Single Card configs

[PrezWeezy]

This is my first post on the Anandtech boards, though I'm a very regular visitor and I had a question for those of you who may know. I used to be an avid gamer, and I had a nice rig for a long time. Currently I've got a P4 3.0GHz, 1G RAM, that kind of thing. However, since becoming an IT guy for a living, I don't do much gaming anymore, but I still enjoy a good BF 2142, and I'd love to get Alan Wake when it comes out. Heres the question though, I'm looking at boards and trying to decide what to get. I wont be overclocking, so chipset isn't a huge concern, and I'm not planning on doing SLI or Crossfire; so does it still matter if I get a mobo that supports either setup? If I get an Intel 975X board that supports Xfire, and an eVGA 8800GTS card, is that going to be any slower than getting an X1950XTX, or going with an eVGA 680i board and an X1950XTX? For those of you who could answer that, I would love to know. And maybe Anandtech can do a test to see if it does harm performance. Thanks in advance.

 

[imported_kiwik]

I would stay away from SLI/Xfire mobos if were you. By the time you would feel the need to upgrade, just slap in a brand new next gen card.

 

[PrezWeezy]

well it's rather hard to get away from the SLI/Crossfire boards in the enthusiast market, which is the space I'm buying in so I can have the extra features and things that come with that. The E-SATA and BIOS controls you get in that market are far superior to the midrange market.