which card should i go with?

[Journer]

i dont upgrade very often (still on a 6800gt AGP) but when i do, i go large...this setup has lasted me 2yrs and i think the time is right to bump it up a notch...
i cant really decide which way i should go...ATI...Nvidia...crossfire/sli or not...GX2 or not...
at the moment...i dont want to spend more than the cost of a GX2 (~500) on the video card setup...do GX2s have sli support (quad core), do you need to find the card that says SLI ready? also, i dont know anything about CF/SLI...do you need to buy one card that is CF/SLI and then just a regular one, or both CF/SLI?
As far as gaming, i do a lot of oblivion...battlefield...stuff like that...right now i'm on a 19" @ 1280x1024 but i will soon be getting a 32"+ westinghosue 1080p and be using it as my main monitor...so whatver high ass res. that it supports is what i will be gaming in...but that wont be till dec/jan...but i want to plan for it now...if i go the CF/SLI way, i will just buy one card now and upgrade Q1 of next yr with the second card...let me know if there is aynthing else you require to aid me in my purchase...and thanks in advance!

OH...i forgot to mention...i'm rebuilding my entire gaming system...so if you know of any winning combinations of mobos/vid cards please reccomend and links to reviews if you can...also will be needing a bigger PSU

 

[XBoxLPU]

use evga step up for G80?

 

[Journer]

Originally posted by: XBoxLPU
use evga step up for G80?

huh?

 

[Imported]

I'm kind of in the same boat. Looking to upgrade my 3yr old PC with absolutely no clue what goes on in video cards now, so I'll be keeping tabs on this thread.

 

[Munky]

i will just buy one card now and upgrade Q1 of next yr with the second card

That theory has a very good chance of not working out as you planned. Trying to upgrade from one old card to two old cards usually has some complications, such as: old card is out of production, hard to find, overpriced, and two of them still get whopped in features and perfromance by a single newer high end card.

If you plan on keeping the new card for another two years, I would suggest waiting a month or two for the next generation of cards, because not only will they support DX10, but will offer more performance and features than current cards.

 

[Skott]

Rumor has it the G80s will be power suckers. Not only in wattage but in amps. This could make alot of people rethink their psu choice. Problem is nVidia isnt talking so its a waiting game to see what exactly the G80s will require. Around the 2nd week of November the G80 gets released supposedly. Some people are hedging their bets and been getting a eVGA card and then plan to use the nVidia Step Up program to upgrade their card to a newer G80 within 90days.

 

[Journer]

ahh fvck it...ill just wait until the next gen comes out...lol...maybe they will have HDMI out standard on the cards so it will look uber schweet on the 1080i

 

[jtenorj79]

hi there. after having reread your initial post a few times i'll try to offer up some useful

advise. here goes...

don't bother with gx2. wait for reviews of g80 especially 8800gts $500 mid november or

r600 jan07. if you want dx10 capability. sure gx2 has hdcp but is at least $550 and may

have problems running its 2 gpus depending on the mobo you pic. 7900gto is a 7900gtx

with slower mem but can be found for 250usd. evga offers step up where you can return

your card(s) and apply purchase price to new gpu like g80 based 8800gts within 90 days.

7900gto has no hdcp. older nf4sli mobos can be found for around 50usd. you may need

ddr2 mem recc 2x1GB pc6400 from corsair for around 200usd that will oc well to pc8500

w/decent timings. this applies if you get a s775 and pentium d805 and oc the snot out of

it or a s939 a64x2 and oc it a bit. nividia may come out w/new series 6 mobo chipset

soon so you may want to look at that. conroe compliant muli gpu mobos and cpus will

cost more but perform better than am2 though neither is cheap next to slightly older tech.

also forgot to mention if going s939 get low lat. ddr400 or some ddr500.

any current gen midrange or up geforces should do sli fine in any sli mobo with the

possible exception of gx2s. check nv site for compatability. for ati, get no less than x1900

range and crossfire will require at least one crossfire edition card to match the other card

in th pair. exception is new x1950pro with crossfire compiler built in gpu. any two of those

cards should do, but a crossfire 3200 mobo will offer best performance. x1950pro may or

may not have hdcp 200usd x1950xtx/crossfire should 450usd. hope this helps.

 

[Journer]

Originally posted by: jtenorj79
hi there. after having reread your initial post a few times i'll try to offer up some useful

advise. here goes...

don't bother with gx2. wait for reviews of g80 especially 8800gts $500 mid november or

r600 jan07. if you want dx10 capability. sure gx2 has hdcp but is at least $550 and may

have problems running its 2 gpus depending on the mobo you pic. 7900gto is a 7900gtx

with slower mem but can be found for 250usd. evga offers step up where you can return

your card(s) and apply purchase price to new gpu like g80 based 8800gts within 90 days.

7900gto has no hdcp. older nf4sli mobos can be found for around 50usd. you may need

ddr2 mem recc 2x1GB pc6400 from corsair for around 200usd that will oc well to pc8500

w/decent timings. this applies if you get a s775 and pentium d805 and oc the snot out of

it or a s939 a64x2 and oc it a bit. nividia may come out w/new series 6 mobo chipset

soon so you may want to look at that. conroe compliant muli gpu mobos and cpus will

cost more but perform better than am2 though neither is cheap next to slightly older tech.

also forgot to mention if going s939 get low lat. ddr400 or some ddr500.

any current gen midrange or up geforces should do sli fine in any sli mobo with the

possible exception of gx2s. check nv site for compatability. for ati, get no less than x1900

range and crossfire will require at least one crossfire edition card to match the other card

in th pair. exception is new x1950pro with crossfire compiler built in gpu. any two of those

cards should do, but a crossfire 3200 mobo will offer best performance. x1950pro may or

may not have hdcp 200usd x1950xtx/crossfire should 450usd. hope this helps.

damn! ! nice...lol thanks for the help! i think i'm just gonna wait until the DX10 cards roll out...i dont really have anything aside from oblivion that is really graphic intensive..