Nvidia Geforce 9800 GT upgrade?

[leviwilner]

Hi All,
My 9800 is going bad. I need to replace it with something comparable. Any suggestions?

Thanks!!

 

[leviwilner]

Also wondering if it is worth it to contact Customer Service @EVGA? Will they give a discount if it was registered, etc.?

 

[leviwilner]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: this week

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming: SKyrim to watching movies online

CURRENT GPU: EVGA 01G-P3-N972-TR GeForce 9800 GT 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP

POWER SUPPLY: 500w ocz

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Asus p5q se plus mobo

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg & Ebay

PARTS PREFERENCES: Maybe I'd like something with an HDMI?

OVERCLOCKING: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200 (47" LG TV)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Need better cooling I think

 

[Regor245]

Budget?

 

[leviwilner]

No more than $150 but equal or better performance. (I got the 9800 for free)

 

[hodgempls]

Try one of these:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/3d-accelerator-card-reviews,42-7.html

 

[4745454b]

eVGA has a lifetime warranty on many of their cards. If you trade it in you might get a GT640. Worth a shot to find out.

If you have $150 I'd look for a 6850/70. Only Nvidia card in that price range is the GTX550 which performs more like the 6770. You can see if there is a GTX560, not sure if they down that low.

 

[Supermuncher85]

Use this as a reference point:Best graphic cards for the money http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

For $150 you can get both an nvidia gtx 560 or a 6870 both after rebate on newegg. There are quite a few deals and chances are you are going to pick one depending on what extras they come with. Meaning free games, warranties, mail in rebate details and so on.

I can't do a direct link to the search results but just select video cards, go to power search options and select 6870/560 or any other cards similar and you will find quite a few.

 

[CaedenV]

@hodgempls
lol, ya that would do the trick!

@leviwilner
as a general rule of thumb you get the performance you pay for, especially in the low to mid range cards. Some cards will do better with some applications, while other cards do better in others, it kinda depends on what you are doing.
A 9800gt currently goes for $60 ($50 after rebate right now on newegg), so anything in that $60-75 range is going to get you similar performance to what you are acustomed to.
Generally speaking, look online at the cards in your budget, and buy the one that is the most modern which fits in your budget from a manufacturer you trust. It may not be the fastest card available in the price range, but it is more likely to benefit from future driver updates, and more likely to choke less on newer games that take advantage of newer instruction sets.

Right now your best bet is likely a 7770 GHz Edition card from Sapphire or ASUS

 

[leviwilner]

A 9800gt currently goes for $60 ($50 after rebate right now on newegg), so anything in that $60-75 range is going to get you similar performance to what you are acustomed to.S

Whoah! Seriously! It was worth $350 back in the day!!


Thx for all the advice!
So basically anything that I am going to get for $100+ will have better performance than what I currently have??!?!

 

[mubin]

Also keep in mind about your cpu. If it is old core 2 duo, then replacing 9800gt will not help you in most of the game.

 

[jtenorj]

Whoah! Seriously! It was worth $350 back in the day!!

I think you're thinking of 9800gtx(+), not 9800gt

So basically anything that I am going to get for $100+ will have better performance than what I currently have??!?!

Not exactly. Something like an HD6750 or 7750 wouldn't be much of an upgrade for you.

If you are concerned about thermals, get a dual slot card with a blower fan that vents
hot air out the back of your case.

Some of the best options in your price range right now are HD7770 and gtx550ti.
This is whether you are in Canada or the US. (based on prices at Newegg)

The gtx550ti is about the same tdp as 9800gt, HD7770 is much lower. Not that you should
be concerned about that with your 500w ocz psu, though.

I know you said you were not overclocking. Both of these video cards can be OCed by a
fair amount to get you more performance for free(the 7770 more so than gtx550ti).

Your mobo is good at overclocking. Depending on your processor and ram you may be
able to overclock your cpu. You could maybe do some with a stock intel cooler, or use
some money left over from buying a HD7770 or gtx550ti well under 150 and get a
decent aftermarket cpu cooler like a hyper 212 +/evo. You definitely don't want your
cpu to bottleneck a new gpu.

Also, you really should check in with EVGA to see if maybe they will give you a replacement
graphics card free of charge. I think that based on the model and the timeframe it was
prevalent it may well have a lifetime warranty if you registered it in a timely fashion.

 

[4745454b]

Seeing as you asked about cards. There is a slim chance they will give you another 8800GT which is fine of course. They might offer a GTS250/450. These are both slightly faster then your card so great if they do. There is also a chance you'll get a GT640 from the current gen. This is similar to your 8800GT so no worries there. Be upset if they offer a GT240 as that is a card similar to the slower 9600GT.

 

[CaedenV]

Whoah! Seriously! It was worth $350 back in the day!!


Thx for all the advice!
So basically anything that I am going to get for $100+ will have better performance than what I currently have??!?!

lol the day of the 9800GT was a long time ago. I had one for a few years, and it was awesome, but it does not hold a candle to today's low-mid-range cards.

As the others mentioned, you will not get the full potential of a current gen $150 card because your system will bottleneck the card and hold it back from it's full potential. I am still a firm believer in getting the best card you can though because it will still be a clear step forward from the 9800GT, and you will be able to unlock the extra performance if you upgrade your system down the road.

If the lower end nvidia 600 series cards were out (like the 650 and 660) then I would suggest buying those, but as it is currently AMD is the only serious player in the $100-200 market, so you will definitely want to pick one of those up.

 

[CaedenV]

... you could always pick up a new 9800GT for $50 and then start saving up for a system overhaul. Even an i3 based system would be ~2-3x faster than your current C2Duo/C2Quad rig, and parts are pretty cheap these days.