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GTS 320Mb Vs GTS 640Mb Vs 2900XT

starmanwarz

starmanwarz

starmanwarz

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I am finally going to build a new pc.My other specs will probably be-Q6600/E6850,2GB of RAM,not sure about mobo+case yet,and a 800Watt PSU.I have a 19" TFT at the moment,and I think that I will keep it for a long time,so I will be playing at 1280x1024.I really cant decide what card should I go for.All I do is gaming,no rendering/encoding.Which card would you suggest,the 8800 GTS 320/640 or the 2900XT?I found a BFG 8800 320Mb which is factory O/Ced and its faster than the 640Mb version,and ofcourse,cheaper,what do you think?I wouldnt like to go for a GTX as ive heard that Nvidia will launch its new cards on November.Any suggestions?
 
I have an 8800GTS 320mb not overclocked and i play at 1280x1024. All the games i've thrown at it have played very well indeed. It's certainly good value for money and i think the extra 320mb that comes with the 640mb version only comes to fruition on resolutions higher than 1680x1050.
 
If your only intending to keep it until the G92's arrive in November, then id say the 320mb GTS, easily handles 1280x1024, and will tide you over till then.

If your wanting to keep it a while, then id get the 2900 as its the faster card out of the 3x, but only if your not bothered about the heat it gives off, and the noise, as they are pretty loud according to some, if you are bothered about those then get the the 640mb GTS. :)
 
Thats what I thought aswell,that the 320 is the best option.But I just noticed that the price diference between the 320 and the 2900xt is very small.I now have a X800XL and I would prefer to get a Nvidia card this time,but Im not sure what to do :(
 
The 2900XT trounces the 320mb version and even the 640mb version in 90% of benchmarks with the latest drivers.
 
Darg said:
The 2900XT trounces the 320mb version and even the 640mb version in 90% of benchmarks with the latest drivers.
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Yup. :)

Pros

- Faster than the 8800GTS
- Driver support much better (REGULAR monthly improvements)

Cons

- Hotter (so fan runs louder)
- Takes more power
- Performance with AA questionable? (Not sure if this has been fixed in drivers)

However the fan noise is subjective - I only hear mine if I try to make it sweat by putting the heater on in the room, cranking the AA up, and running an intensive game. :)
 
LoadsaMoney said:
Absolutely screams along on the 320mb GTS. :cool:
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Hell of a paradox of a card that one, I have to say. I'm sure I read that it started to show performance drops at 1600x1200 and above, yet there are people running even high resolutions without any slowdown. :confused:

Driver improvements maybe? Or maybe games still haven't reached the 320MB barrier? :eek:
 
LoadsaMoney said:
Absolutely screams along on the 320mb GTS. :cool:
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yes it does :) but the extra ram will help later i think and there is the slow down bug with 320 i not noticed it really but not been looking for it,stalker was bad at times but i thought it was the game itself.
Like loads said if you just waiting for g92 get the 320 if you keeping it a while get 2900xt or 640.
Ati release drivers almost every months while nvidia don't i do miss the monthly driver lease.

Q
 
Tute said:
Hell of a paradox of a card that one, I have to say. I'm sure I read that it started to show performance drops at 1600x1200 and above, yet there are people running even high resolutions without any slowdown. :confused:

Driver improvements maybe? Or maybe games still haven't reached the 320MB barrier? :eek:
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I bet crysis will
 
Hi

Both Graw 1 & 2 make use of the additional ram on the card and be sure many upcoming titles will also in time. That said, dx10.1 or whatever, will be with us by then.
 
Tute said:
Hell of a paradox of a card that one, I have to say. I'm sure I read that it started to show performance drops at 1600x1200 and above, yet there are people running even high resolutions without any slowdown. :confused:

Driver improvements maybe? Or maybe games still haven't reached the 320MB barrier? :eek:
Click to expand...

Depends a lot on the game concerned. That 1600x1200 figure has just been plucked out of the air really... in some games like GRAW it happens even lower iirc (i.e. 640meg version is faster even at 1280x1024) whereas in many titles you won't notice much of a difference until you are pushing up above 1920x1200.

My personal view is that the price difference is still too much to justify a GTS640 unless you have a high-resolution TFT and a specific game you want to play which needs the extra memory. If I was gonna spend £225+ (a good fifty notes more than the GTS320) then I'd be looking at the 2900XT. I've actually been quite shocked at how high the GTS640 has retained it's price over the last 6 months or so.
 
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I think it's retained it's price due to the fact it's still probably outselling the 2900XT.

When people look at performance, they get some of the "old" benchmarks, don't notice/care that the drivers are months old, and just assume the 8800GTS is still the faster card.
 
^to be fair though, ATI have only themselves to blame for shoddy driver performance on release. They must have known based on their price point that comparisons would be drawn with the 8800GTS and failure to deliver when the first slew of benchmarks hit has tarnished the reputation of their card.

Even now choosing between the two is still a bit of a quagmire, with the 8800 faster in some titles and the 2900 in others. Despite driver improvements there are still questions marks over the 2900XT in some titles, especially with AA enabled. Take Bioshock DX10 for example where at modest resolutions the 1gig XT is struggling to keep up with even the 320meg GTS.

On paper the 2900XT should be faster, but I think some people prefer to go with the tried-and-tested 8800GTS which seems to give more uniform performance across the board.
 
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