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Miriel Enfield · 09-09-2008, 12:44 PM

I need some advice on video cards. I'm not much of a hardware person, though.

Okay, I'm not a hardware person at all. I just want my stuff to run, y'know?

I currently use a pair of 7950 GX2s, and I'm very happy with them. SL runs beautifully, and the other three games I play also typically run fine. (I'm actually not quite sure how much good having the two cards is doing me, because I keep SLI disabled, since Morrowind hates it.) However, I want to see the shadows in SL, and this requires an upgrade. I'm trying to figure out which card to get.

There are three things about my situation you should probably know before you give suggestions:

1. I want whatever card(s) I get to run things at least as well as my current ones. I know the shadows themselves cause an FPS hit, and that's fine, but I don't want Oblivion or non-shadowed SL to start running slower.

2. I want a card that's not liable to die on me. I play SL. I play Oblivion. I play Morrowind. I play Ryzom, though I may drop that. That's all I play. That's all I plan to be playing for the foreseeable future. I don't necessarily need a card that'll play a new game two years from now. I do want one that will still be able to play my current games two years from now, without needing to be replaced because it died.

3. Money isn't a huge issue, but I don't want to be wasteful. I don't need a big uber update right now (I'm saving that for whenever Elder Scrolls V comes out), just something that works as well as my current cards, but with SL shadows.

I'm looking at the 8800 GT, though I've heard it runs hot, and that has me concerned. Anyone have any advice?

(I also think I need a new fan, because mine's gone rattly. The inside of my head looks like this whenever I consider all this:

)

Aemilia Case · 09-09-2008, 03:59 PM

I had an 8800GT (would still have it if my current motherboard and it didn't have major issues) the one i had was made by elitegroup and ran pretty cool at around 40-60 degrees (C) never any higher than that. Not sure about other makers of the card but mine did work fine when i had it.
Currently have a 9600GT and that runs very smoothly for me as well

Ran Garrigus · 09-11-2008, 08:46 AM

The 9800 GT may be a good option, as I've seen them sell for less than 8800 GTs in the past while at the same time being basically an updated 8800 GT. The only issue is the recent thing about Nvidia covering up some major defects in its 9 series, leading to a shareholder lawsuit and so on. But, to my understanding, more recently produced cards should be okay.

If you want to go a bit higher end, the Radeon HD 4850 generally stomps the 8800 GT.

Chalice Yao · 09-11-2008, 08:53 AM

the 8800GT was the awesomest deal back in the day. Pretty much now it's replaced by the 9800GT which is, as Ran said, pretty much a relabeled 8800GT with some tuning. This goes for the whole 9* series by the way, so I'm not sure your step from 8800GT to 9600GT was a step forward, Aemilia

Personally, right now, the cards I want are too expensive (I want high-end, and while ATI is alot cheaper than nVidia, ATI sucks big, fat, hairy...things under *nix,), so I personally will be waiting for nVidia's next generation. That should be an appropriate jump in performance for me.

If you want to upgrade right now, Miriel, check out

Best Video Cards For The Money: Sept '08 : The Best Graphics Cards for the Money: September 2008 - Tom's Hardware

Toms Hardware runs a 'Best graphics card for your money' monthly and divides it into pricing categories. Ponder just how much you want to spend, peek in there, and read a few details.

'The Radeon HD 4850 is the new people’s champion, instantly bringing yesterday’s $300 performance level down to the mainstream $170 price point. The Radeon HD 4850 will usually best the GeForce 9800 GTX, and even the more expensive 9800 GTX+. This card has a lot of potential when used on its own, and becomes a devastating force when paired with a second 4850 in a CrossFire configuration'

It sells for around $170 right now :3

For $120 you get the 8800gt/9800gt:

'The 8800 GT offers incredible GeForce 8800 GTX-class performance at almost half the price. It beats both the Radeon HD 3870 and GeForce 9600 GT by a notable margin, and has never been seen as cheap as it is seen today. Even with all of the excellent cards in the $90 to $110 category, such as the Radeon HD 3850, GeForce 8800 GS, 9800 GSO, and 9600 GT, the GeForce 8800 GT at $120 trumps them all.'

Hope that helps. Either card is a good choice for what you want to do.

Personally I'm running on an old 8800gt, and am doing fine so far. SL fps go between 20 and 60, depending on where I am, at maximum graphics settings/no antialiasing with varying draw distances.. Any game outside of SL will get much higher framerates. You can play Oblivion at max settings, and even tune them some more. With the above mentioned 9800GT, things should even be a little faster.

Samantha Fuller · 09-11-2008, 09:15 AM

The question then becomes has anyone here used the Radeon HD 4850 to view shadows in SL

Ran Garrigus · 09-12-2008, 05:48 AM

From a comment here, it looks like the Shadowdraft client works on the 4850 using Catalyst 8.7 (rather than the newer 8.8.)

Here's some 4850 benchmarks (specifically the page of Oblivion benchmarks), and some 7950 GX2 benchmarks for comparison.

Given your requirements (Shadowdraft, Oblivion, nothing really new), I think the 8800 GT or 9800 GT (if at a similar price) might be your most cost effective bet but I'd probably research this lawsuit business a bit to make sure failure rates on these cards aren't higher than expected. If you ever need more juice, you could then just get a second card to run in SLI mode.

WarKirby Magojiro · 09-12-2008, 04:02 PM

I play Oblivion too

Just started a pure mage character.

I have an 8800 GTS 512, btw. Things run nicely

Miriel Enfield · 09-12-2008, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ran Garrigus

Here's some 4850 benchmarks (specifically the page of Oblivion benchmarks), and some 7950 GX2 benchmarks for comparison.

Wow, the 4850 really does well. (And the 8800 GT is a slight step down, in some cases.) I'd been hesitant to get a Radeon because I'd gotten the impression they were sort of like the Macs of the video card world. I'll seriously look into getting one, though.

Malachi · 09-12-2008, 06:48 PM

I think it important to note that a chip type (e.g. 8800 GT) specifies only the GPU maker's chipset but that this is only half of the considerations.

I've found cards manufactured by BFG to be far less failure prone and more robust than others. Put another way, it was unfortunate to see an entire AGP slot killed by a 50 cent GPU fan failure.

09-09-2008, 12:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
Miriel Enfield Mad Artist Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 1,062 Business: Miriel SLShopper Ads: 2	Video Card Advice I need some advice on video cards. I'm not much of a hardware person, though. Okay, I'm not a hardware person at all. I just want my stuff to run, y'know? I currently use a pair of 7950 GX2s, and I'm very happy with them. SL runs beautifully, and the other three games I play also typically run fine. (I'm actually not quite sure how much good having the two cards is doing me, because I keep SLI disabled, since Morrowind hates it.) However, I want to see the shadows in SL, and this requires an upgrade. I'm trying to figure out which card to get. There are three things about my situation you should probably know before you give suggestions: 1. I want whatever card(s) I get to run things at least as well as my current ones. I know the shadows themselves cause an FPS hit, and that's fine, but I don't want Oblivion or non-shadowed SL to start running slower. 2. I want a card that's not liable to die on me. I play SL. I play Oblivion. I play Morrowind. I play Ryzom, though I may drop that. That's all I play. That's all I plan to be playing for the foreseeable future. I don't necessarily need a card that'll play a new game two years from now. I do want one that will still be able to play my current games two years from now, without needing to be replaced because it died. 3. Money isn't a huge issue, but I don't want to be wasteful. I don't need a big uber update right now (I'm saving that for whenever Elder Scrolls V comes out), just something that works as well as my current cards, but with SL shadows. I'm looking at the 8800 GT, though I've heard it runs hot, and that has me concerned. Anyone have any advice? (I also think I need a new fan, because mine's gone rattly. The inside of my head looks like this whenever I consider all this: ) __________________ Miriel: Jewelry, eyes, shapes, and a couple of hairstyles. Oh, and a pretty forest. And a treasure hunt. 3.5 on the Internationally Recognized Trout Recreant Scale of Slutwatoosi. "Blender is the Pai Mae of 3d programs. It hates newbies, despises windows users, and has nothing but contempt for English speakers. It will let you learn, but mostly because doing so will give Blender a chance to amuse itself by making you suffer." - Twenty Sided Last edited by Miriel Enfield; 09-09-2008 at 12:49 PM..

09-11-2008, 08:46 AM	#3 (permalink)
Ran Garrigus Weirdo in a Weird Land Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Sweden Posts: 220	The 9800 GT may be a good option, as I've seen them sell for less than 8800 GTs in the past while at the same time being basically an updated 8800 GT. The only issue is the recent thing about Nvidia covering up some major defects in its 9 series, leading to a shareholder lawsuit and so on. But, to my understanding, more recently produced cards should be okay. If you want to go a bit higher end, the Radeon HD 4850 generally stomps the 8800 GT. __________________ Old Fashioned -- Occasional SL fashion reviews.

09-11-2008, 08:53 AM	#4 (permalink)
Chalice Yao The Purple Kinda at work. Somewhat. Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Somewhere purple, Germany Posts: 1,255 My Mood:	the 8800GT was the awesomest deal back in the day. Pretty much now it's replaced by the 9800GT which is, as Ran said, pretty much a relabeled 8800GT with some tuning. This goes for the whole 9* series by the way, so I'm not sure your step from 8800GT to 9600GT was a step forward, Aemilia Personally, right now, the cards I want are too expensive (I want high-end, and while ATI is alot cheaper than nVidia, ATI sucks big, fat, hairy...things under nix,), so I personally will be waiting for nVidia's next generation. That should be an appropriate jump in performance for me. If you want to upgrade right now, Miriel, check out Best Video Cards For The Money: Sept '08 : The Best Graphics Cards for the Money: September 2008 - Tom's Hardware Toms Hardware runs a 'Best graphics card for your money' monthly and divides it into pricing categories. Ponder just how much you want to spend, peek in there, and read a few details. 'The Radeon HD 4850 is the new people’s champion, instantly bringing yesterday’s $300 performance level down to the mainstream $170 price point. The Radeon HD 4850 will usually best the GeForce 9800 GTX, and even the more expensive 9800 GTX+. This card has a lot of potential when used on its own, and becomes a devastating force when paired with a second 4850 in a CrossFire configuration' It sells for around $170 right now :3 For $120 you get the 8800gt/9800gt: 'The 8800 GT offers incredible GeForce 8800 GTX-class performance at almost half the price. It beats both the Radeon HD 3870 and GeForce 9600 GT by a notable margin, and has never been seen as cheap as it is seen today. Even with all of the excellent cards in the $90 to $110 category, such as the Radeon HD 3850, GeForce 8800 GS, 9800 GSO, and 9600 GT, the GeForce 8800 GT at $120 trumps them all.' Hope that helps. Either card is a good choice for what you want to do. Personally I'm running on an old 8800gt, and am doing fine so far. SL fps go between 20 and 60, depending on where I am, at maximum graphics settings/no antialiasing with varying draw distances.. Any game outside of SL will get much higher framerates. You can play Oblivion at max settings, and even tune them some more. With the above mentioned 9800GT, things should even be a little faster. Last edited by Chalice Yao; 09-11-2008 at 09:25 AM..*

09-12-2008, 05:48 AM	#6 (permalink)
Ran Garrigus Weirdo in a Weird Land Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Sweden Posts: 220	From a comment here, it looks like the Shadowdraft client works on the 4850 using Catalyst 8.7 (rather than the newer 8.8.) Here's some 4850 benchmarks (specifically the page of Oblivion benchmarks), and some 7950 GX2 benchmarks for comparison. Given your requirements (Shadowdraft, Oblivion, nothing really new), I think the 8800 GT or 9800 GT (if at a similar price) might be your most cost effective bet but I'd probably research this lawsuit business a bit to make sure failure rates on these cards aren't higher than expected. If you ever need more juice, you could then just get a second card to run in SLI mode. Last edited by Ran Garrigus; 09-12-2008 at 06:02 AM..

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09-09-2008, 03:59 PM	#2 (permalink)
Aemilia Case under the radar Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 17 SL Join Date: 2005 Business: Philotic Energy SLShopper Ads: 4 My Mood:	I had an 8800GT (would still have it if my current motherboard and it didn't have major issues) the one i had was made by elitegroup and ran pretty cool at around 40-60 degrees (C) never any higher than that. Not sure about other makers of the card but mine did work fine when i had it. Currently have a 9600GT and that runs very smoothly for me as well

09-11-2008, 09:15 AM	#5 (permalink)
Samantha Fuller Senior Member Mostly quiet Lurker Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 158 My Mood:	The question then becomes has anyone here used the Radeon HD 4850 to view shadows in SL

09-12-2008, 06:48 PM	#9 (permalink)
Malachi the bathwater & the baby fish are inherently sarcastic Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 2,472	I think it important to note that a chip type (e.g. 8800 GT) specifies only the GPU maker's chipset but that this is only half of the considerations. I've found cards manufactured by BFG to be far less failure prone and more robust than others. Put another way, it was unfortunate to see an entire AGP slot killed by a 50 cent GPU fan failure.