GeForce 8800GTX is comparable to what nowadays?

[1pcgamer]

Hi folks.

My 8800GTX has served me well & is still going strong. It was still playing most of my games relatively well (SWTOR, The Secret World, Tribes: Ascend, etc.). However, my desktop recently took a dump so have been looking to upgrade all-around.

My problem is that I haven't found a comparison chart somewhere telling me what my 8800GTX is comparable to in terms of newer cards. As a longtime gamer & avid reader of TH since back when this site first started back in the 90's (tho i lost my login info so had to start anew *cry*), I'm a big fan of the monthly "Best Graphics Cards For the Money" monthly review.

But I'm still stuck as to what to upgrade to. My budget is VERY limited ($150) for this but I have no idea how much of an improvement a card in that price range will be. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[13thmonkey]

not great, gt450 perhaps?

 

[eddieroolz]

I'm basing this comparison off of Tom's Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart as well:

8800GTX = GT 545 = Radeon HD4770.

Personally, if you were satisfied with the performance you were getting, there's nothing better for your wallet than to not spend - and let the dollars grow.

However. If an upgrade is strongly desired, then my option would be the GTX 650 Ti. It will offer performance level slightly above that of GTX 460 which is what many game still use as the minimum or recommended configuration.

Here in Canada you can pick one up at just under $150 - and depending on where you live, it may be +/-$20 of that value.

The GTX 650 Ti's closest competitor would be the HD 6950. However, that card has been discontinued at most retailers so it would be difficult to find one.

 

[1pcgamer]

Thanks for the responses, thus far, folks. Really appreciated. Yea, in looking at the June Review/roundup, that GTX 650 Ti is looking mighty nice for the price (~$150). Personally, I'd rather not spend just yet since it was running my games ok & hold off for those nicer cards to drop in price. But it doesn't seem that they drop that much so guess I gotta catch 'em on sale.

 

[1pcgamer]

I forgot to mention that the irony is that a buddy had given me an old rig of his that he said the PSU was dead. So I bought a few components to get it going only to find out that the PSU was probably fine & that the bad part was prolly the mobo but by then I was out of cash /sigh. At the time, I bought an HD 4830 (which was ~$130 back then). It got placed in the case but has never been used (I even still have the box). The bad news is that I can't use it cuz that mobo's GPU slot was AGP so its an AGP card & I don't have another mobo that uses AGP. hehe.

 

[luckiest charm]

I would recommend GTX 650 Ti BOOST.

Its slightly faster than 650 Ti and costs somewhat around $150.

 

[sam_p_lay]

What CPU and PSU will it be paired with? Some deals for you:

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#sort=a5&c=118,132

GTX650 Ti is an excellent recommendation for something that shouldn't get too bottlenecked by an older CPU and doesn't draw excessive wattage. If your CPU and PSU can keep up though, the Boost version delivers a major (~35%) framerate boost over the standard version.

 

[sam_p_lay]

Oh and the GTX650 Ti (non-Boost) will deliver over double the framerates of a 8800GTX. I used have a 8800GTX too - awesome card. Never ceased to surprise me when I turned up the settings, right up until it died. I'm actually impressed your's has lived so long. Most 8800 series cards died young deaths (2-3 years). nVIDIA actually lost a bunch of money over it in a class action lawsuit. Something to do with a cheap solder material they used gradually breaking down over time.

 

[1pcgamer]

Thanks for the help everyone! And for the link to the pcpartpicker, sam_p_lay. I wasn't aware that the GTX650 Ti was double the card of the 8800GTX. That's amazing! I had my eye on that (& the Boost) version from June's monthly GPU price range suggestions post. Sounds like everyone one here is in agreement that it's great bang for your buck. So what I'll do is hold off a bit so I can have enough cash to get the GTX 650 Ti Boost, some nice DDR3 RAM to go w/it (any suggestions on that front btw?) & a rock solid mobo to handle it all. The PSU's i have are Mushkin 550W, Mushkin 600W & Thermaltake 650W (all brand new). Is the 650W enough juice to power the GTX 650 Ti Boost?

Speaking of mobo's. From that pcpartpicker list, what's a good mobo to handle either the GTX 650 Ti or the GTX 650 Ti Boost? On my dead desktop, I had the 8800GTX, DDR2 RAM & a Biostar MCP6P M2+ Micro ATX mobo. Anyone have good experiences w/either a particular mobo manufacturer or a mobo that works really well w/this card? Thanks in advance!

 

[luckiest charm]

All motherboards from reliable brands work flawlessly with any mid range video card out there.

I would highly recommend 4 motherboards based on the amount of money you can spend -

ASRock Z77 / Z87 Pro3
ASRock Z77 / Z87 Pro4
ASRock Z77 / Z87 Extreme3
ASRock Z77 / Z87 Extreme4

Go anything better than Extreme4, and you are wasting your money for no reason. I myself would choose either Pro4 or Extreme3 since it doesn't make sense to buy too expensive motherboard. Try saving money for a good CPU / GPU instead.

One more thing, 650 Ti Boost would work with any 550W+ PSU with no trouble at all.

 

[1pcgamer]

Thanks for the info, luckiest charm! I checked a couple of those mobos on Newegg & they're discontinued tho i'm sure i can find it at other retailers. Thanks for the info the PSU requirements for the 650 Ti Boost. I'm thinking of upgrading my old cpu/mobo/ram combo first & getting an AMD A6-6400 since it has a decent APU (reports on newegg says it can run SWTOR on medium settings which is impressive to me). So I can upgrade my surrounding architecture first for ~$200US & then get this GTX 650 Ti Boost in a few weeks. Is this thinking flawed?

 

[luckiest charm]

Z77 (Sandy and Ivy Bridge) -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157330

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157297

Z87 (Haswell) -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157372

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157381

--------------

They are not discontinued at all.

Also, there is no point of buying an APU. Its per core performance is much much weaker than those of Intel's. A core i5 3570K can wipe floor with it and buying an APU only makes sense if you are not buying a dedicated GPU. Since you are buying 650 Ti Boost, get Intel CPU (Preferably i5 3570K or i5 4670K) along with Extreme3 / Pro4 Motherboard and 8 GB Corsair Vengeance @1600 MHz.

Still if you want to buy from AMD, do not buy an APU. Rather get FX 6300 / 6350 or FX 8350. Both are good and the difference is that 6300 series has 6 cores while 8300 series has 8 cores. APU doesn't make sense here.

 

[1pcgamer]

Thanks, luckiest charm! So you're saying that buying an APU doesn't make sense cuz my 8800GTX is roughly comparable to the performance in these APUs? I ask since while I'd like to purchase a GTX 650 Ti Boost ASAP, I'm not really sure how soon I'll be able to purchase it so no idea how long I'll be using my old, trusty 8800GTX while I wait. Thanks in advance for your answers, folks.

 

[luckiest charm]

8800 GTX is better than most of the APUs they offer.

Stick to it for a while because you would be using GTX 650 Ti Boost in 'long term'.
Some advantage for 2-3 months (or lesser) would cost you dearly for next 2-3 years till you change your CPU and Motherboard again.

Believe me, the very best APU out there is comparable to that of Core i3 3220. Go for Intel on this. They have integrated graphics and your 8800 GTX would be very fine till you buy a new GPU.

 

[1pcgamer]

Thanks for the info, luckiest charm. That all makes sense actually so now you've got me going away from the A-series Richland/Trinity cpu's by AMD. Since I only wanted to spend $200-250US (max) & needed to get mobo/cpu/ram, it's why I was looking at the AMD build since it's usually more budget build-friendly. But you're saying go with Intel? I do understand that the cpu's are usually comparable in price to AMD on the lower end but you pay a bit more for the mobos. I guess I should be reviewing threads titled 'budget gaming build' also & stop bugging you guys so much. ;-)

I'm still torn since i"ve been so out of the loop on doing builds for like 3-4yrs (which means i'm not sure which way to lean) since my last 2 builds lasted me quite a long time hehe.

 

[luckiest charm]

Ah well true that. They have $15 difference.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.98 @ PCM)
Total: $244.96
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-27 06:19 EDT-0400)

This is the very best combo I could find below $250 and still very reliable and sturdy. FX Series from AMD is a very good gaming oriented series. Packs in a lot of power overall. Not as much as any good i5 from Intel, but yes its much better than Richland.

The thing with Intel is that it has overall much higher per core performance which makes it very strong and ideal for gaming needs. I myself have i5 2500K and I am proud of its performance. A good Intel build would cost you -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($90.92 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $330.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-27 06:30 EDT-0400)

If you can not afford Intel setup then FX setup is the best for you.

 

[1pcgamer]

For the mobo I'm looking at this cuz of the $15 off: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138372
For the RAM, I was looking at this since it seems low profile in case I need an after market cooler (like the evo212): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104262

Any thoughts on why the ASRock would be better? I know they have a good rep now, but I've heard good things about MSI & Gigabyte as well. I'm thinking Biostar cuz of my budget but also cuz the rig that just died lasted about 4yrs+ using a Biostar mobo while being on 24/7 during that whole entire time. Speaking of this, I'll be putting all of this in a Cooler Master Elite 335 case (mid atx but supports microatx & atx). Mine's doesn't have a fron 120MM fan. If I won't be overclocking anything in my rig, would I need an after market cpu cooler and/or the front panel 120MM fan? Since it's a mid-ATX case?

Lastly, on the mobo page, SteveD has a pretty relevant comment for me since I plan to dual-boot Linux (Ubuntu) on it & cuz I'll be using the FX-6300 also. The mobo i had in my case before is also a micro-ATX so I gotta make sure to read the manual on where the standoffs should go (hehe). All 3 of my choices are on sale AND Iron Egg Guarantee items. Thoughts?:


Pros: Nice board with lots of usb ports. Nice easy to build layout especially when I have my magnifying glass handy. Many sata ports on the board. Full size board with plenty of expansion slots.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: I put this in a case that had a Biostar GZ880 matx board in it. I did have to remove one standoff so it wouldn't short out the board. I wonder how many complainers don't do this and ruin the board? I paired it up with 2 four gig sticks of Team Elite 1600 ram. The FX-6300 chip worked with original bios and works well. I'm running only Kubuntu 13.04 and it worls well.

 

[1pcgamer]

Forgot to mention the total for FX-6300 (same price on Newegg as on Amazon but comes w/Iron Eagle Guarantee), Biostar 970 mobo & Kingston 8GB (2x4GB) = <$235.
I think that's a pretty decent deal. Again, thoughts?