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Geforce 7900GT or 8600GTS

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Geforce 7900GT or 8600GTS

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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?

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- 0 +

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?

------------------------------ E4300@2.925ghz
AW9D-MAX
EVGA 8800GTS 640mb
2GB OCZ
Reply to oswold
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I recommend 7900GT over 8600GTS
but cant u afford HD 3850 in that price range? if u can then go for it its alot better than 7900GT and 8600GTS

------------------------------ Q6600@3.4+ TT V1 Cooler,SAPPHIRE HD 4870X2,ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA,4GB OCZ DDR2 800,LG W2452V 1920x1200
Reply to Maziar

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.

------------------------------ To comfort the afflicted, to afflict the comfortable.
Reply to firetatoo

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.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by marvelous211 on 02-08-2008 at 06:23:41 PM
------------------------------ Asus P5B vanilla with E6300 B2 stepping @ 3.5
4 gigs Gskill
8800GTS 756/1836/1037
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ew-benches
Reply to marvelous211
- 0 +

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

Reply to pele12

Nothing wrong with ATI or Nvidia cards. They do the same thing.

What brand is your power supply?


Message edited by marvelous211 on 02-08-2008 at 09:13:15 PM
------------------------------ Asus P5B vanilla with E6300 B2 stepping @ 3.5
4 gigs Gskill
8800GTS 756/1836/1037
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ew-benches
Reply to marvelous211
- 0 +

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

Reply to pele12

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.


Message edited by marvelous211 on 02-08-2008 at 09:23:45 PM
------------------------------ Asus P5B vanilla with E6300 B2 stepping @ 3.5
4 gigs Gskill
8800GTS 756/1836/1037
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ew-benches
Reply to marvelous211

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/Prod [...] 6814130291

Read the reviews on newegg, they are realy good!

------------------------------ I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp_K8prLfso
Reply to SpudTECH

SpudTECH wrote :

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/Prod [...] 6814130291

Read the reviews on newegg, they are realy good!



That's a big rip off.

------------------------------ Asus P5B vanilla with E6300 B2 stepping @ 3.5
4 gigs Gskill
8800GTS 756/1836/1037
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ew-benches
Reply to marvelous211
- 0 +

Yeah, that does seem a little pricey for a 8600gts.

Does anyone think my CPU will be bottleneck with a 8800gs?

Reply to pele12

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.

Message quoted 2 times
Message edited by SpudTECH on 02-08-2008 at 10:42:07 PM
------------------------------ I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp_K8prLfso
Reply to SpudTECH
- 0 +

what are you referring to when you say 5.6 or 5.8 games?

Reply to pele12

pele12 wrote :

what are you referring to when you say 5.6 or 5.8 games?



Please educate yourself:

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/ [...] 58117.aspx

------------------------------ I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp_K8prLfso
Reply to SpudTECH

SpudTECH wrote :

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.

 

Because you can get a 3850 for at cheaper price which would be leaps ahead of 8600gts.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814241066


Message edited by marvelous211 on 02-08-2008 at 10:48:14 PM
------------------------------ Asus P5B vanilla with E6300 B2 stepping @ 3.5
4 gigs Gskill
8800GTS 756/1836/1037
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ew-benches
Reply to marvelous211



Vista performance ratings are bogus. Not the best way to compare performance.

------------------------------ Asus P5B vanilla with E6300 B2 stepping @ 3.5
4 gigs Gskill
8800GTS 756/1836/1037
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ew-benches
Reply to marvelous211

Well then get a 3850...sheesh! Go where the power is, where you budget leads you, and where you hardware will support.

------------------------------ I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp_K8prLfso
Reply to SpudTECH

SpudTECH wrote :

Well then get a 3850...sheesh! Go where the power is, where you budget leads you, and where you hardware will support.



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.

------------------------------ Asus P5B vanilla with E6300 B2 stepping @ 3.5
4 gigs Gskill
8800GTS 756/1836/1037
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ew-benches
Reply to marvelous211

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...

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by SpudTECH on 02-08-2008 at 10:58:09 PM
------------------------------ I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp_K8prLfso
Reply to SpudTECH

SpudTECH wrote :

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...



I guess you are right. It's for people who have low computer knowledge. It's good for what it is.

------------------------------ Asus P5B vanilla with E6300 B2 stepping @ 3.5
4 gigs Gskill
8800GTS 756/1836/1037
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ew-benches
Reply to marvelous211
- 0 +

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.

------------------------------ Cleeve
Hardware Editor, Tom's Hardware Guide
Reply to Cleeve

Online the 3870 is $232 and the 8800GTS is $258...both with 512 of ram.

------------------------------ *While we crash and burn, small, low tech, agrarian societies such as the Hmong in the mountains of Laos will continue on without so much as blinking an eye.*
Reply to ZOldDude

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.

Reply to IndigoMoss

With a 400watt power supply I think 2900pro is out of the question.

------------------------------ Asus P5B vanilla with E6300 B2 stepping @ 3.5
4 gigs Gskill
8800GTS 756/1836/1037
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ew-benches
Reply to marvelous211
- 0 +

marvelous211 wrote :

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.


Excellent post; Totally agree with ya.


Reply to pauldh
- 0 +

SpudTECH wrote :

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.


Have a look and the 3850 offers twice the performance. And it's cheaper. Newegg has one $150 shipped AR. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814241066 . Shoot, I got one for $144 no rebates even.

"We don't need to show you too many numbers for you to understand the magnitude of this massacre":
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] i=3151&p=8


The 8600GTS is a nice card for under $100 like can be found now. Especially now that the 2600XT can't be found for $60ish anymore. Above that you want a 3850, 2900pro, 8800GT, etc.

Reply to pauldh
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