video card overkill?

[fensus]

You guys think that dual geforce 7950 GT 512mb is overkill? purely for gaming, like oblivion and upcoming MMO games. i was going to go for dual geforce 7900 GT 256's but the difference is only about 100$ so if its not way over kill figured its worth it, appreciate ur help

 

[prozac26]

May I suggest going with one 8800GTS or GTX?

Better option IMO.

 

[fensus]

You think that would run better than SLI or Xfire?

 

[nottheking]

GeForce 8800 > just about any nVidia SLi setup. It will pound any pair of cards you could throw together to dust.

And just as a note, when you use two cards in SLi, you do NOT add their memory pools together; the only thing you can really add together is their texture units and pixel shaders.

 

[prozac26]

G80s are monsters. Eat up every benchmark I've seen.

 

[fensus]

hmm. looking at the prices its something around this
8800GTX : $760
8800GTS : $569
7950GT : $330
2x 7950GT : $660

obviously the 8800GTX surpases SLI 7950 GT... but price wise the 7950 GTs fit between the 8800 GTX and GT, i know basing the performance on price is stupid but would in order of performance this be correct?

1. 8800gtx
2. 2X 7950gt
3. 8800GT

Or does the GT and GTX both surpass most cards?

 

[prozac26]

8800GTS about = Crossfire X1950XTX and SLI 7900GTX.

So the 8800GTS is better than SLI'd 7950GTs.

 

[chadwickvm]

Yes, NVidia's new DX10 cards are the best at the moment. I would definitely drop any other idea. Plus if you want to SLi, I'm sure they'll have something ready soon enough. I wonder if the DX10 cards are cannibalizing any of the current lines sales... i mean... they're REALLY good.

 

[nottheking]

Or does the GT and GTX both surpass most cards?

Yes, the 8800GTS (not GT, note, it's called GTS) easily passes a pair of 7950GTs. It's more like a pair of the BEST G70 cards, the 7900GTXs. It's that insanely powerful. I recall a quote from nVidia along the lines of, "My engineers told me we could double the power by doubling the amount of silicon, so I told them to go ahead."

The chip is MASSIVE, over 600 million transistors, and over twice the size of the 7950GT's G71 core. Plus, it's clocked faster, and pretty much vastly superior in every way; not even a pair of cards can touch it.

 

[melarcky]

8800GTS about = Crossfire X1950XTX and SLI 7900GTX.

So the 8800GTS is better than SLI'd 7950GTs.

exactly... don't waste your cash on a DX9 card if you can afford the GF8800GTS

 

[brick88]

ne one hear of someone using sli'd 8800gtxs? (would probably make for some interesting benchmarks)

 

[raven_87]

* In stewie voice*

Yes, umm, Roberto, you should provide us with some details on your fine peice of hardware there. Some benchies, game performance and things of the sort ya know?

 

[fensus]

Hmm thanks for all the input.

do you guys think its worth getting a Sli Mobo even if im just goin for the 8800 GTS so that eventually when prices come down and new vid cards released i can just pop in a nother 8800gts... or do u think by the time that happens Sli will have changed/evolved enough id need a new updated Mobo?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

The GTS makes alot more sense, and the performance benifits will be more global, unlike SLi. Also less hassle.

There are areas where the GTS would lose out to even a single card, but they are rare, and for the money the GTS is a better investment than any SLi combination. However it might be worth waiting a week for the initial price to settle at some store to closer to MSRP, but compared to SLi'ing some GF7950s, it's cheaper and IMO better.

EDIT: As for the MoBo, as long as it's not too expensive the SLi MoBos usually have nice extras, and it leaves the door open for you to either SLi the GTS or to potentially do a physics solution add-in later. Of course it depends alot on the price. But for MoBo technology for intel you should be OK for now for a while, whereas AMD will change a bit sooner, but likely won't matter much either.

 

[blade85]

I thought my X1900XT was powerful until I plugged up my new 8800GTX. 8)

just for the records......

I hate you :lol:

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Yes true, the GTS has lots of OC potential too, although alot of the parity with the GTX seems to be under CPU-bound conditions. Also seems that there were some initial anomalous results too.

I still don't like recommending based on OC potential, especially so early in the life cycle of a card. But the improvements were impressive from the few reviews that bothered, like Firingsquad, but they have since tempered their intial enthusiasm somewhat but still solid performance boosts in many situations;

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_8800_gtx_gts_overclocking/

 

[sailer]

* In stewie voice*

Yes, umm, Roberto, you should provide us with some details on your fine peice of hardware there. Some benchies, game performance and things of the sort ya know?

I wa about to make some irrelavent remark about your 3DMark score of 12053 until I realized that you got all those points on 3DMark06, not 05. I got 12167 marks, but that was 3Dmark05. You're doing good there. You totally swamp my 06 score of 6145 marks.

 

[raven_87]

Very nice Rob. Although I hate seeing you limited to 1280x1024.
That being said, you you get two cards? How in the hell did you get 12k 06??

 

[GeneticWeapon]

Nice.

 

[raven_87]

12k in 06. hot damn....just image what the performance increase the driver will bring when the R600 debuts.

Its official, I"m getting one (GTS)hopefully on the 30th. thats just too sweet.


whats the rest of your system specs anyway?

 

[fullerms]

If you can afford a Single 8800 GT / GTX, go for it. If not, I suggest you settle for something in the US$ 200 - 250 range and upgrade to DX10 after it stabilizes, and there is good software supporting DX10.

Right now, DX10 is yet to be launched, and there are no games supporting it. No point in paying a premium for something you will not use to full potential now. Makes sense to hold off till ATI launches their DX10 product, since this will trigger some price cuts.

Personally, this is what I intend to do and I bought a Sapphire X1900XT 256 Mb for US $250.

My two cents worth

 

[SEALBoy]

A little off topic...

The sad thing is, FSX on max settings will bring even the 8800GTX to its knees.

 

[grant8844]

Hi Fensus

You can get the GTS for only $469 at newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130071

At this price it is a much better deal

Grant