advice - 1gb 9600gt sli VS 1gb 9800gtx+ (single and sli) VS 55nm gtx 260

[TSCrv]

Alright, what im looking for is a respectable setup that performs well at high resolutions and high quality. I love AA when avail. 1600x1200 and 1920x1200 (when I get around to blowing up this 22' crt) Also after a year (or 3) I will be planning on throwing these cards into pcs for CUDA stuff.

Here are the options I am facing right now: (EVGA only, dont ask. Also i have 100% success with rebates so bring them on)

2x 1gb 9500GT SLI (01G-P3-N959-TR) ~$120
2X 1gb 9600GT SLI (01G-P3-N870-AR) ~$270
1X 1gb 9800GTX+ (01G-P3-N880-AR) ~$190
2X 1gb 9800GTX+ SLI (01G-P3-N880-AR) ~$380 (the 2nd card will come in the near future, ~3 months)
1X 896mb GTX 260 (216 55nm) (896-P3-1255-AR) ~$240

Budget. Well, ive only posted items that are already in my range, so lets keep it at 270ish

Games. Well anything really, I frequently go back and play older games, but so far its stuff like
Fallout 3, FarCry 2, COD, SupCom, RA, SC2(hopefully), Multiple EVE Online clients, etc... Used to play WoW, and I already know the 9500's have issues with it, but dont plan on reactivating. I do plan on getting pretty deep into DarkFall Online if it doesnt turn out to be vaporware.
Also, Im not too much of a stickler for the high res, if I notice lag I would bump it down, because I prefer all of the eye candy.

Current system specs and OS.
Primary OS: Server 2003 x64. Yes I use this OS for gaming, and have for years, even on my other computers.
Vista ult x64, and Windows 7 x64 beta as occasional OSs
CPU: x6800, 2 cores @ 2.93, 1066 fsb
8gb ram running at 1066 6-6-6-18 (iirc)
Ample cooling and power available, this is a datacenter environment at home. Like my 8800gtx that i have in another pc, i have no problem with strapping a 80/92mm high rpm fan (similar to IBM and HP server fans) to the intake of the card to keep things cool. Dust is minimal.

Now that ive gotten all of the boring stuff out of the way, Ive looked for hours spread across the last few weeks for benchmarks and comparisons for the above cards, to see what cards do good where, but I really cant find one that has all of these cards in it (in the single/sli configs im looking for) or being able to select these few setups for comparison. If anybody has links to the benchmarks im looking for, I would HIGHLY appreciate it.

 

[Andrew1990]

Well the 2x 9600GTs will offer performance similar to a GTX280 WHEN THE GAME SCALES WELL. If the game doesnt scale than it is much less performance. This route though would void any future SLI possibilities though.

The GTX260 is a good choice as it offers great performance along with the future choice of SLIing it.

 

[zerocool84]

Obviously you didn't look hard enough. Tom's hardware has almost all those in their charts.

http://www.tomshardware.com/ch...D=on&prod%5B2252%5D=on

 

[vj8usa]

From those options, I'd pick the 260. The dual card setups you listed won't always give the consistent performance of a single more powerful card, and are a bit inflated pricewise due to the 1GB of VRAM. If I was in your place, however, I'd probably get a 1GB 4870 (at least judging by Newegg prices), since it's a good bit cheaper and is roughly equivalent to the 260.

Originally posted by: zerocool84
Obviously you didn't look hard enough. Tom's hardware has almost all those in their charts.

http://www.tomshardware.com/ch...D=on?%5B2252%5D=on

Those charts don't seem to have the 1GB cards that the OP asks about.

 

[palladium]

The 1GB of VRAM probably wouldn't make much difference in single GPU config since these GPUs aren't powerful enough to use 1GB of RAM anyway ( think 512M 8800GT vs 1GB 8800GT). If you SLI them it may make a difference.......

 

[TSCrv]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
Obviously you didn't look hard enough. Tom's hardware has almost all those in their charts.

http://www.tomshardware.com/ch...D=on?%5B2252%5D=on

I actually banged my head on the corner of my monitor multiple times when attempting to view that exact same stuff in that link. Also some of the stuff didnt have 1gb, and with how vague that whole chart section on tom's was im really wanting to write it off as inaccurate. Oh, and the charts dont have 9800GTX+ SLI

In response to palladium, my intention is to run SLI with everything except the 260, its something i just want to do. (unless of course the 1x 260 is better than the 2x 9800gtx+s, or even) Also im not even considering the 512mb versions.

Also another thing i would want that i would like, would be temps with the stock cooler, noise isnt an issue. Because if i SLI 2 9800s i cant strap my muffin fan to one of them for forced induction. I like my parts to run cool, almost to an obsessive-compulsive level.

On an unrelated note, Is anybody ever going to come up with a real GPU power draw test? im talking about one that breaks and reroutes the power traces on the mainboard and sits in-line with pci-e power connecters to measure and log TRUE power draw for JUST the video cards

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Just don't get the 9500GTs. They are crap and you'd be lucky to get the performance from two of them as you would from a single 9600GT.

 

[aka1nas]

Just get the single GTX 260. You should be able to get a nice one for way under the price you mentioned if you look around. The lesser cards don't have enough memory bandwidth to push resolutions where you need much more than 512MB per card.

 

[TSCrv]

Originally posted by: aka1nas
Just get the single GTX 260. You should be able to get a nice one for way under the price you mentioned if you look around. The lesser cards don't have enough memory bandwidth to push resolutions where you need much more than 512MB per card.

Im thinking that this may be the best bet.

As for price, so far i havent found any 55nm GTX 260 c216s for under 260 shipped, and $20 rebate. I looked for about 15 minutes, am i missing something?