Hard to choose which graphic card GeF 8 or 9

[The Deco]

OK so I built my PC, now im not sure which series of GEforce should I get 8 or 9


8 is about to get pretty old so I don't think it would be smart to buy it for a new computer, on the other hand if im not mistaken the 9 series has bugs and I don't want to pay lots of money for something bugged.


I'm talking about a Geforce 8800GT 512MB against a Geforce 9800GTX 512MB

The difference in prices is 125$

My mother board is GA-P35-DS3L and processor is Intel core 2 duo E8400

So should I invest more? Will it be better to get the 9800 in the long run of the computer? Or the 8800GT is much a smarter choice?

Help me!!

 

[Prozac]

what about something that blows both those card out of the water and is cheap too
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129112

 

[elNarr]

Yes, that card is insanely good.

Much better off with that instead of GeForce for now, since ATi / AMD seems to gain the edge of GPUs again.

Boy am i glad that i have a crossfire-motherboard. A crossfire setup is pretty much around the same price as a single 9800 GTX / GX2 if i recall.

 

[-Origin]

I have an 8800GTX and am so incredibly happy with it. I know there's probably better cards but it has no problem at all handling games such as Crysis, so I reckon it's pretty good nonetheless.

 

[elNarr]

Yeah , same here . 8800 won't be keeping up for the games later on ( check the 'Rage' for example ).

It's a pretty ideal upgrade when you have either a choice to buy a 8800 or a 4850, to the second one for more performance as well as saving some money in the purchase.

In any case, 8800 is a really good card and has served me well ( everything runs butter smooth ), but i wouldn't recommend you to buy it over the 4850.

 

[Deverz]

If you get a 9 get the 9800 The 9600 is lower range the the 88

Or spend extra cash and get the GTX 260 or 280

 

[The Deco]

Well thanks guys, but, what is crossfire? And do I need a special motherboard? Cause the one I put in the build list is a gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L

Hmm and will an ATI card will work good with a Intel processor and a motherboard for intel? does it even matter?

 

[Skyrider]

Well thanks guys, but, what is crossfire? And do I need a special motherboard? Cause the one I put in the build list is a gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L

Hmm and will an ATI card will work good with a Intel processor and a motherboard for intel? does it even matter?

Crossfire means the card is capable of having another of the same card type and model connected to each other. So, for example.. If you have 2 of these cards:

VisionTek 900241 Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Car

You can put them both in your pc and connect them to each other, which quite increases the performance. (do correct me if I'm wrong)

 

[Deverz]

ATI is dirty but if you're going to get it

Crossfire is the ATI SLI

Your board would need to support Crossfire rather then SLI

It's pretty much a waste of money buying a 2nd Card for Crossfire/SLI. The performance boost isn't worth the cash you'll spend

 

[Prozac]

Ignore crossfire, it's not interesting for you at all Deco.
Yes, your card will work fine with a intel motherboard and CPU!

 

[The Deco]

Well now I need to buy parts from 2 different stores


Wait: before im saying my final call (which im sure never will be final :})

I need to know - Why this will be a better and smarter purchase than the 8800GT (Especially for the long run and I seriously want to make a smart purchase, im not the son of Donald Trump)

 

[Deverz]

8800 is nearing being Low-End and outdated

nVidia have released 2 new Series above it. I don't follow ATI, Never had anything good to say about them.

I'd leave the FINAL decision upto if you want GeForce or Radeon. Go by what your friends say. People you actually know and trust. Google up comparisons to the 2 cards you're looking at.

 

[The Deco]

I'm always a nagging ***** about this stuff, but I need more opinions of you guys who know stuff about this specific card and how it will perform in the long run.. I need more opinions, I always check lots of people. Thanks


By the way, why is that card cheaper than the 8800GT and the 9800GTX?

and the HD4850 is supposed to be the rival card of the Geforce 8800 or 9800?

 

[Deverz]

8800 is older but it's not going to last as long as the 9800 would

9800's Performance + How long it will last is worth the extra $$

The GeForce GTX 260 is about the same price as the 9800 though and is the better of all 3 nVidia cards

 

[Sicron]

The 9800GTX is actually (spec-wise, I haven't seen benchmarks)[slih better than the HD4850:

9800GTX<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="card-info-column1">Manufacturer:</td><td class="card-info-column2">nVidia</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Series:</td><td class="card-info-column2">GeForce 9</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">GPU:</td><td class="card-info-column2">G92 </td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Release Date:</td><td class="card-info-column2">2008-03-31</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Interface:</td><td class="card-info-column2">PCI-E 2.0 x16</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Core Clock:</td><td class="card-info-column2">675 MHz</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Shader Clock:</td><td class="card-info-column2">1688 MHz</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Memory Clock:</td><td class="card-info-column2">1100 MHz (2200 DDR)</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Memory Bandwidth:</td><td class="card-info-column2">70.4 GB/sec</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">FLOPS:</td><td class="card-info-column2">432.128 GFLOPS</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Pixel Fill Rate:</td><td class="card-info-column2">10800 MPixels/sec</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Texture Fill Rate:</td><td class="card-info-column2">43200 MTexels/sec</td></tr></tbody></table>

HD4850
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="card-info-column1">Manufacturer:</td><td class="card-info-column2">ATi</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Series:</td><td class="card-info-column2">Radeon HD 4k</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">GPU:</td><td class="card-info-column2">RV770 </td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Release Date:</td><td class="card-info-column2">2008-06-25</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Interface:</td><td class="card-info-column2">PCI-E 2.0 x16</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Core Clock:</td><td class="card-info-column2">625 MHz</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Shader Clock:</td><td class="card-info-column2">625 MHz</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Memory Clock:</td><td class="card-info-column2">993 MHz (1986 DDR)</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Memory Bandwidth:</td><td class="card-info-column2">63.552 GB/sec</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">FLOPS:</td><td class="card-info-column2">1000 GFLOPS</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Pixel Fill Rate:</td><td class="card-info-column2">10000 MPixels/sec</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Texture Fill Rate:</td><td class="card-info-column2">25000 MTexels/sec</td></tr></tbody></table>

Bolded means better than the other card. Although I am uncertain about the 1000GFLOPS of the Ati.

However, check the GTX 280. It beats both cards by a mile. It is twice as strong as the 9800GTX is. The difference between the 8XXX series and 9XXX series is small, but between those and the new 280...

GTX 280
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="card-info-column1">Manufacturer:</td><td class="card-info-column2">nVidia</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Series:</td><td class="card-info-column2">GeForce GTX 200</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">GPU:</td><td class="card-info-column2">GT200 </td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Release Date:</td><td class="card-info-column2">2008-06-16</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Interface:</td><td class="card-info-column2">PCI-E 2.0 x16</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Core Clock:</td><td class="card-info-column2">602 MHz</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Shader Clock:</td><td class="card-info-column2">1296 MHz</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Memory Clock:</td><td class="card-info-column2">1107 MHz (2214 DDR)</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Memory Bandwidth:</td><td class="card-info-column2">141.696 GB/sec</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">FLOPS:</td><td class="card-info-column2">933.12 GFLOPS</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Pixel Fill Rate:</td><td class="card-info-column2">19264 MPixels/sec</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Texture Fill Rate:</td><td class="card-info-column2">48160 MTexels/sec</td></tr></tbody></table>
GTX 260

<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="card-info-column1">Manufacturer:</td><td class="card-info-column2">nVidia</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Series:</td><td class="card-info-column2">GeForce GTX 200</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">GPU:</td><td class="card-info-column2">GT200 </td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Release Date:</td><td class="card-info-column2">2008-06-16</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Interface:</td><td class="card-info-column2">PCI-E 2.0 x16</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Core Clock:</td><td class="card-info-column2">576 MHz</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Shader Clock:</td><td class="card-info-column2">1240 MHz</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Memory Clock:</td><td class="card-info-column2">999 MHz (1998 DDR)</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Memory Bandwidth:</td><td class="card-info-column2">111.888 GB/sec</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">FLOPS:</td><td class="card-info-column2">714.24 GFLOPS</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Pixel Fill Rate:</td><td class="card-info-column2">16128 MPixels/sec</td></tr> <tr><td class="card-info-column1">Texture Fill Rate:</td><td class="card-info-column2">36864 MTexels/sec</td></tr></tbody></table>
Downside of the GTX? Not very future proof. They only have DirectX 10.0, while the ATI has DirectX 10.1. And it probably won't take long before DirectX 11.0 is released. Still, power and spec-wise, the GTX are very future proof, and can probably be used for the coming years unless you really want that DirectX 11.0.

My advice: Got money? Get the GTX 280(450 dollars), got a bit less money? Get the 260(300 dollars). Don't want to pay that much? Get the HD4850 (160/190 dollars) or the 9800GTX for 170 dollars. Is even that too much? Get the slightly weaker 8800GT for 120-ish dollars.

 

[The Deco]

Yeah thanks, too bad only that GTX card is only HALF of my total system price.


So you guys say HD4850 will be smarter? But the 9800GTX is still better ah...

Well actually here the HD4850 is CHEAPER than the 8800GT!

 

[Sicron]

The 9800GTX is specwise SLIGHTLY better. But you have to account for drivers as well. I haven't had a ATI for some years now, so I can only tell you about nVidia. They pump out an official driver every couple of months. But they pump out beta drivers like...once or twice a week. And for my card (8600M GT) they keep getting better and better. I started with a really weak card when I just bought my laptop, but now, nearly one year later, my card has become twice as good as it was when I first bought it.

That and it also depends on what kind of games you play. Some games are specifically designed for ATI (Half Life 2 for example.) while other are designed for nVidia (Doom III comes to mind.)

The GTX might be a bit more expensive, but if wait a month or 2, and save up for the extra 200 dollars, you get a card that is twice as powerful and will only get better when the drivers get better.

 

[Skyrider]

See? I told you tables were handy.

 

[Sicron]

Those tables worked even before you added the plugin. This one doesn't use you table-plugin. Never the less, I never said it wouldn't come in handy at some point for someone.

 

[Skyrider]

Quite odd you are able to use it though, as its html.