Video card ANGST !! Tell me not to buy it.

[WalkinTarget]

OK, so its been .. what ... well over a year that I have had the same video card (not sure, but it FEELS like a year+) and I have the video card upgrade blues like nobody's business !!
I am fine with what I have, but my PC slush fund is burning a HUGE hole in my pocket, to the point where I must act, and act NOW !! I have been eyeing up a GTX 260, with the only question being what brand. I settled that last night, and it will be an XFX for me, but ... and here's that but ..

I don't want to BUY it now .. I want to wait two more weeks and see what happens. Rumors have the 280+ and even a newer GTX 350 being announced in a week, so I am watching the prices slowly dip on the GTX 260 cards and thinking I don't NEED it, why not wait ??

Ohh, but eVGA .. they tempt me so with this deal ..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...384-P3-N966-TR

Its a 9600GSO card for $50 after rebate. I have no real need for it. I could drop it in one of my other PCs and enjoy it, but buying a card just because its a good price gets away from my overall goal of upgrading my main rig, and only my main rig, as I can only be on ONE PC at at a time !! Its wasted money for the GTX 260 upgrade, but I feel compelled to buy that darn card .. just ... because .. its ..

*shakes head* ... I am weak. Must resist ... its not worth ... ohh somebody offer some advice !!

I'm selling a PC or two in a week, so that will fund any upgrade I have in mind, but the $$ is just literally begging to be spent. I should just step away from the Hot Deals forum and take an internet break until my spending jones goes away.

[K PhaNTOM]

Don't do it! Don't, unless you really want to... then Do it! Do IT!... btw, what the hell is GSO?

[WalkinTarget]

9600GSO = 8800GS

I'm reading about 27% overclocks with this card. It'll go further than the 9600GT...to about 8800GT speeds. Also, a couple people over on TechPowerUp figured out some volt mods for the Palit brand 9600GSO that push it to VERY high speeds. If those volt mods can be done on the eVGA card ....?
Someone said that the card with vMods was close to 9800GTX speeds on a DMC4 benchmark.

[K PhaNTOM]

9600GSO = 8800GS

I'm reading about 27% overclocks with this card. It'll go further than the 9600GT...to about 8800GT speeds. Also, a couple people over on TechPowerUp figured out some volt mods for the Palit brand 9600GSO that push it to VERY high speeds. If those volt mods can be done on the eVGA card ....?
Someone said that the card with vMods was close to 9800GTX speeds on a DMC4 benchmark.

In that case, DO IT! By God Just do IT!

[WalkinTarget]

I can't help it ... I'll go ahead and order it tonight just to get it out of my system. I'd love to voltmod it and toss it in one of my rigs . just not sure which one yet.
I ripped apart my e2180 rig this weekend, so I built an older DFI LanParty S939 rig that needs a card in it. I'll toss that in there and let the sparks fly .. not literally, of course.

eVGA caught me at a moment of economical weakness ...

[bobytt]

WT you know thats crappy card dont buy it.

[Ghost_Rain]

Do not buy it those cards are crap it will break down in 5 days after u install it

[WalkinTarget]

Crappy for $50 ?? C'mon, dude .. thats a STEAL !! This isn't for anything other than a spare, or spare of a spare, PC. I'm happy with my 8800GTS, but its days are numbered. I can retire that, snag the GTX260 (plan is to SLI that rig) and move the 8800GTS to another PC.
This card is nothing more than a way to upgrade yet another PC that can play modern games, hoping for that Lair PA LAN party that I'll never host where nobody has to bring their own rigs !

Ghost ... it does have a warranty, yanno. Besides, I wanna voltmod something !!

[Ghost_Rain]

My Friend Bought The EVGA one and it burned out with in 4 days of him Buying it. Like I say it your money do what u wise with it but just say we did not warn u about the card

[Dead...Again]

Ghost Rain, EVGA is one of the best brands for NVIDIA cards. They have a lifetime warranty. Did your friend try to get his replaced?
EDIT: I've have an overclocked EVGA 8800GTS for almost 2 years with no problems.

[Ghost_Rain]

Ghost Rain, EVGA is one of the best brands for NVIDIA cards. They have a lifetime warranty. Did your friend try to get his replaced?

Yes he got a Full Refund for the card.

[juneau]

It's hit and miss with all cards. But EVGA is more hit than miss.

[WalkinTarget]

This card is even able to run Crysis at a fair enough clip .. for $50 I'm in:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/24...review-benches

[K PhaNTOM]

Test System:
E6300 Intel Core 2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia @ 3.05 ghz on a Scythe Mine with custom 120mm fan for 800/1200/1600rpm
Asus asus P5B vanilla
2 gigs @ 870 mhz 5-5-5-15 timing
Onboard Soundmax audio
Samsung 250gig
Hitachi 160 gig
19” Viewsonic VA1912WB
Antec Sonata 2 with SP 2.0 450watt
Vista x86 ultimate
Nvidia forceware 174.74

And do you have these specs? Video cards aren't everything

[WalkinTarget]

Depends on what PC I put it in. Honestly, I don't have a set plan on what PC to use it in, but after reading that it may well do better than my 8800GTS G80 card, if I use it with my 19" LCD, it will end up going into PC #2, which has better specs than the one listed in that link:

e6600@3.2 (will do 3.6 with a voltage bump)
MSI P6N Platinum
4gb Super Talent DDR2-800
SB Live! Audigy
Ac Freezer Pro 7
Seagate 320gb 16mb HD
19" WS Envision 1440x900
Raidmax Smilodon Extreme case
Vista Ultimate 64



The downside to the card is that it only has 384mb of VRAM. Seeing as how the LCD maxes out at 1440x900, that won't affect this card, so it could very well be faster than the 8800GTS (G80 640mb card) that I planned on using in the above rig. The 8800GTS will only outpace it on my 24" LCD at 1920x1200, where the GSO card will run out of VRAM in a hurry.