8600 vs 8800

[mawbzee]

I want some new graphics cards. I have BFG 680i mobo with E6300 running at 2450mhz and 2x7600gt cards in sli 3gig of 667mhz memory and a Hyper 670 watt psu.
Do i buy 2 xfx 8600 or do i buy 2 bfg 8800 cards? Which ones are best. I really dont know what to go for. I have a budget of £250 per card. My computer is used for games. Both are DX 10 cards. The 8600 are only 256mb mem but the core speeds and shader speeds are so much better than the 8800 cards. (730MHz Core Clock) (2.26GHz Memory Clock) on the xfx 8600. BFG 8800GTS OC2 640MB HDCP Enabled Dual DVI PCI Express (580MHz Core Clock) (1700MHz Memory Clock) (1350MHz Shader Clock) and this one is just over my budget. WHAT DO I DO?

[JDowdall]

8800 gts is much better but are u sure u want 2 go a sli system, they do not double graphics prformance, if i were you i would wait until the R600 ati cards come out which shud b soon

[mawbzee]

why is the 8800 better? is it cause it has more memory on the card. Is more memory better than faster speeds? I dont understand why i wouldnt want to go for sli, its got to be better than than a single card?

[Taxation]

the 8600 has been rated as "a joke"
basically less or same performance to a 7600, but has dx10 support for all those dx10 games out :roll:

8800gts is alot better and for only a small amount more than a 8600

or if you cant get that, then either get a 7950gt or a 1950pro/xt

[mawbzee]

I have decided to go for this

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spec ... BFG-GTS6O2 (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?BFG-GTS6O2)

I will get one this month and another one the following month.

Thanks for your advice i hope my choice meets your approval ( Dont forget im on a budget )[/url]

[teknokid]

why not one gtx?

[Taxation]

why not just have one 8800gts, and stay with that
i only have one 1950xt, not overclocked, and it plays games to the max easily

and you have to take into consideration that AMD/ATI are releasing a new range of cards soon.

let the price wars begin

[mawbzee]

Yeah i know what your saying. I have 2 x 7600gt cards in SLi at the moment and they play all my games on the top settings. BUT why ride a 600cc motorbike when you could be out on 1000cc. 2 has always got to be better than one. Why overclock your CPU? Why buy watercooling? The simple answer is because we can and we want to, and we love it.

[teknokid]

yep sure is, but 2 8800gts's will probs be bottlenecked by your cpu...

[teknokid]

yep sure is, but 2 8800gts's will probs be bottlenecked by your cpu...

[Taxation]

the thing is tho.
why overclock, it ruins your cpu/gpu/RAM's life span.
why have a 600cc bike when u can have a 1000cc bike?? costs are always a factor!


if i were you, i would either buy 1*8800gts or wait a few weeks for a R600XTX

[mawbzee]

Cost is always a factor. I want to get the best that i can afford. This month i have about £260 to play with for my computer so, the question is whats the best for that money. As for overclocking.... I dont beleive for a second that yours is all standard lol. My E6300 is overclocked, not by much ( 2450 mhz ) but i will upgrade this in the future, so any bottlenecks that i do get will become a thing of the past. I will try to see what i can find out about the 600 and compare it to the 8800. If its worth the wait i might just. ( I am an impatient sort of person so i might just get whats out now ) :wink:

[Taxation]

none of mine is overclocked, i can guarantee you that.
i would say get a 8800gts , what monitor resolution do you play at by the way??

[mawbzee]

I have a viewsonic 19" TFT monitor at 1440x900. I think its at 75mhz but i might be wrong with that.

I would be interested to know the specs of your system, i will take your word about the no overclocking.

[teknokid]

omg. for a screen that small a single 8800gts is overkill. an 8800gts 320mb would do. get the 320mb and a bigger screen.

[Taxation]

i got
AMD x2 3800 skt 939
dfi xfire rdx200 mobo
1950xt
3GB value RAM from various makers
320GB sataII HDD
hiper type R 580W

all stock cooling
all at stock frequencies
all run cool

[teknokid]

yeah but stock the cpuwill last, what, 10yrs, so a little overclock aint gna kill you.

[mawbzee]

In 5 years time our cpu ,gpu, **** the whole system will be out of date and the equivalent of a pentium 2. My overclocking isnt going to reduce the life to less than that. We would have all updated before things die, so lets have some fun.

[teknokid]

exactly, but i didnt go too far. only a few volt raises (1.4v) so it does last more than a few years as it'll end up in a htpc soon i hope.

[Jonny2Bad]

omg. for a screen that small a single 8800gts is overkill. an 8800gts 320mb would do. get the 320mb and a bigger screen.
Wow says the man with 1 inch more than 19" and and a gtx running it. Very qualified to talk about overkill i'd say lol!! I have a bfg 8800 gts oc 550mhz 640mb it runs my 32in screen in style for £263 it runs any game i'm playing at well over 60fps (bf2142, fear, etc). I was going to go for the gtx but as our learned friend said above slight overkill for the money and the ati r600 due any moment.

[teknokid]

yeah, but your screen is a tele, myns a crt so a higher resolution. i got the gtx because i could afford it, and im getting a 24" soon along with crysis....

[JDowdall]

ignore the small annoying person he has a phd in overkill

[teknokid]

lol, i just like pc's too much.

[djgandy]

Yeah i know what your saying. I have 2 x 7600gt cards in SLi at the moment and they play all my games on the top settings. BUT why ride a 600cc motorbike when you could be out on 1000cc. 2 has always got to be better than one. Why overclock your cpu ('http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/products/a561x1y0z1p0s0n0m0')? Why buy watercooling? The simple answer is because we can and we want to, and we love it.

Have fun wasting your money, if you buy 2 motorbikes you can't go twice as fast. Your argument would hold water if you had a clue what you are talking about :roll:

2 Ford mondeos vs a TVR...think about it.


the thing is tho.
why overclock, it ruins your*cpu ('http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/products/a561x1y0z1p0s0n0m0')/gpu/RAM's life span.
why have a 600cc bike when u can have a 1000cc bike?? costs are always a factor!


if i were you, i would either buy 1*8800gts or wait a few weeks for a R600XTX

A CPU is meant to last around 10 years, an overclock will reduce this to around 7 years. With the headroom on the C2D cpu's, overclocking isn't really a danger. E6300 oc vs X6800 stock...There's no competion, it could break after a year and you've still saved a lot of money. After 3/4 years its had it anyway, and can sit in your mums pc running at stock for the last 4 years of its life.

[teknokid]

so basically overclocking isnt noticable to lifespan.

[djgandy]

so basically overclocking isnt noticable to lifespan.

Not really. If you are the sort of person that overclocks then you are interested in technology/computers thus you will be upgrading your pc before the processor dies.

And C2D overclocking, well it's a whole different kettle of fish to overclocking as we knew it. C2D has redfined overclocking.

Before Core2Duo OC meant squeezing every last bit of your processor. If you didn't you were looking at a 5/10% increase. C2D overclocks ~50% with barely any voltage adjustments. Also temperatures are still very low.

Think of a Core2Duo as a Ferrari sold with a 120 mph limiter. All you are doing is taking the limiter off ;)
That said, if you start trying to push it really hard that's when the wear and tear will kick in.

[teknokid]

yep, intel said the chips are safe upto 1.5v, would that be with a good lifespan? this chips going into a HTPC in q4 so the OC's only short(ish) term.
atm myn goes to 3.4ghz @ 1.45v or 3.0ghz @ 1.4v. which should i use always, atm its 3ghz.
thanks, nd sorry to thread jack.

[mawbzee]

Anyway,
back to the origanal question of what GPU to get.

after all the advice from everyone i have gone out and got a BFG 8800 GTS OC2 320MB.

Yes i am going to get another one and run them in SLi.

Why ?

because i can. LOL.

:roll:

[Taxation]

getting another will be a waste tbh, but whatever floats your boat

[djgandy]

Anyway,
back to the origanal question of what GPU to get.

after all the advice from everyone i have gone out and got a BFG 8800 GTS OC2 320MB.

Yes i am going to get another one and run them in SLi.

Why ?

because i can. LOL.

:roll:

errr wtf.....

should have just bought an 8880 GTX.

[teknokid]

well obviously, that 320mb will hold you back whey b4 sli cards would.

[mawbzee]

Theres lots i should have bourght but being on a tight budget sort of messes that up a little bit.

[Taxation]

well obviously, that 320mb will hold you back whey b4 sli cards would.

320mb of gfx ram is enough, remember when the 128mb 6600gt came out, people thought it was rubbish because it " only" had 128mb , but it still performed like a beast