1 video card or 2

[rickrh72]

Hi
I am building a gamming machine and am wonder if I would get better performance from 2 Geforc 7900Gs Cards or one Radion 9800XT or Nvidia 8800 GTX? Would I get Direct X 10 to work on the 7900GS?
I havn't purchased the power supply yet. Has any one had any experiance using an Ultra products X PRO 800? I like the Idea of cooling after shut down. Thanks for your input.
Have Fun, Rick

 

[JPB]

DX10 will not work on a 7900GS. It will only work on a 8800GTX. And why are even considering a 9800XT ?

 

[LW07]

I would get the 8800GTX. Definitely don't go with a Radeon 9800XT. A 9800XT is AGP, even, so it wouldn't even fit in a PCI-Express slot(and the 7900GS and 8800GTX use PCI-Express).

 

[happy medium]

The 8800gtx is faster then 3- 7900gs's or 2- x1900xt's. (I don't think you meant 9800xt bacause there 4 years old ) . No, you would not get dirext x10 with anythng out now but a 8800 series.

I just noticed it's your first post. So welcome to Anandtech.

Just give me what your system is now or what your going to buy and i'll help you.

What cpu? Intel or AMd
Motherboard?
video card?
Memory ?
Power supply? After you have all the other stuff then you choose this.

What games do you play?
Whats is your monitor size ? or what size do you want?

Edit How much money do you want to spend?

 

[rickrh72]

Hi I am building this for my son. So far I have a Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 Mobo.
We just ordered a Western Digital Caviar 500 GB hard drive, Corsair XM2 2GB 800 DDR2 PC 2 6400 Ram and a Zalman CNPS9500 CPU fan. We are looking at an Intel Core 2 Extream X 6800 2.93 prosseser. The vid card may be Nvidia 8800 GTX or ATI Radion X1950. I have been looking at PSU of around 700 Watts, but haven't made a selection untill I can figure out the total system power requirements. Right now he has a LG 17 inch flattron monitor but this mite change. I am getting the parts from New Egg as he can aford them. I built one system for everyday use serfing the net ect. and always wanted to build a high end gammer and he is all for it.
Thanks for you help and input. reading reviews an tech sheets ar getting old, but I want a system that is going to be stable and reliable. Thanks again.
Have fun, Rick

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: rickrh72
Hi I am building this for my son. So far I have a Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 Mobo.
We just ordered a Western Digital Caviar 500 GB hard drive, Corsair XM2 2GB 800 DDR2 PC 2 6400 Ram and a Zalman CNPS9500 CPU fan. We are looking at an Intel Core 2 Extream X 6800 2.93 prosseser. The vid card may be Nvidia 8800 GTX or ATI Radion X1950. I have been looking at PSU of around 700 Watts, but haven't made a selection untill I can figure out the total system power requirements. Right now he has a LG 17 inch flattron monitor but this mite change. I am getting the parts from New Egg as he can aford them. I built one system for everyday use serfing the net ect. and always wanted to build a high end gammer and he is all for it.
Thanks for you help and input. reading reviews an tech sheets ar getting old, but I want a system that is going to be stable and reliable. Thanks again.
Have fun, Rick

You can save a lot of money by getting a normal Core 2 Duo at the same clock speed as the Extreme with no performance difference. Even going down another step or two won't impact performance much at all and save even more money.

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: rickrh72
Hi I am building this for my son. So far I have a Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 Mobo.
We just ordered a Western Digital Caviar 500 GB hard drive, Corsair XM2 2GB 800 DDR2 PC 2 6400 Ram and a Zalman CNPS9500 CPU fan. We are looking at an Intel Core 2 Extream X 6800 2.93 prosseser. The vid card may be Nvidia 8800 GTX or ATI Radion X1950. I have been looking at PSU of around 700 Watts, but haven't made a selection untill I can figure out the total system power requirements. Right now he has a LG 17 inch flattron monitor but this mite change. I am getting the parts from New Egg as he can aford them. I built one system for everyday use serfing the net ect. and always wanted to build a high end gammer and he is all for it.
Thanks for you help and input. reading reviews an tech sheets ar getting old, but I want a system that is going to be stable and reliable. Thanks again.
Have fun, Rick

Save yourself a few hundred bucks and buy a e6600 duo and overclock it. They all overclock past e6800 speeds very stable. Yours should be no different especially with the nice cooler your buying.

This power supply is one of the best which you need for such a high power gaming system. It's also good for future upgrades . (you'll thank me later.)


http://www.pcpower.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S75QB

If you can afford it grab the 8800 gtx/gts series video card.


Good luck, Joe

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

Originally posted by: rickrh72
Hi I am building this for my son.

Man, I wish my dad would build me a comp. Or at least give me some cash for me to build one.

 

[nZone]

If you considered X6800 extreme edition; get the QX6700 (quad cores) instead. It cost the same and you have 4 cores instead of 2 cores. Yes you can overclock a dual core but you cannot add cores.

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: nZone
If you considered X6800 extreme edition; get the QX6700 (quad cores) instead. It cost the same and you have 4 cores instead of 2 cores. Yes you can overclock a dual core but you cannot add cores.

Why not just throw your money out the window?:roll: It's a gaming machine ,not a photo editor! By the time a game uses 4 cores they will be a 200.00$ chip.

 

[rickrh72]

Money is not an issue. We have talked it over and he dosn't seem to mind how much he spends. The Quade core may be interesting. I will have to do some checking on this.

 

[nZone]

Originally posted by: happy medium

Originally posted by: nZone
If you considered X6800 extreme edition; get the QX6700 (quad cores) instead. It cost the same and you have 4 cores instead of 2 cores. Yes you can overclock a dual core but you cannot add cores.

Why not just throw your money out the window?:roll: It's a gaming machine ,not a photo editor! By the time a game uses 4 cores they will be a 200.00$ chip.

Why the flame about? it's not like both cpu cost any differently. They cost the same; if you going to choose between one of them; which one will you choose? heck I am not suggest him to buy a x6800 or qx6700 from a E6700. Since he is already considered a x6800; I suggested why not buy the qx6700; costs the same; future proof and better value.

If that is your case; why need dual core anyway? pc games are single threaded.

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 = $999 (quad cores)
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 = $965 (dual cores)
on newegg.com

 

[happy medium]

Flame?. I didn't mean it that way


I was just saying why not get a e6600 and overclock it to e6800 speeds (easily) for 300.00$ dollars. Should serve you for a couple years then sell it and pop in a cheaper, faster quad core? (most motherboards will do this). Use the extra money for 2x sli 8800gtx's, and a better monitor (a big one) to take advatage of the extra gaming power.

Make sense?

 

[nZone]

rickrh72 was asking for opinion about his hardware selection. You gave your valid reason(s) not to go for X6800 -- I'm all good with that. I gave my valid reason(s) to forgo the X6800 and get the QX6700 instead since they costs the same. And he stated that money is not an issue for him. So with that, I think your response would make more sense to rickrh72 than it was to me.

 

[rickrh72]

Right now we are leaning towards a qx6700. For the little extra money we get a quade core. Also will I have any problems using this proc with a Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 mobo. It says that it is quade core optimized. I hope I don't have to flash the bios and load a diferent one. Thinking about it is alittle scarey. I just noticed on New Egg that I can get Windows Vista 64 Bit OS. Can any one tell me what the difference between the single pack for 119.99 or the 3 pack for 349.99 is besides the price?

 

[teatime0315]

Originally posted by: rickrh72
Right now we are leaning towards a qx6700. For the little extra money we get a quade core. Also will I have any problems using this proc with a Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 mobo. It says that it is quade core optimized. I hope I don't have to flash the bios and load a diferent one. Thinking about it is alittle scarey. I just noticed on New Egg that I can get Windows Vista 64 Bit OS. Can any one tell me what the difference between the single pack for 119.99 or the 3 pack for 349.99 is besides the price?

I think if money isnt an issue than you should go for the quad core .. Bigger screen also

 

[nZone]

Originally posted by: rickrh72
Right now we are leaning towards a qx6700. For the little extra money we get a quade core. Also will I have any problems using this proc with a Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 mobo. It says that it is quade core optimized. I hope I don't have to flash the bios and load a diferent one. Thinking about it is alittle scarey. I just noticed on New Egg that I can get Windows Vista 64 Bit OS. Can any one tell me what the difference between the single pack for 119.99 or the 3 pack for 349.99 is besides the price?

For this particular motherboard; there are 3 revisions. I am not sure what revision newegg is selling. This is for Rev. 3.3:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Moth...ProductID=2453&ProductName=GA-965P-DQ6

This is the CPU support list for the motherboard and the reference BIOS version. Updating BIOS is not hard like it was before; now you can update the BIOS through windows software utility provided by the motherboard manufacturer. However, I am not sure if the motherboard comes equipped with the latest BIOS.

You might want to upgrade the monitor as well -- any monitor with resolution 1680x1050 (native) or larger would do (21" or above). Anything less would do 8800GTX injustice

As for the Windows Vista pricing; I think the $119 for single computer installed. Whereas the $349; you could install on 3 computers (this equates to 3 licenses). This is an OEM version so the OS is lived and died with the motherboard (pc).