Need gfx card decission. urgent..

[Kalyan]

Hi all..
I have posted this qn before. but I couldnt make up a decission. Now, I need to make the decission before sep 13th. My friend is coming from US. I asked him to bring me a gfx card. My config is Amd 64X2 5600+ with Asus M2NPV-VM + Transcend 1GB 800MHz RAM. The mobo's got a PCIe 16x slot.
I am now, confused whether to buy a 7950/7900 nvidia or the 8500/8600/8800 card.

First choice to make: Which one to go for? 7xxx series or 8xxx series?

Second choice to make: If I chose 7 or 8, which one to go? I know that the GS are not better.

But Please suggest your ideas about this despite of the budget. I need the model no.s in order of preference, best is first. I can then enquire him about the prices and choose the one which I can fit into my budget(we got some deals though). I need the order of preference in these cards(7900,7950,8500,8600,8800).

I have posted this before in the forum and sticky. but I got mixed replies and I couldnt make up a clear decission. Please help me out with this decission. I wont be getting this chance again. He is coming back and may not be going to US again for a long time. I need to take a decission before he could make his arrangements.

I am not concerned abt which dx games to play. I prefer all of them, if they are worth of them. I need good gameplay.

Thanks in advance...

 

[Choto Cheeta]

Get One GB Ram 1st of all before getting one performance GRFX Card as u may chock the card if your system doesnt performe up to the mark as the grfx Card...

If your Budget permitrs, Buy XFX 8800 GTS 320MB Price Rs. 13700/- + TAX Kolkata !!! how ever I get reports its around 16k in rest of the country

 

[Kalyan]

Thanks for the response. I already got a 1GB RAM. Do I need 2 GB RAM to be able to setup a 8800? and I am going to get from US. So, I'm expecting a price difference. By the way, could u give me the preference of the given cards?

 

[Phalanx]

Go for 8800 series cards!!! Order of preference will be 8800Ultra > 8800GTX overclocked (XXX or KO or something) > 8800GTX > 8800GTS (640MB) > 8800GTS(320MB)... Stop right here and choose between these cards if you can afford any of them...
If they exceed your budget then go for 7900GTX>7950GT>7900GT...
Dont even think about 8500 or 8600 series... For these 2 it's better to pay a litle xtra and get one with Indian warranty...

And whatever model you get make sure the brand is XFX/eVGA/MSI/ASUS, in that order of preference... Do not choose any other...

All the best...

If your Budget permitrs, Buy XFX 8800 GTS 320MB Price Rs. 13700/- + TAX Kolkata !!! how ever I get reports its around 16k in rest of the country

You sure its so low???? In any case can you tell me prices of the 640MB and GTX versions in Kol???

 

[Kalyan]

Hi @Phalanx..
Thanks for the reply. Could How's the 8600 and 8500 inferior to the 79xx series? Could u explain? I saw in some website that the benchmarking scores of 8600 is more than 79xx series. I dont mean to disagree with u But I need some clarification. Could u also post the prices of the respective cards? Is it possible to play dx10 games with the 79xx cards?

 

[Harvik780]

Hi @Phalanx..
Thanks for the reply. Could How's the 8600 and 8500 inferior to the 79xx series? Could u explain? I saw in some website that the benchmarking scores of 8600 is more than 79xx series. I dont mean to disagree with u But I need some clarification. Could u also post the prices of the respective cards? Is it possible to play dx10 games with the 79xx cards?

I would suggest going for the 7900 series or the 8600 series but would emphasize on the former because ur processor is sure to choke the 8800 I've read about it in the nvidia forums as amd and ati have tied up u can't expect good performance from 8 series cards on amd hardware and this is what appears to be in the nvidia forums.But one more thing if u get an 8600 series card then u can expect good performance on dx10 games with intel processors(C2D)since they are optimized for them.The choice is up to u.P-)

 

[Ethan_Hunt]

The 8600 cards aren't anywhere in comparison to 7900 series.The 8600GT is more in direct competition with the 7600GT.These cards have lower clock speeds & are designed for medium end gaming.Whereas the 7900GS,GT & GTX are more in to intense gaming.If you take today's demanding games then the 8600GT would mainly be enough for 1024x768 setting with medium or high details depending on the game.

I need to know those site which shows either a 8600GT or 8500 beating a 7900 series card.Depends totally on whats your total budget for the card.If you want to play today's games at full blast then you'll have to start from 8800GTS 320MB.Apart from that there is nothing which a DX9 cards like the 7900 series which can't handle.One major down side of 7xxx series of Nvidia's line up does not support HDR+AA simultaneously which can be done in the 8 series cards.

The 8600GT is somewhere around 7.2k.XFX 7900GT still costs around 16k & a bit toned down version 7900GS would be around 12.5k.The XFX 8800GTS 320MB version would be retailing for 18.5k atleast.

And yes the DX9 cards will be able to play those DX10 games as they are coded for DX9 path as well.

Last but not the least,if you are going in for a high end card then make sure you have a equally good PSU.

 

[Phalanx]

Hi @Phalanx..
Thanks for the reply. Could How's the 8600 and 8500 inferior to the 79xx series? Could u explain? I saw in some website that the benchmarking scores of 8600 is more than 79xx series. I dont mean to disagree with u But I need some clarification. Could u also post the prices of the respective cards? Is it possible to play dx10 games with the 79xx cards?

In DX9 8500 and 8600 are definitely worse than 79XX series
*www.tomshardware.com/2007/04/17/geforce_8600/
*www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2970
*www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2975
*www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/426/

It cant be much better in DX10 too.. Although u cant play in DX10 mode using 7XXX series cards, you will get better(than 8600GT in DX10) eye candy in DX9 itself...

I would very much like to know which websites you refered for comparison. Since I have a 8600GT, it will make a good read for me

But frankly 8600GT is on the lower side of mid-end... You can make that out from its price... Less than 7K in just 4 months from launch... When the 6600GT and 7600GT were launched they were priced at >10K for quite sometime... Even now 7600GT is slightly cheaper than 8600GT...
The tentative prices for the other cards are:
8500--5K
8600GTS---10-12K
8800GTS(320MB)---16-17K (maybe choto cheeta can get u this one for 13K )
8800GTS(640MB)--- 23-24K
8800GTX--- 29-32K
8800Ultra--- around 40K
7900GT---14K
Not sure about 7950 and 7900GTX...

These are all tentative prices... It can be 1-2K less on the street...

As far as your last ques is concerned, YES it is possible to play DX10 games (releasing this year at least) with a 79XX or a 76XX card for that matter...However, it is not possible to play games in DX10 using anything less than 8 series... Confused?? Let me clarify... All the games that have been announced till now can be played in 2 modes --DX9 and DX10 ( they are all called DX10 games)... This is because the number of people having a DX10 capable card(read 8 series in nVidia or 2XXX series in ATI) in very less and mass transition is going to take some time... Also since DX10 gaming is only possible in Vista, which is still very buggy and thus not very popular, the number of people who will end up playing in DX10 is very less. So for the time being game developers are developing games which support DX9 as well ,simply because this increases their target population and thus sales... So if you go for a 7 series card, you will surely be able to use it to play all the DX10 games releasing this year and probably the next one too ( basically as long as enough people do not switch over to Vista and buy a DX10 card as well)... After that u will need to chuck it... No future proofing basically... Moreover in terms of raw performance, even in DX9, the 8800 series are by far the best... So these cards are the best option if you can afford them...

 

[Kalyan]

Thanks for the quick and explanative replies guyz.. I love this forum. I shall send the preference list and I shall decide on how much I could shell out by next month. And are there any chances of the prices to fall by next month..(just asking.. any guesses??)

Get One GB Ram 1st of all before getting one performance GRFX Card as u may chock the card if your system doesnt performe up to the mark as the grfx Card...

Does this mean that I need to have 2 GB of RAM on my system to run a 8800?

 

[Ethan_Hunt]

The prices will always keep falling mate they never increase.It's just a matter of how fast the next legion of advanced technology is released.The graphic card line pretty much falls very slowly in terms of prices may be by a few hundred bucks.The strange thing is the 7900GT's prcing has pretty much remained stagnant albeit newer line of DX10 cards being launched.

 

[Phalanx]

U r welcome
Well the prices keep falling gradually..Wont be anything drastic though...
Anyway, wish u Happy Buying and Happy Gaming!!!

 

[Ethan_Hunt]

Does this mean that I need to have 2 GB of RAM on my system to run a 8800?

Not necessarily.It's just that most games demand 2GB so as to cope with demand of the applications & games simultaneously.Even if you have a dual core processor it's very essential that you have a good set of ram.My rig gets chocked down by Kaspersky's resource sucking.Also there are many other programs which I realised which are seriously causing lags in regular processing due to my single 1GB stick.Which is why it's very essential to have 2GB as a standard part of your rig,especially if it's meant for gaming.

 

[Choto Cheeta]

Does this mean that I need to have 2 GB of RAM on my system to run a 8800?

1 GB 667 MHz is Rs. 1900/- + TAX...

now when running a card as 8800 GTS 320 MB you will be running games at their best possible settings, system will need Dual Channel Mode ram and not mentioning 2 GB or more

 

[Kalyan]

Thanks guyz..
I have just mailed him the details of my preferences. I need to wait till he comes up with his possibilities. Thanks for all your support and reviews. and for the link, I just googled it somewhere but I dont remember it exactly. It gave some benchmarking scores. I am not sure abt that. Just mentioned it for clarifying myself. I shall post when I got a positive answer from my frd.

Keep rockin guyz.....

 

[sakumar79]

How come no talk of ATI Radeon cards? How do the 2600 series and 2900 series compare to the 8600 and 8900 series nVidia cards in terms of price and performance?

Arun

 

[Sylar]

As for the preference of the cards according to their performance is concerned, this should help you VGA Charts 2007 | Tom's Hardware

And i totally agree with 'Phalanx's' recommendation on the brands...

I would suggest you get 2GB of RAM coz believe me it helps.. And if u can get some performance DDR2 from the US as well it would be gr8 (post in if you want help in choosing one), else another same stick as ur current Transcend 1GB would do...

Also since ur buying from the US www.newegg.com would be ur best bet... Here r some links to start u off..

8800 Ultra -
*www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130092 (OCed)
*www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150234 (stock)

8800 GTX -
*www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130079 (OCed)
*www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130072 (stock)
..