What is the Deal With NnVidia 8XXX Graphics vs. 7XXX ?

I was going to purchase a new video card ahead of the buying the rest of my parts for my new build. I currently own a BFG 7900 GS OC. I was looking to buy a new 8 series. After doing some research, I found that many 8XXX cards were slower or the same in performance as my 7900. There are so many designations, it is hard to keep them straight.

Am I correct in thinking that many of the 8 series cards are not fast at all, and are only designed to offer DirectX performance? Which middle-range card would give me a moderate performance gain over my 7900 GS OC? I am looking to spend around $170. I will be willing to hit the $200 mark. And I have cruised Tom's VGA charts. Oh yeah - I am using and will be using a PCI-E interface with somewhere around an AMD 5600 AMD.

Thanks for any info.

 

then I would go with the 9600gt(newegg has em) comes in under the 200 dollar range and performance has been very good with them. just my humble opinion

 

ibbonkers -

I was not even really aware of that series of cards. It looks like a 9600 GT might be where my money goes. A sincere thanks for the tip.

 

The first number of an nvidia card denotes generation, while the second denotes relative performance within the generation. Since the 7xxx and 8xxx are right next to each other you can almost forget the first number and go straight to the second.

For example a 7600 is better than a 8500. Or a 6800 is better than a 7200. This is true in most cases but any 8800 is going to outperform your 7950 and should beat a 9600.

 

it does beat the 9600 but not by much. the 9600 is the newest nvidia card and roughly keeps pace with ati's 3870. for a sub 200 card to perform that well makes it a good buy