8800GT vs 8600GT

[abhijith]

I went to a nearby shop to get myself a new graphics card. And he says he only has the XFX 8600GT, 512MB DDR3 or the XFX 8800GT Alpha Dog Edition, 512MB DDR3. I know the 8800GT is better. But is it worth the price difference? I have to pay 100$ extra for the 8800GT. I have a 450W power supply and the guy at the shop says you need to upgrade the power supply to run the 8800GT properly. Do I need to upgrade it? My power supply came with the case. The price difference is including the price of the new power supply. Please HELP!!!

 

[Maziar]

8800GT is even faster than 2x8600GTs in SLI,its completely worth it.

 

[daskrabbe]

There is alot of bad psu advice out there. You do not need to upgrade your psu. A 450 watt psu can run any single gpu card.

If you want to play modern games, you'll need the 8800gt.

 

[checkout]

take a look at this site as well, i found this one pretty accurate.
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[daskrabbe]

take a look at this site as well, i found this one pretty accurate.
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

How have you tested its accuracy?

 

[checkout]

How have you tested its accuracy?

i had a 250 watt power supply and according to that site i should be able to run my system at 208 watt. the box of my graphic card said i needed 450 watt, but i installed it on the 250 watt and it ran no problems.

 

[leigh76]

There should seriously be a law about current PSU advice/advertising.

Wattage is far far far far far LESS important than AMPERAGE!!!!!

Example you could have a 550w PSU but if it only kicks out 18 amps on the +12 rail its sh!t.
Whereas you could have a 400w PSU that gives you 36 amps and this would run a 8800gt perfectly well.

The packaging on my BFG 8800gt ocX (default clock 700MHz Memory 1000MHz Shader 1728 MHz) states........
"425W PCI Express complient system power supply with a combined 12v current rating of 28A or more"

So if you had a 450w psu with 2 x 12v rails at 18Amps each..........your good to go.

Personally I would reccomend a single rail PSU with a large amperage. (750w 60a, something like that)

Please dont underestimate how important a good quality PSU is.

I run SLI 8800gt's on a PC Power & Cooling 750w Silencer, nice PSU.

 

[leigh76]

PS all of those wattage calculators are rubbish unless you can find one that also lists the amps (doubtfull)

http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/486/trl_1.gif theres a little comparison

 

[shabaa]

Agreed, It IS all about the amperage as amperage is the true ability of the PSU to do "work" Just as you could get shocked by a million volts and not suffer from it.... but @ 1 amp you would be dead. Under amping a system will probably cause the PSU to fail and possibly damage other components as well.....

 

[jay2tall]

^ I was just going to ask for the Specs on the PSU.

If your 450W PSU has at least 26A on the 12V rails you will be ok. This is the requirement for the 8800gt.

I had a 400W that came with a case SEVERAL years ago. I think it has like 12A or something like that. It toasted after a year, gladly it didn't take anything with it.

There are 450W PSU's and there are 450W PSU's

 

[abhijith]

So should I tell the guy to first let me use the 8800GT with my 450W PSU and then if there is any problem then change the power supply? Also what is the difference between the regular 8800GT and the Alpha Dog Edition?

Also the utility on extreme.outervision.com says that I need a 461W power supply.

 

[jay2tall]

I would first pop the top off you case and tell us what it says for the 12v rials.

XFX branded their 8800GT's the Alpha Dog. It's just marketing. I think the only one XFX card that holds a non alphadog and alphadog distinction is the 8800GTS. Because they made the 8800GTS 320 and 640, but then used the 65nm chips again in the 8800GTS 512 version and branded it Alphadog.

 

[abhijith]

The PSU says that the yellow colour wire has 12VDC, is that what you meant? If so then it has 25amps. Also I dont think that I have a 6 pin power connector. But I have 3 free molexes

 

[jay2tall]

It would be printed in the side of the PSU.. it would look somethign like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.aspx?CurImage=17-152-032-04.jpg&Image=17-152-032-09.jpg%2c17-152-032-03.jpg%2c17-152-032-04.jpg%2c17-152-032-05.jpg%2c17-152-032-06.jpg%2c17-152-032-07.jpg%2c17-152-032-08.jpg%2c17-152-032-02.jpg&S7ImageFlag=0&WaterMark=1&Item=N82E16817152032&Depa=0&Description=RAIDMAX%20RX-450K%20450W%20Power%20Supply

We want the +12V specs

25A might be ok for an 8800GT. what does the rest of your system look like? PSU, # of HD's and opticals, etc?

 

[abhijith]

It does say +12VDC Sorry.... and I have one 250GB HDD, a 9550 AMD Quad Core not overclocked, 2GB RAM one DVD writer and a 22" monitor.

 

[DiscoDuck]

The alpha dog 8800gt I got has a fan that cannot be speed regulated, its only a 2 wire fan. XFX will send a new fan for free but Im lazy and dont might the loud fan.

 

[Guest]

Did you say $100 more for the 8800GT on top of the price of the 8600GT?

8800GTs arent being sold anymore, but they were last being sold for about $120. The 9800GT is EXACTLY the same as the 8800GT and costs about $100-$120 for it.

If the guy tries charging you over $150 for an 8800GT you need to slap him in his mouth, tell him to go pound sand then go to Newegg.

 

[wingmaster]

I wouldn't mind if mine ran at a constant speed as I have to turn up the fan speed anyway to keep it as cool as I want and where it probably should be at anyway. though I only turn it up to 75% fan speed but got pretty good cooling in the case.

 

[daskrabbe]

Personally I would reccomend a single rail PSU with a large amperage. (750w 60a, something like that)

Please dont underestimate how important a good quality PSU is.

I run SLI 8800gt's on a PC Power & Cooling 750w Silencer, nice PSU.

And don't overestimate it, either. He should not get a 750w psu, it will be inefficient, a waste of money and time and just plain unnessesary.

I dare you to find a 450w psu that is unable to run a 8800gt (and don't just point to the extreme overestimates that are on a 8800gt package).

@deuce271
Depends where in the world he lives.

 

[daskrabbe]

Read http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-radeon-power,2122-6.html

And then look down at your unnessesarily large e-penis and weep.

 

[B-Unit]

Did you say $100 more for the 8800GT on top of the price of the 8600GT?

8800GTs arent being sold anymore, but they were last being sold for about $120. The 9800GT is EXACTLY the same as the 8800GT and costs about $100-$120 for it.

If the guy tries charging you over $150 for an 8800GT you need to slap him in his mouth, tell him to go pound sand then go to Newegg.

+1, anything more than $150 for the 8800GT is total rape. If you can do your own install, look to newegg.com for a much better deal.

 

[ir_efrem]

I ran my 9800GT - MSI factory overclocked on a 400w power supply. The 9800gt is the same exact card as the 8800gt.

My 12v ratings were dual rail 14 amp on each.

Do yourself a favor and goto newegg.com and buy a 9800gt or 8800gt, which ever is cheaper. I seriously doubt that you will have a problem with your current power supply.

If you want to spend $150, get an Radeon 4850

 

[rodney_ws]

Why are you looking at an 8800GT in 2009? That's yester-tech.

 

[average joe]

You are being over charged.

a year or more ago I purchased an 8800gt 512mb Factory Overclocked edition for about $110 after rebate.

Here's the breakdown:

an 8600gt is a terrible card almost worthless in relation to its neighbors.

a 9600gt is a decent card. way better than an 8600gt. nvidia improved it to compete better with ATI

A 9600 gt is way better than an 8600gt. Because Nvidia knew the 8600gt was awful and no one would buy it.

A 9800gt is the same card as an 8800gt with a new sticker on it.

A great ATI card is the 4830 it retails for $99 much faster than the 9800gt.

A 4850 is way better than all of them and prices start at $130

4850 seems to be in your budget

 

[leigh76]

And don't overestimate it, either. He should not get a 750w psu, it will be inefficient, a waste of money and time and just plain unnessesary.

I dare you to find a 450w psu that is unable to run a 8800gt (and don't just point to the extreme overestimates that are on a 8800gt package).

Incorrect.

if you run a 750 PSU like mine with ...say...550w of clobber the EFFICIENCY is aroung 86% or something.
As for overinflated blah blah etc, what about future upgrades? what about build quality?

And my 750w Silencer only cost £90 including shipping and VAT.

Looking at my e-penis right now............. its still small thanks

However if the amperage is enough, indeed, he has no reason to upgrade.
This always happens when ppl dont reveal their system specs in opening post