Step-up window closing...and money is tight...
Posted August 9th, 2008 at 07:01 by Quakindude
Man. These last couple of years have been a bitch. If anyone out there besides me has worse luck followed by bad luck followed by jewels of good luck, I don't know who it is.
So after a long protracted rebuilding of our home, we figured out there were some nasty electrical gremlins in the walls. It cost me three computers and a wall before it was finally figured out and corrected. Now though, I find myself in a conundrum of sorts.
My bro-in-law bought me a 9800GTX for my birthday. Now though, the step-up window is closing. The receipt he gave me is from NewEgg, and EVGA will step up the card for me. But here's the rock and hard place.
The 260 is definitely a doable proposition as all it would cost me is the shipping. The 9800GTX receipt shows $299 and EVGA is selling the 260 for $299. But the popular 280GTX would cost me shipping plus $150. Money is tight for everyone, and I'm no exception, especially lately. But I've got $200 sock holed for my Nahlem upgrade I've been planning on. So now, I'm at a crossroads. Upgrade to the 260 and keep my money? Or go for the 280 and plug that 280 into the new system I build in 2009? There will be newer graphics cards out then, but I have the money now.
Ah, the age old question of do I wait or do I plunge ahead? I've not been faced with this type of problem for some time now. The path has always been planned out and stuck to. So I don't know what to do and I'm just 6 days away from step-up close out time. Sigh.
So after a long protracted rebuilding of our home, we figured out there were some nasty electrical gremlins in the walls. It cost me three computers and a wall before it was finally figured out and corrected. Now though, I find myself in a conundrum of sorts.
My bro-in-law bought me a 9800GTX for my birthday. Now though, the step-up window is closing. The receipt he gave me is from NewEgg, and EVGA will step up the card for me. But here's the rock and hard place.
The 260 is definitely a doable proposition as all it would cost me is the shipping. The 9800GTX receipt shows $299 and EVGA is selling the 260 for $299. But the popular 280GTX would cost me shipping plus $150. Money is tight for everyone, and I'm no exception, especially lately. But I've got $200 sock holed for my Nahlem upgrade I've been planning on. So now, I'm at a crossroads. Upgrade to the 260 and keep my money? Or go for the 280 and plug that 280 into the new system I build in 2009? There will be newer graphics cards out then, but I have the money now.
Ah, the age old question of do I wait or do I plunge ahead? I've not been faced with this type of problem for some time now. The path has always been planned out and stuck to. So I don't know what to do and I'm just 6 days away from step-up close out time. Sigh.
Total Comments 10
Comments
 |  Get the GTX 260 for the cost of shipping, you can't beat that deal with a stick. In my opinion, the extra performance of the GTX 280 is not worth $150. Maybe $75, but definitely not $150. And you're going to need all of that $200 (and more) to try and get yourself DDR3, a Nehalem mobo, and a Nehalem processor (which is all going to be pretty darn expensive for a little while when it all hits the market). |
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| |  go for the 260 and save that money for nehalem as its not going to be cheap to make that upgrade (and all your paying is shipping for a card that is measurably faster than your current card) |
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| | Maximize your upgrade options overall. Bump to the 260 and get the CPU. Later sell the 260 and get something better then. I have been amazed on how fast used cards go in the local craigs list. |
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| |  quakin, i can tell you that you won't be disappointed with the GTX260. I just went back to the Green team from the Red team, and got myself a GTX260 Superclocked from EVGA and i gotta say maybe its a fanboy bias, but i love it. Runs smoother than my old 9800GX2, and runs on par with 2 HD4850s. |
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| |  I just entered the EVGA stepup program thanks I credit you Quakindude for pointing this out because I don't know where I've been but I certainly wasn't paying attention to that. So I went to the EVGA site registered my 9800 GTX not a plus version hoping to upgrade to a plus. Well I waited so long my window of opportunity was closed for that but there is a 120 day window to upgrade to a GX2 so I decided to check it out and it will cost me $108 to upgrade to it. I paid $358 S&H inc. they credited every dollar I had spent. My intention originally was to eventually get an additional 9800GTX for an SLI set up. At this point after all I've read I will be much better off with the single card step up. The EVGA site claims they are back ordered at the moment and it will take approx. 3 weeks but I'm willing to wait and really anxious to get it. Big TY 4 rattling my cage Quakindude |
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| |  Glad to have rattled your cage. ;) I've decided to go with the 280GTX. Since I'm pushing a native resolution of 1920x1200, the 280 seems to be the better performer. I also made a little extra cash from my TDY trip to New Orleans, so it will help soothe the expense of getting it. Now, I'm #101 in the queue. Thanks for the advice folks! |
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| | If the 280GX2 was an option I would have gone for it but I haven't even seen rumors of such. Stands to reason we will see one at some point. I'm about tired of messing around with SLI given the actual returns gained by it. Plus more heat higher power consumption not to mention the cost. I saw no more than a 12% gain with my 8800 GTS SLI'ed. Maybe it's drivers? Maybe it's PCIe bus? who knows? We should get a 50% boost minimum to justify all the additional cost of an extra card, higher elec bill, and covered expansion slots. IMHO I'll have to check the Queue. I've heard the 9800GX2's aren't to readily available. |
| Updated August 15th, 2008 at 10:40 by owcraftsman (spelling) |
| |  260 foo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| | Well, my EVGA GTX280 is on the way to me. I should get it next Thursday. Looks like I'll need to go out and cut some lawns this summer. Lots of new shit on the horizon and the normal family budget just can't hang with my need for new gear. Man, the only thing that sucks about having kids is putting them through college. That daughter of mine is costing me a mint. So this little $150 upgrade is likely to be the last one I see in some time now. |
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| | Just an update I've had the GX2 for a week now and lovin it big time. I took the standard shipping option which was the cheapest way ti go. Two weeks not to bad actually I was impressed with the service once again. It comes with the same lifetime warranty. at stock speed I'm in the 16000 in 3DM06 and after OC to 726/1126/1800 low 18000 impressive for a single card solution. I started to fiddle around with my E8400 OC to improve my scores and fubarred myself cause I haven't been able to get back to the 18000's but consistent upper 17000's all of these in Vista x64, If interested I can post urls but this card rocks and I'm glad I made the move Thanks again for rattling my cage I got in just under the wire thanks to you! BTW I'd be interested to see the 280 results once you get it,. I'll definitaly be getting one if not a GX2 by then when I make the move to i7, x58 and DDR3. |
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Recent Blog Entries by Quakindude
- Step-up window closing...and money is tight... (August 9th, 2008)
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