My GT died! I have 2 options now...

[_xxx_]

My GF6800GT is gone. It's leafblower died a while ago and it got quite hot till I noticed that and replaced it with a new one. The card worked fine until two days ago

So I have these two options:

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1. GF6800GT AGP to replace the old one (can get one for 222.- EUR right now)

-----------------------------

2. Asus A8N PCI-E mobo ~100
Athlon 3200+ Venice ~200
Case+PSU ~100
GF7800GTX, while we're at it ~550

Makes ~950 EUR total.

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Buying another GT (or X800XL, whatever) is the cheapest option now. Since I'll buy a new system a few months down the road anyway, I'll have to throw it away then since the new system will certainly be PCI-E.

So it comes down to the question: small expense now, but a bigger one a few months later, or a big expense now. What do you guys think?

 

[phenix]

My GF6800GT is gone. It's leafblower died a while ago and it got quite hot till I noticed that and replaced it with a new one. The card worked fine until two days ago

So I have these two options:

-----------------------------

1. GF6800GT AGP to replace the old one (can get one for 222.- EUR right now)

-----------------------------

2. Asus A8N PCI-E mobo ~100
Athlon 3200+ Venice ~200
Case+PSU ~100
GF7800GTX, while we're at it ~550

Makes ~950 EUR total.

-----------------------------

Buying another GT (or X800XL, whatever) is the cheapest option now. Since I'll buy a new system a few months down the road anyway, I'll have to throw it away then since the new system will certainly be PCI-E.

So it comes down to the question: small expense now, but a bigger one a few months later, or a big expense now. What do you guys think?

Small expense now.

By a AGP card now (6800GT/X800XL), sell it to me 8) after three months for 100€ and replace your system to PCIe.

 

[PatrickL]

No warranty ?

 

[nutball]

Personally I'd go for the small expense now, especially given the price of the 7800's. GT's and XL's are great value-for-money at the moment.

I suppose the real question is were you happy with the performance your 6800GT gave you in the game you've been playing recently?

 

[_xxx_]

No warranty, I lost the receipt That's why I couldn't RMA it and replaced the cooler myself.

I'm happy with the speed now, but I'll have to upgrade a few months down the road this way or the other. Now these 222.- for the GT sound small, but I won't be able to use it in the PCI-E system, so it's effectively money flushed down the toilet. On the other side, if I go for the more expensive version I won't have to upgrade for at least a year.

Of course, I could also wait 2-3 months until R520 arrives and hopefully drives the GTX price down - which would mean no gaming till september. Also, I'll probably be able to get a faster CPU for the money then, but still it'll be a loss since I'll be selling the AGP 68GT for half the price in september, if not even less.

 

[Florin]

You could also go PCIE with a cheapo 6600GT now and wait for the 7xxx midlevel cards to arrive or highend to come down in price. I have 2 3200+ systems, one AGP with 6800GT, one PCIE with 6600GT, and I'm really quite satisfied with the 6600 performance...

 

[phenix]

Seriously, I would definitely go with a cheap AGP card now and do the major upgrade when R520 7800U and all the mainstream cards are released.
Assume that you bought that 220€ card now. After all these new cards are released you can sell it on ebay for at least 150€. By that time the prices of new generation will also come down which will compensate your 70€ loss. Besides you will have many more options to chose from.

 

[_xxx_]

You could also go PCIE with a cheapo 6600GT now and wait for the 7xxx midlevel cards to arrive or highend to come down in price. I have 2 3200+ systems, one AGP with 6800GT, one PCIE with 6600GT, and I'm really quite satisfied with the 6600 performance...

It's less than 50 EUR difference to a 6800GT, doesn't really make a difference. I got used to gaming in 1280@1024 w. 4xAA and 8xAF, so 6600 is not an option.

 

[Florin]

Less than 50 diff between PCIE 6800GT and 6600GT? I've never seen that, but if so you might indeed just as well go for the better card.

6600GT maintains well over 30FPS in most games with that display quality tho..

 

[_xxx_]

6800GT AGP, of course. Because then I could wait with the upgrading.

Thanks for the input guys, I'll have to sleep over it and decide tomorrow.

 

[wireframe]

If you plan on keeping the old (current) PC after your whole system upgrade, then get an AGP card replacement now. If you plan on getting rid of whatever you are using now completely when you move to PCIe I see no reason not to make the move now.

In either case you want to go PCIe, so why not have some fun with all new stuff now? It might cheer you up after losing your GT. In my case, I bought an AGP system just because I had already purchased an AGP 6800 and didn't want to let that investment go down the drain. I regretted it a bit later because I am already thinking about switching over to PCIe "just because". Of course, this was over 6 months ago so maybe I had some good reasons to stick with AGP, but now I would consider myself crazy for purchasing anything with AGP, video card or mainboard. However, I tend to hang on to my old hardware. If I knew an easy way to sell it for some decent cash I would probably already have switched over.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Get one of them $125 9800 Pros to hold you over until the R520 release and the nV40 pricecut comes? :|

 

[_xxx_]

Get one of them $125 9800 Pros to hold you over until the R520 release and the nV40 pricecut comes? :|

Nah, too old and too slow

I just ordered a brand new PNY 6800GT for 220 €, I'll wait till September for the transition to PCI-E and either buy a 7800GTX for much less than now or the R520, if there should be one and not too expensive.

 

[jvd]

get a crappy card , you can find a 9700pro used for like 60usd now .

Wait til lsee what the deal is with the r520 , at the very least it will lower the 7800gtx prices