Best video card on the market?

[cuse]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking to upgrade my existing system (I will be posting in another section of the forums later/tomorrow about that), and I am looking for a serious upgrade from my eVGA Geforce 7900GTX 512MB card. I've read a few of the more recent threads here in this section about video cards and it left me more confused than anything else.

How does the 8800Ultra compare to the 9800 series? Do I really need SLI or will one outstanding video card due the trick? I'm looking for gorgeous graphics and excellent framerates.

Thanks for your advice/opinions! :)

[Heartborne]

I'll give you a rundown on the whole video card conundrum.

The 9800 gx2 is currently the best card on the market. It's got 2 gpus as opposed to one and effectively doubles your video performance. The current 3Dmark06 record is held by an individual using a 9800 gx2.

Otherwise, the 9 series is basically just the 8 series chip with more pipelines and shaders added, which is why the 9 series cards are for the most part cheaper.

There are plenty of benchmarks out there, in particular there is a "video card roundup" at Tom's Hardware. I'd get a url for you, but I have to be out the door in about three minutes.

Anyway, in terms of nvidia cards, coming up behind the 9800 gx2 is the 8800 ultra, which has 768 mb of vram and uses the same gpu as the 9 series. The 9800 gtx follows close behind that, a step above the 8800 gtx. They are more or less the same card, the 9800 gtx just has, as I said, more pixel shaders and pipelines and a higher voltage rating.

Coming in just below the 8800 gtx is the 8800 gt, currently the best video card for the money. If you don't want to shell out $600 for a gx2 or $400 for a 9800 gtx, this is the best way to go. At under $200 the 8800 gt will fit the bill for any gaming needs you have.

If you want to get an inferior video card for the same price just so you can feel like you're ahead when you're really not, you can get the 9600 gt for about the same price as the 8800 gt... but you're not going to get as much performance.

Below that we dip into the "gs" and the new "gso" suffixes, which are basically not really gaming cards at all and aren't worth your time investigating.

As always, ATI's cards are all a step behind their nvidia counterparts and only good marketing is keeping them in business at this point, since their products just don't deliver when it comes right down to it.

So, in conclusion, the 9800 gx2 is the most powerful gaming card available today, but if you don't want to break the bank the 8800 gt is the way to go.

[Heartborne]

oh, I forgot to mention the 8800 gts... the 320 mb version is now outdated and uses an older gpu but the 512 and 640 mb versions use the g92, the same one that is in all the 9 series cards. For the price, however, it's really not worth it, since the cheaper 8800 gt usually outperforms it in benchmarks.

[cuse]

Awesome, thank you very much. I am going to look at prices on the 9800 GX2 and then also the 8800 GT. After I've got the rest of the system worked out, I'll see if I have enough money left over (for this project) to go for the 9800 GX2 over the 8800 GT.

Thanks again!

[Heartborne]

The 9800 gx2 retails for $599.99, but I'm sure you can find it a little cheaper if you dig.
The 8800 GT retails for around $239.99 but you can find it online for as little as $129.99.

I used EVGA's msrp for the retail price. The 129.99 price I found on pricegrabber.com.
At that price, you can SLI them! :) You would need a SLI capable motherboard, of course. For $280 you can have an SLI setup that will beat the gx2 or come damned close. Search for the benchmarks.

[cuse]

Why do some people seem to be against SLI? Are there issues with it?

[Heartborne]

Some users have experienced issues with SLI. Some games don't scale well, and some users have reported scrolling lines or artifacts. It seems to depend who you ask though; some people say SLI works 100% well 100% of the time if your hardware is up to speed, i.e. the psu and memory.

[cuse]

Interesting. Well I'm going to have at least a 1KW power supply (for a quad-core processor with 4GB of quality RAM), so that should be powerful enough to handle dual graphics cards. Maybe I'll get something even more powerful just in case.

[Heartborne]

With that kind of setup if you want to go SLI you should be fine... I'm kind of tempted to ditch my 9800 gtx for 2 8800 512's in sli because it's actually cheaper and benchmarks higher... almost as high as the 9800 gx2.

1000w is way more than you'll EVER need for a quad-core and 4 gb of quality ram. My q6600 and 4gb of corsair are very happy with 610 watts.

[cuse]

I see that some 8800GT cards only have 256MB of RAM, some have 512MB, and some even have 1GB... which cards were you talking about (coming close to the 9800GX2 in an SLI setup)?

[Ajmukon]

512 is the best version, the 1 GB might have some issues

512 min for modern gaming.

[Heartborne]

Definitely go with the 512 mb card due to price (I found them for as low as $169.99 via pricegrabber.com) and noted performance.

[cuse]

How about this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130335

Two of those :)

I'm a bit nervous that they're going to be too big... but it looks like with the adding cooling benefits they offer they're probably worth it.

Well I guess either two of those or one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130342

EDIT: There is also the 8800GTS? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130325 -- could get two of these for about the same price.

[Heartborne]

The 2x 8800 gt setup is your best bet, but you can get the normal 512 mb 8800 gt cards for less than $200. The added cooling is nice, but as long as your case has adequate cooling I don't think you'll need it.
The 9800 gx2 would be awesome to have, but if you look at some benchmarks (tomshardware.com, legionhardware.com, etc) you'll find that 2x 8800 gt actually outperforms the 9800 gx2.

Don't bother with the gts. It's a step below the gt.

[cuse]

Thanks a lot Heartborne, I appreciate your help/input.