8800 GTS 640 or GTX

[pbmaster]

Hi, I am getting a 8800 very soon, and I was just wondering if the GTX was worth the price increase over the GTS 640 MB. I can get the GTS now, but if I decide on the GTX I will have to wait. Any info appreciated. Thanks.

 

[largon]

Worth the price increase?
Yes and no.

There's nobody else but you who can decide is it worth the price increase for you.

 

[infrared]

I'm very happy with my EVGA 8800 GTS 640. It takes one hell of a processor to not bottleneck these cards. I find i need to run my C2D @ between 3.2ghz and 3.6ghz to get the best out of it. I should think your 6000+ would be ok though.

What games are you playing and @ what resolution?

 

[pbmaster]

I play CS:S, CoD2, F.E.A.R., C&C3, CoH, and WC3 mostly. I play all of theses games at max settings @ 1280 x 1024. Once I get my new card I will most likely put them in 1600 x 1200.

 

[infrared]

Ah, nice.

The GTX would help a bit in FEAR. But my GTS keeps obove 80fps most the time @ 1280x1024, 8xAA 16xAF, just with softshadows off. The forest map brings the card to it's knees though

Oh, btw, can nvidia do the soft shadows and AA at the same time? I know my x850 couldn't. The shadows just got messed up.

 

[SlipSlice]

Ah, nice.

The GTX would help a bit in FEAR. But my GTS keeps obove 80fps most the time @ 1280x1024, 8xAA 16xAF, just with softshadows off. The forest map brings the card to it's knees though

Oh, btw, can nvidia do the soft shadows and AA at the same time? I know my x850 couldn't. The shadows just got messed up.

Yea i know what map u are talking about in fear, that is quite of a hard map to play, i get about 50 fps avg. with my 7900GS but thats with stuff pretty maxed not all the way, but just comparing, my card couldn't really compare to a 8800GTS though.

 

[pbmaster]

Would my CPU bottleneck the GTX, and if so, would it be enough to not notice a difference between the GTS?

 

[newconroer]

You won't notice it, and unless the game is CPU intensive, bottlenecking won't be on a relative scale.

If you just stick the card in without any 'tuning' per se, than it's not going to be optimal.
While the architecture of the GTS is a bit different than the GTX, you can still OC it considerably high. Unless you find a smoking deal on the GTX, I'd take the GTS, or wait for the G9 series later on.

 

[rick22]

i have the 8800gts 320 and my opty 170 has a hard time .if i upgrade to the 8800 gts 640 i need to upgrade my cpu i think it's.better to keep the 8800 320 and upgrade the cpu...

 

[newconroer]

Rick makes a very good point. If it's an option, upgrade the chip or change the board and come C2D. Then wait a little bit and buy an 8800 at even cheaper prices

A C2D with a 7900 might tide you over for a while.

 

[Scavar]

If it's possible, you might simply want to wait till the G92s are out, the 8800s will go down in price, and you'll have a 2nd generation DX10 card to choose from. Otherwise I think I would personally go for the 8800GTS, as they OC very well, and generally perform extremely well except at higher resolutions(usually 1920x1200 and up though you will see a performance increase in at least min FPS at lower resolutions with GTX)

 

[hat]

Get the 640MB GTS and OC to GTX speeds, you'll be fine

 

[pbmaster]

Rick makes a very good point. If it's an option, upgrade the chip or change the board and come C2D. Then wait a little bit and buy an 8800 at even cheaper prices

A C2D with a 7900 might tide you over for a while.

Umm yeah that's not an option...I just upgraded to what I have now, I will NOT get a Core 2 for desktops. I'm thinking of just getting one of the better GTS cards or waiting.

 

[Nemesis881]

I would say go for a GTS. It's cheaper and close to the same performance. Then in the future if you ever need a boost you can throw another one in there seeing as you have an SLI mobo.

 

[pbmaster]

Good point, but from what I hear you need two very high end cards in order to get the full benefits of SLI.

 

[mello_newf]

Good point, but from what I hear you need two very high end cards in order to get the full benefits of SLI.

The 640mb 8800 GTS is a very high end card.

 

[Mussels]

I'm very happy with my EVGA 8800 GTS 640. It takes one hell of a processor to not bottleneck these cards. I find i need to run my C2D @ between 3.2ghz and 3.6ghz to get the best out of it. I should think your 6000+ would be ok though.

What games are you playing and @ what resolution?

3.2Ghz was the speed i found to get the best gains from my GTX, i run at 3.4 for nicely balanced fun.

your 6000+ will go well enough with a GTS, but you'll want 3GHz (which you have) to 'max out' a GTX (I HAVE tested my GTX in one of my other AMD systems, and it was only worth using at 2.5GHz+, on an x2 3800+)

Just remember that no matter what we say here, the GTX will be faster - its just that you could spend the money elsewhere too, better cooling, more ram, a new HD, and so on. They may speed your system up more than a GTX would, so consider other options too.

 

[bacardi9966]

get the GTX. just wait and be patient and save enough for a gtx

 

[DrunkenMafia]

I don't think you need a GTX with a 17in monitor Pb... That would be a bit of overkill. Are you planning a monitor upgrade as well???

I would personally go for a gts and put the rest towards a nice LCD upgrade.

 

[Exeodus]

I have a 5600+ x2 running a little over 3ghz with a 8800gtx and I have no bottleneck issues.
I gamed with both a 19 inch and a 22 inch monitor with 1280x1024 and 1680x1050 resolutions on each respectively. In either case, my performance was the same in all my games running
4AA and 16AF. You will always drop frames as you increase your resolution, but in both cases it is high enough that you won't notice a difference. In most benchmarks that I have seen, a GTX has a sizable advantage over a GTS. If I were in your shoes, I would go for the GTX if the budget allows.

 

[Risen]

If it's possible, you might simply want to wait till the G92s are out, the 8800s will go down in price, and you'll have a 2nd generation DX10 card to choose from. Otherwise I think I would personally go for the 8800GTS, as they OC very well, and generally perform extremely well except at higher resolutions(usually 1920x1200 and up though you will see a performance increase in at least min FPS at lower resolutions with GTX)

Would they go down significantly? I also have the same dilemma between choosing these two and have gotten mixed opinions. I see that this thread is sort of mixed too. I'm undecided on getting the GTS now, spend more for the GTX now, or wait longer for the new line since I want to build a new system.

 

[bullseye69mech]

Get a 8800GTS

I have a friend that has a 8800gtx on a dell (bad word) gaming system less than a year and half old. He bought a 8800gtx by pony on a 20 in monitor he get 5900 on 3dmark 06 because he has a week processor. The 7900 GS he sold me for a hundred on my Opteron 170 I get 5000 on 3dmark 2006. His processor hold him back. You wouldn't have that problem buy the 8800gts from EVGA you could upgrade to the 8800gtx within 90 days for the price difference if you decide you need too. I think i would spend the saving on the gts vs gtx on more ram that would help you system alot...


That my 2 cents worth. That score on the 7900GS was overclocked video card not processor got to figure out where ECS and hoenix hide the overclocking in the bios. HT and multiplire I can't find but it there just got to figure out what to diasable to get more menu choices. Then i will push it up to 2.5 then maybe make a run at 2.8 air cooled....

 

[pbmaster]

I've decided....gonna wait till I have the money and get the GTX. I think it's a worthy upgrade!!

BTW I got 5012 in 06 with my old 3800+ and my 7900 GT.

 

[mrsemi]

I was struggling with the purchase of the 8800gtx but I'm sitting there looking at prices and benches and realized for me the gtx was worth the extra money due to the fact I didn't wanna have to buy another video card for a really long time.

Even still, I'm half tempted to use evga's stepup program and pick up that ultra. I never thought I'd spend that much money on a video card but damn I don't regret it.

Now personally I agree with some of the others in your situation, you have some other things that may make your gaming experience better... I didn't need a direct x 10 card, still don't. People state that perhaps the next generation of dx10 cards would be smart and I tend to agree that logically, yes they probably will be.

But as is said time and time again, it's up to you and I have no doubt even an 8800 320 would have made my eyes pop out my head in amazement versus cards I've owned previously.

Logically I say get the gts in your situation but unless you're a guilty conscience type you won't regret the purchase on the gtx. Purchases of this type of product always have you 2nd guessing unless money isn't an issue.

Oh, and I'm rambling but the logic that made me decide on the better card (gtx) was I figured no matter how good the 9 series of nvidia cards (if they name the next series that) gets, two GTX sli'd should give at minimum insanely good gameplay for 2 or 3 years. Can't wait till they go down in price to try it out. In the meanwhile you've got a card that can topple nearly anything.

 

[pbmaster]

About the conscience thing: Mine can go two ways. One, I get the GTS and be content, but continue thinking of how much better the GTX would have been. Two, I get the the GTX and feel bad for spending so much money on ONE component....LOL tengo una problema!!!