Curse

Brianna · Mar 09, 2008, 03:45 AM // 03:45

Ok, so do I need a new Power Supply or not? Getting a little bit confused.

Any other hypothetical explanations for the bad card performance? I noticed white artifacts in Guild Wars with both Video Cards, figured It's something I had to live with but maybe that is bad too?

Admael · Mar 09, 2008, 03:51 AM // 03:51

No you don't need a new PSU, multiple rails are just +12v outputs that come from the same +12v source. (not to mention the MAXIMUM amps per +12v rail on a multiple 12v rail PSU is 20.)

Pasha the Mighty · Mar 09, 2008, 11:42 AM // 11:42

Brianna, what i was trying to say is, the moment those 9 series cards come out, they'll probably lower the prices of the 8 series ones. That's why, if you just ask for a refund for your 320mb gts and wait till the new ones come out, you can probably afford a better 8 series card with the same amount of money. I'm not telling you to get a 9 series card, cuz they just suck (cooling wise, anyway)

kvndoom · Mar 09, 2008, 01:43 PM // 13:43

Nobody's asked yet... Are all your 3D settings exactly the same as when you ahd the 8600, or did you bump up the eye candy in the Nvidia driver panel? I know I typically crank up the AA, AF, and all that good stuff when I get a faster card, by habit. That's why we upgrade, right?

It looks better (just went from a 7900GT to a 8800GT 512), but does bog down in some places because I've got the image quality up fairly high.

If you've upped any IQ settings in the drivers, that could very well make your faster card slower than the old one, under certain circumstances. If, however, all your driver settings are exactly the same as with the 8600, then you shouldn't be getting any slowdown.

A quality 500W power supply is more than enough for a single video card. I'm using a 500W Thermaltake on my system and it runs 24/7 and is at 100% CPU load probably half the time it is on. So unless your PSU is actually bad (doubtful, from what you've said so far), you're fine.

If you can return the card and get an 8800GT 512, I'd strongly suggest it, though. It's better in every conceivable way.

Brianna · Mar 09, 2008, 03:30 PM // 15:30

All my settings are ''Application Controlled'' cause forcing on like X4/X8 AA did nothing in video games, it only ever works if I turn the feature on in game. Was the same with the other card, so nothing changed no.

Also I've had my power supply for over 1 year and it runs my PC 24/7 with no problems, so I don't think its bad.

And about the 512MB 8800GT, that's what I'm thinking of getting actually, it seems to be better, and from what I've heard a lot of people say, it is.

I am strongly disappointed in this card, Guild Wars should not be able to take it down like it does, I've ran Guild Wars better on older systems.

And Pasha, they might lower the prices on 8800's but I don't think it will get much lower than the 150$ range (For say an 8800GT 512mb) for a long time, and I just want to play my games now, I have 90 days to ''Step-Up'' to a new video card, so It's no problem.

This is the one I wanted: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130318

Admael · Mar 09, 2008, 05:02 PM // 17:02

The 8800 GT is a very good card, probably doesn't help that I'm EVGA bias also. That's actually the card I was planning to get around December, but it was sold out for almost 2 months, and by then the G92 GTS came out.

Plus with EVGA, just remember you're "borrowing" the card. In 90 days or less, if a new card intrigues you, you can upgrade for the price of the difference + shipping.

With that said, if you can return the G80 GTS 320, do so now. The G92 GT 512 is superior to the G80 GTS 320 in everyway, including lower power consumption and clock, memory, and shader speeds.

There's something you need to know about power supplies. It's referred to as electrolytic capacitor aging, or just "capacitor aging". A PSU will lose some of its initial wattage capacity when heavily used, or used over an extended period of time.

Brianna · Mar 09, 2008, 05:21 PM // 17:21

Yeah, I know. I'm EVGA Biased too as well. But I might go with a BFG tech card in the future.

Step-Up program by EVGA is Ftw though.

So what do you recommend more, the 512MB (G92) GTS or the 512MB GT?

Admael · Mar 09, 2008, 06:44 PM // 18:44

For the money, The G92 GT 512 is much more of a deal. But the G92 GTS 512 is essentially a better card, because of its dual-slot nature, the G92 GTS has better cooling.

I recommend the G92 GTS 512 *only* if you can afford it. Given it's nature, it has the potential to outbench a 8800 Ultra stock, and match a 8800 Ultra OC'ed.

Pasha the Mighty · Mar 09, 2008, 07:26 PM // 19:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Admael

For the money, The G92 GT 512 is much more of a deal. But the G92 GTS 512 is essentially a better card, because of its dual-slot nature, the G92 GTS has better cooling.

I recommend the G92 GTS 512 *only* if you can afford it. Given it's nature, it has the potential to outbench a 8800 Ultra stock, and match a 8800 Ultra OC'ed.

Are you comparing an ultra to a gts? Cuz i'd love to buy a gts 512 and trade it for an ultra. You can't honestly believe that a gts 512 is better, right?

Admael · Mar 09, 2008, 11:37 PM // 23:37

At stock/factory OC speeds? Ultra kills G92 GTS hands down.

I know I'm totally hijacking this thread by answering your question;
But look at the potential of a G92 GTS. Nvidia left us with so much headroom with a G92 GTS, and a little overvolting can do wonders to the that card (my G92 GTS). And I know, my puny 70 GB/s memory bandwidth can't compare with Ultra's 108 GB/s, but that only _really_ matters for higher resolutions, right?

The advantage that the Ultra has over the GTS? It runs hotter, slower, and has bigger pipes (larger bus width, resulting in more memory bandwidth).

If you get an Ultra, you'll not only be paying more now, but what of the energy consumption?

Surena · Mar 10, 2008, 03:50 PM // 15:50

Standard resolution, no AA/AF, and the G92 GTS is a winner, you could call it the fastest single-gpu card to some extent. Once you start using 4AA/16AF/quality features and go beyond the standard resolution (let's start at 1680x1050) the performance drop is pretty epic. The lack of bandwith blows and then there's the VRAM limit.

There is no way a G92 GTS could be considered as an alternative to the 8800 Ultra, performance-wise.

Pasha the Mighty · Mar 10, 2008, 04:33 PM // 16:33

He was right about hijacking the thread allright XD.
Now back on topic: I would say, go with the GT, unless you can justify the 70 bucks extra you're paying for the gts, just to get a little bit more performance, which according to this review: http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/12...512/index.html
can totally be achieved by the gt, if you overclock it. I'm not sure wether you would do that though, and I'm not sure either wether the EVGA warranty covers overclocking. Do any companies cover that?

Admael · Mar 10, 2008, 06:03 PM // 18:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pasha the Mighty

He was right about hijacking the thread allright XD.
Now back on topic: I would say, go with the GT, unless you can justify the 70 bucks extra you're paying for the gts, just to get a little bit more performance, which according to this review: http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/12...512/index.html
can totally be achieved by the gt, if you overclock it. I'm not sure wether you would do that though, and I'm not sure either wether the EVGA warranty covers overclocking. Do any companies cover that?

Actually, for 40 extra bucks you can get a GTS. EVGA doesn't cover overclocking, but EVGA doesn't ask questions. And as an experienced overclocker, you have to try really hard if you want a video card to fail due to overclocking.

Remember that article was written just as the GTS was launched over 3 months ago :P

Pasha the Mighty · Mar 10, 2008, 07:59 PM // 19:59

nope, on newegg evga's 512 gts is 300 bucks http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130312
while the gt 512 is 230 bucks http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130318

Brianna · Mar 10, 2008, 08:43 PM // 20:43

I can't spend that much cash, so the 512 GTS is out of the question, next best thing for me is the 512 8800GT.

Also I have no idea how to over-clock things, and when I installed nTune it kept giving me all sorts of errors so I uninstalled that.

Mainly I don't know what to expect when I over clock, I don't know what to look for so I don't know if it worked or not. All I really wanted to do was boost the cards fan speed up so it runs cooler, as people say.

Pasha the Mighty · Mar 10, 2008, 08:46 PM // 20:46

I can't overclock either (yet), mainly cuz my system will still be crap even after I spend hours on that. When I upgrade my sys though, I will, but there are probably millions of guides out there which explain how it works. And dont use nTune, it sucks, or so i've read...

illmatic89 · Mar 10, 2008, 09:05 PM // 21:05

Get Rivatuner, great program for graphics cards. Lots of options to tweak. You can download it from guru3d.com.

Admael · Mar 10, 2008, 11:26 PM // 23:26

nTune is garbage, I agree with Rivatuner being one of the best.

But if you're just trying to play Guild Wars with some decent frames, I'm sure the 8800 GT 512 will get you you what you need, even at stock speeds.

Brianna · Mar 10, 2008, 11:42 PM // 23:42

Ok well I just installed RivaTuner, just by starting it up I can't mess anything on my PC up right?

I'm very paranoid about messing with my hardware's settings, I don't want my computer to fry out.

illmatic89 · Mar 11, 2008, 12:18 AM // 00:18

Your fine if you just start it up to check some options out. Try not to mess with the registry though, which is under the power user tab. To overclock your gpu there is a tiny arrow beside forceware detected on the main tab, click on it and go to system settings. You can do a lot of stuff under system settings like overclocking your gpu and changing the fan speed.