I need opinions. I have decided to choose between an XFX 7900GS extreme edition, or a new xfx oc'ed 8600gts. Is it worth it to pay 60 USD more for the dx10 capabilities? In gaming, the 7900 beats out the 86 in every game on high resolutions according to reviews.
Need help deciding on a graphics card
Ask yourself if you really need DX10 in the next few months. Most don't.
If you go 8 series, you should get at least the 8800gts.
The 7900GS is a great card. You won't be disappointed.
If you go 8 series, you should get at least the 8800gts.
The 7900GS is a great card. You won't be disappointed.
I have the EVGA GeForce 7900 GS KO and I am certainly not disappointed. For the price, the card is simply amazing! It is one of the best that I have ever used.
The 7900 is a great card but with the new games coming out this year DX10 will be nice. Depends on what games you are planning on playing in the near future and how soon you want to be buying a new card. Personally I like the 8800 GTS GTS 320.
To be honest, I'd wait for a bit. ...Just seems like with Vista, DirectX 10, and all the other technology changes, like the physics chip, it might be wise to wait for just a bit. ...If you can...
It depends, on how long you intend to keep the card...
I believe that it is worth it, to buy the 86xx if you will keep the card for a pretty long time...If not, then buy the other one!
I believe that it is worth it, to buy the 86xx if you will keep the card for a pretty long time...If not, then buy the other one!
For me, i would have chosen XFX 8600GTS over XFX 7900GS. As you said, 7900GS might be able to beat 8600GTS in every game running at high resolution. But, you should know that all these gamebenchmarkings done in reviews are based on DX9. If you were to compare 7900GS with 8600GTS in DX10 games(although there are none currently), i bet 8600GTS will win the 7900GS in every aspect or probably equal. And, since there is a big leap in GPU design from the 7 series to the 8 series (e.g the unified shaders aka stream processors), you might as well consider the 8600GTS. Well, i would say go for the 320MB 8800GTS as there is only a small price difference between the 8600GTS and the 320MB 8800GTS.
Actually, the 7900GS couldn't even run the DX10 games. It is a DX9 and earlier card. 
The best buy now is the 8800GTS by far, yes DirextX10 is limited to 2 test demos right now, but the games are coming just wait for them. By the end of the year we should have over 5 must play Directx 10 games out.
Crysis, a very "heavy" game, which only 8800GTS will handle well I believe, will be out this fall. Halo 3, another HUGE title will be out too.
Also, 8800GTS is a total monster (which will cost you under 300 USD now) when it comes to DX9 games. I would buy one now, and play the current games at full speed, and I will enjoy DX10 games in the future. What`s the point in waiting? The market is updating weekly, if not daily...
Bottom line, if you feel like your PC is too slow, and is not satisfying you, get it upgraded. That`s the golden rule in PC hardware.
Also, 8800GTS is a total monster (which will cost you under 300 USD now) when it comes to DX9 games. I would buy one now, and play the current games at full speed, and I will enjoy DX10 games in the future. What`s the point in waiting? The market is updating weekly, if not daily...
Bottom line, if you feel like your PC is too slow, and is not satisfying you, get it upgraded. That`s the golden rule in PC hardware.
For new games I would recommend 8800 GTS because it supports DirectX 10.
But there is a little problem with 8800 GTS ( or any other GeForce 8 series card ), it only supports DirectX 10 and DirectX 9. This means that you can't play DirectX 8 or older games with 8800 GTS.
But there is a little problem with 8800 GTS ( or any other GeForce 8 series card ), it only supports DirectX 10 and DirectX 9. This means that you can't play DirectX 8 or older games with 8800 GTS.
Actually, I think that is untrue. DX9 comes bundled with the older DX's in it, so in theory, you should be able to play earlier games on an 8800GTS. This is theoretical, of course-- I have no idea if there is a limitation I don't know about.
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