Should I upgrade or not?

divuk83 · 4 Oct 2008 at 05:54

Just bought a 9800GX2 and I'm already tempted by the GTX280 in this weeks deals on OCUK. While the GX2 is a much better card than my old 8800 the effect of the upgrade has not been that noticeable as I got a new TFT so I'm now gaming at 1920*1200. I'm not really getting any better framerate in Crysis and Warhead is pants at high detail (DX9) with some serious slowdown making it very hard to play at points, its fine at the lower detail levels.

I know Crysis/Warhead are fairly tough on most systems but I was hoping to be able to run them a bit better than I can now. Is it worth me getting a GTX280? will it be a noticeable improvment over the GX2 for gaming at 24" res? Or even should I go back to ATI? assuming 300 squid will get me something better than the 280?

Cheers

Dave

AtaRo · 4 Oct 2008 at 06:14

According to Toms Graphics chart Very High Quality setting the diff between your card and the GTX280 is only around 5fps.If you get the GTX280 and tone the details little bit down you might get better than 5fps difference also according to that chart a GTX280 SLI only scores 24.6fps.

Perfect_Chaos · 4 Oct 2008 at 11:04

Yeah its a problem when you get to too high a resolution, you should drop it lower.

The games might look worse, but thats the price you have to pay for having a bigger monitor if ya want good performance.

Some graphics cards are overrated, like when people say overkill for this and that.. what a joke

Strife212 · 4 Oct 2008 at 11:07

AtaRo said:
According to Toms Graphics chart Very High Quality setting the diff between your card and the GTX280 is only around 5fps.If you get the GTX280 and tone the details little bit down you might get better than 5fps difference also according to that chart a GTX280 SLI only scores 24.6fps.

That seems REALLY low? I get 40fps at 1920x1200 Very High DX10.

AtaRo · 4 Oct 2008 at 11:31

this is according to Toms chart.Even the 4870 is faster than the 9800gx2

reflux · 4 Oct 2008 at 15:02

I went from a 9800GX2 to a 4870X2. It was expensive but worth it. The 9800GX2 is a good card but it's getting a bit long in the tooth. If you've got £300 to spend, the 4870X2 is the card to buy.

Major_Disaster · 4 Oct 2008 at 15:24

Crysis prefers nVidia. So, if thats what you play get the 280, if you want a solid all round GFX upgrade, get the 4870X2

divuk83 · 4 Oct 2008 at 20:02

As well as crysis prefering the green team, I prefer them as well. Used to be a big fan of ATI stuff but was very disapointed by the last few cards of theirs I bought. While the 4870X2 is a great card it is over budget as 300 (or less) is really the most I want to spend on a card. The 280 does look tempting though and Farcry 2 is coming soon....

I'm guessing that if my case can fit a 9800GX2 then it should fit the 280 as well? If not I can always get the drill and the rivet gun out again

Dave

TheRealDeal · 4 Oct 2008 at 20:06

9800gx2 to gtx280 really is not an upgrade and not worth it imo. If you can't afford to buy the x2 then stay put. From what i have seen of the crysis benchmark the gx2 is one of the fastest cards for that game.

Boogle · 4 Oct 2008 at 20:16

I found 9800GTX SLI had pretty nasty microstutter in Crysis. The GTX280 is significantly more playable, even though the benchmarks don't show it.

psychas · 4 Oct 2008 at 20:25

AtaRo said:
this is according to Toms chart.Even the 4870 is faster than the 9800gx2

can u link it were u can compare gpu in toms hardware i cant find it for some reason

edit: nvm found it

Adrianr · 4 Oct 2008 at 21:03

Am i missing something with that chart? There is no way on gods green 280SLI is 1.2fps faster than 8800GT SLI.

divuk83 · 4 Oct 2008 at 21:14

Good point, didn't really look at the chart. How come 8800 ultra's in SLI are no better than 280's in SLI?

Dave

Boogle · 4 Oct 2008 at 21:16

Toms Hardware decided to use a Core 2 X6800 - that's right a 3Ghz dualcore CPU. Basically all high-end GPUs are severely CPU limited in their comparison, making it effectively worthless for anything above mainstream GPUs. Such a waste.

Adrianr · 4 Oct 2008 at 21:24

Ooooohh was that the whole "graphics card comparison to end all comparisons" ****? Or was that someone else?

LoadsaMoney · 4 Oct 2008 at 21:27

I wouldn't call a 9800 GX2 to a GTX 280 an upgrade.

easyrider · 4 Oct 2008 at 21:39

LoadsaMoney said:
I wouldn't call a 9800 GX2 to a GTX 280 an upgrade.

Me neither,

I would get a X2

divuk83 · 4 Oct 2008 at 22:45

Spent the last hour or so reading reviews and comparisons to other cards. Quite surprised that theres not much in it in many cases between the GX2 and the 280. My budget won't stretch to a 4870x2 and I think I may hold off buying a new card for a little while.

Still a bit disapointing to have Warhead running slowly at 1920*1200 (highest detail dx9) but from the looks of things a 280 won't really help things out there.

Thanks for everyones advice.

Dave

Adrianr · 5 Oct 2008 at 00:00

Just put it on gamer mate. 1920 x 1200 all gamer with 8800GT SLI saw tearing at many many parts in the game.. Only time it wasn't hovering around 60fps was on the snow levels. It still looks cracking on gamer!