Worth the cost?

[DJTek05]

Hi, I work at CompUSA and I am currently torn between a 9800 Pro for $180 (on sale) or a BFG 6600GT pre-OC'd or a PNY 6600GT non-OC'd, both of which are $203. I'm wondering if I'm going to see a noticable enough difference in performance to make it worth my while to drop that kind of cash. Here's my current rig.

P4 Prescott 3.0GHz w/ HT 1 MB L2 Cache Not OC'd (yet :classic
ABIT VT7 Mobo w/ 800 MHz FSB
1 GB PC3200 Single-Channel DDR
GeForce 4 Ti4200 128MB AGP 4x
500W Mad Dog SurePower PSU
(http://www.maddogmultimedia.com/products/techietoyz/power-SurePower_500.asp)
8x4x16 DVD burner and 16x4x16 DVD burner
40GB 7200RPM Seagate ATA HD and 120GB 7200RPM Western Digital ATA HD
5.1 Optical Creative Sound

My 3DMark 2001 score was around 7400. It would be really easy for me to OC my mobo and/or processor given ABIT's easy OC system.

However, my question is, am I going to see a significant enough performance boost (OC'd or not) to make it worth my shellin' out 200 bucks? Thanks in advance. Brian

 

[DoomUK]

In short, yes. A 6600 GT would whoop a Ti4200 (do a Google for '6600 GT vs Ti4200', and you'll find the appropraite benchmarks on systems much like yours).

DJTek05, does your mobo not support dual channel DDR, or are your DIMM's unmatched?

 

[DJTek05]

Yes, it supports dual channel and that's my next scheduled upgrade...but thats gonna be about 200 to 250 too so...gonna hafta wait a bit for that, but in terms of 9800 Pro to 6600GT, what would you get? Brian

 

[DoomUK]

In terms of whether you should get a 9800 Pro or 6600 GT, I'd get the latter, especially as you're only paying $23 more for a superior piece of kit

Oh, and for exactly the same price get the BFG, no question.

 

[DJTek05]

Ok, thanks for the help man...also, just out of curiosity, do you have any kind of measurable spec idea as to what kinda performance boost I would get in terms of fps for something like D3 or HL2 (ball park?). Thanks again. Brian

 

[millerhighlife_]

Get the BFG 6600gt hands down. Hmm.. fps difference between the Ti4200 and the 6600gt on the same settings would be close to double if not more. Of course though you will raise the settings alot with your new card so this wont be the case. But yea, a HUGE difference.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

6600GT vs ti4200 would be more than doubble in a benchmark

Yes the 6600GT is woth the extra

 

[Codeine]

Yeah, i vote for the 6600 GT, plus it has GDDR3. Witch the 9800 dont. I suggest the eVGA, since everyone knows its the best 6600 GT.

 

[DJTek05]

What kind of difference will I notice between the eVGA and the BFG OC? Anything worth giving up a 2 year N.Q.A. replacement warranty for 10 bucks over?