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8800 GTX still a good buy?

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I have a friend that just bought one of the new 280's and his selling his old 8800 GTX. It's top of the line and he's letting it go for $160, when it used to cost $600. I know this is an amazing deal, but how long do you guys think this card will last? Should I just pay an extra $40 and get one of the new Radeons or go for the once unbeatable GTX?

All I want is a card that will be able to play Fallout 3 when it comes out. And to be honest, I'll probably upgrade if I have to when that time comes. I wouldn't mind playing Crysis, but again, is this card still worth the money?

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yes & no... the life span of the 8800gtx "mind you in the same class as the ati 9700 for longevity of use" is over. now for the price thats not bad for the power this card has, but the question you need to ask yourself is this.

what resolution will i be gaming at.
what hardware does my computer have.

without answering those questions you will not get a honest response that will best suit your needs.

Reply to macer1

8800GTX is still a great card. It's trades blows with the 9800GTX and should win some against the HD4850. For $160 from a friend, I think it's a fine choice. Any higher price though and I'd be looking at a new HD4850.

Also, don't even consider the $600 cost of almost 2 years ago. The card is now a midrange $200 card despite it being hard to find for under $230. (edit: and it's not the winning choice at this price point)

Message edited by pauldh on 06-24-2008 at 04:22:02 PM

Reply to pauldh

At 160 it's too close to the price of the better performing 4850. I have an 8800gtx which a friend who already has one has expressed interest in. I would think a fair price given the prices of new cards would be more like $100.00. Considering it is 18 months old and without warranty.

Message quoted 2 times

Reply to No1sFanboy

No1sFanboy wrote :

I do agree that $160 is pushing it. I wouldn't pay that but also don't think it's a ripoff either. At $100 each, I would buy two today if I had friends selling them. 8800GTX SLI is still a beast.

Message edited by pauldh on 06-24-2008 at 04:24:38 PM

Reply to pauldh

For those wondering what my other specs are, 2gb of 800 ram, e2160 oc'ed to 3.2ghz, single slot 16x pci-e, 1x500gb hd, 1x380gb hd, 512mb 8800gt OC'ed, 450w ps.

I know I would probably have to tack on a new power supply in order to run this, and SLi is out of the question since I don't want to go buy a new motherboard.

For those wondering why I'm trading my good stock OC'ed 8800gt for this is because my girlfriend has been dying for a video card and her birthday is coming up. I figured that since my 8800gt is new and she hasn't seen it, I could give it to her new in box and take this GTX for myself. However if it's as you guys say and the life of the GTX will soon be coming to an end, I will probably just buy her her own 9600gt or something cheap and save for a 280 GTX for myself.

(She really just wants to be able to play Oblivion. She's got 3gb of ram and an AMD X2 5600+ but onboard video, blech.)

Reply to Peantoo

No1sFanboy wrote :

I agree.
Warranty is a key factor.
$160 would not be a bad deal if new and under warranty.

Some Companies such as XFX, off "Double-LifeTime" warranty so that if you sell the card, the other person can pick up the warranty.

------------------------------ If its good in theory but not in practice,
its not good theory.
Reply to zenmaster

Does your board support sli or crossfire? Do you plan to build a new system with support for sli or crossfire. at 160 the card is a good deal IMO but I would let the 2 above question decide whether you buy your friends 8800gtx or buy a ati 4850

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to PsyKhiqZero

girlfriend!! playing games!!!

tell her to forget about things like that and attend to your every whim like she should!!!

------------------------------ I'm a git, deal with it.

Antec 1200,PC Power & Cooling 750,Gigabyte DS4-x48,Intel Q9550@3.4 W/Xigmatek S1283,8GB OCZ DDR2 800,ATI 4870X2,X-FI>CA 640C amp>Tannoy R300/Senn 595's
Reply to strangestranger

PsyKhiqZero wrote :

As I said in my above post, I cannot do Sli since I only have one 16x slot. I've never been a hardcore enough gamer to feel that the 50% gain of another card was worth the cost, so SLi isn't really important to me. I just want one card that will be able to handle future games. If this means buying mygirlfriend a cheaper 9600gt and just upgrading later, that's fine too.

Reply to Peantoo

At 160 it's an amazing deal.

------------------------------ Needs a job...
Reply to romulus47plus1

Oh boy.... I guess that is one thing that I am happy about with BFG. Don't they have a lifetime warranty on their cards? If so, is that a lifetime of the card, or of me?

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ And on the third day, God created the Remington bolt-action rifle, so that Man could fight the dinosaurs. And the homosexuals.
Reply to spaztic7

spaztic7 wrote :

Oh boy.... I guess that is one thing that I am happy about with BFG. Don't they have a lifetime warranty on their cards? If so, is that a lifetime of the card, or of me?

I remember being told "Lifetime warranty - when the product dies its lifetime is over "

I wonder if scotch would still replace an old VHS tape that had lost its quality "rerecord not fade away"

Reply to dtq

Do not do it.

It isn't worth it at that price. At $100 the picture changes, but right now with price pressure from both nvidia and ATI, you need only wait a little and pick up a HD4850.

The HD4850 is quicker than the 8800GTX by a decent margin, especially at higher resolutions (and this is before driver updates that are already appearing).

Reply to NarwhaleAu

Don't bother saving for a GTX280.

The 4870 comes very close (beating the GTX260) for less than half the price.

I'd give the 8800GT to the girlfriend and buy a HD4870 when they come out.

Reply to NarwhaleAu

You won't get a huge boost over your 8800GT, that said, Spending $40 more than a 9600GT and buying the 8800GTX will give her a better card and you an upgrade too.

If you do go the cheaper card route, I'd consider the 8800GS also. It's pretty close to the 9600GT oveall, and cheaper:

$80 AR quieter model
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130332

$100AR free COD4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150295

Reply to pauldh

8800GTX is a solid card
It manage to beat a 9800GTX in high resolutions and when u enable AA and AF. It wins because its 384bit and has 768MB memory

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

Since my budget tops out at around 150, I think I'm going to go with the cheaper card option. I'm sure that when I'm ready to buy the new Radeons, not the 260 GTXs, there will still be buyers for the 8800 GT since it's such a great card. Also, I have to consider the fact that if I went with the GT for her and the GTX for me, we would both need bigger power supplies, so that would add anywhere from an extra 100 to 200 to the total.

Reply to Peantoo

Also, to pauldh, what about the radeon 3850? There is one on Newegg that is $99 after rebate, so would that be an option?

Reply to Peantoo

Sure the 3850 is an option. It's a solid card, but the $80 8800GS will generally beat it by a bit and even run with the HD3870. You could have an 8800GS bundled with COD4 for the same price and get >= performance vs the HD3850.

Word of caution on the XFX 8800GS, the fan runs 100% all the time. Without modifying it's fan to run on lower voltage, it's somewhat loud. The evga has a variable speed fan and is quieter. The reference HD3850 is quiet too.

If I were looking at a radeon for that price range, I'd consider $30 more for the iceQ HD3870, espeically if you don't own the Valve Orange box. You get a faster card, better cooler, and HL2 ep.2, Portal, and TF2. You can also grab an 8800GT 512MB for about this price though (Asus on newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161218

Message edited by pauldh on 06-24-2008 at 09:29:05 PM

Reply to pauldh

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