Graphics card choice

Giorgos · May 25, 2008, 09:27 AM

Im thinking of buying a new graphics card! I want to choose between an EVGA 8800GTS and an ASUS 9800GTX. Have you ever used the step up program of EVGA Europe? Its the main reason for choosing it. What do you suggest?

**kris23** · May 25, 2008, 10:13 AM

give us your system specs and price range..... then well take a look at whats best....

Giorgos · May 25, 2008, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kris23

give us your system specs and price range..... then well take a look at whats best....

My system specs are: Intel Q6600, Gigabyte P35C DS3R, 2x1Gb Crucial Ballistix 800Mhz, Raptor X 150gb, Thermaltake Toughpower 650w, Eizo S1910. The price range is 230-250 euros.

**kris23** · May 25, 2008, 10:37 AM

you may want a RAM upgrade before you go and buy a powerful vid card....
4 gigs and higher is best.

but heres an EVGA 9800GTX, does that site work?
EVGA e-GeForce 9800GTX PCIe Retail

Giorgos · May 25, 2008, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kris23

you may want a RAM upgrade before you go and buy a powerful vid card....
4 gigs and higher is best.

but heres an EVGA 9800GTX, does that site work?
EVGA e-GeForce 9800GTX PCIe Retail

Im thinking of upgrading my mobo to a p45 with ddr3 cause my mobo doesnt support high frequency rams, but a video card is a high necessity cause my current card is a 8400gs. Have you ever used Step up program?I heard many bad experiences from people in Europe.

**kris23** · May 25, 2008, 11:07 AM

i dunno about europe but the US one is good.....

cant really help you there...

also, theres no point in going DDR3 yet if you are strapped on cash, DDR2 is still just as good, high frequency isnt that important compared to capacity

Giorgos · May 25, 2008, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kris23

i dunno about europe but the US one is good.....

cant really help you there...

also, theres no point in going DDR3 yet if you are strapped on cash, DDR2 is still just as good, high frequency isnt that important compared to capacity

Thank you for your immediate answers kris23, Ill wait for a while, til someone from europe answer my step up question and then Ill choose.(I hear rumours about the new G200 and thats why Im thinking for step up program)

**kris23** · May 25, 2008, 11:18 AM

yea its supposedly a great deal more powerful. even if it isnt, its gonna be better than the 9800GTX id just get an EVGA and see how it turns out

CDsDontBurn · May 25, 2008, 11:52 AM

i say you contact EVGA GmbH for further questions on the step up program for Europe. Although, i'm pretty sure it's the same or similar to that of the EVGA USA.

EVGA GmbH
Bussardstr 5
82166 Grafelfing, Germany
Tel: +49 89 189 049 0
Email: wtismer@evga.de or support-eu@evga.com

hope that helps

**kris23** · May 25, 2008, 12:25 PM

hopefully EVGA Germany would be as helpful for you as EVGA USA is....

good luck with your future step-up!

Giorgos · May 25, 2008, 12:38 PM

Ive already contacted with people in EVGA USA and they were very informative. Hope to have the same nice treatment in Europe.Thank you for your answers.

Tipstaff · May 26, 2008, 12:04 AM

Personally, if the 8800GTS 512mb version is available as part of the Step Up, I'd go with it over the 9800GTX, and save your money. Every single benchmark I've seen, and after having tested one on various configs, it's just not worth the extra $150+ unless you go with the very highly OC'd versions, such as the eVGA 9800GTX SSC. For close to or less than $200 you can get a card that is only marginally slower in most benchmarks.

Don't get me wrong. It's nice card, and it does have a feature that can make it worth while to get, and that is it's HD playback support. HD movies, be it Blu Ray, HD-DVD, or x264 compressed files (such as MKV files) play more smoothly on a 9xxx series card when viewing them at 1080p resolutions. On an 8xxx series card, anything after 720p can be choppy some times. So, if you don't only game on your system, but also play HD movies, then, and only then would I consider it. If you are strictly gaming then I stand by my suggestion of going with the 8800GTS 512.

Zelig · May 26, 2008, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

Don't get me wrong. It's nice card, and it does have a feature that can make it worth while to get, and that is it's HD playback support. HD movies, be it Blu Ray, HD-DVD, or x264 compressed files (such as MKV files) play more smoothly on a 9xxx series card when viewing them at 1080p resolutions. On an 8xxx series card, anything after 720p can be choppy some times. So, if you don't only game on your system, but also play HD movies, then, and only then would I consider it. If you are strictly gaming then I stand by my suggestion of going with the 8800GTS 512.

I was under the impression that the purevideo2 (so movie playback) was the same on all G92/G94 cards. Is this not the case?

And how are you getting hardware acceleration working for mkv files?

Giorgos · May 26, 2008, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

Personally, if the 8800GTS 512mb version is available as part of the Step Up, I'd go with it over the 9800GTX, and save your money. Every single benchmark I've seen, and after having tested one on various configs, it's just not worth the extra $150+ unless you go with the very highly OC'd versions, such as the eVGA 9800GTX SSC. For close to or less than $200 you can get a card that is only marginally slower in most benchmarks.

Don't get me wrong. It's nice card, and it does have a feature that can make it worth while to get, and that is it's HD playback support. HD movies, be it Blu Ray, HD-DVD, or x264 compressed files (such as MKV files) play more smoothly on a 9xxx series card when viewing them at 1080p resolutions. On an 8xxx series card, anything after 720p can be choppy some times. So, if you don't only game on your system, but also play HD movies, then, and only then would I consider it. If you are strictly gaming then I stand by my suggestion of going with the 8800GTS 512.

Finally, I bought the EVGA 8800GTS 512! The main reasons was the step up program(choice of brand) and the fact that im interested in gaming on my EIZO S1910 at a 1280x1024 resolution and working on some CAD programs like Pro engineer and Geomagic(choice of card type). Thank you all for your advices!

CDsDontBurn · May 26, 2008, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giorgos

Finally, I bought the EVGA 8800GTS 512! The main reasons was the step up program(choice of brand) and the fact that im interested in gaming on my EIZO S1910 at a 1280x1024 resolution and working on some CAD programs like Pro engineer and Geomagic(choice of card type). Thank you all for your advices!

be sure to register it on EVGA's website within the first 30 days of purchase!

Giorgos · May 26, 2008, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDsDontBurn

be sure to register it on EVGA's website within the first 30 days of purchase!

Do I have to do anything else apart from register my product? Do I have to send my receipt from now?

CDsDontBurn · May 26, 2008, 08:34 PM

no, just register it on the website is all that you need to do. however, a copy of the receipt/invoice is required for ANY step-up or RMA request.

although i do recommend that you upload a *.jpg format copy of your invoice/receipt to the website once you have registered your new gfx card. this would be a "just in case" thing if you lose your original invoice/receipt.

Tipstaff · Jun 13, 2008, 01:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zelig

I was under the impression that the purevideo2 (so movie playback) was the same on all G92/G94 cards. Is this not the case?

And how are you getting hardware acceleration working for mkv files?

Correct, however I did find something interesting. I have a test system at work that I tried 3 cards on: an 8600GT, an 8800GT, and 9600GT. HD movies, such as compressed MKV files or straight Blu Ray/HD-DVD ran far smoother on the 9600GT than on the other 2 cards. The 8800GT did fine in a lot of case, but once I bumped up to 1080p some movies would stutter (the last Die Hard film for instance did this), while on the 9600GT it ran silky smooth (the 8600GT, btw, even 720p ran choppy some times). It was a bit of shock, because as you said, it's the same chip running both cards, so what is it that is causing the one to not perform as the other?

As for using hardware support to play mkv, I primarily use PureCodec 2008, which includes mkv support via Media Player Classic Home Cinema, and has DXVA support (and also has Cyberlinks 264 Decoder, which supports ATI cards if I remember correctly). Once you open a video you can right click inside, go into Options, and change the Playback/Output renderer to either VMR9 in XP (do not use the Direct3D Fullscreen option btw), or EMR for Vista. There is also Haalis renderer, which can be smoother in some instances (and I primarily use it for subtitled films), but it doesn't work on x64 yet.