8800GT vs 9800GTX or maybe 2 Radeon 3870's

[guyzk1]

Hi

If both cards come with 512mb is there a big difference between the two.
Which card should I go for?
I want my card to be able to playback HD content without any jittering and to play games at those resolutions too.

Or maybe should I go for a 2 card ATI Crossfire solution like 2 3870'S in a crossfire configuration?

 

[jitpublisher]

The 9800GTX is simply faster.
Look at the 8800GTS 512 meg.
Better performance and cooling than an 8800GT
Very, very nearly the the same speed as an 9800GTX.
Costs the same or very little more than an 8800GT.
Costs about $100 less than the 9800GTX.

However I have noticed that prices on these are going back up.
People seem to have noticed these were priced the same as the GT for a while and starting to pick up on them as a better card for the same money.
So if you want one, better get it quick.

 

[guyzk1]

How about two Radeon 3870's in crossfire configuration? Where does something like that play in with those other 2 cards?

 

[jay2tall]

2 3870's will beat out either the 8800GTS or 9800GTX. However make sure you have a CF compatible mobo, your powersupply can handle it, and you have PCI-E 2.0 and 2 x16 lanes. Older boards that support crossfire, like mine will run 1 card at x16 and 2 at x8. either way 2 3870's will win unless the specific game you are playing does not like CF that much.

there are also enharently more issues possible when running SLI or CF. A single card will always have less issue.

The 9800GTX is a little faster than the 8800GTS, so if you want to save a few bucks get the 8800GTS and OC it. The 9800GTX is really a 8800GTS with 3-way SLI support and better/faster memory.

 

[guyzk1]

thx for the info.

 

[jay2tall]

Let us know what you go with I'm curious.

Story: I have a buddy who got the 9800GTX and really I wasn't super impressed he said he wishes he would have gotten the GTS and used the rest for another Hard Drive. His HD is old, crappy, and 80GB with 75GB of data on it. haha. I told him he was a loser and told him so. He has a similar machine to mine, well he upgraded to a q6600 from an e6600 and we told him that was a dumb move as well, but didnt listen. He plays WOW, and not much else. Anyways, if you have the case I'd go 9800GTX if you want a good bargain 8800GTS is virtually the same. If you want to tinker the dual 3870's would be cool.

If you can wait a month or two some new cards are coming out. they are said to kick some serious butt. Although I always reserve myself to rumor until the reviews come out from the top sites.

 

[L1qu1d]

Agreed the 9800 GTX is just a wasted case for a gamer Unless your wanting to go Tri-sli, which I heard is really not worth it.

 

[area61]

if you love HD content, the Atis are certainly better.if you love games, youve gotta love the 8800gts.awesome card at awesome price.When it was released the firstime, it was a sore loser because of its pricing and how the 8800gt wiped it because of price performnce ratio.but now, heck its a better buy now than the GT not only its a bit faster, its easy on the eyes as well.the GT cant match it in image quality in games.Id chose the 8800gts any day

 

[jay2tall]

^
I am impressed with some manufacturers that are starting to put getter cooling on the GT's. The stock cooler just isn't enough in many cases and really should never have had that little cooler. For some reason XFX made a cheaper version of the GT with a crappier cooler yet, not sure why they did that.

 

[L1qu1d]

I have an article from this month's MaximumPC with the exact topic. I'll post in just a sec

 

[L1qu1d]

I know you asked for the GTX, but the GTS is the same thing bascially for gaming, well atleast for most it is

Here you go :

Page 1:

Page 2:

 

[area61]

they are totally nuts to posts such an article.both cards arent even at the same price range.yup i love the gts but comparing it with a 3870 doesnt seems to be a good thing.

 

[yipsl]

if you love HD content, the Atis are certainly better.if you love games, youve gotta love the 8800gts.

I love HD content and games equally, which is why I choose ATI. Back when I had my one and only Nvidia board with a 7600gs, I was waiting on the 8xxx series, but the 8600gt didn't cut it and neither did the 8800gts 320 (or the X2900XT for games).

The 3xxx series brought me back to ATI and now I have a dual GPU card that's better than Nvidia's dual GPU card in most instances. I still get good framerates and AVIVO is fantastic for video.

While the upcoming GTX280 will probably beat out the 4870, it will cost more and won't do HD content as smoothly. Overall, ATI has the best video cards today, because I don't see the extra framerates in some games with particular Nvidia cards to be a true selling point.

Can't wait to see how the 4870x2's perform. I doubt that Nvidia can do a dual GPU in the GTX generation, at least not before they transition to 55nm.

 

[L1qu1d]

which Dual GPU card do you have thats better than Nvidia's?

The 3870 X2??

Don't you loook at Benchmarks? The 3870 X2 isn't as good as Nvidia's GX2. There were some benchmarks where the 3870 X2 + 3870 sometimes matched up to the GX2.

COD 4

Crysis

Stalker

There are many more benchmarks lol even THG benchmarks and all the benchmarks on the net aren't even using the New GX2 Drivers.


IF you meant that you now how a Dual GPU better than the 7950 GX2 then maybe

 

[L1qu1d]

I think I made my point