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Which 8800 . . . .

PhillyDee

PhillyDee

PhillyDee

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Im after buying an 8800 . . but which one. The resolution for my 20.1" BenQ FP202W is 1680 x 1050. PC is per spec.

Now, I plan on keeping this monitor and not going any higher. Not interested in SLI either. Im not sure if I can justify buying one yet, and dont know whether to go for the 320Mb or the 640Mb. I play 2142, CSS, and Sup Com mostly. What would be more cost-effective at running the res above? (Maybe dual monitor but not till next year). I say cost-effective, coz im not spending any more stupid money on the pc. Its cost me quite a bit anyway.
 
Wow, that graphics card basically ruined your spec.

Well anyway if you can afford it go for the GTX.

If not the 640MB GTS will do you fine.
 
I'd definitely go with the 320meg version as you are price concious, a snip at £176inc and should run fine at that resolution.
 
Lolcb said:
Wow, that graphics card basically ruined your spec.

Well anyway if you can afford it go for the GTX.

If not the 640MB GTS will do you fine.
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He said he would keep his 20" monitor and you sugest a GTX, really no need, honestly go for the 320 meg GTS, can not for the life of me see a need for a GTX at those resolutions, utter overkill.
 
schnipps said:
He said he would keep his 20" monitor and you sugest a GTX, really no need, honestly go for the 320 meg GTS, can not for the life of me see a need for a GTX at those resolutions, utter overkill.
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overkill is always good tho
 
schnipps said:
He said he would keep his 20" monitor and you sugest a GTX, really no need, honestly go for the 320 meg GTS, can not for the life of me see a need for a GTX at those resolutions, utter overkill.
Click to expand...

Nonsense, do you have 20" and GTS?

320MB GTS, yes it is good enough, but define " good enough ". I will stick by to my recommendation and get the 640MB at least.

And no, GTX is not overkill for that resolution. Try playing with max settings using 320MB on that resolution on games that are power hungry and tell me you don't stutter at some point in those games.
 
I had this same thing going through my mind. Eventually I bought a BFG 8800GTS 320mb a couple of days ago. Highest i've been res wise is 1600 x 1200 @ 85hz on my CRT which is marginally more than your monitor does and i can't get any of my games to drop whatsoever with MAX everything (including C&C 3). Any more might be unnessessary overkill and a bit of a waste unless your doing 1900x1200 or your really into oblivion or just have money to burn.

My system is a stock E6600 + 2 gig ram. Hope this helps
 
If you want to play games with max AA and with either multisampling or especially supersampling enabled a GTX is not overkill. Oblivion in some parts will bring even a 8800GTX to its knees with everything full-on.
 
I think the point here is though that the OP says he doesn't want to be spending silly money and mainly plays BF2142/CSS/SupCom.

Yes the 8800GTX is faster and yes with max settings/AA/AF there are a few games which will chug e.g. Oblivion. But the fact remains that a GTX costs DOUBLE that of a GTS320 which is a big investment for something he won't get a lot of use out of.
 
HangTime said:
I think the point here is though that the OP says he doesn't want to be spending silly money and mainly plays BF2142/CSS/SupCom.

Yes the 8800GTX is faster and yes with max settings/AA/AF there are a few games which will chug e.g. Oblivion. But the fact remains that a GTX costs DOUBLE that of a GTS320 which is a big investment for something he won't get a lot of use out of.
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Very good point and I agree on most of it. I'm in the same boat. My 22" BenQ monitor is only 1680x1050 and I'm going for the 640mb.

Each to their own though.

I'm just paying the extra for peace of mind in case the 320mb starts letting me down.
 
HangTime said:
I think the point here is though that the OP says he doesn't want to be spending silly money and mainly plays BF2142/CSS/SupCom.

Yes the 8800GTX is faster and yes with max settings/AA/AF there are a few games which will chug e.g. Oblivion. But the fact remains that a GTX costs DOUBLE that of a GTS320 which is a big investment for something he won't get a lot of use out of.
Click to expand...

It's not double if you look around. :) Point taken though.
 
The reason for the x1650 was that i was waiting for dx10 cards to become a bit cheaper. Bought an extra 2gb of ram coz it was on special.
Looks like im gonna try and justify buying the OcUK 8800 640Mb GTS
Double the ram for an extra £50.

When i get an idea stuck in my mind it just keeps nagging at me. Buy it buy it buy it . . . . But then the 'other' half of my brain (not the other half) says 'but do you REALLY need it . . . ' Its a constant fight between them. :D Unsure as to what half is going to win though at the moment :( .
 
The way i thought about it was, i realised for what i play now that anything higher than a 8800gts 320mb would be overkill for me personally as i wouldn't go above 1600x1200. So i bought the BFG 8800gts 320MB knowing its got a lifetime warranty and it'll probably resell very well because of that and then i can make another move when the times right and not lose a huge amount of money.

Worth considering also is that EVGA have some sort of deal going where if you buy the EVGA 8800gts 320mb, you can actually send it back within 90 days and swap it for an 8800gts 640mb (or of course the GTX) and pay the difference if it doesnt cope with all the games you like playing. You'll have to confirm this with other people but i'm pretty sure this is accurate. This way you wouldn't waste a further £50 unless you had to!
 
I'm planning to run at 1920x1200 but I'm also still unsure which 8800 to get.

If I get a 320 GTS now, I could always go SLI when needed and it would probably end up cheaper (and faster) than buying a single GTX now. Do you think my PSU could handle it?

Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
BFG nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Western Digital Raptor X 150GB WD1500AHFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3200KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
 
The key issue here is the resolution you want to play at.

If you've got a TFT screen (and i suppose most people have...pats 19" CRT) and its BIG then you'll be wanting to play at its native resolution. This means you'll want lots of video memory, and the GTS 640mb will cover that nicely.

Going SLi in the future with a pair of 320mb cards...well the cards dont share their memory space, so although your gpu might be able to process textures faster, it still has the same memory space to move and store them in, which in theory will hold back the true performance advantage of having 2 cards.
 
I might go the EVGA route then, 320 now & then GTX in 2-3 months.

Or get simply sell the 320 and get a better card when needed.
 
Just ordered the Gainward 8800GTS 640 Mb. Might as well. Im now going to SHRED my credit card . . . . Stops me buying anything else on the damn thing.
 
640mb gts is the best choice in my opinion, great bang for buck, and at 1680x1050 makes games look first class
 
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