Interesting Dilema with buying, any help would be great!

n0s

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Ok so here is the deal, i need a new GFX card for my PC, the main point is that it neds to be Dual DVI and AGP as my Abit MAX3 mobo does not have PCI-E. Basically i want to buy the best Dual DVI AGP card money can buy for gaming and DVD.

HOWEVER, i will be wiring one of the DVI outpits to a projector, that is connected via a 10m (30foot) long DVI cable. So what i want to know is are there any cards that push out a stronger signal, because my old Radeon 9800Pro doesnt seem to be able to transmit a strong enough siggnal to the projector, whereas my DVI DVD player does.

What do you guys reckon i go for, i had looked at the ATI X850 and Nvidia 6800... What am i missing, and what would you guys reccomend?

Thanks in Advance
n0s
 

mpjesse

Splendid

n0s

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Yeah i looked at gettin a DVI signal booster, but the good ones, cost around the same price as a new GFX card, so i thought i might aswell get a new gfx card that has dual dvi as well, worst comes to worst ill have to get a new gfx card and a DVI booster, but hey thats life! :)
 
Ok so here is the deal, i need a new GFX card for my PC, the main point is that it neds to be Dual DVI and AGP as my Abit MAX3 mobo does not have PCI-E. Basically i want to buy the best Dual DVI AGP card money can buy for gaming and DVD.

What do you guys reckon i go for, i had looked at the ATI X850 and Nvidia 6800... What am i missing, and what would you guys reccomend?

X850XT/XTPE have dual-link TMDS on one of the two DVI output, which would satisfy your needs.

For nV the choice is slimmer still, the GF6800Ultra DDL, which is rare. Some ASUS were shipping with dual link, but that was very hit and miss.

If you hadn't mentioned the gaming aspect then the R9600Pro PC/Mac edition would've been perfect since it's dual DVI with one dual-link.

And yeah, repeaters and boosters are ridiculously expensive in comparison. And while I would've recommended one anyway in the past (for your next upgrade), the X1xxx series has shown that any future upgrade you're likely to take will automatically come with at least one dual-link DVI, so there's no point for such a relatively short distance (long enough to be a concern, but not long enough to be outside the support of the card itself).
 

n0s

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X850XT/XTPE have dual-link TMDS on one of the two DVI output, which would satisfy your needs.

For nV the choice is slimmer still, the GF6800Ultra DDL, which is rare. Some ASUS were shipping with dual link, but that was very hit and miss.

Im a bit confused as to what dual-link TMDS means, does it mean ill get a stronger signal that should have no problms with a 10 meter (30foot) DVI wire?

Also i seem to be able to get hold of both of the cards you mention GF6800Ultra and X850XT. Which one do you reckon would be the best bet?

Thanks
n0s
 
Im a bit confused as to what dual-link TMDS means, does it mean ill get a stronger signal that should have no problms with a 10 meter (30foot) DVI wire?

Dual link gives you stronger signal over longer cable. The limit is very cable dependant even with dual-link which basically adds a layer for error/noise correction. I'm not sure about 10m, but if you want to get there without going to an optical DVI cable, that's going to be the only way, and it really doesn't cost you more if you're looking for a top gaming card anyways.

For a little insight THG did do a good look into this earlier last year;
http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/29/the_tft_connection/

And as you can see, even for the single link quality the ATi cards do well, and really, stick with those IMO just for added comfort.

At work we run BNC coax for long distances since it's the cheapest and most effective.

EDIT: PS, if your 10M cable is optically based, then you're fine for any card. Just thought I'd add that to be sure.

Also i seem to be able to get hold of both of the cards you mention GF6800Ultra and X850XT. Which one do you reckon would be the best bet?

Only the DDL GF6800U will do, not just any GF6800Ultra, so likely the X850XT, which is also handily enough the top AGP card as well, so you kinda get the best of both worlds with that in my opinion. Of course if you prefer nV features or performance in some games then that's something to consider too, but be sure to check the card, since the Dual-Link nV cards are rarer. The only advantage I can think the nV's having (that isn't just a checkbox feature like SM3.0) would be their PureVideo software. While ATi's AVIVO software is now much better after recent updates, I'm not sure if the X8xx series cards benifit from those updates or if it's only the X1xxx series cards. Take a look here if you're unsure what I'm talking about;

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/ati_catalyst_5.13_video_quality/

If you don't care about purevideo/avivo then I'd say ATi is likely your best option. And if the update to AVIVO works with the X850s, then even more so.
 

n0s

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Ok i get it now, so i need dual link to be sure of good signal transmission. Seeing as i have a 9800Pro i might as well upgrade instead of going for that 9600pro that has dual dvi with dual link, though its so cheap it seems quite interesting as i dont really game that much. However im struggling to find a xt850 AGP with dual dvi and that has this dual link capabilty, do you have any links?
 

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