Best nVidia card for value and performance?

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S. Smith - 28 Feb 2008 19:24 GMT

I know that it's a subjective question, but I'd like to hear from
others here about what they would recommend for the best
nVidia card value out there right now (a solid mid range card
at a good price with good performance).

It needs to do DirectX10 and have a good, but quiet, cooling
unit on it. Also, preferably something that is friendly to some
mild overclocking.

Thanks in advance.

- Scott Smith: scott.smith@iphouse.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/choppersmith

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Augustus - 28 Feb 2008 19:37 GMT

> I know that it's a subjective question, but I'd like to hear from
> others here about what they would recommend for the best
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> unit on it. Also, preferably something that is friendly to some
> mild overclocking.

8800GT (preferable) or 9600GT ($35 cheaper but about 30% slower in DX10
games at modern LCD resolutions of 1280x1024 and above). Not all 8800GT's
are noisy, and the fan profile settings are easily modded via software. If
you are using a large monitor, consider waiting for the 9800GTX or use twin
8800's in SLI. Avoid any 8600 series for DX10 gaming...they just don't cut
it.

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S. Smith - 28 Feb 2008 21:06 GMT

>> I know that it's a subjective question, but I'd like to hear from
>> others here about what they would recommend for the best
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>8800's in SLI. Avoid any 8600 series for DX10 gaming...they just don't cut
>it.

Thanks for the info.

I use a 21" widescreen monitor for gaming, typically with a resolution
of 1680 x 1050. Right now I'm using an XFX 7900GT, and it's hanging
in there, but it doesn't support DX10, and on some newer games the
FPS rates can drop fairly low on higher resolutions.

I'm leaning towards the 8800GT because of the higher stream processor
count, or perhaps waiting for the 9800's to come out. Any idea when
they will start hitting the market, and at what price point?

Thanks again,

- Scott Smith: scott.smith@iphouse.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/choppersmith

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Augustus - 29 Feb 2008 00:20 GMT

> I use a 21" widescreen monitor for gaming, typically with a resolution
> of 1680 x 1050. Right now I'm using an XFX 7900GT, and it's hanging
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> count, or perhaps waiting for the 9800's to come out. Any idea when
> they will start hitting the market, and at what price point?

I've read around Mid March and around $399 for the 9800GTX.

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Mr.E Solved! - 29 Feb 2008 03:24 GMT

> I'm leaning towards the 8800GT because of the higher stream processor
> count, or perhaps waiting for the 9800's to come out. Any idea when
> they will start hitting the market, and at what price point?

I went from a 7950GT @ 1600x1200 to a 8800GTS512 OC also @ 1600x1200.

The difference was about 100% in terms of FPS across the board. I was
able to jump 1 FSAA notch and keep the same FPS in all games, if not better.

Yet even in XP (more stable and speedy than Vista, still), the 171.XX's
had too many issues with current titles, old titles and hardware
peculiarities to make me want to keep it.

The 7950GT runs all (my) DX9 titles flawlessly, the 8800GTS512 while a
powerhouse stills chokes on DX10 at 1600x1200 with full IQ and has weird
driver issues with OpenGL and some shader bugs.

I'm going to pass on the 8 series, while the hardware might be
excellent, the combination of hardware, drivers and games don't perform
as reliably as I'd like, disappointing.

March 11th, the big 9's come out.

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S. Smith - 29 Feb 2008 16:46 GMT

>> I'm leaning towards the 8800GT because of the higher stream processor
>> count, or perhaps waiting for the 9800's to come out. Any idea when
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
>March 11th, the big 9's come out.

Thanks for the input.

Maybe I'll just stick with my 7950GT for now. The DirectX10 stuff I
saw with the XFX 8800GT I had installed for a while (and that was
as loud as a jet engine) wasn't all that impressive.

I'll probably wait for the 9800's to come out as well.

- Scott Smith: scott.smith@iphouse.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/choppersmith

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