Hi guys,

I'm in the midst of building a new computer, and progress has come to a halt because I just can't decipher nVidia's numbering/pricing system for its 8 and 9 series cards.

The new 200 series of cards is too expensive for my tastes. End of story.

I've been looking around newegg, and right now, a 9800 GTX is about the same price as an 8800 GTS. What's the deal here? Do they have comparable performance?

Is there a website that has benched all of the 8 and 9 series cards (or at least the higher end cards for those series)? That'd help me out immensely in my search.

Thanks

how about the 4850/4870, thats around your price range right? and they are supposed to be pretty good

Check Anandtech.com, they just did a review on the 4850 series that includes benchmarks on the cards you are asking about.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] i=3338&p=6 <---crysis benches

For the OP's question, if those 2 cards are at the same price I'd go with the 9800GTX.
But I have to agree with them. The 4850 is just too good and it is selling for $200. Wonderful.

Why even bother with nvidia at the moment? All you need to know is HD 4850.

If it were my money I'd make it an HD4850. It is supposedly priced on par with the 9800GTX ($199) and it tends to be slightly faster, especially with higher levels of AA. Of course, there are lots of other factors to consider, so I would recommend you look up some reviews and come to your own conclusion:
http://www.dailytech.com/6192008+D [...] e12141.htm
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/14980
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/14972

Yeah, the 8800/9800 system of nVidia's is one that has made me slap my forehead the hardest. You've got a mix of G80 and G92 cards; the G92 core is more powerful, but those with the G80 have better memory bandwidth, so it can results in different circumstances favoring different cards. I just wish that nVidia had made a "8900" that was ALL of the G92 cards, and made all the 8800s G80s...

At any rate, in MOST cases, the 9800GTX is the most powerful single-GPU card nVidia has of the 8800/9800s; while in some cases the 8800GTX and ultra may best it, but they tend to be harder to find and cost more than they're really worth, so for the most part, they are safely left out.