingthis path because my 6800ultra died completely, I was going to just get a 939 cpu and the ASrock pci-e/agp mobo but since i have to buy a new vid card it set me back a couple hundred. I decided to just get a 7800gs now and OC it to its max and squeeze a years best out of it and later plan to upgrade to Conroe cpu+mobo and ddr2 mem, and ill see what kind of offerings ATi and Nvidia are playing out. Like you said its around $270 now and $900 later, but that $900 would be much more of an improvement later than spending it now. From what ive seen the conroe can beat out the FX-60 easily by 50+ fps with no change in vid card clocks, but pure cpu speed! I probably would go with a cheaper conroe like the E6400(2.13ghz w/2mb cache) and oc that. People will tell you to not wait and just buy when you want, but its not very long till conroe is released.

A smart way to play out upgrades especially in the video market is through eVGA's step up program, allowing 90 days to step up to the latest and greatest gfx card. If conroe is released in the next 3 months or so, Ill prolly just upgrade my 7800gs to a 7900gt and just buy my new rig then, saving me lots of money not having to deal with the full price of a new vid card. You might want to look into this as well.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven

Originally posted by: Stumps
because my mobo and cpu are only a few months old I had planned on keeping them for at least 12 months(my last upgrade was over 3 years ago, that was a 3000+ AXP, GA-7N400PRO and a GV-R9700PRO) as I dont upgrade very often(the cost in australia is very high, my cpu and mobo listed int he first post cost me over AU$650).

The Asus 6800GT I got real cheap from work as it was old stock so I got it half price(AU$300, instead of AU$606 rrp) and I have had it for 5 months now, but after playing Quake 4(1024x768 low quality) and F.E.A.R(1024x768) I got a rude shock that my system struggled with anything higher than low quality, Quake 4 ran OK at medium but when a lot happened on screen the frame rate dropped, but F.E.AR absolutly kicked the crap out of my system, and is choppy at times even when using lower quality settings.

I didn't think that either of these games were a major improvement over Doom3 and I get over 100fps in high quality.

your joking!
my rig below with the x800gt (half as dast a as 6800gt) pleasys quake 4 at high at 1028x768.
i thiink you need more RAM. esp for FEAR if it stutter just a bit in a while.

I applied the Q4 1.2 update patch today and found it corrected a lot of the stuttering in Q4, but I'm still left with the average performance in F.E.A.R.

how much ram is needed by F.E.A.R to run with out any stuttering or harddisk access?
I already have 1GB DDR400, would it be worth while upgrading to 2GB?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Another gig of ram is a good idea, it was necessary for smooth game play for me in several titles, including HL2:Cinematic mod. Fraps would show high avg FPS but the chop was horrible.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: Stumps

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven

Originally posted by: Stumps
because my mobo and cpu are only a few months old I had planned on keeping them for at least 12 months(my last upgrade was over 3 years ago, that was a 3000+ AXP, GA-7N400PRO and a GV-R9700PRO) as I dont upgrade very often(the cost in australia is very high, my cpu and mobo listed int he first post cost me over AU$650).

The Asus 6800GT I got real cheap from work as it was old stock so I got it half price(AU$300, instead of AU$606 rrp) and I have had it for 5 months now, but after playing Quake 4(1024x768 low quality) and F.E.A.R(1024x768) I got a rude shock that my system struggled with anything higher than low quality, Quake 4 ran OK at medium but when a lot happened on screen the frame rate dropped, but F.E.AR absolutly kicked the crap out of my system, and is choppy at times even when using lower quality settings.

I didn't think that either of these games were a major improvement over Doom3 and I get over 100fps in high quality.

your joking!
my rig below with the x800gt (half as dast a as 6800gt) pleasys quake 4 at high at 1028x768.
i thiink you need more RAM. esp for FEAR if it stutter just a bit in a while.

I applied the Q4 1.2 update patch today and found it corrected a lot of the stuttering in Q4, but I'm still left with the average performance in F.E.A.R.

how much ram is needed by F.E.A.R to run with out any stuttering or harddisk access?
I already have 1GB DDR400, would it be worth while upgrading to 2GB?

I would say 2GB. But F.E.A.R isnt that great anyways and the eye candy to framerate ratio is garbage, so dont worry about it. Its only one poorly coded game.

 

[mancunian]

I would think about trading and futureproofing if I were you.

How about this:

Buy the following:

Asrock dual sata mobo
3000-3200 939 Venice with stock cooler
Either the Radeon Sapphire X800GTO 256 meg AGP card (unlockable to 16 pipes) or the Radeon Sapphire X800GTO2 256 meg PCI-E card (also unlockable to 16 pipes). I know with the PCI-E card unlock rate is 100%. I'm pretty sure this is the case with the AGP card too, as it seems to just be the same card only with a PCI-E to AGP bridge. Go here and here and you can read about how it's done. Very easy and a free gain in power.

Or just buy the AGP Sapphire card and unlock it. It'd handle the games you mentioned better than your current card because although similar in general spec, the 256mb on the Sapphire would help games like FEAR quite a bit. More often than not, the amount of memory on a card is a marketing gimmick. However, at 6800gt and X800GTO speeds, video memory becomes a factor because the 6800 you now have is actually fast enough to be able to use it. Don't waste your money on a 7800GS unless you'll run it for *at least* a year, although by then your system would be even more outdated, with the exception of the vid card. Trouble is, you wouldn't be able to take that card to your next system, and that is why it would be a waste of money now. I'm not even sure if you have enough horsepower to get the best out of some of the 7800GS models, i.e. the 20 and 24 pipe models by Gainward, without overclocking your CPU even more. That would be a different matter. I may be wrong about this though.

Sell your current parts on here or in the second hand papers either separately or build your new machine with the parts above and wait a month or two before doing what I'm going to do. And that is to buy a cheap case with generic 450w PSU, 512 megs of generic DDR400 and a bog standard 7200rpm 60 gig HD. These parts are going to be merged with my leftovers, built into a PC and sold second hand. Whoever buys it will get an ABit NF7-S, Athlon XP2600, gig of standard RAM, 60 gig 7200rpm HD, Sapphire Radeon 9800pro. The machine will be advertised as 'ideal for web surfing and moderate gaming', which isn't a lie. It'll play most new titles at framerates that, for the average user, would be enough. They would be getting a very stable system for a reasonable price. And if you're thinking "But it'd be a hassle selling the old gear, and who'd want to buy it?" Well, while the average joe prefers buying from Dell, a fair few average joes actually can't afford to and scour the second hand papers or e-bay for a bargain. Also, the average user doesn't overclock, therefore I personally would not feel too bad about selling them a generic PSU and generic RAM, as these components generally tend to function ok when they're in the hands of an average user.

I'm now running the following:

Asrock dual sata mobo
A64 939 Venice 3200+ @ 2.6Ghz (Prime stable for 12 hours, no errors, low temps)
1 gig DDR400
Sapphire Radeon X800GTO 256meg AGP @ 425/550mhz
1 HD and 2 optical drives, any other HDs are now accessed via a USB 2.0 enclosure, freeing up the power for the overclock.
Thermaltake 560W PSU (the weak link IMO, will buy better next time. still, provides steady enough volts/amps for my current machine)

It is by no means a killer rig. It is however a massive upgrade from what I had. The nice thing about this upgrade is that it started with a 'sexy' purchase, the video card. And a sexy purchase that could be utilised immediately.

This overclock has been done by flashing to latest BIOS, no voltmods/pencil tricks were necessary. I guess my PSU can't be *that* bad. :shrug:

I started by buying the AGP Sapphire X800GTO. This gave me a month of much improved performance over the 9800pro. I did this with the Asrock board in mind, i.e. the only way I could justify purchasing a grafix card for the XP would be if I could take it to the next system and use it with that for a while. The month after, I bought the board and chip. So, 112 UK pounds for the grafix. Nice performance increase from what I was used to. Another 120 UK pounds for the board and chip the month after, not too bad. I'll at least get *something* back once I sell the XP system, which won't be a problem for the reasons mentioned above. I have actually had 2 people at work already offer me 175 and 150 quid respectively for the XP system, so I may not even have to advertise it.

The Asrock board is BY FAR one of the best PC parts I've ever purchased. Just check the many reviews on the net. It's much faster than my old system and if you get a good overclocking Venice, you're set. The Sapphire card now has much more horsepower behind it, which yields quite astonishing results when compared with an XP2600 and 9800pro.

This grafix card will now probably hold me over for a quite a few months until I can afford a high end card. This 'holding over' is not so hard though, my games play nice and smoothly now. I think I'll be okay for a bit.

It's all worth thinking about.

One last thing, it is worth buying the AGP card just for the fact that when you do go out and buy the kickass PCI-E card you want, you can just slip it in the PCI-E slot and leave the other where it is, and run dual monitors. I believe the ULI chipset actually supports triple monitors.

I've done this and couldn't be happier. It'll also be fun building a nice, stable rig to sell on.

 

[mancunian]

My bad, already looks like you're running a 939 Venice, which would mean having to sell that as well.

Still, you could then get a 3200 or 3500 939 and the Asrock board and get even more for your second hand AGP based 939 system. The 3200 or 3500 might even get you that bit further with overclocking.


Just ideas, but the whole point would be a fairly painless migration to PCI-E.

 

[imported_Reagle]

I hate to say it but I am going to go ahead and upgrade my system to PCIe. here are my options. Anyone have any feedback on these three choices?

I am upgrading my computer and am looking for a good rig to play games on. Any comments on these three options.

Option #1 possibility to overclock to 3 gig+ (powerhog)
1. Intel Pentium D 805 (bundle with motherboard)
2. Tagan i-Xeye 480 W PSU $90.99
3. ECS RC410L/800-M Motherboard $175.00
4. OCZ DDR2-800 (2x 512 MB) $124.99
5. GeForce 7800 GT $240.00
Total $631

Option #2 good rig for overclocking
1. AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ $297.00
2. VIA / VPSD K8N Neo4 Platinum Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 $109.99
3. GeForce 7800 GT $240.00
Total $647

Option #3 saves me $150 (but will it overclock)
1. AMD Athlon 64 3200 $146
2. Asus A8N5X motherboard $89.99
3. GeForce 7800 GT $240.00
Total $476

Any feed back would be appreciated.

 

[Nextman916]

Wow reagle whos thread is this? no offense, but start your own thread elsewhere.