I am in the market for a new card. Currently have a BFG GeForce 6600GT. I always assumed the higher the number the better the card, but this does not seem to be true. According to Toms Best Gaming Graphic Cards Feb 2008 Summary chart the 7900 cards rate higher than the 8600 cards, why is this? So, I should buy the 7900 right?
Geforce 7900GT or 8600GTS
- Thread starter pele12
- Start date
No, get the 3850 or 8800GT 256 or 8800GS. 7-series cards dont handle new games very well. The 3850 is around the same price as the 8600GTS and gives twice the bang. Same with the two 8800s. If you can find a 7900 really cheap (like £40) then it'll be a decent deal, but dont spend anything over that.
Whats the rest of your system like?
Whats the rest of your system like?
my 7950gt can play crysis at med settings, everything else (bioshock, oblivion, supreme commander, dark messiah, TF2, call of juarez) on all high at 1280x1024.
i would say it depends on the resolution you run.
though, i agree with Maziar, the 3850 is a better card than either of the ones you mention.
i would say it depends on the resolution you run.
though, i agree with Maziar, the 3850 is a better card than either of the ones you mention.
marvelous211
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You should really get a 3850. Almost twice as fast as 8600gts and only $30 more.
7900gt is actually slower than 8600gts in any of the modern games but faster in old games.
7900gt is actually slower than 8600gts in any of the modern games but faster in old games.
I can find a 8600gts for $125-140. A 8800gt is over $200. The 3850 is about $180. I will have to consider if I want to spend the extra $40-50 to get the 3850. I have always had nvidia and a little unsure about going to ATI, which I am sure there is a huge thread on already.
I found a 7950gt 256 for $125. If I don't want to spend the extra money for the 3850, I should get this 7950 instead of the 8600gts, right?
Will I need a large power supply?
System Specs
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0 GHz
BFG Geforce 6600gt
400w power supply
1GB DDR2 SDRAM
I found a 7950gt 256 for $125. If I don't want to spend the extra money for the 3850, I should get this 7950 instead of the 8600gts, right?
Will I need a large power supply?
System Specs
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0 GHz
BFG Geforce 6600gt
400w power supply
1GB DDR2 SDRAM
marvelous211
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hmmmm, I do not know, I will look tonight. Does it matter?
Also, considering my CPU, could it become the bottleneck, for lack of better words, resulting in not taking advantage of a 8800 card pass the capabilities of a 7900 card? In other words, the CPU processing power demanded by the 8800 is beyond the capabilitiy of my CPU so I should just settle for a 7900? What are your thoughts.
By the way, THANKS to everyone for their input.
John
Also, considering my CPU, could it become the bottleneck, for lack of better words, resulting in not taking advantage of a 8800 card pass the capabilities of a 7900 card? In other words, the CPU processing power demanded by the 8800 is beyond the capabilitiy of my CPU so I should just settle for a 7900? What are your thoughts.
By the way, THANKS to everyone for their input.
John
marvelous211
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YEs it matters. There are cheap power supplies and good ones that can take high end video cards. Depending on how old and what brand it is you can outfit other cards without a problem. 400watt isn't really big but then again 7950gt doesn't eat up too much power. Long as you have a name brand and not some generic you should be fine.
SpudTECH
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The 8600gts won't bottleneck on your cpu- I did an upgrade on a vista machine for a customer, and the graphics went to a 5.6- games were not only playable but very enjoyable!
Here's the card I used:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130291
Read the reviews on newegg, they are realy good!
Here's the card I used:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130291
Read the reviews on newegg, they are realy good!
marvelous211
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SpudTECH
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I don't know why you think its a ripoff.... it's a superclocked edition with a $20 mail in rebate to make it $169.00....There were cheaper ones on newegg... you just have to LOOK. The customers 5.6 was because he didn't want to upgrade the ram... he was running 2-512's...I did a test with 2-1gig chips and he got a 5.8. It all depends on your parts with vista.
SpudTECH
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marvelous211
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Because you can get a 3850 for at cheaper price which would be leaps ahead of 8600gts.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814241066
marvelous211
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marvelous211
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Don't be angry. 8600gts is alright. I have one but it doesn't get near the performance of 3850.
512meg vid ram on a 8600gts is a waste which doesn't improve 8600gts performance. It's to lure non-educated consumers.
SpudTECH
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Marvelous211....I would like to know how it is you feel vista preformance ratings are "bogus".... they may not be the best measure of preformance... but they are better than nothing... most people don't have a copy of toms hardware preformance testing suite lying around...
marvelous211
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I guess you are right. It's for people who have low computer knowledge. It's good for what it is.
cleeve
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The best measure of performance is to look at real-world benches. In a way, you do have access to Tom's Hardware's suite of benches: just look at reviews.
Synthetic stuff is never as consistant as real world benches - but even compared to synthetic benches, Vista's performance rating is pretty vague.
If you feel the need to summarize your videocard performance in a number, look at 3dMark, not Vista. And even then, it's far from perfect.
Synthetic stuff is never as consistant as real world benches - but even compared to synthetic benches, Vista's performance rating is pretty vague.
If you feel the need to summarize your videocard performance in a number, look at 3dMark, not Vista. And even then, it's far from perfect.
IndigoMoss
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Nobody is mentioning the 2900Pro which I think is a shame. It outperforms the 3850 256mb and has huge OCing potential. It's pretty much a 2900XT with lower clock speeds and currently a 256-bit bus which doesn't seem to hinder it at all.
You can find them for $159 at Newegg, just make sure you have a decent enough power supply to run it because it does take a bit of juice to run it, but not nearly as much as the old 2900 Pro or 2900XT. One 6-pin power adapter will work great in it.
You can find them for $159 at Newegg, just make sure you have a decent enough power supply to run it because it does take a bit of juice to run it, but not nearly as much as the old 2900 Pro or 2900XT. One 6-pin power adapter will work great in it.
marvelous211
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