Worth upgrading from an 8800GT right now?

[poohbear]

Originally posted by: CurseTheSky
I'd wait until Nvidia unveils GT300, or the price drops on HD5000 cards. A HD5850 would be a pretty good upgrade for you, as long as your power supply is up to the task.

erm, the 5800 uses last power than the 8800gt series on idle and about the same under load. If his current psu can handle a 8800gt, then he's fine.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: Grinja

Originally posted by: nemesismk2
I am still waiting for a modern version of the 8800 GT which when it was first released rocked

It rocked only because we were starved for any decent graphics cards at the time. In my mind the only card to offer good value before the 8800 GT was the Geforce TI 4200 series. I also thought the HD4850 was superb value.

I'm sure there must've been a few others - at least in other ATers' minds! Admittedly value depends on personal finances...

Just the first few that spring to mind in that Ti4200 - 8800GT gap:
Radeon 9500/9700
Geforce 6600GT (mid-range king)
Geforce 8800GTS/GTX (G80 performance)

 

[Raider1284]

Originally posted by: poohbear

Originally posted by: CurseTheSky
I'd wait until Nvidia unveils GT300, or the price drops on HD5000 cards. A HD5850 would be a pretty good upgrade for you, as long as your power supply is up to the task.

erm, the 5800 uses last power than the 8800gt series on idle and about the same under load. If his current psu can handle a 8800gt, then he's fine.

What are you smoking because I want some. Not quite sure how 257W is "about the same" as 401W.....

http://images.anandtech.com/gr...092209122344/20130.png

 

[v8envy]

There is another stopgap solution if your board supports it and you can handle multi-GPU issues like microstutter and input lag. Get a second 8800GT, SLI them. I was briefly thinking of doing just that. A ~$50 upgrade to keep on trucking at 1920x1200 until the coming generation's refresh parts show up is looking highly attractive. And since I'd be getting the part used it wouldn't really be supporting NV.

 

[Jschmuck2]

My board doesn't support sli so I'm a single card guy for now.

 

[nemesismk2]

Originally posted by: Grinja

Originally posted by: nemesismk2

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
I doubt AMD will drop prices much, if at all. Prices will probably drop slightly when mass availability hits the stores, but that's it. The HD 5850 would probably be the card for you. HD 5770 is probably to far out to keep waiting for, let alone Nvidia's midrange dx11-cards.

I am still waiting for a modern version of the 8800 GT which when it was first released rocked

It rocked only because we were starved for any decent graphics cards at the time. In my mind the only card to offer good value before the 8800 GT was the Geforce TI 4200 series. I also thought the HD4850 was superb value.

In any event you can of course wait for the next gen from nVidia, I think that you should consider if the games you play at the moment will see any benefit.

I loved my MSI GeForce4 Ti 4200 but after the error I made getting a MSI GeForce 5900 XT instead of a 9700 Pro I stuck with ATI until I bought a 8800 GT. Later I got a Gainward Radeon 4850 which was very quick but too hot so I purchased a HIS Radeon 3870 with ICQ Cooling which is quiet and cool. I still have my XFX GeForce 8800 GT Alpha Dog though because it was the best Nvidia card i've ever owned. If Nvidia can release a 8800 GT type DX11 video card then put me down for one.

 

[Jschmuck2]

This is NOT a good time to be shopping for a video card.

 

[thilanliyan]

Hopefully nV release a top to bottom lineup of DX11 cards around the same time...I hate the practice of staggered launches like what ATI did this time.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: Raider1284

Originally posted by: poohbear

Originally posted by: CurseTheSky
I'd wait until Nvidia unveils GT300, or the price drops on HD5000 cards. A HD5850 would be a pretty good upgrade for you, as long as your power supply is up to the task.

erm, the 5800 uses last power than the 8800gt series on idle and about the same under load. If his current psu can handle a 8800gt, then he's fine.

What are you smoking because I want some. Not quite sure how 257W is "about the same" as 401W.....

http://images.anandtech.com/gr...092209122344/20130.png

Using the Furmark load chart is somewhat irrelevant, as games do not stress the GPU like Furmark. The more accurate chart is this (218W vs 295W): http://images.anandtech.com/gr...092209122344/20135.png

Or here (88W vs. 144W on PEAK power consumption): http://www.techpowerup.com/rev...Radeon_HD_5870/28.html

 

[Jschmuck2]

Alright - let's say in theory I could get a 4890 used but with the XFX warranty for $150 now, as opposed to a 5850 God knows when. Whaddya think?

 

[Munky]

Nobody asked what resolution you play at, or what the rest of your system is, or what your budget is. Too bad, because that's what you should consider, instead of "wait for gt300" and "bad time to buy video cards." I upgraded from a 8800gt to a 4890 a few months ago, and it was definitely not a stopgap solution - the 4890 is easily 2x as fast as my old 8800gt, sometimes even more. If anything, now is a great time to buy, because the 5850 just made most every other mid-high end card irrelevant. If you read Anand's review, he mentions that it's only about 15% slower than a 5870 but also about 30% cheaper. And if you can't stretch for the 5850, a sub-$200 4890 or gtx275 will be a nice upgrade as well.

 

[zod96]

I doubt Nvidia's GT300 chip will be out this year more like 1st quarter 2010. A couple of review sites like here and Hardforums have said Nvidia will be lucky to get even a few GT300's out the door in time for Xmas...

 

[aequasi]

i might be mistaken, but are the rummored releases for the gt300 for next year, not this december?

 

[Isura]

GTX 260 216 is a nice card. It's a big upgrade from the 8800.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: error8
If you've waited that much, you can squeeze another couple of months until December and see what Nvidia has to offer.

How do you know those cards will be out in December?

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: s44

Originally posted by: Azn
If you keep on waiting and waiting there's always better cards around the corner that will replace it's current price brackets. You just have to make a decision when to jump in. This is a good as time as any

Well, except new games will still run fine on what he has now.

If he's going to upgrade, he should have one that's enough of a leap that it will still be viable after the 8800GT is finally left in the dust.

A 5850 is twice the speed (sometimes more) than an 8800gt. In my opinion that's already left in the dust.

I'll probably just get a 5850 to replace my 8800gt.

Actually, I ran the numbers from the AT review and the 5850 is 3 times as fast as the 8800GT in their tests at 1920x1200 resolution.

OP, I'm in a similar situation with a 2900 Pro. I'm going to wait for the prices on the 5850 to drop or pick up a 5750/5770 if they don't. However, the games I'm playing right now (COD4, Oblivion, Titan Quest) all run fine on my current video card, so I'll mainly be upgrading it for some new games I plan to pick up.

So, what games are you playing right now? If there aren't any that tax the 8800GT, then you have the luxury (like I do) of waiting for some prices to fall and other new products to be released.

And for everyone saying that you can play the waiting game forever, that's true. However, gpu prices aren't much different than they were 4 months ago. New products are just now being released, and the market's going to get really shaken up over the next 4 months. IMO this is not the time to be buying a video card (unless you have $260 to drop on a 5850). I plan to buy mine in 4-6 months, but I'll be playing the afore-mentioned old games so it doesn't really impact me to use my old video card.

 

[Rezist]

I just seen a 4870 1GB advertised at 135 CDN after rebate with a decent looking cooler. If you landed that for like 110 USD that's a pretty big upgrade.

 

[nyker96]

oh ATI will have a $200 part on the dx11 line soon, wait for that one just to see how it goes, if you spending 150 it's not too far a reach, if the new card is so much faster then 150 cards now then there ya go, you'd thank yourself for waiting, if not, you probably get a slight price cut for waiting. either way win win.

 

[SRoode]

I have an 8800GT, and the 5850 at $259 was a sweet deal for me. 2-3x the performance of what I have at just about the same power draw. My monitor is 1920 x 1200 native, so this card just seemed right. It's in the mail as we speak.

 

[VivienM]

How much longer is the 5850? I'm tempted to get one too (though it may be overkill for a non-overclocked E6600, but triple monitor support would be nice), but my 8800GT barely fits in my Antec Solo...

 

[Isura]

Remember triple monitor support costs an additional $100 for the displayport to dvi adapter. I'm still tempted to get this. Same price as the gtx 275.

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: Isura
Remember triple monitor support costs an additional $100 for the displayport to dvi adapter. I'm still tempted to get this. Same price as the gtx 275.

Not if you have a Dell 2408WFP.

I never thought I'd use the DisplayPort port on this thing, but then came this ATI triple monitor support...

 

[Jschmuck2]

Well - I ended up with an ASUS HD 4890 from the FS forums for $140. I figure I can pick up a 5870 when the prices come down a bit. Champions Online is eating up my 8800GT so it was time.

So, how about that?

 

[happy medium]

There is some great deals on the for sale forums. I think you made a great choice with the 4890 for 140$. Take a look at the computer in my signature (the Antec 1200). I paid 350 bucks for the entire setup. And the sucker runs great. 13,250 3d marks, 6320 Vantage score. I'm also waiting for the 5770 or Nvidia equivelent for my next upgrade.