Upgrade from an 8800gt?

[Intel17]

Hi, all!

My birthday's coming up soon and my parents have offered me an upgrade to my computer (w00t!). Now, I'm wondering, would a GTX 260 be a significant upgrade from my current 8800GT? Or would I need to go to a GTX 280 to see significant benefits?

My motherboard supports Crossfire, but I'd really like to stick nVidia if possible.

Thanks!

[saturnotaku]

If money is no object and your PSU is up to the task, GTX 280 all the way. And you could keep your 8800 GT for PhysX. Just pop it into your board's 2nd PCI-E slot and follow instructions that have been linked to elsewhere in this forum. Your board is an Intel P35 chipset like mine, so that means the 8800 would run at PCI-E x4 speed, but that doesn't seem to have much impact on PhysX performance, at least in my limited testing using an 8800 GS as a dedicated PPU.

[Intel17]

Whoah, I had no idea I'd be able to use my 8800gt as a PPU! Sounds awesome!

[bob saget]

go for a ATi 4870

[cvearl]

Originally Posted by bob saget

go for a ATi 4870

4870 is in fact the equivalent to GTX260 but if his comfort zone is nVidia, he should go that route.

The "dedicated PPU" is not a reason for a card selection at this point. Could be down the road but "could be's" are something we get alot of in the PC gaming world.

C.

[Medion]

Originally Posted by cvearl

4870 is in fact the equivalent to GTX260 but if his comfort zone is nVidia, he should go that route.

The "dedicated PPU" is not a reason for a card selection at this point. Could be down the road but "could be's" are something we get alot of in the PC gaming world.

C.

I agree. Like DX10.1, PhysX is in its infancy, though I do feel PhysX has more of a head start. Here's the difference though. DX10.1, by all accounts, should increase performance. PhysX, if I understand, would decrease performance as opposed to not using it. And, if devs start to use this heavily, today's cards will likely struggle on the PhysX games of tomorrow.

On their own merits today, both cards are outstanding for their price range. I no longer feel that one is head and shoulders above the other, so buy the one that, as CV stated, is in your comfort zone.

[Intel17]

Will the GTX260 give me any noticeable increase over my 8800gt? I mean, I game on a 19" LCD, so my max res is 1280x1024. Having more AA is nice, though, so if that's what I'd get, I'm all for it...

[bob saget]

the 260/4870 can allow for much more AA then 8800GT, i hear of users on this forum saying this.

[Medion]

Originally Posted by Intel17

Will the GTX260 give me any noticeable increase over my 8800gt? I mean, I game on a 19" LCD, so my max res is 1280x1024. Having more AA is nice, though, so if that's what I'd get, I'm all for it...

Out of curiosity, what games are you playing on your current 8800GT that aren't running up to your standards?

[Intel17]

Eh, nothing really, to be perfectly honest. I mean, I'm a huge nerd and love to get my hands on new parts, so if I got a new card, I'd just have fun cranking AA/AF, overclocking, and benchmarking into the wee hours of the night

[Medion]

Originally Posted by Intel17

Eh, nothing really, to be perfectly honest. I mean, I'm a huge nerd and love to get my hands on new parts, so if I got a new card, I'd just have fun cranking AA/AF, overclocking, and benchmarking into the wee hours of the night

Well then, rather than a GTX260, I'd recommend a new monitor for now. A GTX260 won't push your framerates much higher at your res, but an 8800GT would still be decent at a higher res. After that, you could make your next GPU purchase, like maybe noe of the gTX200 series refreshes

[namuk]

i have a gt8800 xfx xxx at moment and was running 1366x768 all maxed out in games and had no trouble with speed i have a 32"hdtv now that dose 1920x1080 plays fine there also but i fell like i am streching it (when relesed they did say the 8800gt was for low res only they say) . so i am going the 280 route

running that res mate and screen you have no need to update card