IS it worth stepping up my 6800Gs to a 7900GT CO

[Nevalite]

Hello,

I bought a 6800GS about a month ago and now they have the 7900GT released at a very nice price. It would cost me aprox. 130 dollars CANADIAN to do the step up. My current 3D mark 05 is sitting around 5050-5060 at stock, no OC. What would I see with the 7900GT CO, is it more or less a futurproof purchase, not 8xxx on the horizon?

Thanks

[Spoudazo]

I would say no, I'd just wait for the DX10 cards :)

I have been tempted to go SLI with another 7800gtx or buy a 7900gtx 512, but I'm going to wait until a DX10 capable card comes out (I'm assuming the 8-series cards :) ) which I guess will be a 8800gtx? :)

[Flip-Mode]

Jump on it now as long as you can, the 7900 is 2 gens (well not 100% true) above the 6800 and is a HUGE upgrade for 120$ CAN.
A guy posted earlier with identical setup as mine but with a 7900GT and he was scoring around 9K on 3dmark 05, I personally don't give a rats ass about 3dmark scores but if you are that interested look at the ORB.

[Spoudazo]

This is what I would do,

1. List your favorite games

2. Go find benchmarks that include some/all those games.

3. See how many FPS you get with your card and with the 7900 series.

For example, if you love HL2 or UT2004, and both of those games your card gets 60fps+ on average (my card gets 150-300fps on UT2004, lol, so yours should at least do 60fps on average if not much more), etc. then there is no reason to get a card that'll run it at 100fps since most screens only refresh at 60-75hz.

:)

[mangyrat]

im also thinking of getting the 7900gt threw the Evga trade up program.

i have a 7800gt N517 that is 2 months old.
i don't know how much faster the 7900 gt oc will be but it would not cost that much with the trade in program as long as it not 90 days old.

any thought on the subject? my best guess would be it would cost me around $50 or so with shipping to get the 7900gt co supperclocked @1580mhz where my old card is at 1100mhz on the ram.

[A-Rapture]

Just keep what you got now as you will be able to play the current games

and games to come till DX10 Cards come out with superb visual settings.

Then when the DX10 Cards come out you will have saved up enough to get

the very best and maybe even dual or quad sli.

Besides all this steping up crap:

"6800GS,6800GT,6800UT,7200GT,7600GT,7800GT,7800GTX, 7900GT,7900GTX"

is just a marking ploy to get you reved up to keep making you upgrade every

month or 2.

All those cards listed above play all current and next gen games at the same

settings.

Anyways who the hell is going to play there games at a bezillion X bezillion

resolusions.

Most people dont even play over the 1200x800 or 1600x1024.

And all the cards up above run these with ease....

[mangyrat]

its hard to say no to trading in when i payed $314 for my card 2 months ago and the one i want is $349 so for $35 + shipping i can get a card that should clock a lot faster than what i have.
what kills me is my game sys will be down for weeks while i wait on ups if i do the tradeup thing.

you make a good point and ill think on it thanx for the input.

most of the time i game at 1280x1024 anything over that and its to hard to read txt in online games.

[soulfly1448]

First off A-Rapture: let's make that a marketing ploy rather than a "marking" ploy. Second, have you tested all of those cards? Didn't think so. It is quite possible that your "same settings" are 800x600 with nothing on e.g. lighting effects, shadows, etc. Of course, if you do that, all of those cards will play the newest games with great frame rates.

A 6800GS will NOT play a game such as F.E.A.R. at the same resolution with the same settings as well as a 7800GT let alone a 7900GT (haven't tested the 7900 but speak from experience regarding the 6800 v. 7800).

Oh yeah, and let's make that 1600x1200... which is what I play every game at.

Waiting for the DX10 cards... If you can trade up to the newest and shiniest for, in some cases, $30-$50 per card, why not? If you're as hell-bent as many of us here to have the best of the best, then, that's a small price to pay. "Marking" ploy, or not.

[beavismorpheus]

you paid 200 for the GS and get 5,000 3dmarks. for 100 dollars more you get almost double the performance. 1/3 more cost = double performance, nice

what if you wait for the DX 10 cards? your 6800gs depreciates to 100 bucks and your 7900gt depreciates to 200 bucks. you could either spend the 100 bucks now and have it gravitate back down to 200 at that time, or let your 6800gs rot another 100 bucks off its value.

the point im getting accrossed is that 100 bucks you spend now will be tacked onto its value when it comes time to sell it. So its not like youre throwing your money away. its not like youll throw the 7900gt in the garbage.

im even trading my 7800gt in, its costing me hardly anything. I believe when it comes time to sell, the cost of the step up program will be less than the extra money i will make off the 7900gt, so why not do it?

[Flip-Mode]

you paid 200 for the GS and get 5,000 3dmarks. for 100 dollars more you get almost double the performance. 1/3 more cost = double performance, nice

what if you wait for the DX 10 cards? your 6800gs depreciates to 100 bucks and your 7900gt depreciates to 200 bucks. you could either spend the 100 bucks now and have it gravitate back down to 200 at that time, or let your 6800gs rot another 100 bucks off its value.

the point im getting accrossed is that 100 bucks you spend now will be tacked onto its value when it comes time to sell it. So its not like youre throwing your money away. its not like youll throw the 7900gt in the garbage.

im even trading my 7800gt in, its costing me hardly anything. I believe when it comes time to sell, the cost of the step up program will be less than the extra money i will make off the 7900gt, so why not do it?
3dmark score doesn't equal real life performance, keep that in mind.

[beavismorpheus]

i agree, but it does equate to bragging rights and is a rough estimate

kekekekek ^_-

[Category 5]

I have always hated the waiting game. You don't wait, and a new card comes out. You do wait, and instead of using your new toy now you get to read about everyone else. In the computer business waiting is usually a never ending process.

I say the step from a 6800 to 7900 would be quite significant. Go for it. The 7900 was just released. It's brand new. It will be current, and plenty fast for a while. Indulge now, and when the DX10 stuff arrives wait "then" for bugs to work out and software to start supporting it, and then upgrade from your 7900. SM3 is still just starting to be supported.

[Michael Warren]

What resolution do you play at? If you play at 1024*768 which is a common resolution to game at than it isnt worth upgrading and I would save up and wait until the DX10 cards get released.

[bignick]

Well just to give you my opinion I have a 6800GS and I did buy a 7900GT. My 3Dmark 05' is 6513 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=1798121. I currently have a 17" CRT but I just ordered a Samsung 20.1 LCD which I will be using a much higher resolution. I isn't a big increase in performance unless you turn on the eye candy at 1280x1024 or higher as some have said. I can currently play Quake 4, Fear, Doom 3 etc, with all the eye candy on with no slow downs (except for soft shadows) but again that is at 1024x768. This will be my last upgrade until quad core Conroe comes out and my system struggles to play newer games UT2007, etc.

[mangyrat]

when you get your 7900gt please test it in 3dmark06 and post a link im wondering how it will stack up to my 7800gt mildly overclocked.
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=194842

im probably gona hold off till my 90 days are almost up then put in my order for the 9700gt oc supperclocker unless they have a new one out buy then. i just cant see spending 5 or 6 hundred on a video card so ill have to stay with the GT's

and ignor the sig its always changing my video and cpu are clocked a littel diferent now lower core higher mem junk like that.

[Nevalite]

I truly want to upgrade but I dont exactly have the money, still working on that part (im 16)

When I got the 6800GS it wasnt very new and I felt it was like the slower part of my system, now not only is it behind 7800s but the 7900s. I think If i fork out the 100$ now I will be safe for a few more years, but my 6800GS might get outdated pretty damn soon.

I am definately going to try and do this, all depends on the money situation.

Thanks for ur support/comments

[T'wolves]

I truly want to upgrade but I dont exactly have the money, still working on that part (im 16)

When I got the 6800GS it wasnt very new and I felt it was like the slower part of my system, now not only is it behind 7800s but the 7900s. I think If i fork out the 100$ now I will be safe for a few more years, but my 6800GS might get outdated pretty damn soon.

I am definately going to try and do this, all depends on the money situation.

Thanks for ur support/comments

Video cards get outdated quickly no matter what. But I think this is a good deal, you going from mid-range card to a high-end card, for $100.

As far as going from a 7800GT to a 7900GT, if you got the money, and the step-up program why not I guess. But I wouldn't bother if you didn't have the step-up program to use.

[Surfrider77]

I truly want to upgrade but I dont exactly have the money, still working on that part (im 16)

When I got the 6800GS it wasnt very new and I felt it was like the slower part of my system, now not only is it behind 7800s but the 7900s. I think If i fork out the 100$ now I will be safe for a few more years, but my 6800GS might get outdated pretty damn soon.

I am definately going to try and do this, all depends on the money situation.

Thanks for ur support/comments

This definitely sounds like the best plan to me. If youre using the step-up program, you are paying minimal to get the latest and greatest. If money is an issue as you say, that step up wont be very viable when DX10 comes around, and your 6800GS will be even further behind and worth much less 2nd hand. Step up now, then if you choose to go with a DX10 card later, at least your 7900 will be worth considerably more than what your 6800GS would be. Not to mention the bonus of getting a significant upgrade immediately while waiting for DX10 cards.

[metloaf]

I have an OC'd 6800gt that has a lot of problems running the newer generation games, so not all of the above mentioned cards have the same perfromance. I have these issues without any crazy resolutions and without any of the exra eye candy turned on. I have decided to will be get a 7900GT for my current build so that I will have a decent GPU for at least a little while longer. I think it is definately worth it. It just depends on what you are upgrading from, thats all. :cool: