DescentBB

I've got an nvidia 7800GT (256mb), and have had it for a couple of years now. I see in this week's ads that the 8800GT (512mb) is on sale for $149.

Would I see much of a difference if I got this as an upgrade?

Thanks!

RM

Yep. Go for it.

Yeah you would see a big difference. My 8800 GT / 512 is easily double as fast as my old 7950 GT / 512 was.

would one say its less hot than a 7800, if that is a valid attribute to apply to a video card?

fliptw wrote:would one say its less hot than a 7800, if that is a valid attribute to apply to a video card?

Not really, the 8800 GT most likely throws more heat out than the 7800 GT, just comparing the size of the stock coolers on them is enough to tell.

$150...man that dropped fast! I'm picking up another one.

hrm...my rig is setup for SLI...I wonder if I should get two...? When I bought the 7800, I came to the conclusion that there wasnt really that much of a benefit to having two of them.

Is it worth it with the 8800 to have two?

I'm still running the AMD 4400 x2, and doubt I'll be upgrading any time soon.

Thanks for the input!

RM

BTW--it's the sunday ad for best buy that has it for $149.99

EDIT--When I got to Best Buy, they had a BFG 9600 GT OC (512mb) for $199 so I got that instead of the 8800. The core clock is 675mhz, a bit faster than the 8800GT...hopefully it's the better card (by the numbers on the box it's very similar)

Don't need two. I play COD4 @ 1920x1080 full graphic everything with rock steady framerate. 60fps 'cause I'm on LCD...it could go higher I'm sure.

I'm picking up another one just as a spare.

The 9600 GT/512 is in some cases nearly as fast as the 8800 GT/256, but quickly loses out to the 8800 GT/512 in almost every aspect.

The 9600 GT only has 64 stream processors, a little more than half the number of the 8800 GTs 112. The 8800 GT has considerably more raw fillrate available. By the numbers the 8800 GT/512 is about 50% faster than the 9600 GT.

And avoid SLI at all costs, it is never worth it.

ReadyMan wrote:[8800GT] BTW--it's the sunday ad for best buy that has it for $149.99

EDIT--When I got to Best Buy, they had a BFG 9600 GT OC (512mb) for $199 so I got that instead of the 8800. The core clock is 675mhz, a bit faster than the 8800GT...hopefully it's the better card (by the numbers on the box it's very similar)

Ouch, you paid more for less.. The 8800GT is not only cheaper, it's roughly 30% faster than the 9600GT. The latter is a crippled version of the former (64 stream procs vs. 112. Texture fillrate is 33.6 (8800GT) vs. 21.6 (9600GT) bill.pix/sec, less TMUs, less (but better) ROPs), sorry.

A good rule of thumb is that a x600 version of the current nVidia card generation is almost always slower than an x800 card of the last generation.

Rule of thumb: don't listen to the Best Buy sales techs, or you will end up paying 25% more for 35% less...

I'll make a quick run back to best buy then and exchange it, as I havent even opened the 9600 box yet. Hopefully they have another 8800 left.

Thanks for the input!

RM

Had to fight an hour of traffic across the island, but made the exchange to the 8800 GT 512mb card (and got $50 back!).

Thanks for the advice!

I'm a bit surprised at the fact that the 9600GT can be slower (tom's hardware had an interesting article on it) than the 8800GT, when the 9600 has a higher clockrate (675mhz vs 600mhz) and higher shader clock (1700 vs I forget the number). That's what made me make the choice at the store last night....

EDIT: got the card installed with no problems and it's running well (adjusting my multiple displays took as much time as putting the card in). I installed the cd drivers, then installed the latest drivers--175.16. Is there a better driver for the 8800 as opposed to this newest one?
Thanks!
RM

You have to remember that the clock speed isn't everything in a GPU. A small percentage boost in shader clocks is not going to make up for a big decrease in shader numbers.

It is like a single core processor vs a dual core processor at a slightly slower clock speed. The dual core can still do twice the amount of work in a single tick than the single core chip could.

Hmmm I was not that fast by deciding if I put a 8800GT or an 9600GT in my system.
In the end I bought an 9600GT. I read on some pages about benchmarks between those two cards (specificly my own card - Club3d 9600GT). In most tests it sowed the 9600GT A LITTLE faster than the 8800GT models (nothing I would notice in games). But these all where non-OC'd versions.

Also here in germany the 9600GT is cheaper than the 8800GT models.
Club3D 9600GT OC'd: 120EUR
8800GT models: various from 130-160EUR.

But honestly I am over with this... my new system definetly outnumbered my old system and I am too old and play not enought to care about thes elittle differences anymore...