Which 8800?

[SuicidaL]

going to be selling my trusty X1800XT and thinking of a change to an 8800, now can't afford a gtx so looking at a 320mb gts for now. my one question is which of these 2 would you recommend and why.

This

or

This

[Colossous]

They're both the same cards generically and they both have manufacturers lifetime guarentee so the BFG will save you a few quid !!

[DataMatrix]

If you have a big monitor you can forget about AA and High Resolutions with only 320MB of GPU memory.

[frazered]

op has a 17" crt so 320mb will be loads plenty - some say the 320mb *may* struggle at 24" resolutions

however it will be largley dependent on the game

Hexus has done some benchmarks at high resolutions which may help as they don't really show any significant perfomance improvement going from 320mb to 640mb

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=8824

they are on slightly older titles though so thinking of the future you may want to consider a 640mb for longevity - but if you are sticking with the crt then I think the 320mb card will be fine for a long time

[Blitzen]

If you have a big monitor you can forget about AA and High Resolutions with only 320MB of GPU memory.

ANYTHING under 21" and you will see NO difference.
In fact, under 21", on occasssion the 320mb version performs better.

I have the 320mb Superclocked version and its fantastic.

[StaffsKieran]

ANYTHING under 21" and you will see NO difference.
In fact, under 21", on occasssion the 320mb version performs better.

I have the 320mb Superclocked version and its fantastic.

But that depends on the game as the 320mb version struggles to run the highest quality textures on games like ghost recon : advanced warfighter as it simply doesnt have enough memory otherwise there is no real difference. I personally went with the BFG 640mb OC2.

[DataMatrix]

ANYTHING under 21" and you will see NO difference.
In fact, under 21", on occasssion the 320mb version performs better.

I have the 320mb Superclocked version and its fantastic.

I never said it didn't... I only let him know if he gets a bigger monitor...

[frazered]

I never said it didn't... I only let him know if he gets a bigger monitor...

if you have a big monitor you can forget about AA and High Resolutions with only 320MB of GPU memory.

your post was however a bit of a sweeping statement

[jamena]

sounds like the 640mb version is probably only really worth it over the 320 if:
1) you plan to run games at over 1600x res on a large TFT/LCD
2) you really really have a hankering to run games-that-can have uncompressed (or at least massively detailed/numerous) textures

even then, taking figures from that HeXuS review linked earlier there seems little point as the 320mb is still pumping out well over 60fps in most of those games, which is all you'd need for a TFT really, and on a CRT I doubt the usefulness of going even as high as 1600x unless you've got a very pin-sharp HQ CRT monitor. Looks like SC:CT (supreme commander?) thumps the card a little under the 60fps barrier but it's still pushing out a pretty decent 45-60 even at 1920x.

320mb gets my vote ...unless you can find a 640mb version that is not significantly more expensive! At some point you might find yourself having to run games with reduced textures (though I'd bet that "reduced" in this case will basically be "only-just-short-of-perfect" anyway )



--> Set yourself a budget and if it encompasses a 640mb version without compromising something else that you want/need then it might just be a plan to hedge your bets and get the 640mb version

[5aboy]

if i was you, id wait and get the cash for 8800gtx - simply astounding. i had never seen such great graphics at such high resolutions with the latest games!

[crazy]

I would go for the evga one though, if you've actually read BFG warranty policies, they have a lot of conditions on whether they'll accept the rma or not (they wont take if you've overclocked it and messed it up or if you messed it up while installing etc)
so I would go for the evga one

[Blitzen]

if i was you, id wait and get the cash for 8800gtx - simply astounding. i had never seen such great graphics at such high resolutions with the latest games!

WHich has absolutely nothing to do with what the origianl poster asked btw

[Pob255]

Ok lets list the key point of thoes two cards.

Both:
8800gts,
320mb memory,
what appears to be stock coolers,
lifetime warranty

the BFG
50mhz faster gpu factory overclock (BFG 550mhz vs EVGA 500mhz)
£9 cheaper,
Currently out of stock at MicroDirect

the EVGA
Un-clocked so possibility of OverClocking
you get an extra 40 ipoints (if you're actually collecting them)
Currently in stock

Final choise, if you want it now (at time of writeing) then the EVGA, if you can wait then the BFG as it's slightly faster for silghtly less.

[SuicidaL]

Ok lets list the key point of thoes two cards.

Both:
8800gts,
320mb memory,
what appears to be stock coolers,
lifetime warranty

the BFG
50mhz faster gpu factory overclock (BFG 550mhz vs EVGA 500mhz)
£9 cheaper,
Currently out of stock at MicroDirect

the EVGA
Un-clocked so possibility of OverClocking
you get an extra 40 ipoints (if you're actually collecting them)
Currently in stock

Final choise, if you want it now (at time of writeing) then the EVGA, if you can wait then the BFG as it's slightly faster for silghtly less.

thats because i got the last one , just put it in now and gonna give it a run.


if i had the cash i might have gone for a gtx, but couldn't really justify the extra 100 smackers to the wife (anniversary on thursday and the meal and flowers beckons, how would i explain the asda special flowers and a kfc for dinner?)

[RRRuss]

Get the BFG one.

It's actually cheapest from PC World, using their Collect@Store service - £189.99.

I have one, using it with a 22" WS TFT, and it's ideal for my res.

[SuicidaL]

Get the BFG one.

It's actually cheapest from PC World, using their Collect@Store service - £189.99.

I have one, using it with a 22" WS TFT, and it's ideal for my res.

wouldn't touch PC(or at least thats what they think they are)World with a mile long barge pole