8800 GTS 320

So I am considering upgrading to a 8800 GTS 320mb from my current 7600GT. After reading forum and forum and checking reviews of FPS etc I thought that for myself the 320 varient is the way to go. Cost wise its a few hundred cheaper than the 640mb card and I am not too worried about the differences in FPS as the jump from my current card to a new one is pheonominal.

I am after peoples opinions on whether its worth doing it now or waiting until more games come out. The next game I get is Bioshock. Haven't played the demo...just put my order in after a recommendation from the dude at the games shop.

From my sig I have a 22inch widescreen so my native res and the res I now run games at is 1680 x 1050. I installed Company of Heroes yesterday and from the initial test I had a high of 59 and a low of 9 with a average of 20. That was with the automatic settings on that res.

Really I have no reason to not get a new card....but I just get sick of constantly spending money on PCs. I want to be able to play Assassins Creed when it comes out and I am considering getting Vista to Dual Boot.

EDIT - I have a 500w PSU. I think its Thermaltake

On a side note, does paying $400 for 2GIG OCZ RAM really make a difference between my generic 2gig ram?

Don't buy the $400 ram, I doubt you're gonna see a huge difference in performance. It's a waste of money in my opinion.
About the card, for your resolution you could get the 640MB GTS or even a GTX, if you want to play on max setting with high AA and AF.

i've been playing bioshock on my 8800 GTS 320 (oc-ed) and it is silky smooth at max settings at 1280x1024. However, at that high of a res, i would second the suggestion to go for the 640mb version.

You can't go wrong with a 8800GTS 320MB. A perfect blend of value and performance. As for the RAM, the money would be better spent elsewhere if you already have 2 gigs. You will not notice the slightest difference.

I finally worked out how to add a sig if that helps in the decision making process. I am thinking a 640 now but now it depends on Brand. Albatron and Gigabyte are the cheaper of the brands but I have a BFG at the moment and have been recommended the XFX.
I pick up my copy of Bioshock on Friday so once installed and tested, if necessary Saturday I will be getting a new video card

The only time it's a bad time to upgrade, is when you're upgrading for something that isn't released yet...

By the time the game is released, videocards will be even cheaper. So what's your hurry? Wait until AFTER it's released to pull the trigger...

Your PSU will not support the 2900 xt .

Well i the minimum soec for a gts is 500 Watts and the 2900xt is far more power hungry, although companies to tend to leave some leway.

Hi guys. I'm going to go purchase an 8800gts and try it with my generic 350W PSU. Wish me luck!

Errr...
Have you had a direct negative experience? Tom's hardware charts puts the two at almost identital performance:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=318

I hope it's not too bad because I will most likely play at 1680x1050 and I'm already uncomfortably overstreached with the 320mb version.

Btw I'm building my rig around a Corsair 520HX PSU. If the 8800 GTS 640/320mb dares to find that lacking... well it can go to hell! Didn't even cross my mind that a 500+ PSU can be gobbled up by a single video card....

I can't install Bioshock yet anyway cos my isp are a bunch of morons and screwed up my account. So I have extremely slow or no internet access.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] /page5.asp

Firing squad can't find a difference between the 2 playing Bioshock...

dont get the 640, its only better basically at WUXGA or WQXGA res, just get a 320 OC, it will always be better than a stock 640, and be cheaper as well.

XFX - BFG- EVGA ....

ughh...now im totally confused....

Mind you I am selling my house and getting a new one, so perhaps with some of the payout from the old house, I will just spend 4gs and buy a kickass new PC.

Of course I could also pay out my car/credit cards, but doing that won't play Crysis at Max res now will it?

Right there with you snail!
I've pretty much decided on the common 320 version. Everything else is just too much cache over the top for a hazy gain. My greedy local dealers sell the 640 version for no less than 120$ extra. And mind you - paying more for the video card than for my mobo+cpu+ram seems just too imbalanced for the casual gamer that I am. I'll just have to get over the fact that most games will be playable at 1600x1200 but not at max settings.

Too bad they don't ship internationally - I'm in eastern europe

Yesterday I took the plunge and bought the BFG 8800 GTS 320 OC. It costed me only 10$ more than the regular Gigabyte 8800 GTS 320 I was aiming for at first. Wish me luck since I also ordered a Dell 2007FP monitor with native resolution of 1600x1200. As soon as the monitor arrives I'll report what bioshock looks like.

Oh and if you buy a BFG look for the OC2 version rather than OC - it is overclocked to about the frequencies cited at tom's hardware charts and this means it is overall the third fastest videocard on the market today.

Cheers,
Todor