Originally posted by: RussianSensation
7800GT/GTX, X1800XT/XL, 7800GT SLI Benches
SLI COD2 performance
You can look at these benches and decide. In terms of value for the money it seems 7800GT on the high-end is a very good card. The only reason why I recommended you get 2x7800GT SLI is because they will most likely be faster than 1 7800GTX 512mb card which costs the same. However, with that in mind, I still do not think that is money well spent. But I suppose if I had some money, I'd get 2 mid-high (from ultra cards) SLI cards. Going with 2x 7800GTX 512 is about $1400. The 7800GT SLI is $700 or less option. You could then easily sell the GT cards for say $150 each losing $400 in 1 year. I just don't see how 2x 7800GTs wont be sufficient enough, maybe in extreme settings in FEAR and COD2. And 2x7800GTXs dont seem to net much more gains, yet they cost an extra $100 more per card.
Then again R580 and nvidia's next card will come in 8-10 months, so dropping $1400 on 2x512mb 7800GTX is short lived e-penis fame. Of course you could wait forever using this logic. My main point is you can overbuy and get the best, but unless you are playing at resolutions far above 1600x1200, you might be paying for frames you wont feel (like going from 60 to 80 to 100 etc.)
As for the brand name, I'd say EVGA or BFG OC ones are good. I'd go with ones that are cheapest since they are basically all made using Nvidia's reference design (or you could decide on what games and other things are in the bundle). You could also choose them based on stock overclock. Of course if you have so much money that you feel no difference between $700 and $1400 (1 day of work), then by all means get 2x 512mb GTXs.