eVGA 7900 GS KO - Want to upgrade but with what?

whisper

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 16, 2003
Messages
466
My current card is an eVGA GeForce 7900 GS KO which I've been overclocking to 546/717 without any problems. I'm still pretty satisfied with this card but the itch to upgrade never quite seems to go away for me:p

I started looking into it, and at first I was thinking of getting a GeForce 8600 GT. But clearly after reading some reviews and such I think this would be a poor upgrade option. I doubt it would improve much on my current card especially taking my modest overclock into consideration.

So what would be my best bet with a $100-150 price range? Could I get anything that would significantly outperform what I have now? I found a few cards identical to mine on eBay which I could probably get for less than $100. What if I just got another one and went SLI? Not sure how much I care about DX10. I don't have Vista and have no intention of getting it - EVER. I don't really care about Bluray playback either, at least not on my desktop. If I took the SLI route do I need to be aware of any overclocking issues? Like what if one card overclocks better than the other, would I be limited to the poorer overclock?

Thanks;)
 
Personally I would get get the Palit 9600GT at newegg if you're playing a game where you see you actually NEED a better card at this time. I definitely would not consider SLI with 7900GS -- new and relatively cheap single cards will easily beat out 2X 7900GS SLI'ed.
 
I'm in the same boat as you man. Even if we go to a 9600gt its only a little better. The next step above that is the GTX or GTS G92 which are a lot more expensive.
 
The 9600GT is significantly faster then the 7900GS and only about 10% slower then the 8800GT. Stock 9600GT - 64 shaders, 650 core and 1800 memory. Stock 7900GS - 20 Shaders, 450 core and 1320 memory. Both are 256 bit memory.
If you're not comfortable with a 1 year warranty buy one of the brands that have a 3 year or lifetime warranty.
 
Yep the 9600GT is much faster than a 7900GS - just google the reviews or read the reviews on this site. Easily an instant 25-40 FPS advantage (even with more AA-AF) in most games.
 
I just upgraded from an EVGA 7900gs ko to an XFX 8800gt 256mb. Jus tput it in so I don't know the performance gain yet but I can post that later if interested.. but I bet there are some reviews out there
 
you really should have sprung for the 512mb version. that card is slower then the 9600gt
 
I guess I don't NEED the upgrade, but just as an example my current rig can't even do HL-2 at full max settings and that's last generation stuff. I'm planning to pick up BioShock based on a friend's recommendation from work, and I'm going to want to play it at max or at least close to it. I just read a review on the eVGA 9600GT Superclocked that pitted it against the 7900GS. And yeah, it's a pretty nice improvement. The price seems reasonable too considering what you get. It's still slightly more than I was going to spend at the moment but I do have a birthday coming up...
 
I'm in the same boat as you man. Even if we go to a 9600gt its only a little better. The next step above that is the GTX or GTS G92 which are a lot more expensive.

If by little you mean a whole lot better, then you're be right ;)
 
Have a look-see at the benchies just with FEAR with 7900GS vs 9600GT @ 1024*76 and 16*12 :D. Massive improvement from what I see.
 
Yeah, but look at the difference in the two when you crank the resolution up. For less than 50% improvement I would rather hold off on upgrading.


EDIT: 30fps from the 7900gs to 57fps on the 9600gt. Okay thats more than I thought.


*shrugs*


:p
 
Just outta curiosity, does anyone have a link to a review or other article showing benchmark comparisons between the 7900GS in single vs. SLI? I've looked around but all the reviews I found only rate performance in single. I'm sure a 9600GT would be much better but I'm just thinking for the short term. If I can grab another 7900GS on the cheap and get a modest performance boost, it could get me by.
 
Generally you want to google 7900GS SLI and go from there usually they compare it directly to a single 7900GS. The first link from Malaysia reminded me of the past benchmarks I had read concerning 7900GS-GT SLI game advantages and seems accurate enough, but I think a single 9600GT (or especially 8800GT) would give you the same results with less overall hassle (one fast card no SLI to deal with).
 
Generally you want to google 7900GS SLI and go from there usually they compare it directly to a single 7900GS. The first link from Malaysia reminded me of the past benchmarks I had read concerning 7900GS-GT SLI game advantages and seems accurate enough, but I think a single 9600GT (or especially 8800GT) would give you the same results with less overall hassle (one fast card no SLI to deal with).

Thanks for the link, it's a decent comparison. I guess I could benefit from going either route. However it did occur to me that I might need to upgrade my power supply if I went SLI. So it's not really a cheaper route even for the short term. I think I'm going to just wait for a little while and then spring for the 9600GT, especially if the price drops a tad over the next couple months.
 
How much of a drop are you looking for? I ordered a 9600GT from Amazon earlier in the week for $110 after rebate and it should be here by the end of the week. Right now they are $116 after rebate and out of stock, but if you order before the 18th you can still qualify for the rebate and it's supposed to be in stock next week. Link

There's also the 8800GS 384MB for $90 after rebate, it should be faster than what you've got and just a little bit slower than the 9600GT. I picked one up for my 2nd machine because you can't double-dip on the rebate for the 9600GT.
Link
 
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