7 Series OR 8 Series

[BucNastyHater]

Looking to renovate my beast in a couple weeks by making the jump to AM2, getting a new GPU and cleaning my radiator out since the liquid cooling will have to be drained anyway. I'm not using vista (DX 10), nor will I until Crysis is released or even later. I have a 7800 GTX KO now, OC'd like crazy by Viper John, but its struggling a little bit with some games. NFS Pro-Street is also coming out so I wanna get ready.

Should I buy two Nvidia 7950GT's, sticking with the 7 Series.

OR

Should I just suck it up and buy an 8800 GTS?

1) I dont want to spend more than $400 for graphics alone. The 640mb 8800 GTS is just under $400.

2) Which would be a better buy, or value should I say?
-EX: Will the 8800 outperform the two 7950GT's by like 150% or 200%?

Just buying one 7950 would be nice since it will outperform my 7800, but i'm just not sure. I need to buy WB(s) for them too for my loop. (I'll probably take that to the liquid cooling section tho.)

[zanzabar]

why not the 2900xt 512 its faster @ the lower resolutions that ur monitor dose, and at that resolution u wont need more than 2x aa witch the ati card dosnt have a problem with (4x or more hats another question), and its $380 for the his

also why the am2 when the barcalona is out in 2.5 weeks, amd is claiming 35% more efficiency, and they priced the same as the am2


and the 7800 gtx should beat the 7950 gt

[BucNastyHater]

I've just been more keen to Nvidia honestly. I haven't even been looking at ATI cards. Forgive me with the Barcelona (im not really up to speed lately), but this is the AMD quad core chip right? I didn't even know that it was coming out so soon. I'll look it up tho. Thanks for the info.

[BucNastyHater]

Does the Nvidia chipset mean that I can only use Nvidia cards?

[BucNastyHater]

Is the 9 series worth waiting for? Either to get one of those, or at least for the 8's to drop in $$$?

[DilTech]

why not the 2900xt 512 its faster @ the lower resolutions that ur monitor dose, and at that resolution u wont need more than 2x aa witch the ati card dosnt have a problem with (4x or more hats another question), and its $380 for the his

also why the am2 when the barcalona is out in 2.5 weeks, amd is claiming 35% more efficiency, and they priced the same as the am2


and the 7800 gtx should beat the 7950 gt

I'm on a Dell 2005fpw, which does 1680x1050, and you can clearly see the difference between 2xAA and 4xAA.

Does the Nvidia chipset mean that I can only use Nvidia cards?

No, chipset doesn't limit you when it comes to single card scenarios. It's only multiple card set ups that are limited by chipset.

Is the 9 series worth waiting for? Either to get one of those, or at least for the 8's to drop in $$$?

It's always worth waiting if your current set up is good enough for what you currently do with it. The top-end 9 series should be atleast 2x as fast as the 8800GTX. With that in mind, if you can wait until november then do it, if not then go ahead and upgrade now.

[The_Beast]

I'd go with a 8800GTS 640

[BucNastyHater]

Looks like the 8800 GTS it is. Thanks everyone.

[zanzabar]

I'm on a Dell 2005fpw, which does 1680x1050, and you can clearly see the difference between 2xAA and 4xAA.


u have been using nvidia then for ati cards u need 2x on anything below 1900x1600, 1900x1600 u need 4x on some games, better chip design means less errors


can u get a 2nd 7800 gtx couse if u got 1 2nd hand it would be the best choice for performance/price

[DilTech]

u have been using nvidia then for ati cards u need 2x on anything below 1900x1600, 1900x1600 u need 4x on some games, better chip design means less errors


can u get a 2nd 7800 gtx couse if u got 1 2nd hand it would be the best choice for performance/price

You've apparently not been using anything, because there is no 1900x1600...

His monitor does 1680x1050, which is lower than 1600x1200, which is what you're probably thinking of.

Also, you do know that I've used both NVidia and ATi cards, and that any image quality test will show that in pure multisampling they're pretty much even between the HD2900xt and 8800?

Furthermore, aliasing, which is what anti-aliasing is meant to hide/remove in the first place, isn't caused by errors. It's the edges of objects. No "better gpu means less errors" going on here. Errors on a gpu generally cause lock-ups/artifacts, NOT jaggies.... Also, you do know that the lower in resolution you go, the more AA you need, not the other way around, right?


u have been using nvidia then for ati cards u need 2x on anything below 1900x1600, 1900x1600 u need 4x on some games


You make it sound as though the higher the resolution you go, the more AA you need... Please, research your statements before making them.

[BucNastyHater]

He was incorrect with much of his post, but would it be wise to buy a 7800 GTX and have SLI? I can pick one up on ebay for under $80. (Dammit, I remember buying mine for $550 on zipzoomfly.com two years ago)

Its not that cheap tho because I'd have to send it to Viper John to change the BIOS to match my 7800 GTX KO (to run SLI), voltmod it, put his custom wb on, test it, and oc it through the BIOS to match my card's clock speeds. Thats about $200 there alone, plus shipping. And I dont know if his prices have changed since then, it was a year and a half ago.

So, would it be worth it, even having two stock 7800 gtx's? Or would an 8800 GTS just smoke both 78's?

[DilTech]

He was incorrect with much of his post, but would it be wise to buy a 7800 GTX and have SLI? I can pick one up on ebay for under $80. (Dammit, I remember buying mine for $550 on zipzoomfly.com two years ago)

Its not that cheap tho because I'd have to send it to Viper John to change the BIOS to match my 7800 GTX KO (to run SLI), voltmod it, put his custom wb on, test it, and oc it through the BIOS to match my card's clock speeds. Thats about $200 there alone, plus shipping. And I dont know if his prices have changed since then, it was a year and a half ago.

So, would it be worth it, even having two stock 7800 gtx's? Or would an 8800 GTS just smoke both 78's?

1 GTS will smoke dual 7800's, and ontop of that it'll have better image quality to boot.

[BucNastyHater]

That makes sense then.

[BucNastyHater]

I've been thinking, would it be wise to just wait until the 9 series is released?

I wanna get my card modded by Viper John, which is quite expensive but worth it after seeing how well my 7800 is. It idles at 27*C and never goes above 38* under full load. It cost a pretty penny, so I'd rather want to wait and spend the money on a 9800 GTX because if I went with an 8800 GTX (he doesnt mod lower end cards for financial reasons), I'd just end up selling it in a couple months, before the resale value hits the floor like my 7800 GTX, which I couldn't get more than $100 for if I begged. I spent over $800 on this card total so far, so you know how much $$$ im out.

I would love to get a Dell 2407WFP-HC to go along with my new card (early christmas present for myself), and it would be awesome to have a 9 series card for that. Does anyone have any info on the 9 series yet like pricing? All I could find was a possible release date.

[DilTech]

I've been thinking, would it be wise to just wait until the 9 series is released?

I wanna get my card modded by Viper John, which is quite expensive but worth it after seeing how well my 7800 is. It idles at 27*C and never goes above 38* under full load. It cost a pretty penny, so I'd rather want to wait and spend the money on a 9800 GTX because if I went with an 8800 GTX (he doesnt mod lower end cards for financial reasons), I'd just end up selling it in a couple months, before the resale value hits the floor like my 7800 GTX, which I couldn't get more than $100 for if I begged. I spent over $800 on this card total so far, so you know how much $$$ im out.

I would love to get a Dell 2407WFP-HC to go along with my new card (early christmas present for myself), and it would be awesome to have a 9 series card for that. Does anyone have any info on the 9 series yet like pricing? All I could find was a possible release date.

If your current card can play everything you want to at acceptable image quality levels, then by all means wait it out.

As for the 9 series, current word is 4th Quarter this year, likely around november if I had to guess. Pricing will likely be around the same as when the 8 series first came out.

[BucNastyHater]

Thats good to hear. I cant wait for those cards.

[FlawleZ]

Looking to renovate my beast in a couple weeks by making the jump to AM2, getting a new GPU and cleaning my radiator out since the liquid cooling will have to be drained anyway. I'm not using vista (DX 10), nor will I until Crysis is released or even later. I have a 7800 GTX KO now, OC'd like crazy by Viper John, but its struggling a little bit with some games. NFS Pro-Street is also coming out so I wanna get ready.

Should I buy two Nvidia 7950GT's, sticking with the 7 Series.

OR

Should I just suck it up and buy an 8800 GTS?

1) I dont want to spend more than $400 for graphics alone. The 640mb 8800 GTS is just under $400.

2) Which would be a better buy, or value should I say?
-EX: Will the 8800 outperform the two 7950GT's by like 150% or 200%?

Just buying one 7950 would be nice since it will outperform my 7800, but i'm just not sure. I need to buy WB(s) for them too for my loop. (I'll probably take that to the liquid cooling section tho.)

Mind mentioning what games you're playing that the 7800GTX is struggling in? Also what settings? Oh and whats the modding that Viper John does?

BTW, the 8800GTS is the best move if you're upgrading.

[BucNastyHater]

Mind mentioning what games you're playing that the 7800GTX is struggling in? Also what settings? Oh and whats the modding that Viper John does?

BTW, the 8800GTS is the best move if you're upgrading.

Rainbow Six Vegas, GRAW 2, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, and Flight Simulator X at the moment. Then there will be titles released later this year like NFS: Pro Street, CoD: Modern Warfare, and the possibility of Crysis (11.13.07 as of right now).

I like to play my games at the highest settings, like most gamers I would think. Unfortunately I cant do that with SC: DA and Flight Sim X. I like to play games like that at the highest settings possible before the FPS drops below 30. Then I have to adjust so it is playable but looks good too.

For a preview of John's work, look here (http://imageevent.com/marginjohn/viperjohn). He not only makes his own wb's, but he oc's, vmods the cards, tests them, and reworks the BIOS. He does great work but for a hefty price. If you upgrade, he will demod the card and reuse anything he can for your new one, returning your old card to stock. He knows what he is doing. Nice guy too btw.

I am actually thinking of getting a GTX now, as they are only about $100 more than a GTS. Its not worth it to mod a GTS because a stock GTX will smoke a fully modded GTS, and a stock GTX will cost less than a GTS with the mods. I dont know if an Ultra is worth it, but its only $50 more if you get lucky with a rebate so I might end up going with an Ultra. Hmmmm...decisions decisions.