Yes that is a steal.

does anyone here know anything bad about INNO3d cards? i plan to get two 8800GT's for SLI soon

Is there much of a difference performance wise between the 8800gt and the 8800gts? I see about the GTS is about $60 more than the GT and it is over clocked but does it actually give you any more performance for that dollar?

The GT slaughters the GTS in every situation. Any of the GTs, whether overlocked or not are monstrosities that rival even the GTX. They're worth it at any price range, though the cards closer to $200 give you more bang for your buck.

My next computer doesn't really have a price budget and I was wondering if its possible to run two 8800Gt cards, I know some cards can be run in parallel but I dont exactly know how this works.

Yes it is. You would use an SLI bridge to connect them together. It may take some configuring and I've never did it myself so I don't know how complicated it is. Many games offer SLI support but some games don't...as in you may connect the two videocards together but then the game you play only use 1 of them still.

Expect some new updates due to the Radeon HD 3k series being launched today! They offer excellent performance for the price and will most definitely be on the guide ASAP. NewEgg actually has them in stock!

Big fat caveat emptor on this one; in order to run SLI you need a motherboard that supports it. That means an nForce 4 board with two PCIe slots. Expect to shell out a premium there, as well.

Ok I made some updates, mainly the addition of the brand-new Radeon HD 3850 and 3870. These cards are really powerful and an excellent deal for the price. If you can't get an 8800 GT, buy one of these.

Lots of updates. Added the Radeon HD 2600 Pro in the lower end price segment. Added the Radeon HD 2900 GT. Added Crossfire and SLI options in the high-end segment.

Lots of updates. An oddity in the sub $100 price segment has risen to the surface: the Radeon X1650 XT for $65, performing as well as its $100 competitors.

The Radeon HD 2900 GT being $130 has taken over the $100-$150 price segment.

The new GeForce 8800 GT 256 MB is added at the low $200s price range. The new 8800 GTS G92 512 MB version is added also.

Im thinking about picking up a new videocard, im still using agp. My current card is a 9800xt and i was looking at upgrading to the HD 2600xt. Do you think its worth is or will i only see minimal performance increases.

system specs:

p4 2.6@3.3
1bg ram
9800xt
winxp sp2

Hard to say. The 2600 XT is definitely much more powerful than the 9800 XT, but your CPU may be too slow for the new videocard. I'd say there's a good chance that you will see an increase even if the CPU slows it down though.

Thanks Lasereth, i think im going to hold off until next week see if i can grab one for a decent price on boxing day

Deleted the Radeon HD 2900 GT from the guide (price went up). Added the Radeon X1950 XT for $120 (currently sold out on NewEgg, if it comes back it will be a SUPER deal at that price). Made some other minor adjustments. The Radeon HD 2900 Pro may be added if the price is knocked down a few more $10s.

Why would NVIDIA name the new 512MB GTS card as a "8800 GTS"? Now we have a 512MB 8800GTS that is faster than the older 640MB 8800GTS.

Whilst both cards are being marketed there will be a lot of confused punters buying the 640MB card, thinking it's faster. Nuts!!

In many stores (like NewEgg) the new 8800 GTS 512 MB is called the 8800 GTS G92. It is incredibly confusing for consumers though. But the entire videocard industry is that way...cards like the 8600 GT with 512 MB of ram cost more than the 8800 GT even though the 8800 GT blows them out of the water.

I remember someone mentioning it before, but now I can't find it: why does Mac suck at putting decent video cards in their machines? If the iMac had an 8800 GTX it'd be the perfect computer. Now? Quake 4 at 1024x768 (4x AA, 8x AF) runs around 33.7 fps. Which is really, really slow. I would want at least 80-90 fps to enjoy gaming. Before I figured there was an issue with the processors being non-Intel (they were PowerPC until 2 years ago), but now? The iMac I have my eye on has an Intel 2.8 Core 2 Extreme processor, which is used in all sorts of decent machines with good video cards.

Is it just poor decision making or is there still a compatibility issue?

I'd say cost measures since the Mac Pros have as options:

Cost never struck me as something Apple cared about. Considering I'll be spending $2,600 on a desktop, I'd be willing to fork over an additional $300 for a decent video card.

Could it be space? I mean the inside of an iMac looks like a laptop (though there are plenty of decent cards in Alienware laptops). The only other thing I can think of is that they're just being stubborn.

personally I think that the iMac line has always been their own version of the cost conscious line. I've been hoping that the mini was to be their budget line but it seems to be the "step child" line more than anything.

I think that the iMac users are more cost conscious than the Pro lines.

I'll agree with this, though between the 20" and 24" models of iMac is the line between non-Pro and Pro, I think, but even a non-Pro product from a premium company should have decent performance. I'd expect low Quake 4 results from a Mac Mini, but the iMac? Color me dissapointed.

Do you suppose, since they have decent cards for the Mac Pro, a capable tech person (specializing in hardware) could install a better video card? Or would that require software?

I believe you cannot upgrade your iMac video cards.

Again, looking at the breaks and pricepoints, 30FPS isn't bad for an iMac. The machine is designed to be an all around performer. Looking at comparable PCs you'd find the same kind of stats, just at a cheaper price point. I did read in some places that the new MXM connection may allow for changing your card, but you'd have to find someone selling a nVidia MXM card to upgrade to.

In other words, the iMac wasn't designed to be upgraded. It was designed to be mildly upgraded with RAM and that's about it. It was meant to be replaced.

To further add, it is the Pro group of people that are performance oriented and care about higher performing stats, something that your average iMac users don't care as much about.

I expect a computer to last 3-4 years before it starts lagging behind. 30 fps will likely be slow in a year or two. Sure it has a decent processor (2.8 Duo Extreme) and enough ram (4GB), but if I'm going to run, say, Final Cut Pro? I might be in trouble.

That's correct, the iMac line wasn't designed around running Final Cut Pro...

30FPS for rendering that video game, playback for video should be 30FPS video, 24FPS for film. Which it should handle just fine.

Your speed will be lost not in playback but in rendering the new file which is CPU intensive not GPU intensive.

If you were interested in Pro line of video editing you shouldn't have gone with an iMac, but with a bottom line Pro.

edit: It wasn't designed around it, but can run it. It will just be slow for rendering, and digitizing. Otherwise, it's fine for playback. I have been looking up the specs lately since Skogafoss will probably want to buy a Mac in the near future, she's going to be taking a Final Cut Pro class at NYC.

30 FPS in Quake 4 is baaaaad. That game was easy to push 100 FPS in when it debuted if you had a decent videocard. 30 FPS in 2008 in that game is unacceptable. There should be an easy way to upgrade the videocard in the system.

That's the problem there isn't an easy way to upgrade video cards in iMacs.

This is precisely my point. I'd want 80-90 fps in Quake 4, which would come from a decent card that's gaming capable. EA can turn out as many Mac titles as they want, but they're going to run like crap on Macs until they get decent cards in them.

As a Mac person, I love the all-in-one feature of an iMac. I'd be frustrated if I had to get a huge tower and either a massively expensive and low ms Apple display or a third party display.

While I do realize that iMacs aren't meant to be modified in any meaningful way, can they by someone who knows what they are doing?

If you google imac video upgrade you'll see a few entries of people asking that very question. the simple answer is yes, there are people who can and will do it, but the real answer is no one ever posted, "Frank's Apple repair did it for me and it works great! A+ 5Star rating!" So I'm reluctant to think that it has been done. I'm thinking that the person finally just upgraded to a newer machine.

I have had mac tech support friends mix and match parts, but it wasn't easy.

Deleted many cards from the ~$120 price segment (gone from NewEgg or the price went up too far).

This is exactly what I have found, and it's a bit frustrating. It leaves me wondering if they're full of crap.
No, it wouldn't be easy at all. Even with the switch over to Intel chips, it would require very specific and difficult work.

I should ask Steve Jobs. He might know.

Major price changes in the $200-300 market. It's crazy how the 3870 and 8800 GT are getting close to $200 now. Also added the badass new Radeon 3870 X2 from ATI for $450. Awesome card, very powerful, even for the price.

The new Radeon HD 3650 will be added as soon as I see reviews from my sources.

I've seen some things about the nvidia 9000s coming shortly. I assume that they are gearing up for that product to hit the market soon and positioning their existing products accordingly.

My theory is that the 8800 GT was released solely for the launch of the 9k series. The 8800 GTS, GTX, and Ultra were too expensive to lower in price, so why not release a newer chip that's less expensive to make, is powerful, and will be the perfect supplement for a new batch of 9k series? Makes perfect sense to me!

Adjusted prices on multiple cards and added the new GeForce 9600 GT.

Las, I'm currently debating 8800GT, 9600GT and the upcoming 9800GT supposedly due in April but with no released specs yet. So, here are a few technical ?'s

112 vs. 64 stream processors... where will this make the most difference? As far as I can tell, the stream processors are more important at higher resolutions. I plan to run at 1920x1080 max (not 2560x1600)... how much difference will I see based on this spec alone?

The GPU is different, obviously, but core, memory and RAMDAC clocks are all roughly the same and all use GDDR3. So, in the end it's just really the GPU and stream procs. If I chose the 9600GT over the 8800GT, will I really be THAT disappointed? I'm a gamer, but I doubt I'd run games at that res, and even if I did, I'm not worried about 4xAA in general.

Have you heard anything about the 9800GT? Will it be priced in the <$300 range? Will it be that big of a step up from the 8800GT?

Thanks!

If you're planning on playing at that high of a resolution I would go for the 8800 GT. The 9600 GT would probably be alright but since the 8800 GT is so cheap I would be safe with it instead.

The 9600 GT is roughly 15% lesser than the 8800 GT. If you don't use AA in games the 9600 GT loses a lot of its performance to price ratio (the HD 3870 is better if you don't use AA).

I haven't heard anything about the 9800 besides sometime in April and probably under $400. I would guess somewhere around 15% better than the 8800 GT.

So basically it's up to what you want to spend. If you're wondering whether it's worth it to go to the 8800 GT, the answer is yes, especially because of your high resolution.

Meh, I suppose I'll go 8800GT then. I refuse to buy AMD/ATI cards. *sigh*

I was just at the Apple SoHo store today getting specs on an Mac Pro dual quad core setup.

so there's a hot card in their newest box...

looks like we're going to be buying a mac soon (the wife is taking Final Cut Pro classes at NYU)

Alright, what about the 9800 GX2... it's a performer (at a cost)... BUT...

Does it require an nVidia SLI-ready board? I can't seem to find info on whether it does or not. The mobo I'm looking at is an Intel platform (performance) and I'd prefer to stick with it, but I'm liking the 9800 GX2 for both performance and HDMI out.

Question #2 is, with an 8800GT, how well will it work on a 1080p LCD set using DVI->HDMI for video at 1920x1080? Any advice on using an HDTV as a display? Thanks!

From what I've read:

The 9800 GX2 is $600.
The 8800 GT is $200.
The 9800 GX2 has the same performance as 2 x 8800 GTs running in SLI. ($400)

I wouldn't think about buying a 9800 GX2 yet. No clue about your second question.

However, below are a few reviews of the 9800 GX2:

Early Test

Overclocked and Tested

with ForceWare 174.51

Running in Quad SLI

Edit: Off hand anyone know how much power two 8800 GTs in SLI need vs one 9800 GX2? If you have to buy a new expensive PSU, it might all come out in the wash.

Yeah, I know. I REALLY want an iMac, though.

It's moot for now as I refuse to get one until my eMac breaks. Maybe by *whenever my eMac finally bites it* they'll have a 9600 in the iMac 24".

Isn't the problem with the iMacs that they have to use mobile processors and video cards because they are so thin?

Yes that's true, but it's not like they don't have amazing cards for laptops. The Alienware Area-1 m15x has the 8800M GTX in it (that's 512MB). That thing would blow away with the iMac has now, the Radeon HD 2600 PRO (that's 256MB). Battlefield 2142 or Command and Conquer 3 would play a lot better with a stronger video card.

Ya but Alienware is meant to be a gaming powerhouse laptop. iMacs don't seem to be marketed as amazing powerhouses, they are stylish computers for the average user all wrapped up in a nice little bundle. The average user (especially of a mac) won't need the power from the video card to play high end games. It would seem like a person wanting a super powerful mac would go for the Mac Pro. I don't know, that's just what it seems like to me.

Also, a question I had is are the new 512MB 8800GTS's more powerful than the GT? It seems like they are from some of the benchmarks I have seen.

The iMac has an 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme (4 cores), 4 GB RAM, up to 1 TB HD, etc. Basically, the iMac is a top end laptop for your desktop. Compared to the processor/ram/hard drive, the stock video card is lacking. If the iMac only went up to a 2.0 or 2.2GHz multiple core, then the 256MB 2600 would make sense. With the top end iMac, it makes more sense to have the balls to play decent games and high end video apps.

Yes, one can get the Mac Pro, which is a man's machine, but iMac has been the staple of Mac since 1999. I'm still thinking about getting a Mac Pro, but the damn thing is so expensive. It STARTS at $2800, and that's without a monitor. Even getting the hard drives, video card, and ram third party (because Apple charges way too much for extras), I'd still probably be paying about $4,600 for a computer (tower with two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intels, 30" display, extra drive and AirPort). That's a decent chunk of change.

we just got a Mac Pro. It wasn't no 4k, but somewhere in the 3k range, student or corporate discount applied as well, but that was really to not pay any taxes on the machine and get a 1%-2% discount.

You could get a single chip 2.8Ghz Xeon quad core, which makes it start at $2,299. If you're stating that an iMac was good for you, no application (especially gaming) you were using would really take advantage of the quad core and you'd still have a powerhouse CPU.

edit: sorry the price is $2,499.00, since it's a $200 upgrade for the 8800GT card.

Made some surprising changes. Added the older GeForce 8800 GTS 320 to the list since its incredible price drop. Added the 8800 GS. Added Radeon HD 3650. Deleted the 3850 512 MB. Added the 8800 GTX back to the list.

I have a question about my video card problems: in my old computer, running a 3600AMD processor with 1gb of ram on XP with a 6600GT nvidia card was running games OK this year.

Now that I have a Quadcore 6600 with 2gb of ram on vista with a 8400gs, it's running like crap on the lowest settings. is this card that bad!?!?

Now seeing as i'm in canada, is there a site that has the same prices or close to the same as newegg in quality?

What would you recommend as a top quality card for ~100-150$?

i'm asking beause a card like i have now which is pretty shitty still runs at about 100$ in my town. http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/ca...AffixedCode=WW

The short answer is yes, the 8400GS is that bad. It's a workstation card, and isn't really meant for any serious gaming.

Staples overprices everything.

Tiger Direct is offering a BFG 8600GTS for $129 ($104 after the $25 mail-in rebate) or an XFX 8600GT for $120 with a $20 mail-in rebate. The 256 MB version of the 8600GT is even cheaper, just $100 with a $30 mail-in rebate (best deal IMO, at a final price of $70). Alternatively, if you can scrape a bit more cash together you can get an EVGA 8800GT for $220 less a $30 mail-in rebate.

I've personally never used Tiger Direct, but I have friends who swear by them. If you prefer a brick and mortar store and are within driving distance of Whitby, Best Byte usually has some good deals, and is currently offering an XFX 8600GT for $125.

Yes, the videocard is that bad. Videocards do a huge portion of the work in today's games. That 8400 GS is worse than the years old 6600 GT.

I would buy this from Tiger Direct's Canadian site:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...416&CatId=1558

GeForce 8800 GS, $135 with a $30 rebate so it's really $105. You won't find a better deal.

very good. thanks for the info guys!! I also found a 9600GT for 175$. what's better here? on the tiger direct site, i have to pay 20$ of shipping. on this site, shipping is free. so 125 for 8800gs or 175 for 9600gt... what's the best deal?!

9600 GT will be slightly better. Both are a good deal, just depends on how much you want to spend.

ok so my very very behind the times self has decided to refer to this thread for video card assistance.

basically, i'm cheap, i don't want to pay for a video card ALONE a price which would net me an entire current gen gaming platform (wii/ps3/360)

everyone is ranting and raving about 8800's but where i get confused is what the hell is the difference in the lettering? GT? GS? GTS? LMNOP? that tells me nothing. Is there a site that breaks it down ala the ever familiar "Free version vs pro!" charts that i've come to love (like the winamp download page for example)


Basically i'm gonna wanna play SC2, Orange box, tf2, COD4, and...

Multibox WoW on one machine (run 2-3 instances of WoW at the same time)
http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Portal like this

what am I looking at?


EDIT: ok I answered my own question I think (thanks google)


1st I found

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/132


seems like the GT is the best price point eh?

the GT ultra moves 103.6 GB/s but jesus, it's 500$

would anyone recommend this?

the GT, GTS, GTX all don't mean much in the grandest scheme of things.

The most important things to keep in mind with the video cards are the same things that Las posted in the first post....

I'm looking at the 8800GT as a replacement for my 7900GT some time this year, the price is hovering around 200-250 depending on if Britney Spears is wearing panties, hit some SUV, or doesn't have her kids.

GS=38.4 GB/s 192bit
GT=57.6 GB/s 256bit
GTS=64 GB/s 320bit
GTX=86.4 GB/s 384bit
Ultra=103.6 GB/s 384bit


ok disregard my last post

the GTS is at the best price point

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130082

144$
114$ after rebate

you could buy 2 of those and SLI them and run circles around the Ultra, am i reading this right?

A GeForce 8800 Ultra would smoke 2 GTSs. The 8800 GTS 320 is still a good deal at $140 though.

If you're counting rebates though I would look at a 9600 GT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133216. $130ish after rebates and better than the 8800 GTS 320.

I just ordered myself 2 9600GT from your advice. hopefully they're awesome cards. I plan on running UT3 full speed full everything on my quadcore.

My 8800GT 512MB is beasty. I'm running Crysis on Very High everything 1280x960 with no slowdown at all.

Will upgrade in about 2 years.

A few months ago before I got poor my GTX card died.

So I got 2 8800 GT 1gig OCed cards SLIed (cost about as much as my GTX card did when I got it).

Really great, and it runs a LOT cooler than the GTX card, at least a two year upgrade for me on this one.

Updated while on my honeymoon!! What dedication!!!!!!!!!

Updated. The $130 price point is now the killer deal segment of the market. The power you get for $130 is crazy. Now is a good time to buy!!

*DOES BACKFLIP!*
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/28/a...c-as-expected/

Can an atheist's prayers be answered? Yes, yes they can. (And by Steve Jobs).

Nice!! The 8800 GS is a good card.

Yeah, it is... and this opens up the possibility of including a GTX or Ultra in the future. *greedy*

Okay mr. Lasereth, the time that I have money is now upon me!! I have been researching all my components towards a new computer and am stuck on 2 things right now, one graphics card related and one not. But I am posting both here.

1.) I am considering overclocking either choice eventually. Not sure which one would be the way to go. Both do not come with a heatsink or a fan as I am planning on upgrading this to one of the Scythe or Thermalright or Zalman units, I have to do some research on cooling units first.
a.) Intel Duo E8400 3.00GHz w/ 6MB Cache ($200)
b.) Intel Quad Q9450 2.66GHz w/ 12MB Cache ($380)

And finally....

2. Graphics card!! Old reviews say that the 8800 GT is better than the GTS, but apparently the newer made GTS units are better. I am not sure what to do, or if I should run some in SLI, here are some cards and some prices I can get on them
a.) 8800 GT 512MB ($200 each)
b.) 8800 GT 512MB ($230-240 each)



Okay, not sure if I should be posting all this in here, but I am going to anyways!

You guys figure its worth it to go for a mobo that supports DDR3 ram? If I go the DDR2 ram and get 4 gigs of ram (using 32 bit xp) it will cost about 300 bucks less than getting the nicer mobo with DDR3 and 2 gigs of FAST ram.



Essentially I can build myself a computer with the dual core, DDR2 mobo, 1 hard drive, 1 graphics card and a dvd drive for around 1300 (my brother just build this one from NCIX, about the same prices as memex for me).

Or I can build myself a computer with the quad core, ddr3 mobo, 2 hard drives in raid, 2 graphics cards in SLI for like 2500.

Now what do you think holds the better value? Get the nicer comp now, or get the 1300 (maybe add a few upgrades) and keep doing that every couple years or so.

Can't give you any recommendations about OCing because I don't do it and don't promote it either. But I'd get a Core 2 Duo over a Core 2 Quad for gaming.

Either of those video cards are good choices. I wouldn't buy 2 of them since the newest generation of cards are coming out in a month or two.

I would buy DDR2 ram and mobo instead of 3 just because of the absurd price difference.

I would spend $1300 instead of $2500 unless you piss money. The gain in performance from 1300 to 2500 isn't worth it.

Hey Lasereth, I need your knowledge with a rather pathetic problem on my hands... :(
Unsatisfied with my ATI Radeon 1950 Sli ready video card (I bought last year for 205, blech!), I purchased two Asus Geforce 9600 GT cards for 194 each from a local dealer (less than what I would pay at Tiger Direct after all the taxes and S/H fees), happy to discover with Asus to Asus compatibility, you get a 10% clocking boost! sweet. :D

Anyways, I know you should uninstall the drivers before pulling out the video card, but, I basically pulled the guts out of my computer and cleaned everything out before I even considered buying new video cards.

So, last night I put the guts back in (never touched the RAM, but everything else was disconnected at one point or another), and pop in the two new cards with the Sli bridge....no signal to the monitor. :(

As dumb as this question sounds, I'm going to ask it, to heck with it all!
Do I have to take out the memory sticks, wait a minute or two, and pop them back in to get a signal to the monitor? What's the deal there?

Will I have to reconnect the old video card to uninstall the driver, then put the new ones back in? I doubt that should have to happen...since when do video card drivers deny a pc any sort of monitor signal!

Before you have to ask me: yes, PSU is Ultra 600W ATX(above par for two sli cards as far as I know), all connections are in where they need to be, and cables are secure. BIOS gives me one beep upon booting system.

What's the missing puzzle piece? :P

Many thanks.

What brand is your PSU?

The drivers are irrelevant. It should work regardless of the software on the PC.

Have you tried booting it with only 1 videocard in? Then set it up for 2 in Windows?

The memory shouldn't have to be pulled either, but what you could do is take out the little watch battery on the motherboard for 1 minute and put it back in. This will reset all BIOS options.

I meant to post this but everytime, my connection would drop.

So I finally received my EVGA 9600GT card, and I upgraded my PSU to a 550W to make sure I had enough even though my old 8400gs was running with my system with a 300W. but that's over now.

After installing it, I maxed out UT3 with all the possible settings and I get no slowdowns or anything. So thanks for helping me pick a card.

Awesome!!!!

The brand is ULTRA.
And yes, I didn't think drivers could be messing everything up.
I have tried booting with only one video card in, with no luck.
I'll try again, and if it doesn't work, will try pulling the mobo battery out.
It was the last thing I wanted to try. :(
Bummer
Thanks for your advice

Well, now the pc powers up, fans running, HDD spins, but no BIOS beep
That's got to be a hardware issue. *sighs*

Today at dell.ca is the GeForce 8800 GTX OC on sale for $430. Think its worth it? at that price I would be able to buy 2 880GT's and for just a little more 2 880GTS cards.

Not by a long shot.

Edited the guide for formatting since HTML no longer works.

Today the new Nvidia GeForce 260 GTX and 280 GTX were reviewed by many sites. It's an interesting launch because both cards are simply single cards unlike the recent GeForce 9800 GX2. These new cards may be new and powerful but they are being directly compared to dual GPU cards, and most importantly, SLI setups.

When compared to SLI setups the new GeForce 280 GTX is overpriced and heavily disappointing. The 260 GTX is a good card when considering price to performance ratios but again is eclipsed by an 8800 GT SLI setup that is cheaper.

So on one hand we have the most powerful single GPU videocards ever released coming out today, but on the other hand we must compare them to SLI setups since SLI is so cheap these days.

Bottom line: the guide will be updated tomorrow when they launch officially but expect some notes in the guide about how these cards compare to SLI capable PCs. If your PC handles SLI, you can't beat a pair of 8800 GTs...this has been proven tenfold with the review of these new GeForces.

Today ATI released the first next-generation card of its lineup: the Radeon HD 4850. This card MSRPs at $199 and is an absolute steal. I've deleted the 8800 GTS G92 off the list because it's no longer a good buy compared to this card. All other videocards have had their bold tag removed and the Radeon HD 4850 is now the only bolded card which indicates that it's the best buy on the market.

A powerhouse of a card that beats the 9800 GTX in many tests for only $199...this is a champion card right now!!

Well I picked up my graphics cards. I got 2 8800GT cards and I am running them in SLI (total price of about 290 before GST).
Amazing cards, but the fans are bloody loud on them. Is there anyway to replace the stock fans with something else?

I am also using eVGA's overclocking software for them. The software works sometimes, but just reverts all my settings back to normal after like 5 min, and turns the fans OFF on the cards... I had my temps hit 105 degrees C when I wasnt paying attention!! OUCH!!! So I have since stopped playing with the software and run the fans on 100% when playing games.

Who woulda thunk it. NVidea's been temporarily dethroned.

HD 4870 batman!! You read any reviews on this one yet? It costs $300 Canadian, runs super quiet, super cold, and it performs pretty close to the GTX 280! I don't know how it runs in crossfire, but if 1 card can run that good imagine two!

Makes me kind of sad that I just got a SLI board and 2x 8800GT.

I was at training all day yesterday, I'm gonna check it out today at work!!

Updated every section of the guide. Some major changes have been made with the release of the Radeon HD 4850/4870. They can't be beat in their price ranges right now.......the 4870 beats out both of Nvidia's new $400 and $650 cards multiple times!!

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814125089


good?

Amazingly good!! But if they have the same price with eVGA then get that chip manufacturer. They offer lifetime warranty for everything, including if you OC so much you melt the card.

That's a good deal, but it's nothing special if you don't send in that mail in rebate.

I was doing a little digging on the GeForce 8800 GS graphics card in the latest iMac. The performance didn't match up with the GSs that I'd seen. Guess what? It's really the GeForce 8800M GTS. Specs:
Pipelines 64 - unified
Core Speed 500 MHz
Memory Speed 800 MHz
Memory Bus Width 256 Bit
Memory Type GDDR3
Max.Memory 512 MB
Shared Memory No
DirectX DirectX 10, Shader 4.0
Power Consump 35 Watt
Transistors Million

The new card should run anything from COD4 to WoW without issues and can support up to 2560x1600 on an external monitor via Dual-Link DVI-D.

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/43pxg/

The GTX 280 is now available for $470 in many places. Sucks to be the person who spend over $600 for it last week.

Ha ha ha ha I know. It started out at an unbudging $650 on NewEgg and then it dropped like a rock overnight when ATI's new cards came out.

News at 11!!!!!

EVGA 512-P3-N800-TR 8800 GT 512MB Video Card $109.99AR Free Shipping, Jul. 23 8 PM

newegg has the EVGA 512-P3-N800-TR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card, for a low $109.99 after rebate and coupon code: VGA72320. Free 3 Business Day Shipping. Tax in CA, NJ, NY, TN, PR.

$20 rebate Exp 7/31/08




Gobble this bad boy up! 8800GT for $109.99! Paid $250 for mine just 5 months ago....

Holy crap! I paid $150 for each of mine about a month ago, what a steal of a deal!

Awesome deal. Mine was $220 back in March.

It's an amazing card. I haven't been able to throw anything at it it couldn't handle yet.

Made some more updates. Videocard prices are plummeting (good for us). It's hilarious that you can now get powerful cards like the Radeon HD 3850 for $99. Even the brand new Radeon HD 4850 that obliterated the market at its old price point is now even low at $175. Watch out for the cards in bold lettering, they're the super crazy deals!

Any insight into the Nvidia concerns? Should people with nvidia GPUs be worried about heat?

I haven't read much about it but people have been complaining about the GeForce 8 series and forward with heat but the cards almost always stay stable. Mine gets really hot but it never becomes unstable. Stability is what really matters.

I played some pretty intensive games on max settings and while the card got pretty hot at times, I haven't had any issues with it. eVGA makes good stuff.

So guys, I'm in the market for a new video card.

Here's what it'll have:
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom 9950 BLACK EDITION 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 140W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Newegg.com - Open Box: MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

I really want to get something that matches the rest of the system. I don't want any bottlenecks. I have the budget for a high end card but I don't really know if I'm going to need it. My PC gaming is limited to WoW and probably diablo3 and Starcraft2 when they come out.

Any recommendations?

The two best deals on the market are the Radeon HD 4850 and the Radeon HD 4870. Either of those will blow away any game you play.

Cool, There's so many dang naming conventions. Those fricking numbers don't mean shit anymore. Hell, Nvidia has a 9800 now.. I just got rid of a 9800 ATI, It was a stupid 3+ year old POS!

How does the 4870 compare to Nvidia's 300$ card? I was looking at the Newegg.com - PNY VCGGTX260XPB GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Assuming I actually get the 50$ mail in rebate, It's actually cheaper than the ATI 4870. I used to goto Toms hardware to see benchmarks but they don't have either of these cards listed yet :/

Like I said above, the 4850 and the 4870 are the best deals on the market. the 4870 actually blows the 260 out of the water so bad it's embarrassing. The 4870 is actually just as good as nvidia's GTX 280 which is way expensive.

It's just.. I've had some bad luck with ATI. I hate the catalyst control center. I really wouldn't mind spending a bit extra for a equivalent Nvidia card.