200 dollar or so upgrade

@md0Cer · Jan 19, 2007

Sometime over the next few months I am looking into upgrading my system and am looking for a videocard that is about 200 dollars now that I could maybe get for 170ish or so in that time. And of course SLI, so down the road I could get another like it for cheaper.

1.) When going from single to dual in SLI, what if down the road I can't find the same brand of card? As long as it is the same chipset and clockspeeds will it run in SLI or is it finnicky like dual channel ram?

2.) I was looking into possibly a 7950GT. How do these stack up to the 7800GTX? It appears they are approximately the same price these days and have the same ram interface and number of pixel pipes, however the 7950GT runs at higher clockspeeds. Does anyone recomend a different card, or even a certain brand?

Thanks, I haven't really looked into computer stuff for a while, so I guess you could call me a n00b again.

blitzkrieg1110 · Jan 19, 2007

I would just hold out for an 8600 Ultra. It will be DX10 compatible, most likely very very fast, and will only cost 179.99. It's also equipped with 512mb of memory. There is another thread here about the 8300s and 8600s, they looking to be quite the bargain.

@md0Cer · Jan 20, 2007

Wow, only $180? That seems like a huge gap from the 8800GTS. Will it be that much slower?

Also, I am wondering about how everything roughly compares performance wise. Would the 8600Ultra be something about on par with the 7950GT in DX9 applications? And how does that compare with the 7800GTX?

I am just curious about how it stacks up. I don't want to sacrifice DX9 performance just to know I have a DX10 card.

I remember when the FX5xxx series came out it looked great on paper like the 8xxx cards do now, until games started using DX9, then it was proved how the FX5xxx's were total crap. I just don't want to get a DX10 card that is slower than something like a 7950GT just for the sake of it being a DX10 card and then have it end up being total crap in DX10 applications.

blitzkrieg1110 · Jan 20, 2007

No one knows for sure yet but my guess is that the performance of the 8600 Ultra will match or beat the performance of a 7900gtx. Thats of course just a guess though as the card won't be released for another month or two.

UglyChild · Jan 20, 2007

Plus, 7950 and most 7 series card will be tougher and tougher to find. So youll have to wait for new cheaper 8 series cards.

Sgt_Pinto · Jan 20, 2007

yea, 6600gt > 5950ultra. 7600gt > 6800ultra. we may not be silly to assume 8600ultra > 7900gtx.

lokitexas · Jan 20, 2007

@md0Cer said:
Sometime over the next few months I am looking into upgrading my system and am looking for a videocard that is about 200 dollars now that I could maybe get for 170ish or so in that time. And of course SLI, so down the road I could get another like it for cheaper.

1.) When going from single to dual in SLI, what if down the road I can't find the same brand of card? As long as it is the same chipset and clockspeeds will it run in SLI or is it finnicky like dual channel ram?

2.) I was looking into possibly a 7950GT. How do these stack up to the 7800GTX? It appears they are approximately the same price these days and have the same ram interface and number of pixel pipes, however the 7950GT runs at higher clockspeeds. Does anyone recomend a different card, or even a certain brand?

Thanks, I haven't really looked into computer stuff for a while, so I guess you could call me a n00b again.

I love the 7950GT. I have 2 SLI'd and am pleased. IF I could redo it, I would have got one 8800GTX instead, but I didnt know they were so close to release. But yes the 7950GT is a great card.

@md0Cer · Jan 21, 2007

Sweet! Thanks for the replies everyone! I guess I will hold out for the 8xxx series and see what I can find for around $200 in about 3-4 months!

Too bad with ATi you have to fuss with all that cross fire master card B.S. because they have some pretty decent cards for pretty cheap, and I don't think its worth spending 140 bucks a card for the X1800GTO (the highest you can go without needing the master card or dongle),

Back in the day I used to be one AMD/ATi fan. Looks like I've done a 180° spin.

@md0Cer · Jan 21, 2007

Oh, one more quick newbie question.

In this link here: http://www.guru3d.com/newsitem.php?id=4834

I see a chart comparing specs on all the 8800 series, and didn't things used to be measured in pixel pipes? Now it seems to be in shaders. Is that the same thing? For example, my 8 pipe Radeon X700 has 3 times less than an 8300GS at "24 shaders?"

blitzkrieg1110 · Jan 21, 2007

@md0Cer said:
I see a chart comparing specs on all the 8800 series, and didn't things used to be measured in pixel pipes? Now it seems to be in shaders. Is that the same thing? For example, my 8 pipe Radeon X700 has 3 times less than an 8300GS at "24 shaders?"

Well all of the 8*00 series of Nvidia cards use a Unified architecture which distributes the power where needed. There is no "counting pipelines" anymore for now at least. The unified architecture in the 8 series is supposed to be much more efficient than before.

@md0Cer · Jan 21, 2007

blitzkrieg1110 said:
Well all of the 8*00 series of Nvidia cards use a Unified architecture which distributes the power where needed. There is no "counting pipelines" anymore for now at least. The unified architecture in the 8 series is supposed to be much more efficient than before.

Oh, that sounds nice. I ought to look into that more. So, just for a really rough comparison to get an idea of where the performance stands in terms that I can understand, lets say we have my X700Pro GPU with 8 pipes running at 500MHz. Then we take an 8600Ultra with 36 unified shaders at 500Mhz. The GPU on that 8600Ultra would then in theory be AT LEAST 6 times faster? Or something roughly in that area?

laserkitty · Jan 21, 2007

That link, if it proves true, is exciting stuff: a DX10 card for ~$79!!!

LoneWolf121188 · Jan 21, 2007

Another vote for the 8600U. I'm planning on getting two.

MadMan007 · Jan 21, 2007

@md0Cer said:
Oh, that sounds nice. I ought to look into that more. So, just for a really rough comparison to get an idea of where the performance stands in terms that I can understand, lets say we have my X700Pro GPU with 8 pipes running at 500MHz. Then we take an 8600Ultra with 36 unified shaders at 500Mhz. The GPU on that 8600Ultra would then in theory be AT LEAST 6 times faster? Or something roughly in that area?

Unified shaders makes comparing cards eaier, at least within the same company and series of cards. Assuming they don't cripple them in some wierd way, half the shaders = half the speed in terms of drawing power. Overall FPS speed is affected by memory bandwidth as well though.

LoneWolf121188 · Jan 22, 2007

MadMan007 said:
Unified shaders makes comparing cards eaier, at least within the same company and series of cards. Assuming they don't cripple them in some wierd way, half the shaders = half the speed in terms of drawing power. Overall FPS speed is affected by memory bandwidth as well though.

Yeah, not only does the 8600U have less memory and fewer shaders vs the 8800s, the memory bandwidth was shaved down a bit.

200 dollar or so upgrade

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