worth upgrading from 6800gt to 7800gs?

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: 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.

Mine isn't a 939, it's a 754, but it doesn't matter cause I will be keeping the rig for a year on longer any way, it's on my network which contains 8 reasonable PC's (all over 2.6ghz anway).

My other option instead of buying the 7800GS(which I will probably buy anyway)is to build a new PC featuring the following components

PD 805 (oc'ed of course)
Gigabyte NF4 sli board (probably GA-8NSLI PRO)
2GB ddr2
and a 7900gt or two

the main thing I wanted to know is how much faster is a 7800gs compared to a 6800gt, if it's less than 20%, I'll skip it and just build a new rig and add it to the collection.

 

[CaiNaM]

yes, the 7800GS is a worthy upgrade from a 6800GT, especially if you overclock (my bfg 7800gs runs solid @ 480). it's a better performer and the AA is improved from nv40. while it's certainly not the best "bang for the buck" @ $300 when compared to pcie alternatives (7900GT/x1800XT), there's no better value at this time if you stay with agp.

there's nothing wrong with an agp system - i still run 3 of them alongside my pcie system, and they perform quite well. for the time being, pcie offers no performance advantage over agp other than far better "high end" video card options. while you certainly aren't going to compete with pcie systems featuring a 78/7900GT or x1800XT and higher, a decent agp system with a 7800GS is just as fast or faster than a pcie system with a mid-range card (7600gt, etc).

 

[imported_Reagle]

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

Actually the title of this thread is "worth upgrading from 6800gt to 7800gs?", and many people have said in this thread that its worth upgrading to PCIe. This means consideration of a PCIe motherboard, CPU and videocard is appropriate in this thread, becuase it is the option when it isn't worth upgrading to a 7800gs.

I would think that people will be less likely to help you when they see how rude you are.

 

[Nextman916]

Originally posted by: Reagle

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

Actually the title of this thread is "worth upgrading from 6800gt to 7800gs?", and many people have said in this thread that its worth upgrading to PCIe. This means consideration of a PCIe motherboard, CPU and videocard is appropriate in this thread, becuase it is the option when it isn't worth upgrading to a 7800gs.

I would think that people will be less likely to help you when they see how rude you are.

uummm okay first of all none of what you just posted made any effing sense. The title of the thread may be what it is, but it was meant for recommendations for the OP's sytem. You come in and post three options of your own system? Not even regarding the OP's original post, the only thing you have in common or have anything to do with the OPs post is the fact that you have agp(oh and your upgrading a system)....and migrating to pci-e. Does that mean i can go in a "Why go for 7900gt?" thread and ask for advice for a sytem upgrade just because im thinking about going pci-e+7900gt? NO, its completely off topic, your post didnt contribute to the thread at all, care to argue? It was simply interrupting the thread to ask for advice for your own system when we are addressing the OP. And me being rude? please i meant no offense by my post, just telling you to start your own thread, but comming back actually to label me rude? i think not. You need to reread what i originally said, there was no negative tone whatsoever, so go thread crap somewhere else. thx.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM
yes, the 7800GS is a worthy upgrade from a 6800GT, especially if you overclock (my bfg 7800gs runs solid @ 480). it's a better performer and the AA is improved from nv40. while it's certainly not the best "bang for the buck" @ $300 when compared to pcie alternatives (7900GT/x1800XT), there's no better value at this time if you stay with agp.

there's nothing wrong with an agp system - i still run 3 of them alongside my pcie system, and they perform quite well. for the time being, pcie offers no performance advantage over agp other than far better "high end" video card options. while you certainly aren't going to compete with pcie systems featuring a 78/7900GT or x1800XT and higher, a decent agp system with a 7800GS is just as fast or faster than a pcie system with a mid-range card (7600gt, etc).

Yeah, all of my 8 systems are AGP based, with cards ranging from 6800gt's to tnt2's, with plenty of ATI stuff in the middle (I'm not a fanboy I like all things computer based, I even own a cyrix MII).

I just want to get the most out of what I have until I eventually build a PCI-E system, if I buy a 7800gs it will be the last AGP card I will probably ever buy.

anybody have any idea's how much faster a 7800GS is running at 1024x768 no aa/af (I prefer speed over eye candy, yes I owned 3dfx's back when it image quality issue first arose)compared to a ASUS 6800GT (350/700)

 

[CaiNaM]

i always play with some type of aa/af (why buy expensive cards to run w/o it?). here's a couple of benches i ran. the diff. is noticeable in gameplay (notice the min fps in fear):

a64 @ 2.4ghz
1 GB Corsair XMS

FEAR (1280x960, 2xaa/16xaf)

BFG 6800GT OC
Min: 19fps
Avg: 27fps
Max: 59fps
44% below 25fps
47% between 25-40fps
9% Above 40fps

BFG 7800GS OC (400/1.2Ghz)
Min: 19fps
Avg: 27fps
Max: 56fps
27% below 25fps
61% between 25-40fps
12% Above 40fps

BFG 7800GS OC (480/1.4Ghz)
Min: 19fps
Avg: 33fps
Max: 59fps
7% below 25fps
73% between 25-40fps
20% Above 40fps

Far Cry 1.33 (4xaa/16xaf)

BFG 6800GT OC

1280x1024: 56.23fps
1600x1200: 56.07fps

BFG 7800GS OC (400/1.2Ghz)

1280x1024: 62.26fps
1600x1200: 62.40fps

BFG 7800GS OC (480/1.4Ghz)

1280x1024: 66.37fps
1600x1200: 65.49fps

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM
i always play with some type of aa/af (why buy expensive cards to run w/o it?). here's a couple of benches i ran. the diff. is noticeable in gameplay (notice the min fps in fear):

a64 @ 2.4ghz
1 GB Corsair XMS

FEAR (1280x960, 2xaa/16xaf)

BFG 6800GT OC
Min: 19fps
Avg: 27fps
Max: 59fps
44% below 25fps
47% between 25-40fps
9% Above 40fps

BFG 7800GS OC (400/1.2Ghz)
Min: 19fps
Avg: 27fps
Max: 56fps
27% below 25fps
61% between 25-40fps
12% Above 40fps

BFG 7800GS OC (480/1.4Ghz)
Min: 19fps
Avg: 33fps
Max: 59fps
7% below 25fps
73% between 25-40fps
20% Above 40fps

Far Cry 1.33 (4xaa/16xaf)

BFG 6800GT OC

1280x1024: 56.23fps
1600x1200: 56.07fps

BFG 7800GS OC (400/1.2Ghz)

1280x1024: 62.26fps
1600x1200: 62.40fps

BFG 7800GS OC (480/1.4Ghz)

1280x1024: 66.37fps
1600x1200: 65.49fps

there is a bit of a difference in the benches, the 7800gs seems more consistant, which is what I'm after, I hate it when I'm in the middle of a big battle scene or something similar and BAM it start to stutter(I wont say lag because I'll start to laugh and thinK of FPS_DOUG)

 

[akshayt]

but isn't the diff no more than 10% or maybe sometimes even slower at stock

 

[CaiNaM]

depends on the game and the system. i'd say that's accurate if you don't overclock, but there's significant gains to be had when overclocking the GS. where there's no bottleneck due to cpu, i'd say overall the diff is closer to 20% max fps, and a lot more min. fps as it doesn't suffer the slowdown (as shown in FEAR).

couple examples: http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=872&pageID=2010

again, i don't think this is the best bang for the buck overall compared to pci-e alternatives as you suffer reduced fillrate compared to the other g70 cores on the pci-e platforms (due to nv reducing the GS to 16 pipes - save the gainward which is not avail in the us). still, it's a decent upgrade from a 6800gt w/o the hassle of moving to pci-e.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM
depends on the game and the system. i'd say that's accurate if you don't overclock, but there's significant gains to be had when overclocking the GS. where there's no bottleneck due to cpu, i'd say overall the diff is closer to 20% max fps, and a lot more min. fps as it doesn't suffer the slowdown (as shown in FEAR).

couple examples: http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=872&pageID=2010

again, i don't think this is the best bang for the buck overall compared to pci-e alternatives as you suffer reduced fillrate compared to the other g70 cores on the pci-e platforms (due to nv reducing the GS to 16 pipes - save the gainward which is not avail in the us). still, it's a decent upgrade from a 6800gt w/o the hassle of moving to pci-e.

thanks, it looks to be a pretty good comparison, I would say that I would get a bit more boost than an average 6800gt owner because of my cards slower memory (the Asus V9999GT 128mb features only 700mhz memory compared to 1000mhz on regular 6800GT's) which puts my card performance midway between a 6800 and 6800GT, it has the 16 pipe 350mhz core but the slower DDR1 memory interface of the 6800, which the card is based on.

 

[Captante]

Yes the 7800GS is a bit faster then a 6800GT, but I just went down this EXACT decision-path a month & 1/2 ago ... when it came down to it I just couldn't justify buying another AGP video card ... I ended up cutting loose the purse-strings & snagging a new PCIe MB & an X1900XTX and needless to say I'm very happy I did... I also sold my 6800GT here on AT to absorb some of the sticker-shock!
Bottom line is that the only "hassle" involved in making the jump to PCIe involves taking the old system apart & putting the new one together & the benchmarks I've seen ALL show a 7900GT wiping the floor with the 7800GS in any new game... the socket 754 CPU makes the choice a little tougher, but in my opinion spending close to $300 on an AGP card is hard to justify... my advice is just bite the bullet, sell your old gear & do your upgrade the right way, you'll be much happier in the long run.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Captante
Yes the 7800GS is a bit faster then a 6800GT, but I just went down this EXACT decision-path a month & 1/2 ago ... when it came down to it I just couldn't justify buying another AGP video card ... I ended up cutting loose the purse-strings & snagging a new PCIe MB & an X1900XTX and needless to say I'm very happy I did... I also sold my 6800GT here on AT to absorb some of the sticker-shock!

grats to you, but that's all irrelevant.

Originally posted by: Captante
Bottom line is that the only "hassle" involved in making the jump to PCIe involves taking the old system apart & putting the new one together

"only"? it can be quite major depending on hardware config as well as the level of the user's knowledge. upgrading the OS is also a time investment (some would suggest a clean install, which is not necessary and also involves additional hassles of migrating applications).

also the cost of a new cpu should not be ignored - what sense would it make to stick with s754 if you're going to the trouble?

Originally posted by: Captante
& the benchmarks I've seen ALL show a 7900GT wiping the floor with the 7800GS in any new game...

as stated earlier, pci-e offers better performance, and the x1900xt is certainly a great card, but why recommend a $400+ card? a $250 x1800xt makes much more sense for a lot of reasons.

Originally posted by: Captante
the socket 754 CPU makes the choice a little tougher, but in my opinion spending close to $300 on an AGP card is hard to justify... my advice is just bite the bullet, sell your old gear & do your upgrade the right way, you'll be much happier in the long run.

the "right" way would be to spend $400+ on a video card, plus hundreds on mb and cpu when dx10 parts are likely 6-9 mo away?

it's great your "advice" worked for you, but the bottom line is the OP's agenda is much different from yours.

 

[Captante]

First of all, although I chose to go with an X1900XTX, the card I mentioned above for the OP as an example was in fact a 7900GT which can be had for about $270 (in the US at least) and second, my point wasn't so much the card I chose to go with, but the decision to go with PCIe instead of AGP.
For the OP I'd suggest going with either a 256mb X1800XT or even a 7600GT which is still faster then a 7800GS & much cheaper too, in fact the price difference would just about negate the cost of a replacement CPU.

I'm glad your happy with your 7800GS, but to advise somone to buy a $300 dead-end part thats likely to be close to worthless in 6 months doesn't sound like the best advice to me.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Captante
First of all, although I chose to go with an X1900XTX, the card I mentioned above for the OP as an example was in fact a 7900GT which can be had for about $270 (in the US at least) and second, my point wasn't so much the card I chose to go with, but the decision to go with PCIe instead of AGP.
For the OP I'd suggest going with either a 256mb X1800XT or even a 7600GT which is still faster then a 7800GS & much cheaper too, in fact the price difference would just about negate the cost of a replacement CPU.

I'm glad your happy with your 7800GS, but to advise somone to buy a $300 dead-end part thats likely to be close to worthless in 6 months doesn't sound like the best advice to me.

you miss the point entirely; i'm not "advising" him of buying anything; i'm simply answering his question as to whether the GS is a worthy upgrade a GT, and the answer is "yes".

what many ppl replying choose to ignore here is that the OP is not asking whether he should keep his agp system or upgrade to pci-e. he's already stated he does not want pci-e.

it's not about what you want; it's about what he wants.

 

[Effect]

I'll just jump in here with another option:
Gainward 7800GS 512mb - http://www.nintek.com.au/x/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=5992. Same price as the BFG 7800GS, only much better performance (it's a 7900gt, basically....7900gt>7800gtx>7800gt>7800GS). As for normal 7800GS, i dont consider it that much of an upgrade, especially for that price, unless you can get a good price on the 6800gt.

 

[Captante]

Its a shame the the video card companies don't care what you, me, the OP or anyone else with a decent AGP-based system wants, but thats the case. If AGP is the only option for whatever reason, then I suggest that the OP not bother with the upgrade, at least until (hopefully) the 7800GS comes down to a more reasonable price point, or the rumored 7600GT AGP shows up.

Again I'm glad that you are happy with your 7800GS purchase & although I disagree with your opinion, I won't say its irrelevant & you are entitled to it.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: Effect
I'll just jump in here with another option:
Gainward 7800GS 512mb - http://www.nintek.com.au/x/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=5992. Same price as the BFG 7800GS, only much better performance (it's a 7900gt, basically....7900gt>7800gtx>7800gt>7800GS). As for normal 7800GS, i dont consider it that much of an upgrade, especially for that price, unless you can get a good price on the 6800gt.

Now if we could snag THAT card for $300 (even $400!) I'd be singing a different tune!

 

[zerocool84]

well i went from a 6800nu to a 7800GS and i noticed a HUGE difference. i have a 3000+ stock clock and 1.5GB RAM and i couldnt play 64 people in BF2 until after i got the card. i didnt have a 6800gt like the OP but i had a 6800nu and the 7800GS made a huge difference in BF2, HL2/CS:S, and Guild Wars. FOR ME this was a worth while upgrade.

 

[orangat]

I don't think its a good idea.

The better thing would be to upgrade to a 7600gt oc model and pcie m/b for less than $300 which will cost a little less than a 7800gs.
The 7600gt is only a little slower than the 7800gs and the oc model will narrow the different even more.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
well i went from a 6800nu to a 7800GS and i noticed a HUGE difference. i have a 3000+ stock clock and 1.5GB RAM and i couldnt play 64 people in BF2 until after i got the card. i didnt have a 6800gt like the OP but i had a 6800nu and the 7800GS made a huge difference in BF2, HL2/CS:S, and Guild Wars. FOR ME this was a worth while upgrade.

A 6800nu is roughly the same performance as a 6600gt & that upgrade would be a much larger performance bump without question.. in that case the jump to a 6800GS would even
make a big difference.

 

[imported_Reagle]

You can get a A8N asus 939 AMD mother board for $50 used, a used AMD 3200+ for $90, a 7600 gt for $120. Then you can use your ddr ram. This type of solution is better then a 7800gs card i think

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: Captante
First of all, although I chose to go with an X1900XTX, the card I mentioned above for the OP as an example was in fact a 7900GT which can be had for about $270 (in the US at least) and second, my point wasn't so much the card I chose to go with, but the decision to go with PCIe instead of AGP.
For the OP I'd suggest going with either a 256mb X1800XT or even a 7600GT which is still faster then a 7800GS & much cheaper too, in fact the price difference would just about negate the cost of a replacement CPU.

I'm glad your happy with your 7800GS, but to advise somone to buy a $300 dead-end part thats likely to be close to worthless in 6 months doesn't sound like the best advice to me.

you miss the point entirely; i'm not "advising" him of buying anything; i'm simply answering his question as to whether the GS is a worthy upgrade a GT, and the answer is "yes".

what many ppl replying choose to ignore here is that the OP is not asking whether he should keep his agp system or upgrade to pci-e. he's already stated he does not want pci-e.
it's not about what you want; it's about what he wants.

It's not that I don't want to go to PCI-E at all, it's just that my cpu and mobo are less than 4 months old so they are very new so I would like to get the most out of my investment, at least for a year or so. I do realise that I will have to upgrade to PCI-E eventaully

the parts that I have now(AMD64 3000+, GA-K8NS PRO) were bought as an short term fix for my aging AXP 3000+ and GA-7N400PRO, but I was impressed with the performance increase(especially now that it runs at a 100% stable 2.66ghz) so much that I decided to keep more than the original 6 months, but I figured that I could at least max out this platform and when I do make the jump to PCI-E a year or so down the road, I will still have a beefy AMD64 system as spare(I will keep using on my network for LAN based games)

I can pickup a BFG 7800GS OC for less than US$300 (AU$400ish) (which is still about AU$200 cheaper than buying locally)on Ebay, so at AU$400 it is a reasonable price(I paid AU$680 for my GA-R9700PRO 4 years ago).

But I do realise what some people are trying to say in this thread, for the cost of the card I can get a new PCI-E system, but I just don't feel like I have gotten my moneys worth out of what I have now.

 

[KutterMax]

I had been running a 6800GT for some time now. A few months back I started getting some graphical "glitches" in various games. At that time I pulled out the card, cleaned it, and put on a brand new NV Silencer. This helped and the "glitches" resolved and I wrote it off to perhaps the card getting a bit warm.

Now this past week the problem recurred, but much more severe - especially playing World of Warcraft, but also during no 3D tasks. Again I took the card out but it was not dusty at all. I checked everything and reseated the NV Silencer. This time it didn't help.

I decided I would either bite the bullet and go for a full upgrade or buy a 7800 GS. With the new Intel chips coming, I wanted to hold off on a full upgrade right now, so instead I bought a BFG 7800 GS OC.

I put the card in yesterday, reinstalled drivers, and everything is working great. No glitches - so it was definitely a problem with the 6800GT. The only game I've played with it so far is WoW. Our guild did an MC run last night and I had no problem. I have not done any formal benchmarks, but WoW definitely felt a little "smoother". I am using a Dell 2405 monitor and run at 1920x1200 with all visual effects on (AA off).

For me the upgrade was worth it because I didn't want to upgrade my system right now. It buys me some extra time waiting for some other new products to come out. However, if my 6800GT wasn't failing, I likely would not have upgraded but rather try and hold out a few more months.

 

[nana12]

Hi, I just did this about a week ago. For me it was worth it.

I sold my BFG 6800 GT OC AGP 256 for $248 + $10 shipping on ebay ( can you believe it? here's the link: 6800 on Ebay ) and I bought what was supposed to be the 20 pipe version of the Leadtek 7800 GS card from Overclockers UK.. well, that card wasnt 20 pipe / G71, it was same 16 pipe version / G70 version.. basically they lied.

BUT.. I got a good 7800 GS card it looks like, stock is 370 / 600, right now i have it up to 530 / 745 and the games play fine with no crashing / distortion / artifacts. Last run on 3D mark 05 was 6600+. I would go higher but every time I move it up a few HZ and test now, it says the card cant run at those speeds, but runs 100% just below.

I paid $359 total for the card from UK, because i thought it was 20 pipe, I'm sure you can get same card in USA for cheaper. So for me, the $100 upgrade was worth it.

I have p4 3.0E chip, 2GB crucial ram, ASUS P4P800SE board.

Now I play BF2, HL2, FEAR etc @ 1360 x 768 , 4xAA, 8xAF and it runs great. Before was 2QxAA, 2xAF and I wasnt getting as good of frame rates with my 6800GT @ 404 / 1.07

 

[Nextman916]

same here i upgrade from a 6800ultra and saw some pretty nice performance gains. I only reached clocks of 520/1400, the core is maxed out at 520 however the memory can go much higher, 1460 is the highest i went, but when i benchmarked+real world gaming i found there is almost no difference in such high memory clocks after 1400. The card just isnt very memory hungry, however increasing the core made a major difference in performance.