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So I currently have a 2.8 gig dual core Dell XPS with 2 gigs of RAM running XP. I have a nvidia 6600 and I am looking to upgrade here. I was just about to grab the 8800gt on the Dell site when I noticed they had just put up the 9800gtx for $20 more. I have been trying to compare these two cards but not getting much luck. It seems a lot of people do not like the 9 series for whatever reason. Any suggestions?
The 9800gtx is a good card, but be careful not to pay over the odds for it - nVidia have recently dropped the price by about a third so make sure this is passed on to you. To buy it independantly you should pay no more than £120 inclusive, as the superior ATI 4850 is only £125 and heading downwards slowly.
The 8800gt isn't any slower now than it was 6 months ago, and is still a very fast card indeed, but you shouldn't be paying more than about £80 for it simply because of the increase in performance of the newer cards.
Depending on the kind of gaming resolution you like to play at will help you decide your needs vs your budget. 8800GTS 512MB I have been told is a good match for 24inch w/s monitors at 1920x1200 resolution. I'm pretty sure the 8800 GT is also good for this screen size.
The choices Kalniel gave are spot on. Shop around and you may find 8800 GTX / Ultras for cheap or maybe even cheap 2nd hand 9800 GX2s (if you are inclined to spend along time window shopping and haggling).
The main reason people disliked the 9 series was that (well certainly in my case after reading performance reviews) the 9 series is a re-hash of the 8800 G92 and then Nvidia charging a premium for it.
Is ATI Very far ahead of Nvidia these days? Is the newer ATI cards far superior? I ask because i have not kept up with graphics for ages
Well its even now... Roughly speaking, 4850 = 9800gtx, 4870 is only slightly behind gtx280... Nvidia do cards in the middle too (9800gtx+ and gtx260. although not appropriately priced yet), ATI don'tQuote:
Originally Posted by Koolpc
worth remembering though that nVideas offerings cost
260 ~£210+
280 ~£325+
While ATi's HD 4870 is available from ~£175
I know which I would go for!
I thought the ATI 4870 was closer in competition to the GTX 260, with the mighty GTX 280 towering over them all. That's the impression I got from the benchmarks I've read, anyways... :D
Pop on Scan and there is a 9800GTX for around £120 pre order, although you can get a 4850 for around £120 as well. Cant go wrong with either.
I had a 9800 GTX and while its a great card it isn't that much better than a 512 GTS.
The 4850 is a much better buy and with some easy pencil volt mods can out perform a stock 4870.