recommended replacement for NVIDIA 8800 GT?

[brian_j]

hi,

my PNY NVIDIA 8800 GT just stopped working yesterday

before i buy a new grapic card, i´d like to hear your opinion on which one to buy. basically i want a high end card. google search with keywords like “high end card linux” did only give me cards for around 2008. i´d like it if there is a newer card, however i am open to buy an equivalent of my NVIDIA 8800 GT.

my requirements in order:

1. at least as good performance as the NVIDIA 8800 GT
2. good and reliable driver with 3d support
3. gnome2/KDE4 with compiz and good performance
4. maximum price of 150,00 €
5. low heat
6. low sound
7. open source driver
8. directx11 and opengl 3.3
9. possibility of 2 monitors
10. possibility of 3 monitors

i believe in open source, but in this case it´s just got to work with high performance 3d. on linux i play SPRINGRTS which worked on 1920*1080 like a charm. on windows - which is not a big part of this - i like to try out new games (thus dx11).

other hardware:

Intel E8400
MSI P35 Neo3
4 GB DDR2 Ram
400 W power supply unit

however i never had big problems with NVIDIA before, so i´m probably gonna stick with NVIDIA, but i´m open to new stuff!

not all of these requirements must be met. as for now, i´d go with one of these cards (links in german):

Gigabyte Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 OC
Nvidia Geforce 9600GT * 1GB * 1024MB DDR3 * 9600 GT * PCI-Express
AXLE nVidia GeForce GTS250 1024 MB Grafikkarte (PCI-e, 1GB DDR3 Speicher, 128-bit GTS 250 Windows 7 DVI, VGA, HDMI)

and my old one again:

Nvidia Geforce 8800GT * 512MB * PCI-E * (8800 GT) * HDMI Output * DVI * VGA *

thx for your opinion!

[jdmcdaniel3]

So, I think you need to be looking at (From Best To Least):

1. nVIDIA GTX 460
2. nVIDIA GTX 550 Ti
3. nVIDIA GTS 450

I have used all of the above nVIDIA video cards (all from EVGA) and each would do well for you. I guess a GTX 550 Ti is the best fit with the GTX 460 being Faster and the GTS 450 being the best priced with neck and neck performance with the 8800 GT, but all trying to fit in around your budget. I actually used to own a 8800 GT, a single slot wide 512 MB PCIe card, but I sold the computer that included this card in it just last week. The 8800 GT was a work horse and did very well for many years. All of the new video cards are **DOUBLE WIDE, **so you will lose one slot next to the video card, no matter what it might be. The GTX 460 requires a dual four pin power supply connection and a minimum of 500 watt rated power supply. I used the following site to make the comparisons for you which is worth a look:

Performance Comparison Benchmarks @ Hardware Compare

Once you decide and buy a card, check out this info on loading the nVIDIA driver the hard way:

LNVHW - Load NVIDIA (driver the) Hard Way from runlevel 3 - Version 1.10 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

Thank You,

[Ecky]

I should imagine that most cards you would get for around 150 euros would work fine with opensuse … but not with your system as it is

With the supplier I use you could get something like an nvidia gtx 550 possibly a 560 or an ati radeon 6870 (for a few bucks more even a 6950), all excellent cards and all of which should work fine with OS, but to be perfectly honest mate unless you play some high-end windows games you don’t need a card that powerful … or expensive!

Looking at your specs I think you would be better off getting a lower end (but still much better than your 8800gt) card for about 70-90 of your euros and spending the rest on a better power supply, the 400w power supply you have wouldn’t really handle the higher end cards so you could end up buying yourself a nice new graphics card then not having enough left for a power supply capable of running it properly

You can get something like a radeon 5770 which is an excellent card for around 80 euros or an nvidia gt/gts (be lucky to get a gtx fror that price) leaving you 70 for a decent power supply, mostly all but the lower end pci-e cards these days use a 6-pin pci-e power connector so you really need a power supply that has at least one of those connectors, you can get molex to 6-pin pci-e adaptors but they don’t work as well as if the power connector is coming direct from the power supply itself and a lot of the cards you can buy for what you’re willing to spend require at least a 500w psu, and that’s the bare minimum so no way your 400w would cut the mustard

Hope I haven’t confused you with talk of molex, power connectors and adaptors, but I’m a system builder/upgrader/repairer guy and all too often I’ve seen people not realising the true potential of their machine and even ruining them by using inadequate power supplies, and if you don’t upgrade yours along with your graphics card you would run a real risk of being such a person

General rule of thumb is to use a power supply capable of generating more than you need, if the graphics card you intend to buy specifies a minimum of a 500w psu look to get one something like 700w, and go for a well-known and respected brand as you’ll wish you had if you buy some cheap chinese make that either dies or gets super-loud a few months down the line. Off the top of my head some names to look out for as making good reliable psus are corsair, ocz, xfx, bequiet, mushkin

I know I’ve harped on a bit about power supplies but I can’t stress how important it is you don’t make the mistake of not doing this right, so go for a middle of the range card preferably with ddr5 not ddr3 and a decent … dare I say it again … power supply! You won’t be sorry if you heed this advice, you will if you don’t

[brian_j]

@jdmcdaniel3

So, I think you need to be looking at (From Best To Least):

1. nVIDIA GTX 460
2. nVIDIA GTX 550 Ti
3. nVIDIA GTS 450

I have used all of the above nVIDIA video cards (all from EVGA) and each would do well for you. I guess a GTX 550 Ti is the best fit with the GTX 460 being Faster and the GTS 450 being the best priced with neck and neck performance with the 8800 GT, but all trying to fit in around your budget.

from this, i tend to number 3, however Ecky got me thinking again about an Radeon

@jdmcdaniel3

I actually used to own a 8800 GT, a single slot wide 512 MB PCIe card, but I sold the computer that included this card in it just last week. The 8800 GT was a work horse and did very well for many years.

yeah, if it hadn’t been that hot >:)

@jdmcdaniel3

All of the new video cards are **DOUBLE WIDE, **so you will lose one slot next to the video card, no matter what it might be. The GTX 460 requires a dual four pin power supply connection and a minimum of 500 watt rated power supply. I used the following site to make the comparisons for you which is worth a look:

Performance Comparison Benchmarks @ Hardware Compare

directly bookmarked, thx!

@jdmcdaniel3

Once you decide and buy a card, check out this info on loading the nVIDIA driver the hard way:

LNVHW - Load NVIDIA (driver the) Hard Way from runlevel 3 - Version 1.10 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

since i usually compile my own kernel, already did this numberous times

@jdmcdaniel3

Thank You,

thank you!

@Ecky

I should imagine that most cards you would get for around 150 euros would work fine with opensuse … but not with your system as it is

the thing is the 3d support. i’d hate it to buy a card and then wouldn’t be able to use compiz or play games

@Ecky

With the supplier I use you could get something like an nvidia gtx 550 possibly a 560 or an ati radeon 6870 (for a few bucks more even a 6950), all excellent cards and all of which should work fine with OS, but to be perfectly honest mate unless you play some high-end windows games you don’t need a card that powerful … or expensive!

i don’t know that yet

@Ecky

Looking at your specs I think you would be better off getting a lower end (but still much better than your 8800gt) card for about 70-90 of your euros and spending the rest on a better power supply, the 400w power supply you have wouldn’t really handle the higher end cards so you could end up buying yourself a nice new graphics card then not having enough left for a power supply capable of running it properly

You can get something like a radeon 5770 which is an excellent card for around 80 euros or an nvidia gt/gts (be lucky to get a gtx fror that price)

you got anything on the driver for linux for radeon 5770? is it reliable?

@Ecky

leaving you 70 for a decent power supply, mostly all but the lower end pci-e cards these days use a 6-pin pci-e power connector so you really need a power supply that has at least one of those connectors, you can get molex to 6-pin pci-e adaptors but they don’t work as well as if the power connector is coming direct from the power supply itself and a lot of the cards you can buy for what you’re willing to spend require at least a 500w psu, and that’s the bare minimum so no way your 400w would cut the mustard

my power supply unit is a be quiet e5 with - what i’ve seen now 500w. it’s got 2 6-pin pci-e power connectors

@Ecky

Hope I haven’t confused you with talk of molex

not at all

@Ecky

, power connectors and adaptors, but I’m a system builder/upgrader/repairer guy and all too often I’ve seen people not realising the true potential of their machine and even ruining them by using inadequate power supplies, and if you don’t upgrade yours along with your graphics card you would run a real risk of being such a person

General rule of thumb is to use a power supply capable of generating more than you need, if the graphics card you intend to buy specifies a minimum of a 500w psu look to get one something like 700w, and go for a well-known and respected brand as you’ll wish you had if you buy some cheap chinese make that either dies or gets super-loud a few months down the line. Off the top of my head some names to look out for as making good reliable psus are corsair, ocz, xfx, bequiet, mushkin

I know I’ve harped on a bit about power supplies but I can’t stress how important it is you don’t make the mistake of not doing this right, so go for a middle of the range card preferably with ddr5 not ddr3 and a decent … dare I say it again … power supply! You won’t be sorry if you heed this advice, you will if you don’t

i’ll look for enough power supply, promise!

well, i’m thinking of an radeon 5770, if i get any comments on driver compability.

thx for your comments

[Ecky]

Here we have one machine running a radeon 5770, another running a radeon 6870 and both work just fine with the ati drivers, and yes the 3d stuff also runs fine

[brian_j]

@Ecky

Here we have one machine running a radeon 5770, another running a radeon 6870 and both work just fine with the ati drivers, and yes the 3d stuff also runs fine

thx, just bought the Sapphire 5770 and i’ll tell ya if it’s what i was looking for

thanks again!

[Ecky]

Shouldn’t have a problem with that mate, Sapphire make decent quality cards