Originally Posted by
Zero4549
*shrug* I was at a LAN a few
years ago in Texas. Now... I live in Maryland, and my gaming PC is a 60 pound fulltower with an external radiator, so logically I borrowed my Texan buddy's old gaming rig. Dual 8600s. I knew they would be slow, but I figured it would be ok, I'm not the kind of person who refuses to play games with poor graphics - heck, my favorite game is from 2001 and I still play it frequently.
BUT OMG IT WAS SO SLOW. I kid you not. Playing even (graphically) "mild" games by current-at-the-time standards required me to force everything to the lowest settings and resolutions, and it was still barely playable. I simply
could not play many of the games my friends were playing. I literally left the lan a few times to just walk around in the sun because the alternative was staring at a ugly 10fps slide show in a dark cold room. Kinda defeats the purpose of a LAN (although seeing my buddies who I can normally only talk to online was a blast)
Now, granted those 8800s are significantly faster than 8600s, but the point is I think you are overestimating the cards, and underestimating just how much things have changed since the 8800s were wearing the crown. Being used to dual 670s, those 8800s may make your lan rig a joyless experience.
Ultras indeed are "that much" better. Not enough that you're gonna notice today, but back when they were relevant, heck yes. If I were buying cards just to collect them, Ultras would be the only ones that make sense in the 8000 series.
To put it into perspective, if it was currently 2020, and you were to buy a old card for your collection, would you rather buy a 670 or a Titan? You also probably wouldn't want to game on either, even though by
today's standards, people with 670s would love to have a Titan.