Graphic Cards Which 9800GT to buy?

[neojjjk]

Zotac is the best

 

[viva1986]

but what are the current prices of zotac 9800gt cards

 

[BIKeINSTEIN]

And backed up by a pathetic customer support! I'd dare touch a product whose customer service's handled by Rashi Peripherals.

Hey Gannu.

We all know how horrible Rashi has been over the last 3-4 years- practically non-existent rma policy for ASUS and other stuff.

But last 6-9 months or so, they maybe trying serious damage control imho.

They replaced 2 burnt XFX8600GTs.

One after yelling and one after moping.

The respective owners paid 2.2-2.3K each and got brand new XFX 9800GT 512MB with full 3 years warranty in return.

One guy rmaed a 'to be out of warranty soon' 88000GTS 320 and paid 2.3-2.5K to get a brand new XFX GTX260 Black edition.

RMA of ASUS P45 boards also has been very prompt iirc.

My friend rmaed his POV 8800GTS 640MB bought for 24K locally and Tirupati first gave a used and old card after many weeks and that was also faulty.

Then they took some more time, a few months overall, and sent the orifginal card back after repairs and that is still faulty.

Also, rma of Palit cards sold by Tirupati has been a pita afaik, lotsa denials blaming the user and they had even dropped warranty on cards sold with 3 years warranty to 2 yrs as per their revised rma warranty period for new stocks.

Seems like Rashi passed on its bug to Tirupati.

My 21 month old 8800GT gives garbled screen after about 20 minutes of Batman:Arkham Asylum and my PC hangs. I think it is overheating as I can clearly hear the stock cooler whining. It works fine for long TF2 sessions as TF2 doesn't really tax the GPU.

I'm thinking of buying a 9800GT. I believe the current lot of 9800GTs are 55nm and run cooler. Palit and Zotac seem to be the most popular and VFM brands available. Which one is better from a reliability, warranty and cooling perspective?

Thanks in advance!

8800Gt to 9800Gt is almost like buying the same card all over again.

And though the new 9800GT is cheap (not if you look at prices of better cards imho), selling ur 8800GT and then buying a 9800GT still would mean some loss of money for almost no gains.

You have not mentioned idle and load temps of cpu, gpu or anything like your monitor, the resolution you try playing that game, you psu, your cabinet, etc?

Issue maybe anything.

What brand is your 8800GT?

Some brands like Palit are known to deny rma if cooler screws look touched, indicating opening up even if for change of TIM.

If you are knowledgable and skilled enough, you may try replacing the old thermal paste with good thermal paste like Ceramique/AC MX2/Tuniq TX2 and see if that resolves your issue, if overheating is the cause i.e.

I know someone who enjoyed playing Batman with a 8800GT on a CM extreme power 600 with no issues and his pc still lives for him to tell me that. :rofl:

And coming to upgrade, if you really want to

and if you love to game and afford it, excluding ATI HD5xxx series -

8800/9800 > 8800GTS 512/9800GTX/9800GTX+/GTS 250 > GTX 260/GTX260 55nm core216 > GTX275

4670 > 4770 > 4850 512MB> 4870 1GB > 4890

Technically, the minimum upgrade that i can suggest for you to achieve some gain over your 8800GT would be a 9800GTX+/GTS250 or a 4850

Practically, to achieve noticeable improvement, especially with newer titles, i suggest you look at 4870 1GB or a GTx260, preferably a good deal on a used but well-maintained card.

 

[b_naresh]

You have not mentioned idle and load temps of cpu, gpu or anything like your monitor, the resolution you try playing that game, you psu, your cabinet, etc?
Issue maybe anything.

I have attached Everest log containing temps, voltages, etc in one of my previous posts. Temps are 65 at idle and 85 at load, +12V rail drops to 11.7V region during gaming. My monitor resolution is 1680*1050, PSU is CM Extreme Power 500W, cabinet is CM Elite 330.

What brand is your 8800GT?
Some brands like Palit are known to deny rma if cooler screws look touched, indicating opening up even if for change of TIM.

If you are knowledgable and skilled enough, you may try replacing the old thermal paste with good thermal paste like Ceramique/AC MX2/Tuniq TX2 and see if that resolves your issue, if overheating is the cause i.e.

I have an EVGA 8800GT SuperClocked edition which I had purchased from the US in Dec 2007. I'm not comfortable with removing the heatsink + cooler and don't intend to do that.

I know someone who enjoyed playing Batman with a 8800GT on a CM extreme power 600 with no issues and his pc still lives for him to tell me that. :rofl:

I've been using my 8800GT with CM Extreme Power 500W since Jan 2008.

And coming to upgrade, if you really want to
and if you love to game and afford it, excluding ATI HD5xxx series -
8800/9800 > 8800GTS 512/9800GTX/9800GTX+/GTS 250 > GTX 260/GTX260 55nm core216 > GTX275
4670 > 4770 > 4850 512MB> 4870 1GB > 4890

Technically, the minimum upgrade that i can suggest for you to achieve some gain over your 8800GT would be a 9800GTX+/GTS250 or a 4850
Practically, to achieve noticeable improvement, especially with newer titles, i suggest you look at 4870 1GB or a GTx260, preferably a good deal on a used but well-maintained card.

I had lost touch with recent advancement in graphics because my 8800GT could handle anything I threw at it. I have been reading a lot of GPU articles in the last 2 days to upgrade my knowledge. As I have already mentioned, I want something which is similar in graphics power as my 8800GT while running cooler and having equal or lower power consumption so that I don't need to upgrade my PSU. ATI's 40nm GPUs 4770 and 5750 fit the bill perfectly but their pricing in India is ridiculous. I'm tempted to order the 5750 from US via KMD. I just finished the story mode of Batman:Arkham Asylum yesterday and feel I can wait for some time before taking the decision. If I decide to buy the 5750/4770, it would be my first ATI card (having owned only nvidia cards before - Ti4200, 6600GT, 7600GT, 8800GT). Which brands have better build quality and VFM for ATI cards - Sapphire, Powercolor, XFX, Asus? The Sapphire 5750 has got good ratings on Newegg and is priced at $130.

 

[g2]

What?? dont buy another 9800GT on account of this. Right now for me too its the same damn problem garbled pixelation after 10-15 mins. Have also posted it in the CPU-mobo section, yet to get any reply. And 85c max is nothing, once my GPU temps used to touch 108, still the card wouldn't crash like it does now.

Average max temps for my card are 90c.

I have the MSI OC ed 8800GT & same 600W ExtremePower CM crap. Almost 1.5 yrs Ive run the card, last time I just cleaned up the cooler & the temps came down from 108 to 80-85, but then it never used to crash. Now it is & I suspect instead of the actual GPU processor, the RAM ICs need to be cleand as they must be heating cause the GPU temps dont go above 90.

I suggest likewise for you. With ur resolution it is a great card, just remove the cooler & clean it up else invest in a decent cooler & the problem will go away.

Still to do any of it BTW, but yes I suspect it is the RAM IC problem.

PS - 9600GT is not the same as 8800GT. 8800 is much more powerfulhyeah:

 

[g2]

Hi b_naresh just read - I'm not comfortable with removing the heatsink + cooler and don't intend to do that. Had missed it earlier

But dude, u must have paid a lot of money (~10k) for that card 21 months & there wudnt be much wrong with it. If it is under warranty then RMA it, else at least attempt for removing cooler & re-applying thermal paste.

I am saying this cuz last time I was afraid of doing the same, but it turned out quite easy. There are lot of guides/ posts on forums to do exactly that, some with pics, just follow them, instead of spending more money.

BTW did u change any drivers or other hardware prior to getting this freezing/pixelation. Just re-check on that as well.