worthwhile upgrade? 6800-7950GT

[jjay]

Hi all- just as the title says.. what do the forums think.. is it worth it to upgrade my vanilla 6800 to a bfg 7950GT? don't have the case/m'board room for an 8000 series..
thanks!

edited to add: are the ATI single slot PCIExpress at all comparable? i've been out of the upgrade game for waaay too long.. since the 6800 was top of the heap actually 😉

 

[Sniper82]

I would say yeah its well worth it. Would be alot faster. Just make sure you have 1gb at least of memory because having less would make the upgrade pointless.

 

[Viper GTS]

I did essentially that, except in a few steps:

6800
7600GT
7900GS
7900GTO

I felt each step was worth it, so going directly will be a HUGE increase in performance for you.

Viper GTS

 

[nZone]

If your motherboard/case accepts a 7950GT; a 8800GTS is fine.

 

[40sTheme]

Originally posted by: nZone
If your motherboard/case accepts a 7950GT; a 8800GTS is fine.

Yup. But a 7950GT is awesome, too. I love mine.

 

[s44]

Wait for 8600.

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: jjay
Hi all- just as the title says.. what do the forums think.. is it worth it to upgrade my vanilla 6800 to a bfg 7950GT? don't have the case/m'board room for an 8000 series..
thanks!

edited to add: are the ATI single slot PCIExpress at all comparable? i've been out of the upgrade game for waaay too long.. since the 6800 was top of the heap actually 😉

Why not a 320mb 8800 for 289.00$ with free Call Of Duty 2.


http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe...oductCode=321113&prodlist=pricegrabber

 

[ebeattie]

I gotta agree with happy. If you can afford a GTS, I strongly recommend going that route. While the 8600 Ultra will feature 512 MB of onboard RAM, its only using 256bit memory, where as the 8800 GTS is using 320bit memory. In a basic, simplistic way its SIMILAR to having a faster FSB on a CPU.

Plus you obviously get the G80 GPU with the GTS. The 8600s will feature the G84 GPU, and youll only be getting 64 pipelines (thats the Ultra model).

And if your worried about the massive size that the 8800 GTX's are known for, fear not! the GTS is about the size of the 7800/7900 series cards, perhaps a smidge longer. I have owned a 6800 GT OC, and a 7900 GTO and the case fitment was almost identical so you should have no worries. There's a thread floating around here somewhere about 8800's and case fitments.
Do a search for it and search for your case.

In any event, I recommend the GTS, at the very least wait for the 8900 series refresh. If money is a factor though, the 8600's will be plenty.

 

[chizow]

Paying real money ($200+) on anything that isn't G8X or R6XX at this point is crazy. Sure there's some driver issues but buying last-gen on the verge of a massive next-gen release is like shooting yourself in the foot until the next time you upgrade.

I don't think the 8600 are going to compete well with the 320MB GTS. Just too much snipped off in the wrong places and prices shouldn't be too far off by the time the 8600 hits the market. Like others said, 8800 today or wait a bit and see what R600 and the NV refresh and mid-range parts offer.

 

[Tab]

I am more curious too seef it the 6800 beats the 7900s... I really want a new card right now but the wait is killing me.