9800 GX2 or GTX 260?

[parasiteeve]

Originally Posted by LovingSticky

GTX 260 is a fine card, but no way competition to 9800GX2.

Still dodging the facts I see? Again fire up Oblivion with Quarls texture pack and run it at 1680X1050 with 4XAA and 16XAF and tell me again that the GTX 260 cannot compete with the 9800GX2. Same for any UE3 game with forced 4XAA and 16XAF. The 260 will put a beat down on a GX2 card under those conditions, and thats only a couple of examples where your GX2 card will not be able to hang.

Originally Posted by LovingSticky

GTX 280 is a direct competitor to 9800GX2, but no way GTX 260.

Shows how little you know, GTX 260's are known for their awesome overclocking ability and guess what? with a little bit of effort an overclocked GTX 260 will compete with a stock GTX 280 and sometimes come out ahead. My GTX 260 is running at 760core 1534Shader and 2550mem, the last time I checked thats faster than a GTX 280 for a fraction of the cost.


Anyway, im done with this since you are obviously going to defend your GX2 card to deaths end (even though this thread was not directed at you to begin with) and dodge direct questions that I keep asking you. LoL.

[parasiteeve]

Originally Posted by zer0

get the ATI RADEON HD4870 1GB
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3415

Thats also a good solution, much better than a GX2 card anyway.

[Gorion]

I traded my GX2 for a 280 and couldn't be happier.

[ryan29121]

Wow, It seems like I started a war in this thread. After reading what people think and even on other websites it seems like the majority of the people (excluding GX2 fanboys) mentioned that the 260 is a better solution. I wish to thank everybody, especially parasiteeve, for thier information they provided. The GX2 with the price and benchmarks it offered seemed like too good to be true.

[Tr1cK]

9800 is old tech. If you buy new, get the new tech 200 series. Simple as that.

[parasiteeve]

Originally Posted by ryan29121

Wow, It seems like I started a war in this thread. After reading what people think and even on other websites it seems like the majority of the people (excluding GX2 fanboys) mentioned that the 260 is a better solution. I wish to thank everybody, especially parasiteeve, for thier information they provided. The GX2 with the price and benchmarks it offered seemed like too good to be true.

Im glad to help, it just doesnt make sense if you are in the market for a new GPU to not take the solution which will last you the longest, this is where the 260 shines with its 448bit bus and 896mb of Vram, you will thank yourself when more and more future games come out which require even more Vram. You will get much better consistent performance across the board with the powerful single gpu 260 solution.

[ryan29121]

Originally Posted by parasiteeve

Im glad to help, it just doesnt make sense if you are in the market for a new GPU to not take the solution which will last you the longest, this is where the 260 shines with its 448bit bus and 896mb of Vram, you will thank yourself when more and more future games come out which require even more Vram. You will get much better consistent performance across the board with the powerful single gpu 260 solution.

Would you say the GTX 260 216 would be worth the extra $40?

[parasiteeve]

Originally Posted by ryan29121

Would you say the GTX 260 216 would be worth the extra $40?

Well from what I have seen when both cards are running at identical clock speeds the 216core has roughly 2-3fps over the standered 192core GTX 260. The few extra shaders doesnt give it a huge boost over the standered 260.

Factor in the fact that the overclocking potential for each card is roughly the same I would have to say no but thats just me. You could take the $40.00 saved and buy a new game with that.

[motopen1s]

I have step-uped from GX2 to 280gtx. Very happy I did.

GX2 = microshutters (COD4 for example is just another game on 280GTX).

GX2 = 512mb of memory. Well, in my experience COH put it on its knees already at 1680x1050 (turn on some details and AA and the card gives you a slideshow).

GX2 = really low min fps in some games (maybe drivers have changed things around a bit). Screw higher average fps if the game sometimes deeps into some really low fps.

GX2 = higher power consumption.


Conclusion:
1) no more dual gfx/sli for me for a while.
2) 280GTX > 260GTX > 9800GX2 in my book.

[LovingSticky]

Originally Posted by parasiteeve

You will get much better consistent performance across the board with the powerful single gpu 260 solution.

That is simply not true :-) BioShock is one of those modern games, based on Unreal 3 engine, and look at its performance, 116FPS versus 69FPS is what 9800GX2 beast can do:



9800GX2 is still the fastest NVIDIA card on the market. It can play BioShock with 60FPS @ 2560x1600, while GTX 260 cannot.

GTX 260 is not a "new" technology, all NVIDIA cards launched within last 3 years, starting from 8800GTX, are based on same technology, supporting DX10.0, having same featureset. 8800GTX/GT, 9800GTX/GT, GTX 260/280, basically all are same core with slight variations (mostly in memory interface).

GTX 260 is a decent card, but its single core is about the same power as "old" 8800GTX. Just memory bus is improved. If you do not use FSAA (at 2560x1600 there is no need to), wider memory bus is not actually needed. I am running Oblivion with QTP3 w/ HDR easily.

GTX 260 *is* a good purchase if you intend to go SLI soon, but you need unstable NVIDIA boards for that. Most people choose Intel...

This is not black-and-white choice though.

9800GX2 - (much) more powerfull
GTX 260 - less powerfull, but also less power-hungry, upgradable to SLI, good overclocker

Driver support is not an issue, almost any game in existence has SLI profile. And if not, you can add one yourself.

GTX 260 is a good choice, but definitely not such a "beast" some owners are trying to describe It can be much slower for current games (than 9800GX2).

I would not step-"up" from 9800GX2 to GTX 260, as that would a downgrade. All 60 games I have would have lower FPS. In the future, this might change, but I want to play now, current games

[parasiteeve]

Originally Posted by LovingSticky

That is simply not true :-) BioShock is one of those modern games, based on Unreal 3 engine, and look at its performance, 116FPS versus 69FPS is what 9800GX2 beast can do:

LovingSticky please tell me that you really are not this dense in person. I said that with the combination of AA combined with any UE3 engine based game. That benchmark has no AA you nub so memory isnt an issue.

I will say it again for you in big bold letters that hopefully you will understand: WITH 4XAA ENBALED IN UE3 BASED GAMES THE GX2 CARD WILL SHOW ITS LIMITATIONS AND GET TROUNCED BY THE GTX 260, UE3 BASED GAMES WITH FORCED AA ARE MEMORY HOGS. PERIOD. OBLIVION WITH QUARLS TEXTURE PACK AND AA APPLIED WILL ALSO TURN YOUR GX2 INTO A SLIDE SHOW. THESE ARE ONLY BUT A COUPLE OF EXAMPLES BTW.

Honestly, if your so happy and content with your GX2 card then why do you feel the constant need to repeat the same stuff over and over and over again? I think your insecure to say the least.


For someone in the market looking to get a new card the 260 is a much better solution than the GX2 card, the user will not need to upgrade again nearly as soon and as more memory intense games come out he will still be fine where as if he was to get a GX2 card he would find himself needing to upgrade again very soon. The GTX 260 has a much better future now than the near extinct GX2 series.


People are already posting that have made the jump from a 9800 GX2 card to a 260 or a 280 and are stating how much happier they are with their new cards, these people speak from experience of owning both cards and that my friend is something that you dont have. Before you go running your mouth about my experience you should know that I used to own 8800GTX's in SLI so I am well aware of how flawed nvidias dual GPU solution can be.

[parasiteeve]

Originally Posted by LovingSticky

GTX 260 is a decent card, but its single core is about the same power as "old" 8800GTX.

Really man, just stop posting already.