- Joined
- 21 Mar 2002
- Messages
- 1,693
This is the first time I've had a top-end graphics card since my Geforce 2 back in the day. Since then I've always had mid-range products like the Ti4200 or the 6600 but yesterday that trend came to an end when I installed my brand new EVGA 9800GTX, which was quite exciting! (My girlfriend didn't see it that way though!).
Anyway, my initial thoughts. Well, for me this was a really good buy. I know it's not much better than an 8800 Ultra but then this only cost me £215 inc. postage, so I reckon I got good bang-for-the-buck from this one.
My first thought was "Oh my word, is this going to fit in my case?!" but thankfully, with a bit of wire maneouvering, it did. It does look very sleek though.
The second thing I noticed was that I didn't see any pre-POST video card information - where it used to state the type of card, amount of RAM etc, I just don't get any screen at all, it goes straight to the POST.
The third thing I noticed was that this thing is very loud! Fortunately, it became very quiet while idle in Windows after a few seconds and it's not got anywhere like as loud as it did since, even when gaming. Perhaps it was just getting the fans going for their first time, I'm not sure, but I was quite worried for a second.
Once things had settled down I loaded up UT3 - now this game was unplayable on my old graphics card at full detail etc, getting about 15 - 20 FPS on average. Now, it's maxed out (because of v-sync) at a solid 75fps and it looks amazing. I will have a go with v-sync disabled at some stage to see where I get but needless to say, I was very happy with that.
The fan did get quite loud while playing UT3, which is kind of annoying but actually I couldn't hear it when the game sounds/music etc were on. I then quit UT3 and the fan was still quite loud for a few seconds but then slowed down to be quite quiet and remained that way.
So overall I'm pretty pleased with my new graphics card.
Pros:
The graphics power
The appearance
Good price
Cons:
Loud fan
HUGE card
I wouldn't really recommend one to anyone with an 8800GTS or above, I'm not really sure how it stacks up against the 8800GT 512MB, but for anyone using an 8600GT or less I think this would be a great purchase.
Anyway, my initial thoughts. Well, for me this was a really good buy. I know it's not much better than an 8800 Ultra but then this only cost me £215 inc. postage, so I reckon I got good bang-for-the-buck from this one.
My first thought was "Oh my word, is this going to fit in my case?!" but thankfully, with a bit of wire maneouvering, it did. It does look very sleek though.
The second thing I noticed was that I didn't see any pre-POST video card information - where it used to state the type of card, amount of RAM etc, I just don't get any screen at all, it goes straight to the POST.
The third thing I noticed was that this thing is very loud! Fortunately, it became very quiet while idle in Windows after a few seconds and it's not got anywhere like as loud as it did since, even when gaming. Perhaps it was just getting the fans going for their first time, I'm not sure, but I was quite worried for a second.
Once things had settled down I loaded up UT3 - now this game was unplayable on my old graphics card at full detail etc, getting about 15 - 20 FPS on average. Now, it's maxed out (because of v-sync) at a solid 75fps and it looks amazing. I will have a go with v-sync disabled at some stage to see where I get but needless to say, I was very happy with that.
The fan did get quite loud while playing UT3, which is kind of annoying but actually I couldn't hear it when the game sounds/music etc were on. I then quit UT3 and the fan was still quite loud for a few seconds but then slowed down to be quite quiet and remained that way.
So overall I'm pretty pleased with my new graphics card.
Pros:
The graphics power
The appearance
Good price
Cons:
Loud fan
HUGE card
I wouldn't really recommend one to anyone with an 8800GTS or above, I'm not really sure how it stacks up against the 8800GT 512MB, but for anyone using an 8600GT or less I think this would be a great purchase.
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