Which GTX Card to go for ?....another thread..

[mcdermotx]

Sorry lads,
yet another GTX card question..

Looking to upgrade from a X1900XTX setup. I was up till recently using two of em in a Crossfire setup, but have decided to give it the boot (TBH, I've never been overly impressed with it......especially with the instability problems under Vista)..
I was planning on holding off until the new high-ends appear, but that doesn't look like it'll happen until next year now......so I'm looking for a single card setup which will allow me to play the likes of Ep2, TF2, Crysis etc etc, at the best level (or as close as normal spending will allow)..
Obviously this points me towards the GTXs and Ultras of this world, and I certainly want to go back to NVidia over ATI after past experiences with the 6800Ultra and 7800GTX, but I've neglected the graphics game for a while so I'm bowing to OCUK forum members superior knowledge right now..

Running an ASUS P5WDH Deluxe with 4Gb of Geil under Vista X64, so I'd appreciate people's tribal knowledge with any potential issues with such a setup..
Cards I'm looking at are the likes of :-

BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC2 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

BFG GeForce 8800 Ultra OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

EVGA GeForce 8800 Ultra KO SILENT 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (768-P2-E885-AR)

EVGA GeForce 8800 Ultra SuperClocked SILENT 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (768-P2-E887-AR)


Looking for a good, fast, and hopefully quiet card (which is why "Silents" appeal to me, but obviously that may be marketing buzz).......not really wanting to overclock too much, as I'd really like to limit the heat in the system..

Sorry for the long-winded post (and the fact that most of these answers could be found elsewhere on the forum), but would appreciate any responses..

 

[mcdermotx]

Cheers lads,
how do you find the default cooler on the likes of the OEM OCUK or BFG ?
The Ultras (albeit for extra cash) look to have a different cooler...so it'd be interesting to know which is which..

Even with the stock coolers, is there one GTX which is on the whole quieter than the others ?
Quite like the BFGs as I have an old BFG 7800GTX..

 

[mcdermotx]

Personally I'd go for the BFG due to the lifetime warranty,I've got the BFG 8800GTX OC which I had to rma recently,completely my fault that the card died though.

I was adjusting a rattling dram cooler with the system running,one of the brackets came loose and dropped onto the GTX! Shorted the card in the process,extremely careless I know.

Anyway I whipped my full cover water block off and replaced with the original cooler,got an rma no,sent card off and had a brand new replacement within a week,no questions asked.(Card not bought from OC'UK)

I'm not suggetsing you'll be as careless as me but it's nice to know if problems do occur you'll get good support.

Card overclocks very easily too,650/2000 np,and if you intend retaining the supplied cooler,it's very quiet.

Cheers Smit101,
how do you find the GTX on the whole....especially with 1920x1200 gaming ?
One of the reasons I disliked the the HIS X1900 was the intermittent rattle issue with the supplied cooler.......are there any GTX/Ultra worth avoiding that have a rep for something similar ?

 

[mcdermotx]

Cheers for the replies lads..
might just plump for one of the GTXs instead of the Ultras, and if need be, do a bit of overclocking (although I'm not a massive fan)..
I've been away from the graphics scene for a while so am I right in just assuming that the only difference between the two is clock and memory speed ?
The stock cooler does look different though..

Would be using it to primarily drive a Dell 24" and the likes of Bioshock, MOH, TF2, Ep2, Crysis, Assasins Creed etc etc etc etc.........so I would be hoping for a big enough jump over the X1900 (Crossfire or not)..
Not overly concerned with DirectX 10.1 incompatibilities as I think thats making a bit of a mountain out of a molehill, and when the time comes, we'll all be using something else !

Only concern left is the size (275mm).....will just need to open up the case to see if I can make room (I think the HDD bay in a Lian-Li PC-S80 may be in the way though)