Graphic Cards and a Question

Overlord

I'm looking in the market for a new graphics card that I can get in Canada, and I found this one on the Futureshop website.

XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB PCI-Express Video Card
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10096936&catid=10524

I was wondering if its a good deal.

Also it says it requires a 1 x 6-pin Supplementary Power, and was wondering what I would be looking for in my computer to see if I have one.

kaliyama

If you've read any reviews for the card, you'll see that the MSRP is like $250. But since they're so awesome and there's a shortage, they've been going for $300. so theoretically they'll be cheaper, but i have a hard time seeing that happening any time before christmas.

Deusfaux

yeah that price is not cool, but the product is excellent. if you can find it closer to $250 or under you're set.

or look for an AMD/ATI 3850 or 3870 for under $250 as well

LondonBridge

Deusfaux wrote: »

yeah that price is not cool, but the product is excellent. if you can find it closer to $250 or under you're set.

or look for an AMD/ATI 3850 or 3870 for under $250 as well

Unfortunately the new ATI cards are being gouged by the retailers and factories. I saw a Diamon 3870 go from $229 to $300. The new cards are not worth the overblown prices, wait if you can.

Spoit

Not sure if electronics prices have adjusted to the canadian $ yet, so the $300 might just be the usual Canadian price gouging, moreso than the supply problems. That said, even at $300, it's probably the best price/performance card currently available, so if you need to get one soon, you might as well go for it. If you can wait for the supply to get resolved, that would probably be better.

EDIT:

LondonBridge wrote: »

Deusfaux wrote: »

yeah that price is not cool, but the product is excellent. if you can find it closer to $250 or under you're set.

or look for an AMD/ATI 3850 or 3870 for under $250 as well

Unfortunately the new ATI cards are being gouged by the retailers and factories. I saw a Diamon 3870 go from $229 to $300. The new cards are not worth the overblown prices, wait if you can.

Yeah, if they're going to be the same price, definately go for the 8800GT, it's worth it even with the normal $50 price gap, nevermind their prices being equal

Cycophant

That's probably the best price you'll get for an 8800 GT in a retail environment in Canada right now.

My favorite hardware store, NCIX, has the EVGA 8800 GT (which seems to be known as probably the best variant of the 8800 GT right now) for $290 CDN, plus $9 shipping. So basically the exact same price. If you're willing to wait the week or two it'll take for them to get stock and ship it to you, and you're comfortable with purchasing hardware online, I'd suggest that route. It's the same price (actually cheaper if you live outside BC, since there's no sales tax) for a slightly better card. But again, it's a bit of a wait, and the slight risk of ordering online.

Otherwise, I'd say grab this one at Future Shop. It's a good deal, and you probably won't find much better for a good month or two, when supplies start becoming more common again.

Overlord

Thanks for the help. I'll probably go with the Futureshop one. But does anyone know what I would be looking for that power supply connector? I want to make sure I have a slot for it before I buy it.

Damaleon

The connector is similar to power connector for the motherboard (obviously 6 pos. instead of 20/24 pos.). Most video cards that use the connector come with an adapter y-cable with the 6 pin plug going to 2 molex style 4 pin power connectors (like on the back of IDE hard drives and optical drives).
As long as you have two unused of that type, you should be fine. Even if the adapter doesn't show up with it, most computer shops will have them for a couple dollars, sometimes even Best Buy or Circuit City types have them too.

kaliyama

Given that this thing is almost as good as the GTX, I have a hard time seeing it go down in price soon.

Overlord

Sorry for bringing this back, but I had my computer apart the other day looking for the connector, and I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for, does anyone have a pic of the thing they could link me to so I'd know what to look for?

Overlord

Would it be these?

krapst78

Yup!, those are the 4pin Molex connectors that you'll need to power your new graphics card. The 8800gt card should come with an adapter that allows you to connect two of those Molex connectors into the 6pin power plug. Then you just need to plug in the 6pin power plug into the back of the graphic card and viola!