arredondo
Senior member
OK, I've been slowly building my new rig to replace my aging Y2K system. I have mostly everything except for the main ingredients - the processor, mobo and vid card. I'm settled on a A64 939 setup, likely with a 90nm 3200+ (I'm not heavily into OC'ing).
The board however is trickier. Assuming the SLI boards to be released are decent and stable (with bios updates at least), should I wait for them in a few weeks or stick with the AGP versions out now (ASUS AV8 looks solid and stable)? If I do that, obviously I just need to pick my NVidia card and be done with it.
However, if I hold out for SLI and get a single card (6800GT PCI-E, $550 wih mobo is my guess for early adopters) and get a sister card in a year to 18 months (say, another $200 by then). That's $750 for the board and two cards spread out over time and will last me and my needs for another 4+ years like my current rig has done (1.0 Ghz Athlon w/GeForce 2 Pro...recently upped to 9600 Pro).
If I go with bachelor #1 (AGP, normal 6800GT for $485), I know I'll have to upgrade my vid card once over the next 4+ years ($350 maybe?). Perhaps the best, reasonably priced AGP card in two years will have the latest special features AND enough power to match the FPS performance of dual 6800GTs. Or will PCI-E take over requiring a huge overhaul (for me) of needing a new mobo too (another $130)? That's $835 without a new mobo and about $960 with one.
I want minimal tinkering. I don't micromanage my rig for gaming and have done OK up until now. The question is, for the best value-to-performance gaming goodness (I don't HAVE to have all the visual features of future new cards, just high frame rates), should I commit to SLI early with a mobo for dual PCI-E possibilities (purchasing only one now), or should I make the most of the tried and true AGP knowing I'll only be able to get another one of them (not SLI) when the time comes?
The board however is trickier. Assuming the SLI boards to be released are decent and stable (with bios updates at least), should I wait for them in a few weeks or stick with the AGP versions out now (ASUS AV8 looks solid and stable)? If I do that, obviously I just need to pick my NVidia card and be done with it.
However, if I hold out for SLI and get a single card (6800GT PCI-E, $550 wih mobo is my guess for early adopters) and get a sister card in a year to 18 months (say, another $200 by then). That's $750 for the board and two cards spread out over time and will last me and my needs for another 4+ years like my current rig has done (1.0 Ghz Athlon w/GeForce 2 Pro...recently upped to 9600 Pro).
If I go with bachelor #1 (AGP, normal 6800GT for $485), I know I'll have to upgrade my vid card once over the next 4+ years ($350 maybe?). Perhaps the best, reasonably priced AGP card in two years will have the latest special features AND enough power to match the FPS performance of dual 6800GTs. Or will PCI-E take over requiring a huge overhaul (for me) of needing a new mobo too (another $130)? That's $835 without a new mobo and about $960 with one.
I want minimal tinkering. I don't micromanage my rig for gaming and have done OK up until now. The question is, for the best value-to-performance gaming goodness (I don't HAVE to have all the visual features of future new cards, just high frame rates), should I commit to SLI early with a mobo for dual PCI-E possibilities (purchasing only one now), or should I make the most of the tried and true AGP knowing I'll only be able to get another one of them (not SLI) when the time comes?
