EVGA 8800GTS purchasing decisions

[flyingmachine]

So I'm thinking either 320 or superclocked 320 or the 640. I'm planning to get a 24" 1920 x 1200 LCD soon. How hard is it to overclock a standard clocked 320 or 640 to the superclocked speed? Any need to upgrade the stock cooler? To my understanding the hardware is the same for the normal vs. superclocked cards, so it's just a software difference right? The machine will be used mostly for gaming.

 

[Track]

NEVER buy an overclocked card.

And i would strongly reccomend the 640MB version for that resolution.

 

[flyingmachine]

why do you rec against the O/C cards? I guess if the hardware is indeed identical, I can do it myself.

 

[Track]

Exactly. You're paying for something that u can easily do urself.

 

[Phrozt]

Paying for a factory OC is paying for an OC that is covered under warranty.

Figure out how much that means to you, and that should be your decision.

 

[tdank]

Not to mention its only like 10$-20$ difference in most cases.

But it is pretty rediculously easy to OC these cards.

 

[Eviltwin17]

get the 8800gts 640 for the higher resolutions, the 320 would die under 1920x1200

as a general rule of thumb more video ram = better for higher resolutions

typically you want 512mb or more

256/320mb cards are great for 1280x1024 and 1600x1200 respectively

 

[zoridon]

I was torturing myself with the same decision as you but I only run at 1600x1050 with a 22 inch widescreen. Decided on the 320 superclocked version from EVGA zipzoomfly has it for $275. But I am right on the edge. With your resolution running even higher you need to go with the 640 mb version Newegg has them down to $329 after rebate.

 

[flyingmachine]

just bought a EVGA 640mb card from amazon, 336 shipped. Didn't go w/ newegg since i'm in Cali.

 

[Gary_Busey]

Nice choice. Regarding the factory OC cards, it's not always a bad idea. Like someone mentioned previously, it's covered under warranty and also, it'll come with sufficient cooling to cool that overclocked GPU, whereas many stock coolers won't keep and overlclocked GPU cool enough. That's one of the main reasons I bought my IceQ3 which comes factory OC'd, the cooler is excellent.

 

[deusex]

Same situation here, but on a 20 Inch Widescreen Samsung @ 1680X1050


For that res, what would you guys get?

Not going any higher or lower (res)

"Budget allows all three cards...

 

[zoridon]

Zip Zoom Fly has the MSI overclocked card for $269 after rebate with the game "Company of Hereos" for free. Free shipping. Just ordered it same specs as the EVGA Superclocked Card. Unless you can get a 640 overclocked card for $319 or less go with the overclocked 320. Most likely your fine with anything they throw at you and by the time the card can't give you the FPS you need your bottleneck will probably be more your GPU and not your ram. I really think that within a year the refresh of the DX10 cards under 65nm process will blow away the current offerings and you don't want to be stuck with a card you feel you have to keep because you spent $400 on it a year ago.