8800 GTX or stop gap ATI?

[GSTe]

Well, I ordered an 8800GTX last week, then after advising people to do the same on these boards, I got cold feet and cancelled my order!!!!

The problem is I've already sold my 7800GT, so need to get a new card anyway. With the new ATI cards coming out in March, I think it would be best to hold off on an 8800 until then, because even if the ATI cards are no better or do not cause Nvid's prices to fall, at least Vista will have been out for a few months and some DX10 games will be out to judge the new gen of cards better.

I'm now in a quandry as to which stop gap card to buy. From the VGA charts and price wise, an ATI X1950 Pro looks about the best buy, but I'm a bit nervous as I've never had an ATI card before, and I've heard they have problems running some games, sometimes. Its about £127 here in the UK for a 256MB one. For £166 I could get the X1950XT with an extra 12 pipes.... will this make much difference? This card isn't on the VGA charts...... The Nvidia alternative is a 7900GS for £115, but this seems to be far behind the X1950Pro in terms of performance.

And another worry is that there don't seem to be many ATI cards for sale on EBay (which is where mine would be headed in a few months).... is this because nobody buys them in the UK?

Can anybody please give me any advice/help me to make my mind up? :?

 

[the_stiffmeister]

Nothing wrong with ATI cards, I've used them for a while. The X1950XT should do you nicely if you don't want the 8800 GTX. I've got a 1900XT and runs BF2 with max everything no probs at 1600 x 1200 so i'm guessing the X1950XT should be even better. (I assume you've got a decent rig to put it in though) To be honest though you are slightly throwing money away becuase if you're gonna upgrade in a couple of months you're gonna lose a whole load of money on it cos not many will want to buy a DX9 card then. It may make more sense to buy the 8800 GTX now, if you have to sell it at least you'll get good money for it.

 

[GSTe]

you're gonna lose a whole load of money on it cos not many will want to buy a DX9 card then. It may make more sense to buy the 8800 GTX now, if you have to sell it at least you'll get good money for it.

Hmm maybe..... I just sold my AGP FX5200 on Ebay for £16 the other day though, which is close to what you can buy them new for.....

 

[mpjesse]

no offense, but you really need to learn how to be a little more decisive. i've never heard of anyone selling their old card, buy a new one, and then cancel the new one... and then come in here asking for advice on mid-range cards because you want to wait for R600. lol.

there's nothing wrong with ATI cards, they'll play any game an nVidia card will.

if i were in your situation (knock on wood), i'd buy a cheap x1300 or some crap on eBay and then upgrade in March. can you live without a game for a few weeks?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

IMO, buy the eVGA GF800GTS, it's a nice card and not the full cost of a GTX. And with the eVGA step-up program if you feel you want to upgrade you cn pay the difference to move to a faster card should one be available within the next 90 days. And I checked yes the offer is a available in the UK according to bit-tech's previous reviews;
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/09/21/geforce_7900_gs_group_test/2.html

Also should you decide to go with an R600 when they come out, you will be able to sell your GTS probably for good money, and it will take with it the 10year warranty to the next user which will be a nice selling point.

Personally that would be my recommendation, but a cheap X1950Pro or onsale X1900XT would be a good option to if you want to wait out the purchase too. Between now and the R600 launch there won't be much difference in games other than pretty much the option of increasing AA levels, although some games like Oblivion do tend to love the new GF8800 design so fluid hi resolution is also available on the GTS beyond even that Xfired X1950s could provide.

Just my two frames' worth.

 

[GSTe]

Well I was firmly decided...... I'd agreed to sell my old card to a friend who was building a new system mid-Jan, but after hearing R600 was due out at the end of Jan I cancelled my order for the GTX and got him to agree to wait a few weeks so I could see what the ATIs were like and what effect they had on 8800 prices. My own fault for expecting them to be released on time, but we all make mistakes.

Thanks for the advice so far though..... didn't think EVGA made that offer in the UK, but I'll check it out.

 

[GSTe]

I just had a look at the EVGA program..... at first glance it sounds great, but when I checked out the prices of the EVGA 8800s, they are around £50 more than everyone else's..... this is probably what I'd lose if I bought a mid-range then sold it in March... but thanks for the advice! An excellent suggestion but for UK pricing.

 

[shambling]

Were you looking at the stock overclocked ones, or the regular ones? Because as far as prices went on newegg, the overclocked ones were indeed more expensive, but the evga seemed to have good prices in comparison to the other boards.

 

[The_Abyss]

You have to understand the huge price disparity in the UK, and then you can maybe also see the reason why a user might get nervous after a purchase.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=56&subid=877

Personally I am absolutely itching to get a 8800GTX even at these prices, but I'm being sensible and forcing myself to keep waiting for the first genuine R600 benchmarks and reviews to appear.

Ideally I should really also wait for genuine DX10 benchmarks for both cards to reveal themselves too, but I doubt I will be able to resist and like most other users upgrading, I'll be buying my first DX10 card on the basis of DX9 performance!

Sooo, in respnose to the original question, I'd slap in something like a 7600 or maybe a 1950Pro as a stop gap, both of which will retain a good value to re-sell once the R600 is out and you can make a proper comparison.

 

[Parge]

are we still hanging on a march release for R600 or what? I think with how things are now, ATI will have a better card than the 8800GTX, at very aggressive pricing.

 

[killtacular]

if i were in your situation (knock on wood), i'd buy a cheap x1300 or some crap on eBay and then upgrade in March. can you live without a game for a few weeks?

That's exactly what I did! I sold my 7900GS, returned my X1950XT (faulty) and purchased a crappy Nvidia 6200LE for £26 from eBuyer.

I will be upgrading to a 8800GTS in March (hopefully after a price cut). The 6200LE comes with a VGA and DVI connection. Best to wait a few more weeks than to throw money away on a DX9 card...

P.S. I too will be buying a DX10 card based on DX9 performance...

 

[GSTe]

I was really waiting for Crysis coming in march as well but now its release has been put back until July!!! Bastards.....

Yeah, looks like the stop gap will have to do. I suppose the DX10 benches with the new cards will be worth waiting for, and Vista will be well on the way to having its wrinkles ironed out....

Oh well

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Yeah forgot about the price premium in the UK, someone had mentioned that before, and when you repeated it I went, OH yeah! D'oh!

I still think the GTS is a good option although not as flexible obviously without the Step-up.

I like it's current perfromance, future performance potential, and it's resale value retention. There's alot of things in it's favour, whereas the GTX has only slightly better performance, but will likely lose more of it's value with the launch of new cards, so it's still my 'safe option' along the upgrade path.

Like I said the X19xx series is also a consideration, and it's physics side for later use is also attractive. I think if you are leaning towards the eventuallity that a better option either nV or ATi is coming out in March and you may need to resell, my only consideration would be that the X19xx you buy now may lose some of it's value but likely not as much as the GTS, which still wouldn't lose as much as the GTX.

That's my take on it, and if you can be happy with the feelingof buying a "solid GF4ti or R9500P style option" that is a 'good' choice for it's era regardless of whatever else came out, then the GTS is a safe buy, especially compared to the GTX (take the saving to buy another card when you feel like upgrading the GTS, then the options will be even better and you lose nothing in the mean time), , the X19xx is safe money wise, but may almost compell you to upgrade once you see new features and benifits.

The real problem IMO is your UK pricing, otherwise I'd say that the X1950Pro would take you into a situation where the GTX will likely cost you significantly less by the time DX10 titles come out to care, so either way you win, X1950 now plus GTX performance (either buying a GTX once prices fall or the ATi equivalent) for the price of a GTX now, or get the GTS, and be secure in knowing you're pretty much maxing you current gaming and preparing for a taste of DX10 before things get sorted out.

I know all that seems long and convoluted, but hopefully gives you good stuff to think about.