New GFX card for my system and new 24" Monitor

[dlthorpe]

Hi all,

Well its about that time again where I need / want / absolutely have to buy a new GFX card for my system.

I recently purchased the Samsung SM-245B 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor and my currently GFX card (the Leadtek GeForce 7800 GTX Extreme Edition 256MB) doesnt look so good on it anymore. The resolution I run blown up on the 24" monitor looks blocky. Plus I want to play Crysis and experience the full potential of the game instead of getting Medium on it (the game actually recommends LOW!!!).

My main system spec points are in my signature.

So im looking at my options...

1. The 8800 seems a good buy.
2. Wait for the 9x series.
3. Not a scooby about ATI cards, your comments welcome.

Regarding the 8800, I find the whole thing quite confusing. Some of the higher end cards (GTX) are lower clock speeds than the GTs but are more expensive. One GTX card i thought ok was this...

BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB -> http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-035-BG&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=877

But a mate said some of the GTs are newer, faster, cheaper. A few I was looking at were these...

Gainward BLISS GeForce 8800 GT Golden Sample 1024MB -> http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-060-GW&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1008

EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB SSC -> http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-045-EA&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1008

OcUK GeForce 8800 GT 512MB -> http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-071-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1008

And then a few more. All of them seem to run faster clock speeds than the GTXs. Ive not even looked much at the GTS cards.

But im not really sure whats a suitable card to get to handle a high res. I would love to play games on 1920x1200 (the 24" max res), with the max possible GFX and AA etc.

I was planning to upgrade the GFX card now only because it will run in my system. In a few months depending on how it performs, ill do the CPU, RAM, MOBO etc.

To sum up the questions...

Will any of these cards allow me to run the high settings and res in my system?

Which card would you recommend? Would the OCUK GT card be a good choice even though its clocked slower? I presume I could clock it myself, and perhaps attach the Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 VGA Cooler to it. Good idea?

Should I go for 512MB or 768MB or even the 1024MB one I found?

Should I just wait for the 9x series? This would be painful because its a couple months away!

How about ATI? Any recommendations?

Quite a lot of information and questions here so thanks - really - for any replies.

D.

 

[Random Guy]

If you buy an EVGA card, you have a 90 day window in which to 'Step-Up' your purchase (make sure you confirm the details though). I would personally recommend you get a GTX and make sure that the time-frame for the step-up falls in the period of time when the new cards are coming out, and then just pull the trigger on the newer Nvidia.

If you don't want to go down that route and want high-end performance, then I would advise you to get a GT over a GTX (get 2 for SLI and it is pretty cost effective) and that should give you decent frame rates on your 24". Of course the current top end is the 8800 Ultra. If you have money to burn you can just go for that.

 

[dlthorpe]

Actually i noticed most of the new GT cards are pre-order only. How long is that for? Its on others as well as the EVGA ones.

I wasnt really thinking about SLI because thats like £300 minimum. One card suits me assuming i can run the high res. It doesnt have to be 1920x1200 tho. I just want it because i can run it

 

[Biohazard]

I would go the single card route myself.

 

[bobert50]

8800gt for the win till 9-series arrives

 

[melbourne720]

tricky time for a 24" res system.

If you get a 8800 GTX, this will be the best option for your res, as the wide memory interface allows AA, and you should be able to play crysis on pretty high settings. The downside is that it's replacement is a few months away, which means the price could be hit quite serverly.

If you get a 8800 GT, then again you should be able to play at 24" res (although probably not in crysis). You could go for 2 of them in SLi, but that rarely scales well.

Maybe an 8800 GTS 512MB? I think it starts to pull away from the GT at 1900 x 1200, but I don't think the memory bandwidth is big enough to challenge the GTX.

I have a 8800 GT and a 22" display running 1680x1050. That seems quite well balanced, so maybe the GTS 512/GTX for you?

 

[dlthorpe]

fantastic replies thanks.

So what you are saying is, to get the higher res i need more bandwidth on the memory. The GTX i mentioned has Memory Bandwidth: 86.4GB/s, where as one of the GTs is Memory Bandwidth: 57.6GB/s.

what about the MB of the card itself? would a 57.6GB/s bandwidth on a 1024MB card be better or worse than the 86.4BMB/s bandwidth on a 512MB card?

 

[dlthorpe]

Ok i have been reading more forum posts about this. It seems the big question at the moment is what GFX card is capable of supporting 1920x1200 resolutions? Are there any GTs? GTSs or GTXs?

Links to them in OcUK would be sweet.

Ta,
D.

 

[melbourne720]

fantastic replies thanks.

So what you are saying is, to get the higher res i need more bandwidth on the memory.

It is one of the limiting factors with (a) large displays and (b) using AA

what about the MB of the card itself? would a 57.6GB/s bandwidth on a 1024MB card be better or worse than the 86.4BMB/s bandwidth on a 512MB card?

Worse. Graphics card manufacturers are notorious for cripling cards with tiny memory buses (8600 GT/GTS for example) and then adding maasive amounts of memory and charging the earth for the card. Basically because the public 'understands' 1GB of memory but not 256bit bus.

The GT doesn't really perform any quicker with 1024MB of graphics memory (512 seems to be the sweet spot) and the 2900 XT never did any better with 1024MB of memory.

Either the memory cannot be read/written to fast enough (bus speed iirc) or it is waiting around for the GPU or the games don't utilise textures that big.

Often a combination of the 3.

 

[chronicbint]

I run a 8800 GTX on a 24" display and the majority of games will run very well at 1900x1200. Crysis however will not.

 

[dlthorpe]

I run a 8800 GTX on a 24" display and the majority of games will run very well at 1900x1200. Crysis however will not.

What can you get out of Crysis? Does it play 1680xwhatever and full AA ok? Or is there still a trade off there? Or can you get it to run 1920x1200 but with perhaps no AA?

Ta.