GeForce 8800 GTS now or wait a month?

MacPJ

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Aug 30, 2007
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I'm seriously considering purchasing a GeForce 8800 GTS card. However, I'm a student and $300 is quite a chunk of change for me. And Tom's August month of review mentioned that the nVidia and ATI are going to be releasing their new dx10 ~$200 "soon". So my question is, should I get the 8800 GTS now, or wait and see what what comes down the line. Also, any idea on when these will be released and their performance. Reason being, as most other people, I'm getting ready for some of the AAA PC game fall and winter releases. I'm using a NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT now, and it chugs away at BioShock at a decent clip, but could be much better. And I know Crysis will kick it's *ss.

Last question, as I'm cpu retarded. I have a AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3700+, ~2.2GHz. How is this doing gaming wise these days. Should I think about upgrading the system soon?

Thanks for your help.

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System Information
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Time of this report: 8/30/2007, 13:48:00
Machine name: BL-RH-BMCMILLA
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6000) (6000.vista_rtm.061101-2205)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
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Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3700+, ~2.2GHz
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AdamJ

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The new nvidia cards will be released november 12th. If you decide to upgrade, buy a video card from EVGA after september 12th
 

prodystopian

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Little is known about the performance about the new cards, but it has been said that they will not be hugely different from cards currently on the market. Thus, I would say wait until Nov. to decide especially because you seem to be waiting for Crysis anyway. So unless you really need Bioshock to play better or there are some games between now and then that really need to support, I'd wait.
 

goldenboy

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yes what everyone else said.wait

exept id say its definatly time to go dual core dude.especially for crysis which is said to make very good use of multiple cpus
 

paq7512

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Since $300 may be a lot for you what you should do is save some more money and wait for the next gen like everyone else is saying. It will make a lot more sense. And your 7800 should be fine while you wait. The couple of more months.
 

texasnightowl

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Isn't the step up period 90 days? So a purchase now would qualify if product does in fact release Nov. 12. A purchase today would qualify thru Nov. 30th.
 

FatFunkey

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..did u just pull the 12th out of your hat or something?

True its supposed to come out in November but i haven't heard anything of an official date..
 

MrCommunistGen

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I'd wait. Not only am I a college student, I also have a 7800GT and although it won't play the latest and greatest with everything turned up, it'll at least still play any game I throw at it. Plus, although the 8800GTS is a lot faster, its probably not worth the $300 you'd have to spend on it unless you can sell your old card for its market value. Plus, I like to put at least a couple of generations between my upgrades to keep things reasonable.

-mcg
 

AdamJ

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Yea, my bad on that one. Getting it now fom EVGA would work.
 

spuddyt

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if I were him then I would go dual core (assuming u have s939 an x2 4200 would be fine and a 3rd of the price of the 8800 to boot) and wait for the g cards to go down (even if you end up getting the 8800 gts when a new load comes out the price invariably drops substantially)
 

piagio

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LoL i thought about posting same thing just today.
I have similar specs although im running Win XP on athlon 4000+ also single core and geforce 7800gtx so i guess i payed few hundreds more 2 years ago but now we suck the same :pt1cable:
I was thinking about getting 8800 GTS not GTX only becouse of its size actually and the price was a second thing. I am able to spend 150$ more for the GTX but it takes 1 inch or 1,5 inch more space and its only a little faster. It uses same cooling too i think, so nothing much better unless you are going for the Ultra version which is just a crazy thing to do especialy when you are a student. And the funniest thing is its going to suck as bad as your future GTS in 2 years from now :lol:
I installed many new games recently and to be honest many of them seem to play choppy so the new vid card would be a cool thing to buy. I have a jouicy power supply OCZ 520ADJ with 30A on +12V trail so im good to go. I thought about buying whole new rig for about 2K$ but thats not what i was saving my money for so i will wait untill new AMD quad core is released and drops the price after few months. Bad thing is its going to be like in one year :( Then i guess many new things will be cool so im not going to upgrade for now.
The only upgrade now is the vid card becouse of the games.

I think im going to buy 8800 GTS this weekend but i need some answers from you wise guys first.
I was thinking about EVGA or BFG or suggest me something else if you know any better brand. I was thinking about spending around 350$ with shipping hopefully from NewEgg. I have 7800gtx oc'ed BFG now so i thought about it and also i heard EVGA was using some cheap RAM and it gets lower FPS or marks then BFG. Did anyone hear about that ?
And.. Whats up with that step up program from EVGA. Is that the way they get their clients now ? What is that program anyway?

Also i play on 19inch samsung CRT and not going for LCD for a year i guess. at least untill they come out with something with no ghosting and like 120 Hertz refresh rate. My other question is if 320mb going to perform as good as 640mb version for me ? So the Mb is mostly for the resolution thing ? Im playing at 1024x768 pixels. And i would love to have the highest frames possible too.
Thanks
 

fletch420

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if you need a card for f*&^ks sake buy one- if not wait- the 8800gts own period. The evga step up is cool but based on whats out there prices are not really looking like they will drop alot. I don't get paid for that assumption but the look of the current landscape says x-mas will be the first opp for a fall in prices, i have had my 8800 for months and it has hardly budged from it's price when I purchased.

enjoy either way
 

StevieD

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Prices WILL come down.

They always do.

Your card is very solid, an upgrade would be an upgrade, but the cost versus performance ratio is out of wack.

If you bought now, and the prices dropped like a lead balloon you would hate yourself in a month or two. Conversely, if prices don't drop then you would be best off just buying now.....

But you got a decent enough card. It is paid for and I sure that you could use the $ to buy some beer or take a babe on a wild date...... So I would wait and see what the price structure brings over the next 60+ days.
 

San Pedro

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I'm interested in building a new system soon and was planning on an 8800 GTS, but am consider holding off now on the video card to see if the price drops once G92 hits. If I could get a 8800 GTS 640 for around $250-300 I'd be pretty pleased with my purchase!
 

MacPJ

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Sounds like a plan. I have an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo. My processor is AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3700+. Looking at newegg, I found an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103741

Would this work on my mobo?
Never changed a processor before though. Can I just remove the old, insert the new, add thermal paste and the heatsink and good to go? Or is it more complicated and I have to screw around in BIOS or worse?

Thanks again.
 

chrispyski

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That is a AM2 proc. that will not work in the A8N-SLI Deluxe as it is a S939 board. I believe the one your looking for is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103053

As for a how to guide, there are countless ones on the internet, just google it (I'm a little to lazy to do so myself).

 

Hellboy

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Id wait till the new nvidia 9800 comes out.....

Looks like its gonna be the mutts nuts

and its released in November so u should get them in December ( earlyish )

Theyll be reference cards using ddr4 ...

 

starcraftfanatic

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Aug 15, 2007
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I wouldnt get a 8800 with that current proccesor, you'd need a X2 if you want to see a nice performance boost, Get a X2 and then upgrade the VGA later if you have more money.