[SOLVED] Torn between 9500GT, 9600GT and 9800GT

[Lnx2Mac]

Hi all,

Folowing tony's advice on my post, I decided to bump up the 9400GT.

However, I'm having trouble deciding between the following (note the prices in my area):
- Palit 9500GT 1GB DDR2 (~$70),
- Gigabyte 9600GT 1G DDR3 GV-N96TSL-1GI Silent Cell (~$145)
- Gigabyte 9600GT 1G DDR3 GV-NX96T-1GHP Heat Pipe (~$165)
- Gigabyte 9800GT 1G DDR3 GV-N98TSL-1GI Silent Cell (~$175)

This won't be a gaming rig, but a software development/video editing (imovie/FC).
So the only compelling reason I see for these are CUDA/OpenCL. Not sure though how many apps out there use it nowadays.

A silent GPU is an absolute must for me, but is the wattage & price diff worth the bump ?

Thx,

 

[thelostswede]

Re: Torn between 9500GT, 9600GT and 9800GT

One option would be to buy a cheaper fan and get one of these http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/p ... 2_&mID=105

As long as you have good air circulation in your case, that should work on a 9600 card nicely.

The 9500 isn't worth it over the 9400GT imho, go for the 9600, you might be able to find a 9600GSO, they're a bit cheaper, but still have a 256-bit memory interface, although the cooler above wouldn't fit most of those cards as they tend to have the GPU located towards the rear.

 

[Lnx2Mac]

Re: Torn between 9500GT, 9600GT and 9800GT

The 9500 isn't worth it over the 9400GT imho, go for the 9600, you might be able to find a 9600GSO, they're a bit cheaper, but still have a 256-bit memory interface, although the cooler above wouldn't fit most of those cards as they tend to have the GPU located towards the rear.

Thx TheLostSwede !

I actually found a nice GIGABYTE GV-N96GMC-512H GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 passively cooled for around $80.

Two issues with it:
1) It has only 512MB FB... How significant is this on OSX ?
2) It seems even more power hungry than the 9600GT !
See: Power And Temperature Benchmarks also based on nvidia's site & wikipedia

Oh, well, life is full of compromises
Still puzzled

 

[thelostswede]

Re: Torn between 9500GT, 9600GT and 9800GT

I think what you've found is this http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_ge ... so_us.html
which appears to be a better card than the 9600GT (more shaders etc.), but also older and hotter.
Yet, the 512MB cards are different http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_ge ... 12_us.html and actually have fewer shaders than the 9600GT of which there are two versions http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_ge ... gt_us.html
All of them are still better than the 9500GT http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_ge ... gt_us.html

The Gigabyte card you found is the newer, cooler running, with fewer shaders model.

The memory is unlikely to have any impact on what you want to do, as the extra memory isn't going to add any performance increase for non gaming stuff.

 

[rushko]

Re: Torn between 9500GT, 9600GT and 9800GT

Difference between those 3 cards regarding CUDA/OpenCL are not significant. I've tested 9600GSO(192bit/384MB) with OpenCL benchmark Galaxies32k and it showed similar results as 8800/9800GT (170-180GFlops). The next step will be GTS250 which is significantly faster (300GFlops).

 

[thelostswede]

Re: Torn between 9500GT, 9600GT and 9800GT

Cool, but what he's wondering is how much of a difference either card would make to what he's going to use his system for. And he wants a silent card...

 

[Lnx2Mac]

Re: Torn between 9500GT, 9600GT and 9800GT

TheLostSwede, Thanks again...

At the end of the day, it seems it all comes to these options:
1) Cheap/weak (9400/9500) card under 50W,
2) Acceptable/good card (9600/9800) at 90W+,
3) Better (i.e. GTS 250) cards, but with noisy fans...

Reconsidering these options, I guess I'll aim for the Gigabyte 9800GT 1G DDR3 GV-N98TSL-1GI Silent Cell.

Pros:
- Strongest GPU available on passive cooling,
- Newer heatsink (Silent Cell vs. older Multi Core Cooling)
- Best Processing Power& SP/Watt

Cons:
- Price ~$175 around here
- Power hungry (~105W), but it seems most modern ones are like this nowadays.

Will update when I get my components together.

Thanks for all the inputs in this thread and others !

PS: As for OpenCL, are there any apps (imovie/final cut) today that use it ? Or it's just for future-proofing ?

 

[thelostswede]

Re: Torn between 9500GT, 9600GT and 9800GT

Just one thing, make sure you have sufficient airflow in the case for that card.

 

[rushko]

Re: Torn between 9500GT, 9600GT and 9800GT

Reconsidering these options, I guess I'll aim for the Gigabyte 9800GT 1G DDR3 GV-N98TSL-1GI Silent Cell.

You chose wisely.

As of OpenCL apps, there are none that I know of, only some benchmarks, but there's a lot of CUDA apps on nVidia website. Adobe CS4 suite is CUDA enabled afaik, but I did not tested it. The only app that I tested is BOINC and it works, it is used for home computing like SETI@home, primegrid, etc.

 

[Lnx2Mac]

Re: Torn between 9500GT, 9600GT and 9800GT

Reconsidering these options, I guess I'll aim for the Gigabyte 9800GT 1G DDR3 GV-N98TSL-1GI Silent Cell.

You chose wisely.

Thanks !

Just one thing, make sure you have sufficient airflow in the case for that card.

I'm almost settled on an Antec Sonata Designer 500W...
This one seems to need minimal modding (may be some additional noise dampening).
Haven't decided yet on positive or negative pressure...

Which brings me to another topic...
I'm no windoze user (Last ms-win I used was 3.11 ), just Linux and OSX...
On my MBP, I use smcFanControl, but I doubt it'll work on a hack, as we have no SMC.

Are there any osx tools to monitor CPU/GPU/HDD temp on a hack ?
What about over/underclocking the GPU ?