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Replacement for 9800GX2

Hathaway

Hathaway

Hathaway

Associate
Joined
17 Jan 2009
Posts
236
Well my EVGA nvidia 9800GX2 decided to pack in today, so I'm looking for an alternative.
Ideally I'm looking for something of at least the same spec if not higher, but I can't afford to spend many hundreds of £'s either.
I've not had much experience with ATI cards so would prefer to remain with the nvidia range (I'm sure there are many who would protest and give a litany of reasons why lol).

I haven't been keeping up to date on the latest goings on with nvidia so I don't really know what would be considered comparable or above the 9800GX2. Ideally I don't want to spend more than £300, and anything less than that is a bonus.
I noticed, rather disappointingly, that overclockers doesn't seem to have EVGA products in its line-up. It's not a deal breaker but I appreciated and got used to the software that came with EVGA.

I appreciate any help you guys can offer in specing me a replacement (rest of my specs below, more on request).
Cheers.
 
The most recent Nvidia equivalent to the 9800GX2 is the GTX280... but they are old now. Best best if you have to have Nvidia and have only £300 is the GTX 470, but bear in mind you can get roughly equal performance for £100 less with the ATi 5850.
 
If the next rung up the ladder so to speak is above £300 but not wildly so I would be willing to consider it.
As for my CPU I have considered OCing it but it hasn't been a priority... I'd rather not risk causing damage when I rely too heavily on my PC for studies.

Is the GTX 470 really on par with the 9800GX2 and GTX280? With it being the new generation I figured the prices at the moment are somewhat inflated. Which is why I needed more opinions on which way is the best way to go.
Appreciate the insights so far guys, giving me something to think about :)
 
Tbh best card for £300 is the ATi 5870. That would be what I would recommend. They are a little bit slower than the GTX295, which was the replacement for the 9800GX2, so would be a big step up from your 9800GX2.

The 470 is roughly as fast give or take but uses more power and gets hotter. Really, the 5870 is the best card. But overclock that Q6600 please :)
 
I've just double checked and I didn't register in time for the lifetime limited warranty EVGA provide (for my product) but apparently it is still covered for 2 years (I had in my mind only 1 for some reason), of which I am within. So I've contacted EVGA and we'll see how that process goes... thanks for suggesting it ;).

As a fall back in case things don't go well on that front, it'd be good to know where I stand in terms of an alternative.
 
Good stuff.

Hopefully they have run out of 9800GX2s (probably not made them for some time). With any luck they will offer you a GTX 280/285. But you never know, maybe they haven't got any of those either - so they will have to give you a GTX 295 or GTX 470. Wouldn't that be nice? :)
 
Hathaway said:
If the next rung up the ladder so to speak is above £300 but not wildly so I would be willing to consider it.
As for my CPU I have considered OCing it but it hasn't been a priority... I'd rather not risk causing damage when I rely too heavily on my PC for studies.

Is the GTX 470 really on par with the 9800GX2 and GTX280? With it being the new generation I figured the prices at the moment are somewhat inflated. Which is why I needed more opinions on which way is the best way to go.
Appreciate the insights so far guys, giving me something to think about :)
Click to expand...


Hard to damage the Q6600 unless you put over 1.5V through it, though you shouldn't need to go this far. For example, I set the bios to 1.337V to get a 3.6Ghz overclock.
 
Despite it being brand new and sealed when I bought it, EVGA are denying all responsibility for the graphics card because I bought it off ebay. Doesn't matter that the website clearly tells me I have 2 years of warranty despite inputting that I bought it off ebay, and that the card is only a little under a year and a half old.
Frankly I was appalled at the lacklustre and flippant responses I got from EVGA, not to mention the eventual ignoring of further emails (none of which I acted inappropriately within).

So I guess I'm back at square one, albeit a little wiser.
 
Unfortunately that's how many companies work. The item may still be in warranty, but only for the registered owner. In other words it doesn't transfer if you sell the card.
 
Well EVGA certainly got away without paying for a faulty graphics card, and my ebay seller is laughing all the way to the bank with his former tight lips.
I shall certainly be avoiding ebay in future, or at least making damn sure that any warranty is included in the sale... not to mention EVGA products after the incident.

On with the hunt...
 
Hathaway said:
Well EVGA certainly got away without paying for a faulty graphics card, and my ebay seller is laughing all the way to the bank with his former tight lips.
I shall certainly be avoiding ebay in future, or at least making damn sure that any warranty is included in the sale... not to mention EVGA products after the incident.

On with the hunt...
Click to expand...


Sorry to hear you had bad luck with EGA.

My recommendation for a replacement (I'm close to pulling the trigger on one) is an Asus 5850.
 
Hathaway said:
Despite it being brand new and sealed when I bought it, EVGA are denying all responsibility for the graphics card because I bought it off ebay. Doesn't matter that the website clearly tells me I have 2 years of warranty despite inputting that I bought it off ebay, and that the card is only a little under a year and a half old.
Frankly I was appalled at the lacklustre and flippant responses I got from EVGA, not to mention the eventual ignoring of further emails (none of which I acted inappropriately within).

So I guess I'm back at square one, albeit a little wiser.
Click to expand...

This is standard policy with most graphics card companies. Some (like XFX) do double lifetime warranty in the US (so both the original purchaser and someone who buys the card off them 2nd hand both get lifetime warranties with the card), however this is atypical and most refuse to cover 2nd hand cards as the contract was made with the original purchaser not you.

Usually, if the seller offers the warranty with the auction that means they will RMA the card for you if it goes faulty (ie you post it to the seller, they sort out an RMA with EVGA, receive the new card and then send it on to you) - however this involves putting a lot of trust in the seller.
 
OK so after doing a little digging I have to say it seems ATi offer more for less, at least from what I can see. I may prefer nvidia, but at the same time I don't want to pay a lot more £'s for the name alone (if that's all it really is).
The two being mentioned here currently are the 5850 and 5870. So the question is, is the extra £50+ worth it for the 5870? Aside from the Q6600 at stock speeds you guys mentioned already, am I likely to be bottlenecked by any of my other components (in sig) that would make the jump from the 5850 to 5870 irrelevant?
Also not being completely in tune with the graphics card scene, is there really all that much difference between the various card manufacturers, Saphire, XFX, Asus etc? If so, any recommendations?
Lastly, it may seem a stupid question but I gotta ask anyway. After using an nvidia card in my system, does changing it to an ATi card cause any issues, or force me to set anything up, or is it just plug n play?
 
I would say with your Q6600, 5850 would be a better choice for you.

While Q6600 with moderate overclock (to 3.0~3.2GHz) would be able to use 5870 to 100% of its capability with no bottleneck in games that are well-optimised for Quad (such as Battlefield Bad Company 2), a Q6600 overclocked to 3.7GHz would still bottleneck a 5870 for most games that are not optimised for Quad (most games that pre-date Window 7...for exmaple- Crysis), since the 3rd and 4th cores are not being put into good use, if at all.
Test results of 5870 1GB with various CPUs:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2010/03/03/overclocking-intel-core-i3-530/8

I think the best option for you would be to grab a 5850 and overclock it, instead of paying £50~£80 extra on a 5870 for extra 10%~ performance.

And you definity need to overclock the Q6600. At stock speed, your 9800GX2 was heavily CPU bottlenecked and was running at no faster than a 9800GT. Your Q6600 was basically running like a Core2Duo E6600 at stock speed 2.4GHz...
 
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Yep, you need to overclock the Q6600, it's a crime against Electronity not to!

Should be able to get at least 3-3.2 Ghz with a mild voltage increase.
 
So does everyone agree, 5850 is the better option? What about my other questions in regards to GFX manufacturers and any issues wrt to swapping out an nvidia card and replacing it with ATi, any issues to face with that?
 
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