About to buy an 8800GTX, but which one?

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Phoenix426

Weaksauce
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I'm ordering parts for my upgrade this week but I can't decide on which 8800GTX...
There's four 8800GTX cards at NewEgg that are all $539.99 after MIR.
XFX, EVGA, MSI, and Leadtek. Oh and the PNY is $549.99 but no rebate.

I think they are all pretty much the same but which one do you all think is best, and why?

Thanks!!!
 
Agree with evga...even more so with rumors of a refresh soon...maybe the step up program will come in handy. I never used step-up myself though. In any case I am nothing but happy with my sexy little evga 8800 gtx.

Good Luck.
 
EVGA sounds fine with me. I was hoping one of the four would have something that sets it appart and be a better value.
I think the step up program could be the thing. A life time warranty rocks too! :D

Thanks!
 
From what I've read on the forums, eVGA allows OCing and after market coolers for their video cards and it will still be under warranty as opposed to the other manufacturers.
 
Stay away,FAR far away from PNY.Go eVGA or BFG,lifetime warranty + with eVGA you have the ability to overclock without voiding the warranty.Another plus to eVGA and only eVGA is they allow you to swap out the HSF without voiding the warranty as well !! Both offer 24.7 tech support and good forums.XFX has the double lifetime warranty as there 'hook'... BFG and Asus as well as most others do not sanction overclocking.

PNY has low prices,terrible CS,and nightmarish rma practices... PNY warranty is NOT lifetime,its shiesty at best.Asus is only three years.Not sure about the length of Gigabytes warranty on cards,probably like there mother boards(3 years) MSI is so-so,and nothing special.Oh and with eVGA..... you get a free copy of Might & Magic DM on DVD as well....
 
Manny Calavera said:
Stay away,FAR far away from PNY.

PNY has low prices,terrible CS,and nightmarish rma practices... PNY warranty is NOT lifetime,its shiesty at best.Asus is only three years.Not sure about the length of Gigabytes warranty on cards,probably like there mother boards(3 years) MSI is so-so,and nothing special.Oh and with eVGA..... you get a free copy of Might & Magic DM on DVD as well....
Click to expand...

Oh great, NOW I find out. :(
 
Okay so here goes.

I have ran ATi for years. Recently I traded in my x1800xl for a 7900GS *woot special*. It was an upgrade - and after selling the x1800xl for 120 and paying 135 after shipping for the 7900GS - it was a $15 upgarde - sweet! Got my tax return, said to myself, now I shall invest in a laptop. Went shopping, laptop selection sucks, they all have Vista which in my opinion is just a retarded move at this point - its buggy - slow and expensive as well as unsupported by nVidia *officially* all drivers are beta. So instead I made an impulse buy and bought an 8800GTX and a Zalman 9700 LED. Grand total = $778.91 - fine whatever - I knew I was gonna drop the money - consider it written off. Got home - put in the cooler - booted the system - temps dropped from 36C idle to 24C and 52C Load to 38C.....WOW - I moved from Thermaltakes Big Water SE to this and I dropped temps INCREDIBLY - thank you Zalman. My 7900GS ran at 32C idle and 45ish load - thanks to the zalman 900 that I had on it. The new card - the loveley EVGA 8800GTX - ran at 75C IDLE!!! WTF? Are they using a small american carbuerated engine to achieve those speeds? Is that why it runs so fast? Load temps were in the high 80's. Unacceptable. Not to mention for anything that isn't DX10 - it doesnt own THAT much - especially not $650 bucks worth!

In my opinion - wait - ATi has stuff on the back burner that is going to do 1 of 2 things, for a price drop or Cause nVidia to come out with better cooler hardware.

Also - fyi - the rumor mill has it that Intel actually has a graphics prototype. Your current graphics processors (G80 and R600) are all single threaded 1 thread per clock cycle - the intel one apparently is capable of 512 threads percycle and its done through a 64 core chip? I am still researching this but if its true, it makes for a real eye brow raiser.

Tomorrow morning I am taking back my 8800GTX and going back to my 7900GS - a 2000 point increase in 3dmark06 is not worth 700 bucks after tax.

My opinion - wait - better stuff is on the horizon.
 
Wow, thanks for the info. Maybe I'll get a lower end PCI-E card (I'm upgrading from AGP so I'll need something...) to get me by for a few months... hmmm.
 
Endrithius said:
In my opinion - wait - ATi has stuff on the back burner that is going to do 1 of 2 things, for a price drop or Cause nVidia to come out with better cooler hardware.
Click to expand...

According to all indications, R600 will draw 240W. How will a card that draws 40-50 more watts of power run cooler?

If you wait, yes, there will be better and cheaper available. It all depends on how long you are willing to wait. There is merit to arguments for and against waiting. R600 "forcing nVidia to come up with a better cooling solution" when that card is going to be as large or larger and require more power isn't one of them.
 
HurtMeP1nty007 said:
If you wait there is always going to be bigger and better stuff coming out :rolleyes:
Click to expand...



Yeah, that's always a tough decision. This hobby always has something new on the horizion.

How about TWO 320mb 8800GTS's running in SLI?? Asus has a new 650i board that runs 16x/16x. ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus (newegg $209.99)

I wonder... would two 320mb GTS's in SLI 16/16 be as good or better than a single 8800GTX???

HMMM....
 
Phoenix426 said:
Yeah, that's always a tough decision. This hobby always has something new on the horizion.

How about TWO 320mb 8800GTS's running in SLI?? Asus has a new 650i board that runs 16x/16x. ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus (newegg $209.99)

I wonder... would two 320mb GTS's in SLI 16/16 be as good or better than a single 8800GTX???

HMMM....
Click to expand...


What size screen do you have ???
 
The-One said:
What size screen do you have ???
Click to expand...


I have a Samsung 226BW (awsome) running 1680x1050 for desktop and games.
I just finished reading the 8800gts 320mb review. Looks like a great value/performance solution!
Now we need to see what TWO 320's can do in SLI :)
 
It seems to me that one 8800GTS OS-320 would run games smooth as hell at that resolution...

Right ?
 
Phoenix - I again - have the same piece of hardware - the Samsung 226BW. When I took the GTX back I discovered that my 7900 was "Havening issues". Thats to say the least, anyway this forced me to invest in a new card. I looked at benches and the 320 GTS seems to be the way to go - its 299.99 its fast as hell - still has more than 256 megs of ram - and well - its DX10 so when I DO in fact make the move to Vista - I will be able to utilize everything.

Check out my post here for benchmarks compared to my GTX. I don't forsee an incredible drop in performance.

Later bud!
 
its true, if you wait you will always end up getting better or cheaper, but in certain cases like this one if you can wait 4 weeks its not a bad choice, you can either get a newer revision G80, a cheaper one, or an ATI card if it works any better, that gives u 2 possible upgrades at roughly the same price as you would spend now, playing the waiting game sucks, but when your right on the edge of a new release its not so bad
 
I ordered an GTS but when I figured that it ALREADY was up to 30 % slower than the GTX I didn´t think it was such a steal anymore... priced 200$ less then the GTX but then not really performing in comparison.

320 from what I seen already at todays game you have to sacrifice aa settings with it. Idoubt it will work great with newer games like Crysis.

You can wait for the R600... Don´t expect to much on Intel they have tons of money for marketing but I think it will take a long long time before they can even touch AMD/ATI and nVidia...

You can play the waiting game forever it´s really cheap ;).

8800 is a solid DX 10 card. I mean it´s still a great buy even if R600 ends up being 10 % faster.

If you need a card now there is no wrong getting an 8800 GTX. Surely you can say for todays games it´s overkill but you must think longer then your nose... How fun is it to 6 month from now finding you really lack the horsepower sitting there with your GTS...

8800 GTX will work good on it´s own for a long time and then whenever you find a great deal you can add a second :).
 
Also as for warranty... How many use their video cards for 3 years or more raise your hand....

pointless to pay extra for lifetime warranty :p
 
Just have to let you guys know that I used to love evga as well, but their warranty coverage is not what they claim it to be. And if you think they cover oc'ing and 3rd party coolers then you have not had to deal with them.

I recently had a 1 month old totally stock 7950gt ko in my wifes computer that shorted out somehow and bured the front connecting pin. Totally stock DFI board and stock video card. Called them and they said they would cover it, they gave me a rma number and I sent it in. Then they call 3 weeks later after I called to check on status several times and said sorry we decided not to cover it. I asked why and they said because I cant prove it was their card that caused the problem. I tried to escalate it and was told to go away.

Sad thing is I have a 8800gtx from evga as well, but I bought a new 8800gtx from pny for her replacement and will never buy evga again. 270 bucks down the drain after one month old card. And btw DFI warrantied the board no questions asked.


Just my two cents. Its a good card, but dont think their warranty is the reason to buy them like I sure thought it was.
 
zeeke said:
Just have to let you guys know that I used to love evga as well, but their warranty coverage is not what they claim it to be. And if you think they cover oc'ing and 3rd party coolers then you have not had to deal with them.

I recently had a 1 month old totally stock 7950gt ko in my wifes computer that shorted out somehow and bured the front connecting pin. Totally stock DFI board and stock video card. Called them and they said they would cover it, they gave me a rma number and I sent it in. Then they call 3 weeks later after I called to check on status several times and said sorry we decided not to cover it. I asked why and they said because I cant prove it was their card that caused the problem. I tried to escalate it and was told to go away.

Sad thing is I have a 8800gtx from evga as well, but I bought a new 8800gtx from pny for her replacement and will never buy evga again. 270 bucks down the drain after one month old card. And btw DFI warrantied the board no questions asked.


Just my two cents. Its a good card, but dont think their warranty is the reason to buy them like I sure thought it was.
Click to expand...

To counter this, I've RMA'ed two things through EVGA, a 7900GT pre-memory fix when they were all bugged out, and a 680i motherboard. Both had been overclocked or in the case of the board had an overclocked CPU on them. I made this clear to EVGA, and they gave me zero problems. Both items were cross shipped, both items I was given free return shipping to EVGA, both RMA's were complete in under two weeks total turn around time, and I actually had my new hardware much faster than that.

Sorry you had a bad experience, but most of us who own EVGA products and have had to RMA them now swear by EVGA because their RMA process is golden.
 
The-One said:
It seems to me that one 8800GTS OS-320 would run games smooth as hell at that resolution...

Right ?
Click to expand...


Yeah, I think it would on today's games, but I'm looking to the future (Crysis) and I want a long term solution for maybe 2+ years. The ATI 9700 pro I bought a few years back is still chugging along and I want an upgrade now that will give me that same longevity that the 9700 Pro provided. The GTX just might be the choice.

But, part of me is starting to lean more toward the 8800GTS 640mb because it's almost $200 cheaper than the GTX and I can always grab another one down the line for an SLI set up. I already have a 750W TT, so that would not be a prob.
But then again, I could just fork over the cash for a GTX now and not have to worry about buying anything else later. Plus, 2+ years down the line I'll probably be ready for another complete platform upgrade anyway (like I'm doing now) so maybe a GTX paired with a cheaper non-SLI board, and non EEC-SLI memory is the way to go.
I'd probably be spending more in the long run buying an SLI board, SLI memory, and a GTS (with the idea of getting another later for SLI) plus, there may not be much of a performance boost with that solution 2+ years down the line with the bigger-badder games of the future.

GRRRR.... dang computers :p

So...

GTX with cheaper non-SLI board & memory (probably a Gigabyte DS3 & Corsair 800 cas 5).
or GTS 640 with more expensive SLI board, SLI memory, then buying another GTS 640 down the road??? (ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus $199, and Corsair cas4 SLI memory).
The processor is going to be a E6600 either way.

Money is not much of an issue now, but it might be later because a baby is on the way and I don't want to hear her... well, you know.
 
Phoenix426 said:
Yeah, I think it would on today's games, but I'm looking to the future (Crysis) and I want a long term solution for maybe 2+ years. The ATI 9700 pro I bought a few years back is still chugging along and I want an upgrade now that will give me that same longevity that the 9700 Pro provided. The GTX just might be the choice.

But, part of me is starting to lean more toward the 8800GTS 640mb because it's almost $200 cheaper than the GTX and I can always grab another one down the line for an SLI set up. I already have a 750W TT, so that would not be a prob.
But then again, I could just fork over the cash for a GTX now and not have to worry about buying anything else later. Plus, 2+ years down the line I'll probably be ready for another complete platform upgrade anyway (like I'm doing now) so maybe a GTX paired with a cheaper non-SLI board, and non EEC-SLI memory is the way to go.
I'd probably be spending more in the long run buying an SLI board, SLI memory, and a GTS (with the idea of getting another later for SLI) plus, there may not be much of a performance boost with that solution 2+ years down the line with the bigger-badder games of the future.

GRRRR.... dang computers :p

So...

GTX with cheaper non-SLI board & memory (probably a Gigabyte DS3 & Corsair 800 cas 5).
or GTS 640 with more expensive SLI board, SLI memory, then buying another GTS 640 down the road??? (ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus $199, and Corsair cas4 SLI memory).
The processor is going to be a E6600 either way.

Money is not much of an issue now, but it might be later because a baby is on the way and I don't want to hear her... well, you know.
Click to expand...

Why do I feel like you just want people to praise you for spending more money on a video card.
I'm sure the card I pointed out above will run Crysis (Oh NO) at that resolution just fine.
Nevermind, buy two 8800GTX's. lol
 
Not looking for praise, I just want the best value for now and later down the road. I don't have a big enough budget for 2 GTX's but I do have enough to consider many other options.

And yes, it needs to rock Crysis at high detail settings. Dude, I can't wait to play that game! Farcry was great, Crysis looks incredible!

I did follow up on your suggestion on the GTS 320, and it was a nice review, but the card isn't being accepted well on the forum and that makes me a little nervous about it. More confused than nervous actually. For the money, the extra $50 or so for the 640mb seems like a better deal and I'm not the first one to say that.

I've got a rock'n good 22" monitor (Samsung 226bw) and I want a soplution that will give me the best immage quality, FPS, longevity, and bang for the buck. ;)

Maybe a GTX w/ a cheaper non-SLI board & memory is the way to go.
 
if you want to play the waiting game until the end of april for ati and save some money more

power to you, I was waiting to upgrade from my x800xt pe, but could wait no more,I got this

24" wide screen and my faithfull x800 could't cut the mustard anylonger not a those

resolutions,so I jump ship to a nvidia evga 8800 gtx ko acs3 and the difference is like day and

night no more slide shows while playing Oblivion.

just make sure you get a nice duo to go along with the gpu and dont look back and stop

reading forums about who's got the fastest card and so on, also play games as much as you

can now because once you have the kid it's all over johnnie no more time to spare j/k

good luck
 
evga, make sure you register within 30days and get your lifetime warrenty.
 
rangers95 said:
if you want to play the waiting game until the end of april for ati and save some money more

power to you, I was waiting to upgrade from my x800xt pe, but could wait no more,I got this

24" wide screen and my faithfull x800 could't cut the mustard anylonger not a those

resolutions,so I jump ship to a nvidia evga 8800 gtx ko acs3 and the difference is like day and

night no more slide shows while playing Oblivion.

just make sure you get a nice duo to go along with the gpu and dont look back and stop

reading forums about who's got the fastest card and so on, also play games as much as you

can now because once you have the kid it's all over johnnie no more time to spare j/k

good luck
Click to expand...

IN the early years I had more time to game than ever, taht was when I was practicing Q3 in True Force...anyway, after about 3 years you're right *you're not joking*

but you can still get it in if you know what I mean (wink/wink)
 
Evga step-up you have to pay above retail for the price on Evga's website which kind of defeats the purpose.

They wouldn't offer the step-up if they weren't making a fortune off it.
 
Get the GTS 640 with the SLI motherboard and regular memory. SLI has nothing to do with the memory you are using - if you want to pay for faster memory with tighter timings that's fine, but don't fall for the SLI marketing trick. Buying the SLI motherboard is a good hedge for the future, but realistically in a year or so when the GTS is becoming long in the tooth it'll probably make more sense just to get the new high-end part at that time and not throw another GTS in for SLI (unless SLI improves significantly in the next year or so as far as compatibility is concerned). It's always easier to run one card then two. As for power - the 225bw at 1650x1080 is not going to overstress the GTX even in Crysis.
 
Thought I'd chime in as well. I dig XFX's warranty policy. Its "double lifetime" warranty which allows you to sell your card and the next person that buys it can carry the warranty over.

Also, I've dealt with EVGA's RMA process, and it was pretty smooth. I don't think you'd go wrong with either manufacturer.
 
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