8400GS vs 9800 Pro - opinions please!

[nibbler]

my 8400 gs (G96) is good for cod4 at 1920 x 1080 (low details obviously )

[Terbinator]

my 8400 gs (G96) is good for cod4 at 1920 x 1080 (low details obviously )

Thats proably more down to your massive OC.

[DanceswithUnix]

Actually, I strongly suspect that my 8400GS is the newer, G98 version with 8 higher clocked shaders. That'd make it about one quarter of an 8600GTS, which is considerably slower than a 7900GS, let alone a GTO.

Considering that in real terms I'm going from a Radeon 9800Pro to a 7900GTO, I don't think I will be dissappointed

Apologies, having looked up some benchies I remembered the 9800Pro with rosier glasses than it deserved, so you are right that 9800Pro to 7900GTO is a significant improvement

However, the 7900 series are only good on very old games, if you run a more modern game that is shader heavy then things start to look like this:
8600GTS vs 7950

If you can get the 7900GTO for a tenner and no postage and packing then I guess it is a good deal, otherwise I would honestly keep saving and get something more up to date.

[nibbler]

Thats proably more down to your massive OC.

Actually that was on my old dual core athlon @ 3.1 ghz

[Pob255]

my 8400 gs (G96) is good for cod4 at 1920 x 1080 (low details obviously )

The 8400GS is based on the G86 gpu, the same one used in the 8500GT, only difference is it has half the memory bandwidth.


You might be thinking of the 8800GS or 9600GSO which where based on the G92.

Here's a review compairing the 8400gs with a x1600pro and a 7300gt (both much weaker than a 7900gs let alone a 7900GTO)
http://www.digital-daily.com/video/h...s_8400gs/print

Here's a review of the 8500GT 256mb version
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/452/1
which puts it behind even the 7600GT

The 8500gt was a pritty poor card, the one thing it did have going for it was video encodeing/decodeing For which it actually beat both the 8600gt and even the 8800gts 320mb (G80)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The 8400GS had two versions based on two different chips!! The first version was based on the G86 whereas the second version was based on the G98 chip. The second version of the 8400GS was better for media use and had lower power consumption but had lower 3D performance since it only had 8 stream processors whereas the first version had 16.

As usual Nvidia has a very clear naming scheme....not!!

[DanceswithUnix]

The 8400GS is based on the G86 gpu, the same one used in the 8500GT, only difference is it has half the memory bandwidth.


You might be thinking of the 8800GS or 9600GSO which where based on the G92.

Here's a review compairing the 8400gs with a x1600pro and a 7300gt (both much weaker than a 7900gs let alone a 7900GTO)
http://www.digital-daily.com/video/h...s_8400gs/print

Here's a review of the 8500GT 256mb version
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/452/1
which puts it behind even the 7600GT

The 8500gt was a pritty poor card, the one thing it did have going for it was video encodeing/decodeing For which it actually beat both the 8600gt and even the 8800gts 320mb (G80)

I don't think those cards were ever intended for proper gaming. To exchange blows with a 7900GT(X/O) you would need at least a 37 quid 9500GT, to soundly beat it in all situations the 50% more shaders in a GT220 should do it for about £43.

[nibbler]

Actually that was a typo I meant 86

[scaryjim]

None of which changes the fact that the comparison I was making was between a G98 8400GS (8 Shaders) and a Radeon 9800Pro 128MB - If I'd wanted input on what new card would be a better than a 7900GTO I'd've asked that question!

Bottom line is that my budget will not realistically increase above £30 for this purchase (any other money I save will go towards other expenses), and at that point, afaict, a second hand 7900 is about as good as I could hope to pick up

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I assume that the 8400GS is an AGP card and not the PCI-E version??

[scaryjim]

Gaah! Read the whole thread!

Sorry, my OP wasn't clear. I have a new (well, new to me, out of used components!) PC I am building to replace the existing XP machine, which I intend to eventually kit out with one or two 7800 / 7900s. None of the games I currently play are CPU bottlenecked on the old machine: the question is whether the new machine with an 8400GS should be better than the old machine with a 9800 Pro, assuming all other components are roughly equivalent.

So it's not *just* a change of graphics card - but the rest of the new PCI-e system will be similar in performance to the old one. The question was to help me decide whether it's worth the effort to build the new machine now, or whether I'd be better waiting until I get a higher spec graphics card like a 7900GTO. The general opinion seems to be that the performance of the new machine with an 8400GS would be at least as good as the old one with a 9800Pro.

Of course, now I've sourced a 7900GTO it remains all moot, because I might as well wait until that card turns up. Interestingly meandering thread though - never thought I'd stir up this much debate from what looked like a relatively straightforward question!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Gaah! Read the whole thread!



So it's not *just* a change of graphics card - but the rest of the new PCI-e system will be similar in performance to the old one. The question was to help me decide whether it's worth the effort to build the new machine now, or whether I'd be better waiting until I get a higher spec graphics card like a 7900GTO. The general opinion seems to be that the performance of the new machine with an 8400GS would be at least as good as the old one with a 9800Pro.

Of course, now I've sourced a 7900GTO it remains all moot, because I might as well wait until that card turns up. Interestingly meandering thread though - never thought I'd stir up this much debate from what looked like a relatively straightforward question!

Is that a yes or a no then??

[scaryjim]

Is that a yes or a no then??

Lol - both

I don't think you can get an AGP 8400GS can you? I know there's a PCI version available, but I thought NVidia ditched AGP support from the 8-series onwards?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Lol - both

I don't think you can get an AGP 8400GS can you? I know there's a PCI version available, but I thought NVidia ditched AGP support from the 8-series onwards?

You are probably right!! For some reason I though there was an AGP 8400GS!

At least there is an AGP HD4670 GDDR3!

[DanceswithUnix]

Of course, now I've sourced a 7900GTO it remains all moot, because I might as well wait until that card turns up. Interestingly meandering thread though - never thought I'd stir up this much debate from what looked like a relatively straightforward question!

Oh your question was straightforward enough, it was your throwaway comment on the 7900 that snared us

If you got a GTO within your 30 quid budget then that is great. A quick look on ebay showed the slower 7900GT cards with people asking upwards of £45. Crazy money!

[scaryjim]

Oh your question was straightforward enough, it was your throwaway comment on the 7900 that snared us

Yeah, I'm tricksy like that

If you got a GTO within your 30 quid budget then that is great.

Hurrah for the For Sale / Wanted forums

A quick look on ebay showed the slower 7900GT cards with people asking upwards of £45. Crazy money!

I actually managed to ebay "win" (woo, I'm a winner ) a 7900GT for £18 inclusive before Christmas, but when it arrived it was faulty. Still, the vendor was very reasonable about accepting a return...