Worth upgrading to a Geforce 8800 GTS 640 from a Geforce 8800 GTS 320 for $130

[pcslookout]

I will be stepping up because I have a EVGA card and not sure if its really worth it? I play at 1680x1050 on my lcd monitor. Use Maximum details on everything and keep everything on. Right now I am testing with FSAA and AF and not sure if I notice a difference or not. In Quake 4 I think I did with 4x FSAA compared to 2x FSAA or none. AF not really sure. I would love to be able to play all my games with very playable frame rates with all details on max and 4x FSAA 16x AF. Can SC or Stalker even do this yet at the 1680x1050 resolution ?

I know EVGA charges the MSRP, which sucks. The only time you win is if a new card comes out a few weeks or months later. I hate having to not have a pc while waiting and now wish I had onboard video on my motherboard so I could at least use the pc while waiting. I have a old agp video card but that won't work because most motherboards don't have agp slots anymore. So my older Geforce 4 ti 4400 is useless to fix this problem. I could stepup to a GTX instead but thats more money and not sure if its really worth it. It would be $340


Here are some of my results at 1680x1050 with everything on and 4x FSAA + 16x AF with my current Geforce 8800 320 card

Quake4
Frames: 4439 - Time: 75159ms - Avg: 59.061 - Min: 47 - Max: 64

Doom3
Frames: 10833 - Time: 178823ms - Avg: 60.579 - Min: 29 - Max: 65

FEAR
Frames: 5831 - Time: 68725ms - Avg: 84.845 - Min: 35 - Max: 150

FarCry
Frames: 5397 - Time: 57414ms - Avg: 94.001 - Min: 57 - Max: 191

Oblivion
Frames: 5095 - Time: 104875ms - Avg: 48.582 - Min: 27 - Max: 70

SupremeCommander
Frames: 22638 - Time: 415305ms - Avg: 54.509 - Min: 26 - Max: 62


Looks to be ok but for some games the bare minimum because you really don't want your minimum frame rates going below 30 fps at anytime. Oblivion is ok but you have to remember everything is on and set to maximum with Oblivion so that actually isn't that bad but not great. Oblivion test was taken outside in the tree forest and by a lot of water.

 

[secretanchitman]

$130? heck no. if it was $50 or less then yes i would.

honestly, save your money. its not like your card is outdated at all.

 

[pcslookout]

How about the $340 to upgrade to a GTX instead ?

 

[solofly]

It all depends how long you're planning to keep the current card. If you're thinking of upgrading before the end of the year, keep what you have. If you want the card to last you for a year or more, I would upgrade to 640meg version. If you won't be upgrading lets say for two years or so then consider GTX.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: solofly
It all depends how long you're planning to keep the current card. If you're thinking of upgrading before the end of the year, keep what you have. If you want the card to last you for a year or more, I would upgrade to 640meg version. If you won't be upgrading lets say for two years or so then consider GTX.

To say the least I am really not sure. If I upgraded to the GTX would getting a second GTX for SLI really be worth it if I need it to play newer DX10 games at high resolution of 1680x1050 ? I would need to get a brand new motherboard and power supply for the SLI though. Current motherboard doesn't support SLI.

 

[pcslookout]

I may try turning off FSAA to see if that helps a lot or not. For some reason Stalker won't even load where it should.

 

[Acanthus]

I would say you would see little to no improvement with current titles unless you crank up AA.

 

[Cheex]

Save your money. Keep your 320...until G90/G92...

 

[dandragonrage]

Nowhere near worth it.