Does it make sense to pick up a 8800GT(S) 512 when 9600 is out?

[KBD]

OK, my friend wants to upgrade his graphix, he wanted to pick up a 8800GT or a GTS, but now the similarly speced 9600GT is out and it's much cheaper, hell the KO version is like $189 at egg. I thought that the 9600 will be about $300, i wonder why the hell did nvidia even release the GT & GTS in the first place? Anyway, i assume that the 9600 is a better buy than those other 2, right? Any of these cards will probably bottleneck his X2 6000+, but hell, he'll be replacing a 7600GT placeholder so he should be seeing a huge performace increse.

 

[divinebaboon]

Er...9600GT was never meant to be 300$. It's a replacement of the 8600GT, since it follows the x600 naming format. IT comes just a tad bit below the 8800GT. 8800GT is better, but pricier. IT all depends on your buddy's budget really. 180 for a 9600GT, 210 for a 8800GT, and even higher for the G92 8800GTS 512MB.

 

[KBD]

I see, i got it all wrong then, i thought the 9600 was the best out these 3, i guess because it's 9000 series, i assumed it would beat all the 8000 series cards, my mistake. He has about 300 put aside for the card so i'll tell him to get one of the 8800s then. Thnx for the reply

 

[hat]

8800GT is a really good deal. As long as you get the 512MB version, I doubt the 8800GTS will yield a noticible difference, sure as hell not worth $90-$80.

 

[wolf]

here (aus) the price difference between a reference 8800GT and GTS is over 25% of the price, the GT is a steal and the GTS is a rip!

 

[phanbuey]

its best to wait for a 9800GT... but then if you want a 88GT (which is faster than a 9600GT), get the gigabyte one, which allows you to use gigabyte software to modify Vcore up to 1.2 V and let you OC to 780-800MHz core to 2000MHz shaders...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125088 <<THAT ONE IS AWESOME

It will clock so high using the utility from the Gigabyte website that it will beat a stock 8800GTS/GTX in the large majority og scenarios... and its cheap, and shorter than a normal 8800GT.

I only say this cause i wish i got that one.

 

[KBD]

Thanks for the replies folks! After looking at the GT & GTS specs again i think it does make sense to get the GT instead instead of GTS. As for waiting for the 9800, i think that it doesn't make sense in his case because a GT will likely bottleneck his X2 6000+, so he won't be ble to use the 9800 to the fullest. I will tell him to consider the Gigabyte version, though i personally prefer EVGA and BFG and XFX cards, because of their lifetime warranty, great customer service and un case of EVGA its step up program, though i think he won't be needing that.

 

[desertjedi]

Just keep in mind that the 8800GT stock hsf will "kinda suck" while the GTS' stock cooler is actually excellent. I got the BFG OC card and I have no need to replace the stock hsf.

I always advise people to spend the extra $30-50 for the GTS over the GT and most agree that's it worth it but the 8800GT is an awesome bang-for-the-buck card. A lot of people have heat issues with the 8800GT and it can be a bit noisy keeping it cool.

 

[KBD]

Thank you, i will keep that in mind. Though from what i've seen the Gigabyte version of the GT is the one that runs cooler than the other GTs due to to it's Zalman cooler that comes with it. And, as phanbuey mentioned it comes with some nice overclocking software as well, yet another reason to consider it. I will present these options to my friend and let him make a decision.

 

[trog100]

OK, my friend wants to upgrade his graphix, he wanted to pick up a 8800GT or a GTS, but now the similarly speced 9600GT is out and it's much cheaper, hell the KO version is like $189 at egg. I thought that the 9600 will be about $300, i wonder why the hell did nvidia even release the GT & GTS in the first place? Anyway, i assume that the 9600 is a better buy than those other 2, right? Any of these cards will probably bottleneck his X2 6000+, but hell, he'll be replacing a 7600GT placeholder so he should be seeing a huge performace increse.

they in essence put out the two odd 8800 (price/performance) cards early to counter the ati 3series cards.. they really should have waited and brought them out as the 9xx series.. ati kinda forced the issue..

trog

 

[desertjedi]

Though from what i've seen the Gigabyte version of the GT is the one that runs cooler than the other GTs due to to it's Zalman cooler that comes with it. And, as phanbuey mentioned it comes with some nice overclocking software as well, yet another reason to consider it.

Sounds good to me KBD!

 

[tkpenalty]

8800GT is superior to the 9600GT... the 9600GT is just a G94, which is inferior to the G92, the 8800GT. Its just nvidia's marketing at work. It could have been called the 8700GT.

Yes the 8800GT from gigabyte is nice, comes with software voltage control, allowing you control the voltage for the vcore. The VF830Alcu that comes with it also keeps the card nice and cool, around less than 60*C. My version came with the VF700ALCU...

Heres what you can expect out of the gigabyte 8800GT. Replaced the cooling because it was too loud (i want the PC to be dead silent).

I'd still make a beeline for the 8800GT as the 9600GT doesnt really boast anything new and performs worse. OC edition 8800GT will blow an oc'ed 9600GT away.