What to buy?

R

R41Z3N

New Member
Hey all who read this

I am in the market for a new graphics card. I am looking at getting the 8800GT but was told today that the 9800GT is better... But as far as the reviews on the internet go there is not much difference between them.

The price difference between them is not very big at all. I can get either one but don't know what will be better for me. I am wanting to play games on high quality and with a good frame rate, games such as: Crysis, COD4, Race Driver Grid etc etc.

My current pc specs are as follows: AMD 4200+ AM2(dual Core), 1 gig ram (soon to be 2 gig), 6100 onboard graphics card :( 160GB HDD, I think I have a 500W power supply.

ANY! help will be highly appreciated...

Thanks

R41Z3N
 
9800 GT
Manufacturer: nVidia
Series: GeForce 9
GPU: G92
Interface: PCI-E 2.0 x16
Core Clock: 600 MHz
Shader Clock: 1500 MHz
Memory Clock: 900 MHz (1800 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 57.6 GB/sec
FLOPS: 336 GFLOPS
Pixel Fill Rate: 9600 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 33600 MTexels/sec

8800 GT
Manufacturer: nVidia
Series: GeForce 8
GPU: G92
Interface: PCI-E 2.0 x16
Core Clock: 600 MHz
Shader Clock: 1500 MHz
Memory Clock: 900 MHz (1800 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 57.6 GB/sec
FLOPS: 336 GFLOPS
Pixel Fill Rate: 9600 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 33600 MTexels/sec

This information is from GPUreview, as you can see they are the exact same card when it comes to the hardware. The only difference is the BIOS. The newer BIOS only improves performance a few FPS(under 3 FPS the benchmarks I've seen). There really is not much difference between them, you would never be able to see the difference.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=575&card2=544


EVGA GeForce 8800 GT for $115 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318

EVGA GeForce 9800 GT for $135 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130380

I would go with the 8800 GT....it's cheaper, with the extra $20 you can get yourself a cheap sound card! If you were to pick the 9800 GT....I would look for one with a free game or something:D
 
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Well for your system, you might have to look at an overhaul, especially if you're looking to play Crysis. You will definitely want to add another 2GB of memory, and if you have anything around an 8800GT your CPU will be a big bottleneck. But as for the card . . .

The 8800GT I got is superclocked and runs Crysis 1440x900, all High settings with 2xAA at 35fps. It frequently drops above so I would say this is the highest you could get with Crysis on an 8800GT. If you're looking to play Crysis and many newer games I would actually look at the 9800GTX+. It is around $200 on NewEgg. It is basically an updated 9800GTX, it has a higher clock and I believe has a better cooling solution, allowing the higher clock. It is also cheaper than most 9800GTX's. I would look into this card.
 
If you want to play Crysis and enjoy the visuals, get a Radeon 4850 at least. There's no point in going for 8800GT/9800GT unless you're really tight on budget and can't get the extra cash. The 4850 is definitely worth it.
 
That is true but if you're looking at the 4850 you might as well look at the 4870. The 4850 is comparable to the 9800GTX+, which will probably give you around 5-10 fps more than the 8800GT. If you're not on a budget you might as well go for the 4870.
 
hey thanks for the useful replies... but so far I am on a tight budget... I just gotta wait till after my birthday on Thursday then will see how much I got... I have always thought that if I have a nvidia chipset it would be better to have a nvidia graphics card... is this true or am I being stupid at only looking into nvidia?

Oh and also I am not looking to play the latest games on the utmost highest graphics... would be nice but can't afford that... Right now I am playing cod 4 on my current system on lowest graphics possible and I am fine with that... sure I get a lot of lag still but I just want to be able to play games on nearly any graphics setting...
 
I cannot afford the 4870... its nearly double the price here in South Africa, I found the 3870 which seems better than the 8800GT but I could be wrong, but it is just in my price range so any comments about that one would be great... thanks
 
The 3870 is a decent budget card, but it doesn't perform as well as the 8800gt. Based on your setup and your restrictions on your psu the 8800gt is your best bet.

You'll be able to max out most of those games you mentioned; Crysis being the exception. You may be able to play it on medium, the 8800gt struggles with Crysis.
 
oki cool thanks... will see how much money I got and see wat I can afford... will be back then. I see so many different "Versions" of the 8800GT wat is the difference and which one should I buy? The one thing that sucks atm is that I have to buy my card from the same place I got my pc cause of guarantee... but they don't have a big variety.

Now jsut for random info... what is the best card available atm. This is just for widening but very limited knowledge on graphics card..

lol

thanks for the reply
 
if you can, get the 4850, otherwise get a standard non overclocked version(unless its the same price) then, download rivatuner, and oc it to the point where its not overheating or artifacting
 
it should be enough for the 8800gt providing you have enough amps on the 12v rail. 500w would be pushing it with a 9800gtx or 9800gtx+.
 
oki thanks... probably will just get the 8800GT cuase I can afford that easily and still get an extra 1 GB RAM... I don't need to have to play the games on full quality with 8xAA etc etc... just want to play them smoothly and have some fun at the same time... and have a better pc than my friends... ha ha ha... thanks for all the help!
 
Yeah well what is your selection on the 8800GT's from where you're buying it? And if you are on a really tight budget you could look at the 9600GT. It is actually a very close competitor to the 8800GT. It only falls behind the 8800GT once you enable AA and all the extra stuff. I believe it is like $20-$30 cheaper.
 
I am not going 8800GT anymore I can get the ATI 4850 for about R600 Cheaper online buying so I am going to buy that one now... can't wait...
 
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