2 x 7600 GT in SLI or 1 x 7900 GT? Or Crossifre?

[yourmothersanastronaut]

For my build this summer, I'll be spending about $2,000. I'm waiting on CPU and motherboard choices, except that I want 2 PCI-E slots that support dual-VPU technology.

I'm thinking nVidia, since their driver support is better than ATI's, and I just plain like their products better. Perhaps most importantly, I'm getting a 20-inch widescreen LCD at 1680 x 1050, a high-end BenQ that gets really good reviews.

So, would I be better off going with 2 7600 GTs in SLI mode, or a single 7900 GT? I would be open to a Crossfire suggestion, but I would prefer to stay with nVidia because of the display.

My focus will be on gaming and Flash, btw.

 

[cleeve]

Two 7600 GT's in SLI aren't as good as a single X1800 XT, which is right on par with the 7900 GT:

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/bfg_7600_gt_oc_sli/4.html

So at the $300 price point, the 7900 GT or X1800 XT are your best single card solutions. Plus you don't need an SLI mobo or to prodice all that extra juice from your PSU.

And for the record, that stuff about Nvidia's drivers being better than ATI's is insubstantiated FUD. They both have excellent drivers, it's not 1999 anymore...

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

I think I'll get the 7900 GT, Since my motherboard is SLI, and the technology is more mature than Crossfire.

 

[Jaffee]

Gah, stop reading Heyyou's crap in that other thread!

Why, cause it's true?

 

[Heyyou27]

I'm not saying Crossfire is bad, but in my experience I haven't found one title where SLI hurts performance.

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

It does in Half Life 2, according to benchmarks, but the game generally favors ATI cards anyway. Since I don't currently own Half Life 2 (but I may buy it eventually), and it runs very well on the GeForce 6-series cards, I'm not at all worried.