Choosing : 8800GT

[Schmoopy]

Hi, i've been pondering which 8800 GT card i should get for christmas, but with all the manafacturers out there competing with different clock speeds etc i'm finding it hard to look between the lines and not spend more money than i need to if it's going to be wasted. I play / would be playing Gears of War but my gfx atm is ****e. So the question is... which manafacturer of the 8800GT gives the best offer, thanks for your help in advance :)

Jack

P.S - Feel free to delete this if this post is against the forum rules or whatever for it possibly promoting other sites, if so, my apologies :o

[saltynay]

Basically every 8800gt no matter which manufacturer making the card is the same chip and comes from the nvidia factory. The minor difference is the factory clock speed between manufacturers (only minor because you can easily overclock at home), and the major difference being warranty length or any special deals. EVGA give away a free copy of crysis with one of their 8800Gt's and they have the 90-day step-up program which can be useful if you hope to upgrade the card when you get some more money.

What I am trying to get at is buy the cheapest one from a reliable brand with an active cooler and you will be set. Kustom doesn't seem to advertise stock in 8800s :s so email Graeme on sales@kustompcs.co.uk and he should be able to work out a great deal for you.

[Stephen B]

"which" gives the best value is irrelevant in a starved market IMO

just bought a Zotac 8800GT with 660/1800 clocks and its plenty fast in my Shuttle, cost was a smidgin over £160 but I paid for overnight delivery instead of the free delivery option

p.s. I did try to raise mem to 1000 [2000 actual] but got artifacts and it locked up, so some investigation into additional cooling would be my next step should I absolutely feel the need to overclock it, although 12k 3dm2k6 with card and cpu @ stock seems plenty right now for me

[Schmoopy]

Ok guys, thanks for the feedback - most appreciated,

Jack

[anthonylei]

one thing you should consider.... is the noise level .... some card manufactures use noisy (cheap) coolling fan....

[Schmoopy]

one thing you should consider.... is the noise level .... some card manufactures use noisy (cheap) coolling fan....

Ok, but could you be specific to which manafacturers have noisy cooling fans or how i would know by looking at specs of the card, thanks,

Jack

[Stephen B]

I cant and simply wouldn't pass comment based upon rumours and write ups on other forums or review websites, but I can positively confirm the Zotac I own is not oppressively loud, even if I force fan to 100% its not as loud as the early 7900gt I had the misfortune of owning.

One word of advice I would give however is give some consideration to adequate case cooling, the 8800gt does indeed generate a bit of heat and I noticed a good 5-8 degree rise in idle temp when I put my shuttle cover back on

[Schmoopy]

And one more quick (nooby) question is, does anyone know the power requirements for the GT. My current PSU has a 300W Output max, hopefully i won't have to get a new one :p

[[M]uuhh]

is it a good quality 300w or a cheapo OEM one? if its a OEM one you may have power issues.
8800GT Requires 400W and 22 Amperes on the +12V rails.

[Schmoopy]

Well, seeing as i'm pretty new to this, i'm guessing you mean the +12v (weird sign like ---) 19A max, it's made by lite on, but not sure what the OEM thing is... but it looks like i'll need a new one from what you've said

[Fireblade]

... but it looks like i'll need a new one from what you've said

You certainly will... based on the power requirements of an 8800GT alone - never mind any other components/peripherals you'll be using!

Power requirements aside for a second though... even assuming it had been powerful enough... does the PSU you're using just now have any PCI-E connections, 'coz that's another [rather obvious] requirement?

[Stephen B]

sorry if this confuses the issue, but my Shuttle is only 250w, and in theory should not run the 8800gt, however the Shuttle psu's are what I would call good quality

always a good idea to buy a well reviewed named brand with the power you require, rather than a cheapo that states massive watts

[[M]uuhh]

Shuttle PSUS can handle teh load because they are designed too, the over all Wattage is more of a rule of thumb, its how much power goes through each rail thats important.

[Schmoopy]

does the PSU you're using just now have any PCI-E connections, 'coz that's another [rather obvious] requirement?

Umm... i would tell you if i knew but i really have no idea, any idea how i can find out? (Sorry i'm not good at this, still learning :p) Thanks for all the useful feedback btw everyone =)

One more thing i'm not quite sure about too, is when you say the GT needs 400W, is that just for the gfx card, because if it is it's gonna cost me loads if i need to get like a 800W one to power all the other parts of the PC.

[saltynay]

well that is what nvidia recommends however the Amps are the ruling factor you can get a 800W cheap psu that is absolutely rubbish and won't power a thing or plug in a decent 400-500W by a good brand and be set. I have seen a guy running an sli 8800 ultra with a Q6600 on a 520W psu when nvidia recommends about 900W.

[Stephen B]

I'd suggest looking at the 500w ones from 70-90 quid, that should be more than adequate for core2duo/8800gt and should allow future upgrades [as long as you don't intend to go Sli with top end cards like ultras ]

[Fireblade]

I'd suggest looking at the 500w ones from 70-90 quid...

Indeed :cool:

Something like the 520w Corsair would do ya fine - for now ;)
If you could afford one though... PCP&C (http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1739.html) are right up there with the best (I'm using their 750w Ultra Quiet Silencer Quad 750 meself) :cool:

This 500w Antec NeoHE (http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1715.html) Modular is £20 cheaper though... but that's about as low as you can expect to pay for the better quality PSU's.

[Schmoopy]

Ok, well i'm not thinking of going SLi, firstly i don't have enough money and i really don't need it so i'll probably go for one of the 500-550 watt PSU's that you mentioned, thanks a lot for all the help guys, most appreciated,

Jack