Calling all 8800 GTX/Ultra owners

[Richie P]

EVGA GTX ACS3 edition here.

I've no particular brand loyalty, and got this card because of a great deal I got on it. The added cooling that the ACS3 version gives is nice, and definitely helps lower temperatures, even if I can't quantify that statement.

Some parts will be speed binned within the companies themselves, but it's right that they're all off the same production line.

I've never had a great 'feeling' off XFX products...not sure why, just one of those things.

EVGA or BFG if I had to choose.

HTH

[Pie_uk]

scan edition for £299 is good i thought

[crazy]

thanks people
now another question GTX or Ultra

[acrobat]

Ultra if you can afford it. GTX if you can't

What CPU do you have? That might be able to help you make a better decision. Because, I know that my E6600 for example, bottlenecks my 8800GTX. I think to really reach the full potential of the GTX, I would need to overclock this quite a lot.

So if you had a CPU much slower than that, then anything more than a GTX might be a waste. But if you had a Q6600 or something, and planned on overclocking, then the Ultra would be nice

Price usually determines these things for me though. Theres about a £100 difference between the two, and the GTX itself is already pretty expensive... So personally, I wouldn't want to pay that unless I was really serious about my gaming.

[crazy]

q6600

[acrobat]

Hmm.. That chip is really nice. Do you plan on ever overclocking it? If so, I personally would definitely consider stretching to the Ultra. If you don't want to overclock though, then just get the plain GTX.

But like I said, price might be the most important thing. I had to bite my lip when I was spending over £300 odd quids on a graphics card The thought of spending more like £400 quids might cause me to bite my lip off =P But thats up to you and what you can afford.

Either way though, you will be happy. Because they are both good cards.

[aidanjt]

The Ultra is a newer revision chip btw, it uses >10% less power than the GTX clock for clock.

[DratUK]

I presume your also changing the monitor you have from 20 inch monitor to a 24+.

Personally I do not see the point in lashing out that sort of cash on an Ultra or GTX when a 640mb or 320 GTS will do the job just as well with the monitor you have. Or get the 512Mb GT on its release next month.

The 8900 will be hopefully here in Spring in which case if games that you wish to play then are stressing your system then do a major upgrade then inc a 24 inch or greater monitor.

My opinion I know, but nearly all the test sites show a 320 will cope more than easily with decent frame rates.

However your money and I know that temtation to go for the best

[WannaPiEcE]

Personally I don't see the point in the 'step up' program. Either you buy the card you need, or you don't. You shouldn't need to upgrade your card within 3 months of purchase.

Agreed, and waiting 3 weeks for it to process is a turn-off aswell

[acrobat]

Personally I do not see the point in lashing out that sort of cash on an Ultra or GTX when a 640mb or 320 GTS will do the job just as well with the monitor you have.

I'm not sure thats entirely true or not. I play everything at 1680x1050, and there are a few games that bring my 8800GTX and E6600 combo to its knees. And these are both games that have been out for 6 months or more.. I think when the likes of Crysis and modern games start showing up, people will need all the power they can get.

I'm not sure if having a smaller monitor exempts people from that, but I doubt it. The increased RAM is one thing, but they also have much faster clock speeds, so that will help the card, no matter what resolution its displaying stuff at.

Or get the 512Mb GT on its release next month.

The 8900 will be hopefully here in Spring in which case if games that you wish to play then are stressing your system then do a major upgrade then inc a 24 inch or greater monitor.

My opinion I know, but nearly all the test sites show a 320 will cope more than easily with decent frame rates.

However your money and I know that temtation to go for the best

That might be worthwhile though. I don't know anything about it, but usually when new stuff is released, the older stuff gets a price shift. So not only might the GT card be more suitable, but the Ultra might drop in price a bit too. You can end up waiting forever with stuff like this, but if something is about to change in just a month or so, then its often worth waiting.

[crazy]

thanks for the responses
another question

is it worth spending £££ on an overclocked card
e.g. will the XFX 8800gtx XXX provide any better performance than a stock GTX?

[V|per]

It will provide a performance boost, but i wouldn't say it was woth the extra cash, just buy a standard one and clock it your self, that way, you get a free performance boost

[Izmunuti]

I've got the BFG 8800GTX OC2 here: very much worth the money. It's not so pronounced now but when I got it it was the second or third cheapest GTX (including stock versions) and up to £100 cheaper than similar specced models.

[V|per]

i had the bfg 8800GTX oc2, was a great card, especially for the price at the time, they definately were cheaper than a lot of others, i would still have it now if i wasn't offered an EVGA 88ultra superclocked for £380, including an EK waterblock.. sold my oc2 for £310, and the waterblock that came with it is still up for sale, is the danger den block, so should quite easily make £50 (as it's nearly double that new...)

Both stonking cards

[acrobat]

Where did you sell your card V|per???

Ebay?

[DevilMayCry42]

EVGA has a lifetime warranty covering overclocking as long as you REGISTER it and do not physically damage the board (my GTX is an EVGA)


(Sorry, posted after reading only the first page)