Replacing a Geforce 8800 GTS - Need Advice

Red or Alive

My Geforce 8800 GTS (in its original 640 MB iteration) has basically cooked itself due to a dicky fan.

Now, I know the Geforce 9 series is basically a cynical rebrand of 8800 arhitecture, but I'm still unsure how to proceed. Basically, I'm looking for something reasonably priced, but still superior enough to the 8 series to justify not looking for another 8800.

Suggestions?

LoveIsUnity

I don't follow computer hardware very much anymore, but I know that the ATI cards that are a step up from the Nvidia 8000 series were getting really good reviews. I don't know if ATI has finally decided to not make terrible drivers yet, but the Omega drivers are still really good for ATI cards. I am, however, out of the loop, and I'm sure someone a little more knowledgeable will come along and give better advice.

Heir

I went from the 8800GT to the ATI 4870 1GB last October. I have been completely happy with it. Such a great card. I think I went with the MSI variant.

Red or Alive

Heir wrote: »

I went from the 8800GT to the ATI 4870 1GB last October. I have been completely happy with it. Such a great card. I think I went with the MSI variant.

I'd much rather we keep things below the £150 mark, thanks.

Heir

What is that in US?

Edit: So roughly 230 US right?

The 512mb version would be in that range.

Alternatively I would save up for a while and get the 1gb version, if you really want to see a marked improvement (imho).

Voro

Supposedly it's $221.0108 (USD) at the moment...kind of surprising that we're not 2:1 (USD:GBP) for once. Better question: Where do you intend to shop? It sounds like your local stores have grossly inflated prices.

Rook

Red or Alive wrote: »

My Geforce 8800 GTS (in its original 640 MB iteration) has basically cooked itself due to a dicky fan.

Now, I know the Geforce 9 series is basically a cynical rebrand of 8800 arhitecture, but I'm still unsure how to proceed. Basically, I'm looking for something reasonably priced, but still superior enough to the 8 series to justify not looking for another 8800.

Suggestions?

Warranty? Most manufacturers offer pretty long warrenties on their 8800s. BFG and EVGA offered 10 years, I'm sure most of the rest would have been 2-3 years ish.

Spoit

Rook wrote: »

Red or Alive wrote: »

My Geforce 8800 GTS (in its original 640 MB iteration) has basically cooked itself due to a dicky fan.

Now, I know the Geforce 9 series is basically a cynical rebrand of 8800 arhitecture, but I'm still unsure how to proceed. Basically, I'm looking for something reasonably priced, but still superior enough to the 8 series to justify not looking for another 8800.

Suggestions?

Warranty? Most manufacturers offer pretty long warrenties on their 8800s. BFG and EVGA offered 10 years, I'm sure most of the rest would have been 2-3 years ish.

Yeah, one of the main reasons I like nvidia cards better is that the vendors generally have much better warrantees than ATI

JebusUD

Red or Alive wrote: »

My Geforce 8800 GTS (in its original 640 MB iteration) has basically cooked itself due to a dicky fan.

Now, I know the Geforce 9 series is basically a cynical rebrand of 8800 arhitecture, but I'm still unsure how to proceed. Basically, I'm looking for something reasonably priced, but still superior enough to the 8 series to justify not looking for another 8800.

Suggestions?

Just get a 9800. You should be able to get an equivalent or better for... 150 bucks? I have no idea what that is in pounds. But probably less than 150. I would link one, but I don't think newegg is going to ship to the UK.

edit: man I overestimated, 120 bucks is what im seeing now that I look.

OremLK

The 9800GT is a rebranded 8800GT, which is noticeably (but not significantly) faster than your 8800GTS. The 9800GTX+, on the other hand, is significantly faster, especially at high resolutions in games like Crysis. In the U.S. it can be had for $160; I don't know what the price would be in the UK.

Another option would be to go with AMD and grab a Radeon HD4850. This is fairly comparable to the 9800GTX+ in performance, maybe slightly worse, and is slightly cheaper.

randomman

Even though I am an nvidia fan, if you're looking for a decent card for a good price I know that ATI can help you there. For about $200 CAD you can get a ATI 4850 which really isn't a bad card. You really can't beat the price.

proXimity

Check out this article at Tom's hardware, especially the last page with the tiers to get an idea of something equivalent for a better price.

Red or Alive

You are all gentlemen worthy of distinction.

At the moment I'm swithering between the 4850 and the 9800 GTX+. I've got a PC to use in the interim, so I'll take a couple of days to come to a decision.

OremLK

They're both really good cards. I think on average the 9800GTX+ is slightly faster than the 4850, but it really depends on the game; either way, they're both a good value so I don't think you can really go wrong here.