# 8600/8800/9600/HD3xxx... i m soo confused



## ankushkool (Feb 20, 2008)

PLEZ HELP!!! i m soo confused!!!

i hav to buy mobo+processor+graphics... my budget is <20000/-

now i decided 2 compromise on mobo+processor 4 a better graphics card... but then thought as i am not a hardcore gamer... i sud be ok with 8600GT.
i still had a serious  battle goin on in my head weather 2 go 4 8600gt 7 good mobo+pro... or 2 compromise on it n go 4 8800gt 
AND NOW!!! here comes 9600GT??? HELPPPPP

and just to add to it...



MetalheadGautham said:


> ATI HD3xxx series are rather excellent today.


which makes sense as a HD3xxx card around 6... preforms much better than 8600GT
 
here is what i had shortlisted...

 MOBO:
XFX 630i - 7150
XFX n force 650i ultra
Asus P5N-E SLI/P5N32
XFX nvidia 680i LT SLI
MSI P35 Neo/platinum
MSI P6N SLI


 PROC:
C2D E4400
C2D E6750
*all other C2D between are discontinued

 GRAPHICS CARD:
Asus EN8600GT
XFX 8800GT
and now 9600GT
even HD3xxx (dont know which model)
*anyone thinks i sud go 4 ATI???

PHEW!!!

NOW ppl... i need serious helppppppppppppppppp

and sorry for multiple posts... didnt get much help on other posts




BULLZI said:


> u shud definitely prefer HD3XXX series over 8600GT.
> go for HD3850 512 MB
> It performs better than 8600GT as well as got DX10.1 support (Though DX 10.1 has least importance rite now)
> .



what is de price of HD3850... does it support SLI?


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## debsuvra (Feb 20, 2008)

ankushkool said:


> does it support SLI?



ATi cards does not support SLI, they have there own technology named CrossFire.

I think you should go for the nVidia cards, wait till the new 9XXX series cards arrive.


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## john_the_ultimate (Feb 20, 2008)

If you are on a budget and also want good performance then get HD3850 much better than 8600gt. As for mobo get 650i ultra with E6750.


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## hellgate (Feb 20, 2008)

if u wanna buy a 9xxx series card then its better to wait for bout 2months after the cards r released for the prices to come down.


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## nish_higher (Feb 20, 2008)

Lets say ur budget is 19k----

E 4500 = 4950
Abit IP35E = 5550 From ur list the other boards worth your budget are just 
the first 2 ones which are not good performers

Total=10500
Cards worth investing-
MSI 9600GT OC 512MB=10500
ASus 8600GT=around 6k

now u really are not a hard gamer like u said so hw about E8400 + Abit IP35E + 8600GT ?


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## MetalheadGautham (Feb 20, 2008)

why wait for two months so that nVidia's price will be equal to AMD's current cost, and realise that AMD has become evenmore cheaper ?

I say ditch the old thought that nVidia >>> ATi. Just like the way AMD is intorducing more and more 65 nm processors while Intel is already going 45nm, the reverse story is observed in graphic cards.

ATi is 55nm, while nVidia is still 65 nm.

Today, ATI is a very good option worth concidering indeed, as they(AMD) have even promised to release FOSS drivers of a good quality for their hardware.

Get yourself an Intel C2Q Q6600(for general perpose) or a C2D E8400(good for normal use, awssome at gaming) for a processor. The former costs 11k, and the later 8.5k. The later is obviously a better choice today.

Then for graphics card, go for a decent AMD-ATI HD3550 core based card. It will easily handle games like crysis, gears of war, DX10.1 games, UT3, etc(high settings without AA)

The remaining money from your 22K budget can buy you a good motherboard for these two parts, and thus you will end up with a rather semi high end state of art hardware based config.

Nish's config recomendation was good, but its much better to ditch an 8600GT in favour of an HD3550.


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## Pathik (Feb 20, 2008)

Get a Abit IP35e (5.5k) + a e8200 (8k) + and get a 2nd hand pcie for ~1k right now.. then get a 9600gt wen it is available..


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## nish_higher (Feb 20, 2008)

isn't 3550 overpriced?considering that performance of 9600GT is similar to HD 3870 ? 9600GT costs same as 3550
*www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1293/11/
probably this is the non overclocked one.not sure,check it.


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## ankushkool (Feb 20, 2008)

Thanks everyone... you ppl are great... 

i will go for C2D E8400 or C2D E6600(if there is a big price diff)... and 8600GT or HD3550(whichever is cheaper)

now for mobo... need a bit more help... is abit a good brand? i shortliated these
 XFX n force 650i ultra
Asus P5N-E SLI/P5N32
 MSI P6N SLI
Abit IP35e


check this out...
*www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=1061&model2=1058&chart=288

even X19xx cards r much better than 8600... why isnt there any HD3550???
any idea of de price of X19xx cards?


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## dOm1naTOr (Feb 20, 2008)

I dont think HD 3550 is not that powerful as said.
the reason:
the card which replaces the current 8600GT rival aka 2600XT is HD 3650 512 DDR3 and will be for same price of 2600XT, ie around 5k
And it has only max of 20~30% improvement over old 2600XT.
So how come this 3550 pack so much punch being an inferior model to 3650?

And i think HD 3850 512 MB MSI for 10k wud be a gr8 choice. It performs close to 8800GT 512 and much better than 8800GT 256.

And i think 9600GT is waste coz, its not even as powerful as 8800GT. And if u think 9600GT will be cheaper at some 10k when itll be available, then at dat time probable other better cards will be available at more pempting prices like 8800GT @ 10k, or 3870 @ 10k.

And lastly, get a cheapo, yet gud mobo like XFX 630i Ultra now for 3.5k and it can handl all those things with ease[though no dual channel]. Then later upgrade to better mobo when pocket allows.


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## john_the_ultimate (Feb 21, 2008)

Don't get HD3550, instead get yourself HD3850. As for mobo no point getting a mobo which doesn't support dual channel. Dual channel does help a lot in multi-tasking/resource heavy applications.


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## dOm1naTOr (Feb 21, 2008)

but with 20k total budget, there is no ther choice if he wanna stick with gud proccy nd gcard. He can later upgrade.
Nyways reviews proves, there is not much of a performance drop for 630i if DDR2 800 is used.
And get a gud mobo as soon as u get some bucks to spare.


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## keith_j_snyder2 (Feb 21, 2008)

Well he can stick to E6550, IP-35-E and a 3850 or a 8800GS!


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## john_the_ultimate (Feb 21, 2008)

keith_j_snyder2 said:


> Well he can stick to E6550, IP-35-E and a 3850 or a 8800GS!



Yes he should.......Its always better to get a good mobo in first place and upgrade the gfx card later.


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## MetalheadGautham (Feb 21, 2008)

ankushkool said:


> Thanks everyone... you ppl are great...
> 
> i will go for C2D E8400 or C2D E6600(if there is a big price diff)... and 8600GT or HD3550(whichever is cheaper)
> 
> ...


XFX nForce 650i SLI is nomore in the market.
And for ATI cards, you need CrossFire support, found only in intel(recomended) or ati chipsets.


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## nish_higher (Feb 21, 2008)

btw ur dealer adviced u those motherboards or u shortlisted urself?


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## ankushkool (Feb 23, 2008)

> btw ur dealer adviced u those motherboards or u shortlisted urself?



i did... so which of them supports crossfire...


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## nish_higher (Feb 23, 2008)

^ none!
get Abit IP35 PRo which supports Crossfire or some P35 board by ASUS--but the ones bw 9-10k by Asus are slightly unstable (read user reviews) so only high end Asus will work


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## mayanksharma (Feb 23, 2008)

Well D9M finally brings back X600 series to its good old glory, once again! Apart from the 256bits memory bus and 65nm fabrication technology....its price is what attracts main crowd!! A perfect VFM product imo! 
I hope u know that AMD slashed HD 38XX GPU prices !! 
Why...?? U now know the answer!!!  hehe..
About 8600GT, if u have it...Milk it untill, it drops dead!  The only thing, that is keeping 8600GT alive is its price! 
Ok, about motherboard, Asus P5N-E SLI...both 650i and 680i are good! Though, they run HoT ! Ok, what about MSI?? Their platinum series are one of the best, however price could be a lill' steep! 
If, u are planning to go with ATi, then avoid the aforesaid !!


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## dOm1naTOr (Feb 24, 2008)

Yup, HD 3850 512 is dmn gud at 10k considering that even geforce 9 series is not an DX 10.1 standard.

So that makes them even future proof than even about to be released 9800GX2 !!!!


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## ankushkool (Feb 24, 2008)

so which mobo sud i go 4 if i want SLI or crossfire support???


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## entrana (Feb 24, 2008)

if u want sli u shud go for 680i chipsets or if ur rich the 780i chipset. if ur on a budget go for sli 650i


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## nish_higher (Feb 24, 2008)

SLi = XFX 680i LT or 680i Sli- both boards are very stable.don't go for 650i boards especially P5N-e-sli .this board is unstable,has poor ram compatibility and 650i is obsolete now.

Crossfire= Abit IP 35 PRo , 

In case u plan to use a single card only and are on a tighty budget = Abit IP35-E


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## yogi7272 (Feb 24, 2008)

for sli .. go for xfx 680i lt or better 780i ..

for crossfire -  asus p5e - x38 mobo or  abit x38 quad gt ..

p35 is not recommended of crossfire as it 16x + 4x  config.. where as x38/ x48 is 16x + 16x  config 

best bet is xfx 680i lt + 9600gt sli ..


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## BULLZI (Feb 25, 2008)

Dont go for 780I SLI. All of them have got terrible heating issues for the Northbridge chipset. 3rd party cooler is must. And after all, u wont be using 3 GTX/Ultras in 3 way SLI, are u?
About 9600GT SLI why to get that when one can get 8800GT in SLI that performs lot better than 9600GT?
9600GT even has no DX10.1 support.
HD3850 will be a better choice than 9600GT.
Its always better to get a mid/high range graohics card rather than two low end cards.


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## nish_higher (Feb 25, 2008)

780i will be obsolete soon,but that mobo comes with a cooler for northbridge-heat is an issue when 3 cards are used otherwise it runs great--tried with 2 8800GTs on XFX 780i.but that makes no sense coz even a 650i would run that.
so get a 680i Sli


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## BULLZI (Feb 25, 2008)

^^ Are u sure all the 780I mobos comes with Northbridge cooler? I didnt find it in XFX. Found the cooler in EVGA.
By the way, northbridge overheating issue is still there when u try to oc ur proccy. Even one notch voltage up for northbridge raises the temperature very high. Its not only for three gfx cards. The board is not at all a decent overclocker.
X38 chipset is far better.


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## nish_higher (Feb 25, 2008)

of course it comes with a cooler, i've unpacked that board myself 
see here-
*www.legitreviews.com/article/616/3/


but one thing that i really hate abt XFX is the use of traditional capacitors 


Overclocking with C2Q QX9650 -


> Now that the processor has been pushed to its limits at 1.5Vcore we wanted to see how high we could get the Front Side Bus on our 45nm Quad-Core processor. The 780i SLI motherboard was able to take our QX9650 all the way up to 475MHz FSB, which is a new record for this processor!  The Corsair memory kit was running 1266MHz, so this confirms the board feature of 1200MHz memory!  Memory bandwidth on Sandra XII SP1 was found to be 8434MB/Sec on the Int and 8390MB/Sec on the Floating point, which is great for the clock frequency. The 780i SLI motherboard had no problems running 1900MHz FSB with a 45nm quad-core processor, which is impressive.  Now you have to wonder why NVIDIA doesn't support 1600MHz FSB processors with this board.


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## yogi7272 (Feb 25, 2008)

all nvidia northbridge chipsets heat a lot compared to intel chipsets ..that's not a secret .. only thing to consider an nvidia chipset is  for sli .. 
if he wants sli that badly then only go for 680i /780i ... the upcoming 790i is ddr3 ..maybe ddr2 version later..but no news of that still .

i would get a x38 chipset board like abit x38 quad gt -12k or better asus maximus formula- no idea abt price ..maybe 14.5 k ..and good card like 8800gt -12k  or better 3870x2-21k something  if he has such a large budget ..


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## nish_higher (Feb 25, 2008)

you are right in a way that temperature is more than intel chipset but heat is not at all an issue with 680i\680i LT\780i --temps are always within limits.780i gets hot without that cooler thats why its supplied-its the owner's wish to install it or not.
XFX 680i is a highly recommended board + coupled with 8800GT OC it will prove to be best bang for u


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## s18000rpm (Feb 25, 2008)

> Alot of people worry about the 9600's compatibility with the upcoming DX10.1. *From what we hear,9600 wont be able to support DX10.1. But still,only a handful of games in the market can successfully utilize DX10, DX10.1 is just too much for now*. according to sources, the 9600GT will cost 169 USD, or 1299 Yuan. Coincidentally, this was the price of 8600 when it first came out. 8800GTS dominates the 2000+ yuan market,while 8800GT dominates the 1500~2000 range. With the arrival of HD3850, 8600GTS got kicked out of the 1000~1500 market. With the upcoming 9600GT however,the 1000~1500 market will be owned by nvidia yet again.


*www.neowin.net/news/main/08/01/14/nvidia-geforce-9600gt-review#comment613782


no HDMI too 

9600gt beats the 8600gts effortlessly but is not future proof.

nvidia=better drivers
Ati not so good drivers (rit now)

what should i do?

get hd3850? ($175)

btw, how much will it cost to send a stuff(gfx. card) frm USA to here (india). [if later ver. of 9xxx support dx10.1, i'll do this.]


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## dOm1naTOr (Feb 25, 2008)

Now the driver issues of ATI has been sorted almost completely. Now the drivers are as stable as with nvidia forcewares.


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## yogi7272 (Feb 25, 2008)

nish_higher said:


> you are right in a way that temperature is more than intel chipset but heat is not at all an issue with 680i\680i LT\780i --temps are always within limits.780i gets hot without that cooler thats why its supplied-its the owner's wish to install it or not.
> XFX 680i is a highly recommended board + coupled with 8800GT OC it will prove to be best bang for u



yup .. for stock it does not matter .. but makes a hell lot of difference when u oc ur proci .. the combi u mentioned is good too ..


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## mayanksharma (Feb 26, 2008)

@s18000rpm,
From your link, the conclusion is drawn in the favour of Nvidia with the launch of its new card 9600GT! Even a reference clocked 9600GT card beats HD3850 easily in almost every benchmarks! And with numerous overclocked models from different vendors like eVGA, XFX and Gainward, 9600GT performance is almost equal or sometimes better than HD3870!! Now its just the matter of price here in India! If either one of them is cheaper, going with that card makes sense!  
However, 8800GT is still the Best League performer. I still recommend Nvidia!


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## nish_higher (Feb 26, 2008)

Source-Anandtech

*img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/8bd04dda1f.jpg


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## s18000rpm (Feb 26, 2008)

mayanksharma said:


> @s18000rpm,
> From your link, the conclusion is drawn in the favour of Nvidia with the launch of its new card 9600GT! Even a reference clocked 9600GT card beats HD3850 easily in almost every benchmarks! And with numerous overclocked models from different vendors like eVGA, XFX and Gainward, 9600GT performance is almost equal or sometimes better than HD3870!! Now its just the matter of price here in India! If either one of them is cheaper, going with that card makes sense!
> However, 8800GT is still the Best League performer. I still recommend Nvidia!



it does beat it, but its not dx10.1 compatible & no HDMI either.


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## keith_j_snyder2 (Feb 27, 2008)

Palit 9600GT has 2 DVI ports, 1 display port and 1 HDMI port on it.
Many other are giving HDMI to DVI dongle with the card!


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## mayanksharma (Feb 27, 2008)

@s1800rpm,


keith_j_snyder2 said:


> Palit 9600GT has 2 DVI ports, 1 display port and 1 HDMI port on it.
> Many other are giving HDMI to DVI dongle with the card!


There u go! Now with HDMI! And btw, one more thing, DX10.1 isnt that much of a buff! For the moment there are no  applications or games implementing it and not going be for a period of time. DX10.1 just introduces a new Shader Model and few additional expansion to current instructions in DX10! Knowing the fact that, Nvidia plans to go a leap ahead with DX11!  
Henceforth, saying DX10.1 as an advantage to HD3XXX series means no issue to anyone! 
So, as far as performance is concerned, i see 9600GT shining!


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## ankushkool (Mar 2, 2008)

thanx everyone... i hav decided 2 go 4 8600 right now due 2 budget rest


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## dOm1naTOr (Mar 2, 2008)

i remember everyone buffing about six months back "there s no improvement in quality b/w DX9 and DX 10 So getting a high end DX9 card is better than DX10". for eg: everyone recommended 7900GS and GT instead of 8600GT and GTS. But hey-are they happy with their purchases?

So a better future proof card makes more sense, at least when real DX 10.1 games begin to release. AT that time the DX 10.0 cards wd be holding back in performance compared to 10.1 cards like the geforce 7 cards are doin now in todays games in vista.

7900GS and GT were supposed to be very much faster than 8600GT or GTS, then the proved it too. But in recent games in Vista, the 8 cards are overtaking coz of DX10cards yielding better performace in vista than DX9 cards.


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