temporary upgrade choices

Dravic

Senior member
May 18, 2000
892
0
76
BAhh...

Ok I need some advice.

Getting a dual opteron Linux workstation up and running but need a video card for compiz, and other 3d goodies I will end up working on. Something like the 8600gt would be plenty. Keep in mind I would like to use an nvidia card in the Linux workstation for compatibility reasons. Also want dual dvi, and the 8500gt?s that have that are as expensive as the 8600gt.


Here is my dilemma..

I have a 7800gt in my gaming rig now, and its getting a little long in the tooth, especially after the move to a widescreen (1680x1050) I was looking at getting a 2900pro and moving the 7800gt to the Linux workstation. Halo 2 and 3 ate into some of my immediate (don?t annoy the wife) budget.

I?m left with a couple of choices:

1. Buy a 8600gt for the Linux box and just wait for bonus time this fall for my own upgrade. Cost ~$100 ? get to see what the midrange (~$250) segment looks like after the refreshes also.
2. Buy a x1950pro for myself and move the 7800gt to the Linux workstation. Cost ~$140 an upgrade but at the cost of $40. Is there $40 worth of improvement?
3. ----your suggestions here----


Chances are I?ll upgrade the vid card after the refreshes (this and halo 3 were enough reasons to wait for the product refresh cycle that is about to happen), and then do a whole system update after Phenom(sp) is release and compare cpu price/performance leaders then, probably around mid year next year. My x2 3800 @ 2.7 should last until then.




 

AzN

Banned
Nov 26, 2001
4,112
2
0
Why not just buy a 2900pro?

Going from a 7800gt to 8600gt is not really going to be a upgrade. You would be slower sometimes.

Going to a 1950pro would be a small improvement. 20% improvement at most.
 

Dravic

Senior member
May 18, 2000
892
0
76
Originally posted by: Azn
Why not just buy a 2900pro?

Going from a 7800gt to 8600gt is not really going to be a upgrade. You would be slower sometimes.

Going to a 1950pro would be a small improvement. 20% improvement at most.


Going to wait for the fall refresh instead of the buying 2900pro at $280. Microcenter B$M has the 8800gts 320 for $263. I'm going to take my chances that $250 will buy me the same performace or maybe a bit more in a couple months. To tide myself over I treated myself to halo 2 and halo 3.

My problem is that my workstation is still going to need a card. The onboard vid is a ATI RAGE XL 8MB PCI graphics controller, and isnt going to cut it.

Do I spend the $100 on a card (dual dvi) for the linux workstation, or do i spend $40 more ($140) on an x1950pro and and put my 7800gt in the workstation? I have to spend at least $100 now no matter what.