I need more horsepower will 8800 Ultra do it?

[Immortal_Hero]

I curently have an 8800 GTX (rest of system is in sig) and I am thinking about getting the Ultra. I have 62 days left to do a step up. The cheapest Ultra is $699.99 at EVGA and I paid $500 for my GTX so I am looking at $200. Second option would be to sell my GTX for $450 and buy a new Ultra for $630 there looking at $180 difference. Either way I slice it it comes to about $200 difference. Now that you see my situation here are the questions:

Will it be worth it?
How much better will an Ultra perform?
Should I wait to see if there is a new high end card in November?
Should I just wait until GTX prices drop buy another GTX and another mobo and do SLI?

I don't really need more but there are a few games I can't run maxed at a decent frame rate. Just at the thinking stage of things and wanted some opinions so let em rip.

 

[Neural Net]

IMO, the performance jump from a GTX to Ultra isn't worth $200, it may be if you game at 1900x1200, and plan on oc'ing the hell out of it. I would wait for the SLI option, perhaps when it gets cheaper, or wait for the next powerful card. From reading Viper's threads on the cards he has tested, he stated that the Ultra is indeed the most powerful card by a noticeable margin, but not enough to pay the extra premium over the GTX (If I remember correctly).

If you game at anything less than 1900x1200 you shouldn't need an Ultra, if you do then the Ultra will probably be the most expensive upgrade (correlating price and performance gained) you could do. Wait, or get SLI.

What games have you got that can't run maxed?

 

[jivetrky]

You will probably soon be getting to the point where there will be more and more games that you cannot run maxed, even with an ultra. I'd say just save your money for a little bit. And if you really want to spend the money see how things look in November. They might release something better than the Ultra. But I just couldn't see spending $200 just for the difference in performance between the GTX and Ultra.

 

[SeasonalEclipse]

Wait for the 9000 series to come out.

 

[Immortal_Hero]

Well I game at 1680x1050.

COD4 dips down into the 40ish FPS many times. Cysis also dips into the 30's in action. Only real reason I am thinking of upgrading soon is the step up option I have which really isn't that good of a deal.

Wait for the 9000 series to come out.

That may be a while.

 

[jivetrky]

Well I game at 1680x1050.

COD4 dips down into the 40ish FPS many times. Cysis also dips into the 30's in action. Only real reason I am thinking of upgrading soon is the step up option I have which really isn't that good of a deal.



That may be a while.

yeah, for the price/performance it's really not a good deal.

 

[Neural Net]

Really? I play COD4 on my setup, Max, 1280x1024, 2xAA and it's always playable, never jerks. Odd.

 

[Immortal_Hero]

Really? I play COD4 on my setup, Max, 1280x1024, 2xAA and it's always playable, never jerks. Odd.

Oh it is playable and never jerks but it dips below 60 FPS. I have panic attacks when games drop below 60 FPS . j/k... I think... On no... 44 FPS...

 

[Rattle]

wait till the new cards come out buddy, a overclocked gtx is faster than a ultra. if you overclock them both the ultra is still faster but how much ??10% at the most. I know when you got 40 fps on a gtx and you get 45 on a ultra it seems worthwhile but I probably wouldnt.

 

[Immortal_Hero]

wait till the new cards come out buddy, a overclocked gtx is faster than a ultra. if you overclock them both the ultra is still faster but how much ??10% at the most. I know when you got 40 fps on a gtx and you get 45 on a ultra it seems worthwhile but I probably wouldnt.

That is the conclusion I am comming to. If it were < $100 to go to an Ultra I would do it and not think twice. But that seems like a lot of $$$ for little preformance.

 

[Rattle]

micro center has the evga ultra for $572 overnighted, like $560 without shipping, when they are in stock it says usually ships in1-3 days, when they are OOS it says usually ships within 7-21 days. If microcenter has something in stock its always 1-3.

If you sold your gtx you could fetch $450 at the most, so you'd be looking at well over $100 to go to the cheapest ultra available.

 

[Immortal_Hero]

One draw of the Ultra is that they appear to be clocking a lot higher than my revision A2 GTX. It still just isn't worth the $100+.

 

[David_N]

Another thing to consider is that if you get the Ultra new without using the step up program, then you have another 90 days to spend more money!

Although, in my opinion, put your money in the bank and wait for new cards. The performance increase would, in my opinion, certainly not justify the cost. If you want more performance now, get a water cooling system or something for a higher OC.

 

[Tyranos]

Just get a water loop for the GTX and overclock it even more.

 

[Immortal_Hero]

Just get a water loop for the GTX and overclock it even more.

It won't go any faster. I can keep the core under 65°c and it won't do 648 MHz core. It is an A2 revision and not many of them do more than 621.

 

[Metallica]

It won't go any faster. I can keep the core under 65°c and it won't do 648 MHz core. It is an A2 revision and not many of them do more than 621.

Same. Im on stock, and mine never goes above 63c.

704 core clock .. any higher and i get fuzzy stuff lol

 

[Tyranos]

It won't go any faster. I can keep the core under 65°c and it won't do 648 MHz core. It is an A2 revision and not many of them do more than 621.

That makes me sad then. My dead GTX was kept under 50c and could do 660+ core. RIP.

 

[UglyChild]

micro center has the evga ultra for $572 overnighted, like $560 without shipping, when they are in stock it says usually ships in1-3 days, when they are OOS it says usually ships within 7-21 days. If microcenter has something in stock its always 1-3.

If you sold your gtx you could fetch $450 at the most, so you'd be looking at well over $100 to go to the cheapest ultra available.

I was just thinking that, i was at MC earlier today. But in store Ultra is $599.

 

[David_N]

Alright, get a water loop, a $0.99 pencil and do some volt mods! Cool it down, raise the voltage, then you'll get some higher clocks.

 

[Metallica]

Alright, get a water loop, a $0.99 pencil and do some volt mods! Cool it down, raise the voltage, then you'll get some higher clocks.

Can this be done on a GTS? :S