Transition to PCI-E

[tno]

So, I'm going to have to move away from my ancient but delightful Gainward 6800GT Golden Sample pretty soon and I want to make sure I don't move backwards in performance but not spend much more than $100. What should I do? I originally wanted to pick-up a cheaper 8x00 card and then eventually run SLI, but the budget 8's aren't really up to snuff so far. So then a budget 7 series, right? Well, during the period before I go SLI I would really like to have a card that really outperforms my Gainward. Thanks for the help.

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: tno
So, I'm going to have to move away from my ancient but delightful Gainward 6800GT Golden Sample pretty soon and I want to make sure I don't move backwards in performance but not spend much more than $100. What should I do? I originally wanted to pick-up a cheaper 8x00 card and then eventually run SLI, but the budget 8's aren't really up to snuff so far. So then a budget 7 series, right? Well, during the period before I go SLI I would really like to have a card that really outperforms my Gainward. Thanks for the help.

anything 7600gt and up will spank your 6800. The best upgrade is a x1950pro, which comes in at ~135-140 AR at newegg. If you're willing to spend an extra 30-40, you won't at all regret getting a x1950pro. if not, just pick up a 7600gt

 

[tno]

Yeah, after hearing so much about NVIDIA dominating that particular graphics war I feel like ATI is rapidly presenting the best price/performance. I feel almost like the real reason NVIDIA held such a strong position this generation is because of the ease of use of their SLI implementation vs. the buggier Crossfire implementation provided by ATI. I may just hold out longer to pick-up an x1950pro. Know anyone out there that's looking for a kick ass AGP card?

tno

 

[Munky]

Why do want to run SLI using midrange or budget cards? It has been shown over and over that a single high end card will beat two midrange cards, and without all the multi-gpu issues.

 

[A554SS1N]

Originally posted by: munky
Why do want to run SLI using midrange or budget cards? It has been shown over and over that a single high end card will beat two midrange cards, and without all the multi-gpu issues.

Agreed.

SLi and Crossfie are only good for highend cards for people with money to burn and like the greatest all the time.

 

[tno]

Well, with a now budget of around $100 I have the only high-end card I can get (the aformentioned Gainward), and saving my money till I have $200 might get me a high end last gen card but that won't be for a while, so I'm pretty much stuck getting one mid-range card now. And once I get one I don't want to turn it around in another six months to a year getting another new midrange card (I'll never afford a high-end card again) so I'd rather get a cheap midrange card now, add a second of the same later (for even cheaper) and put those to good use for a while. Now with ATI cards coming down in price at a good clip, I can definitely see your argument for moving to that, and that's why I was looking for peoples advice. So which is the best price/performance ATI card out there right now? The x1950pro mentioned above?

Thanks,

tno

 

[SolMiester]

The x1950pro is the revised chip R570 which has built-in crossfire support, so it looks to be a good solution for you and you can add another later....

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: tno
Well, with a now budget of around $100 I have the only high-end card I can get (the aformentioned Gainward), and saving my money till I have $200 might get me a high end last gen card but that won't be for a while, so I'm pretty much stuck getting one mid-range card now. And once I get one I don't want to turn it around in another six months to a year getting another new midrange card (I'll never afford a high-end card again) so I'd rather get a cheap midrange card now, add a second of the same later (for even cheaper) and put those to good use for a while. Now with ATI cards coming down in price at a good clip, I can definitely see your argument for moving to that, and that's why I was looking for peoples advice. So which is the best price/performance ATI card out there right now? The x1950pro mentioned above?

Thanks,

tno

You would be better off getting another modern mid-range card later on down the line. The lower-end cards don't have the memory bandwith to scale to higher resolutions and more details well, so SLI/Crossfire with them gives pretty crappy results.

The X1950 Pro is an excellent choice at that price range.

 

[hans030390]

You won't find any decent midrange 8x00 cards around $100. Your best bet, although it's $40 more, is the X1950 pro. It will dominate the 7600gt, though it's not a bad card itself.