New Card needed

[dos1986]

I have just sold my 6 month old 8800gtx on ebay for €290 and I can get 2 9600gt's for the same price, is it worthwhile or should I just wait for the new cards?

I have max €500 to spend and I doubt I will be able to get a 9800gx2 for that...

Here's my Specs

Dim XPS 710 Core 2 Quad-Core QX6700 @2.93ghz
160GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
160GB Serial ATA2 (7200 Rpm)
2048MB (2x1024) 800MHz DDR2
English Windows Vista Home Premium
750W PSU
Nforce 590i

I have been reading that x38/780i mobo's are the only ones that give you the full power of Sli, so would I not get the 50% performance increase as seen in these reviews of the 9600gt?

 

[dos1986]

I can get 2 of these 9600gt's for €290 delivered, they look like good overclockers

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/3/articledetail.jsp?aid=20565&agid=554

From reading the below review they are beating the hell out of my old 8800gtx, would the power consumption be the same as a single 8800gtx or more?

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/geforce_9600_gt_sli_performance/page7.asp

 

[Maziar]

In some games that support SLI, 2 9600GT may beat a single 8800GTX but read the FAQ:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/245454-15-crossfire-faqs

i really dont know why u sold out your 8800GTX, its the fastest card yet (not to mention the 8800ULTRA) what game u couldnt play smoothly?

SLI/CROSSFIRE doesnt necessarily improve the performance ( i have talked about it in that FAQ) u really made a big mistake selling your 8800GTX

1 9600GT performs near 3870 and sometimes it beats it, but it never can beat a 8800GTS 512 or 8800GTX, and if u SLI it , then in some resolutions and in some games and if the drivers work good (again i have talked about this alot in the FAQ) then 2 9600GT may beat a 8800GTX

 

[Shadow703793]

^Agreed.

 

[dostanio]

3870X2 i would say or wait for the 9800 series, since 3870X2 is the fastest card now

 

[dos1986]

I have a 24" Samsung monitor and I am playing Gears of War,Crysis,Tomb raider Legend (next gen on)...

Crysis is not playable at native res, have to lower it to 1280, some settings to medium, to play without dropping below 30fps...

Gears Of War also isnt playable at native res (1920 by 1200), have to drop to 1600 to play max settings smoothly....

Tomb Raider legend with all the effects on plays smoothly (50fps) most of the time at native res, but it can drop to 10fps when alot is going on or in certain scenes...

I am looking for a card that can play Tomb Raider Legend HD with next gen on, without dropping below 30fps, Crysis I am not too bothered about, much prefer Gears of War....

 

[sunny27]

u should have stuck to the 8800gtx for now and u should've got s new 9series high end card.
if a pair of 9600GTs in sli could do better than a 8800gtx/ultra i can very much see what a pair of 9800gt/gx2 card would do.

 

[dos1986]

I havent bought anything yet, I am using an old 7600gt for the moment, as I posted the card yesterday....

I dont think €290/$430 was that bad a deal, Im a clinging to the hope that the 9800gtx/gx2 are monsters, so It was either sell now for an ok price or wait and take the chance on the 9800gx2 being great...

If I had waited and the 9800 series turn out better than expected I might have only got sub €250 for my 8800gtx....

It was a gamble on my part, lets hope it works out or not

 

[Maziar]

I have a 24" Samsung monitor and I am playing Gears of War,Crysis,Tomb raider Legend (next gen on)...

Crysis is not playable at native res, have to lower it to 1280, some settings to medium, to play without dropping below 30fps...

Gears Of War also isnt playable at native res (1920 by 1200), have to drop to 1600 to play max settings smoothly....

Tomb Raider legend with all the effects on plays smoothly (50fps) most of the time at native res, but it can drop to 10fps when alot is going on or in certain scenes...

I am looking for a card that can play Tomb Raider Legend HD with next gen on, without dropping below 30fps, Crysis I am not too bothered about, much prefer Gears of War....

So there was something wrong in your system

because i have seen many running Crysis @ 1920x1200 with everythign @ medium or some of them @ high and its completely playable

also GEARS OF WAR is playable @ 1920x1200 too

also remember something, some games arent very good optimized like Crysis or GOW or even TombRaider, u cant say because i dont get HIH FPS, then my card is weak, No your card isnt(Actually wasnt weak) some games arent good optimized, u will laugh with this example
I play PES 2008 alot and its a game that isnt demanding, u would laugh that sometimes my FPS goes down to 30 (in 1680x1050 resolution) this doesnt mean that my card cant handle it, it means that the game is poorly optimized

so your card had a problem, because if u see the benchmarks u will see what i am talking about

 

[doubletake33]

WOW! never thought i would here something like this. not to rag on ya but i think it makes more since to improve upon what ya had. and at this point i agree with Dostanio in going for the 3870x2 (as for now it's the new king card) or wait for the 9800s to come out!

9600gt cards in sli mode wont be that much more of an improvement over that gtx ya just sold. the best "now" option is the 3870x2 by far with the monies ya got!

 

[dos1986]

So there was something wrong in your system

because i have seen many running Crysis @ 1920x1200 with everythign @ medium or some of them @ high and its completely playable

also GEARS OF WAR is playable @ 1920x1200 too

also remember something, some games arent very good optimized like Crysis or GOW or even TombRaider, u cant say because i dont get HIH FPS, then my card is weak, No your card isnt(Actually wasnt weak) some games arent good optimized, u will laugh with this example
I play PES 2008 alot and its a game that isnt demanding, u would laugh that sometimes my FPS goes down to 30 (in 1680x1050 resolution) this doesnt mean that my card cant handle it, it means that the game is poorly optimized

so your card had a problem, because if u see the benchmarks u will see what i am talking about

I dont think there was/is something wrong with the gtx/system, when I say playable I mean over 40fps without stuttering at all, Gears of war played at native res, but it did stutter at times, so I had to lower it, being the finicky pr*ck that I am, I did the same with Crysis because I wanted it fast.

Legend could be poorly optimized because in alot of scenes I was getting well over 60fps at native res and then suddenly it would drop to 20fps, then back up to 70fps, would a much more powerful card solve that or is it always going to happen...

I am not going to get a 3870x2, I am happy to wait a month or 2 for the right card, the 7600gt is doing ok with gears of war and I will leave Legend/Crysis for the new card I get...

So waiting for the 9800gx2 is the first step?

How much will they go for?

Using this example

Cheapest 9600gt at Newegg is $179

Cheapest one in the Eu for me is €137

9800GX2 €400 in the Eu?

 

[Maziar]

No one doenst know how 9800GX2 will perform but ome rumors say it will be 30% faster than 8800ULTRA

 

[dos1986]

So 40% faster than a 8800gtx or 2 x 8800gt in Sli?

Thats a nice increase if true...

If you had to guess what do you think power consumption will be like, same as 2 x 8800gt?

 

[Maziar]

I said 30% faster than a 8800ULTRA, which isnt a very large margine, also i said its a rumor and i cant say exact numbers, this may change when it comes out