[davidb]

As some of you already know I am going to be building my own pc. However, I am still unsure which graphics card to get. I have been thinking about getting two 8800GT's. How do these compare to the 8800 ULTRA and the 9800GX2. Also, does anyone know whether the new cards are any good? Please keep in mind when giving recommendations that I will probably not be playing games at resolutions higher than 1680x1050.
Thanks in advance.

[Grimninja]

8800GTs are relatively cheap now consider the release of GTX260/280s but seriously i find SLI very pointless as it still hasnt really reached its max potential.
8800 Ultra is one hell of a card it is easily faster than the 9800GTX and just nothing i can say bad about it but the 9800GX2 is a whole new step up from it but still expensive and not a big fan of a huge card...
The new cards are apparently really good from people who have reviewed it and benching extremely well and still in early stages with drivers so as drivers improve the card performance will improve.

Overall i recommend a single 8800GT as they are cheap, great performers and reliable. It'll handle even the most demanding game suchas Crysis (not on very high settings tho) as long as no other components bottleneck it but of course it wont as your building new.

[ozone]

I'd get 9800GX2. They are faster in a single card setup than the 8800 Ultra. The 9800GTX is a good card for the price (only $299 now) - faster than the 8800GTX but slower than the Ultra. The Ultra is a fantastic card but i think if I had $500 i would pick the 9800GX2 over the 8800 Ultra.

It's really hard to find a good benchmark test between the 8800Ultra and the 9800GX2. Perhaps people are afraid to compare the two juggernauts? lol

Update : Maybe this page might help you choose. It's an allstar list of the current cards doing a benchmark test on the infamous Crysis. There are links on the bottom of the page for other benchmarks :

http://www.techspot.com/review/92-as...gtx/page5.html

[Grimninja]

Quote: Originally Posted by balista

nVidia 280 GTX and 260 GTX release.

http://www.xfxforce.com
http://www.bfgtech.com/

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/xfx_gtx280/
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTUxOCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Dont even bother GTX280 have come out with very bad results so it isnt value for money. Its been tested at Tom's Hardware and reviews say it isnt much better than the 9800GX2 so yeah...

And i'll stick with my recommendation of an 8800GT.

[HolyWar]

Quote: Originally Posted by balista

I don't trust them. Different opinion:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/7972-evga-geforce-gtx-280-1gb-superclocked-review-21.html

I don't trust any of them because everyone's results vary too much :P

To me it makes sense that the 280 and GX2 would be very similar as the 280 has higher clock rates but the GX2 has two GPUs...

Also, I say go with an 8800GT as well. It's relatively cheap now and it will play pretty much any game out right now just fine.

[wyjeba]

wait for 4850 :)
performance around 8800GTS/8800GTX/9800GTX and cheap ~150eu.

[ozone]

A graphics card with 2 GPU's like the 9800GX2 have 512MB of memory on EACH GPU, so the combined performance may at times still be slower than a card with a single GPU that has 1Gig of memory total.

It's mainly people who own the 8800GT or are on a budget who like to praise it so much. Sure it's a great card for the affordable price but if money is no object then why the heck buy a card that is well over a year old and lagging behind in performance? If you want to listen to them go ahead and get it and play Crysis, you will regret doing that. It may play Crysis on vbery high but so can my old GeForce 7600GT's,....8600GT may play it but the framerate will suck on very high when the polygon counts and graphics on-screen get ,..very high.

The GTX 280 is the single best card out there. So if you can afford it, I suggest it.

Also, if you listen to the Tom's hardware fans and get a 9800GX2 over a GTX 280 realize you are only saving $150 or so....The GTX 280 is BETTER than the 9800GX2 at SOME things... In the reviews there are some instances where even two 9800GTX'x in SLi beat the GTX 280...it all depends on the application/game and the resolution settings...The 9800GX2 DID do better at SOME things, but it seems the GTX 280 is still the superior card.

Good review for the 9800GX2, 9800GTX in SLi, GTX 280, and a single 9800GTX
are on this page :

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6192545/index.html?part=rss&tag=gs_features&subj=6192545

[ozone]

You never know. I know people who make good money and still download stuff off the internet. Just cause we're all here don't mean we're all financially handicapped.

He's talking about considering a 9800 GX2 which we all know is going to cost more than $500 with tax involved. $650 for the better card is not that much of a long shot from $500...

[saunders73]

shin2k35... the human eye can see at least a hundred more fps than 23..

[whatdamn]

i agree with saunders73. i mean, compare playing a game at 25 fps and at 50 fps, let's double that again to 100 fps.

there's obvious improvements in terms of response when you press a key, for example in racing games. also, from a personal point of view, it's more comfortable on the eyes to play at higher frame rates.

[ozone]

Seeing every single frame is impossible LoL. That's not what it's about. I don't know the facts but if the frame-rates are faster the gameplay is definitely smoother, the gameplay is faster and we can see that. Otherwise why would they bother?

I am an amateur cartoonist. In 2d animation you can animate a person jumping up and coming back down in just 3 frames, but filling that animation with more frames makes for a much smoother and fluid animation. That is the difference between Disney feature animations that go to theaters and what you see on some cartoon network shows. And that same difference can be applied to gaming.

[HolyWar]

Quote: Originally Posted by ozone

You never know. I know people who make good money and still download stuff off the internet. Just cause we're all here don't mean we're all financially handicapped.

He's talking about considering a 9800 GX2 which we all know is going to cost more than $500 with tax involved. $650 for the better card is not that much of a long shot from $500...

If you do your math, that extra $150 is 30% of the $500 that he was planning on paying in the first place if he was even planning on getting a GX2...

I dunno, maybe you're Bill Gates or something, but that 30% seems like a lot to me...

[ozone]

HEhehe. OK. Sorry for my defiance. Get an 8800GT. Mind you that Crysis is also over-hyped and there are currently other games out there slightly more demanding in power.

Hope that 8800GT handles it all.

I guess there are mostly financially handicapped people here, apologies....(off to find a forum for rich snobs, since I'm "Bill Gates" for not finding $150 to be a "lot" of money. LoL)

[langthang]

Please keep it nice and open mind or post will be close