Keep OEM GeForce 545 GT or replace with old XFX GeForce 8800GT???

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timothius

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Hello everyone,

I'm getting a Dell XPS 8300 machine, and I'm wondering if I should keep the existing OEM video card which is a 1GB GeForce GDDR5 GT 545 or replace it with my XFX Alpha Dog Edition GeForce 8800GT from my old XPS 420 PC. I wasn't able to direct comparisons between the cards very well, as the 545 came out quite recently. With the XPS 8300 computer being a fair bit newer than my old XPS 420 which I'm upgrading from, I'm wondering if putting my old 8800 GT card in the XPS 8300 would actually be a bad idea, even though the card itself has done very well for me.

I believe they both use PCI Express Gen 2, but I might be wrong. Can anyone confirm that it's even a possibility for me to put my old 8800GT card in my XPS 8300? I'm wondering specifically if the fact that the new card is GDDR5 while the old card is GDDR3 would be a problem.

Sorry, these are rather noob questions. Oh, and I haven't received the XPS 8300 yet, which is why I can't determine if the one will work on the other.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

Thanks!

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Link to Nvidia info on GeForce GT 545
http://www.geforce.com/Hardware/GPUs/geforce-gt-545-oem-gddr5

Link to Nvidia info on GeForce 8800 GT (though not specifically my XFX Alpha Dog edition?)
http://www.geforce.com/Hardware/GPUs/geforce-8800-gt

Also, for clarity, here's other info that may or may not be relevant:

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within 2 days

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Image editing with Fireworks & Photoshop, Watching Blu-rays, some 3D gaming

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: Sufficient for either model

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Intel® Core™ i7-2600, 12GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM @ 1333MHz

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: N/A

PARTS PREFERENCES: Nvidia

OVERCLOCKING: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Dual 1680x1050
 
Solution
Your 8800 GT will work and can be plugged in.

The 545 is a newer generation card, but of a lower performance tier in this generation.
The 8800 is an older generation (4 years ago), but of a higher performance tier in its own generation.

Comparing both, they'd be roughly around the same performance levels. Both are going to bottleneck that lovely Sandy Bridge 2600, and that's a shame.

Based on the model number, I'd say the 530 will be an even worse performer than the 545.

Also, I own an 8800, and I can tell you one thing - it runs hot, and puts out a fair bit of noise!

Since Dell doesn't seem to be offering you many great choices in cards, I'd say go for the cheapest card on offer, and replace it with a more appropriate card...
Both cards sit in the same performance tier. The 545 has the advantage of DX11 support (though it's not powerful enough to really use it and still get acceptable framerates) and simply being a newer card. The 545 will probably last longer than the 8800GT, the 8800GT has a much higher chance of dying on you in the near future, or at the very least having the thermal paste degrade necessitating a new application of thermal paste. Current nvidia drivers are also much more likely to be optimized for the 545 than they will be for the 8800GT. As said above in DX9 and 10 games, the 545 will be a little bit faster, but not by a huge margin.
 

timothius

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Hmmm... that's interesting. So the performance will be similar then? I have no idea if the 8800 is even sold these days anymore or what an OEM 545 would sell for... are we talking $125-150 in terms of value in present-day?

Lastly, just in case, would it even work to put the 8800 into my XPS 8300 PC? I think they have the same PCI connection...

Oh, and the other choice for an OEM card is the GT530, which is $40 less. How would that compare in a general terms to the 545?
 

arunphilip

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Your 8800 GT will work and can be plugged in.

The 545 is a newer generation card, but of a lower performance tier in this generation.
The 8800 is an older generation (4 years ago), but of a higher performance tier in its own generation.

Comparing both, they'd be roughly around the same performance levels. Both are going to bottleneck that lovely Sandy Bridge 2600, and that's a shame.

Based on the model number, I'd say the 530 will be an even worse performer than the 545.

Also, I own an 8800, and I can tell you one thing - it runs hot, and puts out a fair bit of noise!

Since Dell doesn't seem to be offering you many great choices in cards, I'd say go for the cheapest card on offer, and replace it with a more appropriate card.

Since its an XPS, you'll be getting a better quality PSU, which should support a modest amount of card upgrades. Its appears to be 460W per http://support.ap.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps8300/en/index.htm.
 
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timothius

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Thank-you all for the information!

I'm thinking as the 8800 GT was doing me well in my XPS 420, and since the performance will be similar, I may just leave the 545 as the card.

Dell does give me the chance to upgrade for $230 or so to the GTX560Ti, but that's not a very good value proposition, as I believe I could get that for under $230 by itself...?
 

arunphilip

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Newegg lists the 1 GB GTX 560 Ti for around $220 (with rebate). If it were me, I'd swallow the $10 difference to get a ready-to-rock system.

Also, nice to see you're upgrading from the XPS 420 to the 8300, I've got the XPS 420 with the 8800 GT (upgraded last week to AMD 6850), and was considering the 8300 as well!
 

timothius

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Nice!

Tho' having a card that I assume is worth over $100 might be worth making an extra purchase. I mean, if you could sell it for that, it would be a good deal anyway...

If I give my old XPS 420 to my brother, I don't know, I may save $40 and get the GT530 and then stick the 8800 GT into the XPS 8300, and put the GT530 into the XPS 420... if that's possible.

I don't know, but I think I have all the necessary information to make a decision - I really appreciate it.
 
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