Need some advice. I have a Dell 2407FP Monitor..

[Stormbear]

Folks,

I am looking for some video card advice.

My rig:
Core Duo x6800 Extreme (clocked up to 3.3)
2GB of DDR2 running at 500MHz
Pair of Seagate cudda's (7200.10) running in RAID 0
1000watt PC P&C powersupply
Dell 2407FP Monitor and a no-name brand 19" LCD next to that (game on one, work on the other, effective)
and
1 ATI 1600x

*hangs his head in shame*

My video card /sucks/.

I am running XP Pro, but am looking at a Vista upgrade here in the future (I was gifted a copy of Ultimate)

I've been waiting to upgrade my Video card for the R600 release, but I am not really all that impressed, so, before I go out and spend money. I was wanting to get some thoughts from you folks on what video card I should go for.

I am a avid MMO player (WoW mostly, but waiting with baited breath for Warhammer) and frankly, my 1600x doesn't get the job done at 1920x1200 resolution.

So, I am looking to upgrade.

There are a few options I am looking at

1. 2900XT - Still looking at this card, it's early on, but the reviews haven't favorted it well
2. Pair of 8800 GTS 320's - I am wary of this combo, as I have heard that if you run 2 monitors (even 2 on the same card, out of seperate interfaces) in SLI mode, the 2nd monitor stops being displayed and I quite enjoy this functionality
3. 8800 GTX Ultra - Costs about the same as Option 2, and if what I previously stated is true, I can still retain use of my multi-monitor setup while gaming. I do not think it would give me the performance of Option 2 however.

I wanted to know what your alls thoughts were.

My preference is Option 2, but damn, It would be /hard/ to live with out a 2nd monitor while gaming.

 

[Stormbear]

From your linkage

PC Power & Cooling 1000W 72A 4 x 6pin 1 TR NO (70%-79%) ACTIVE


Thats the one I have.

I bought big

Do you know if the GTS option would indeed disable the 2ndary monitor during gaming?

I understand that if you have a monitor hanging out the back of each card seperately it disables the 2nd monitor, but I would place 2 monitors on a single card (one out of each interface) and I haven't heard any feedback on this type of setup.

 

[croc]

A single gtx would use less power over all (not that you need to worry), and also produce less heat. It will probably pull more fps in most games... Possibly a pair of gts 640's would get slightly better fps, but I've seen no evidence to support that.

I've never seen any benchmarks in previous tests of other cards that would lead me to believe that a pair of lower rated cards in sli would provide more fps than a single card of the top end.

Since the gts's use the same basic core as the gtx, two of them would logically raise the power (and heat) as opposed to one gtx.

My 2p's...

 

[stefx]

I use a single 8800GTS 640MB and it's great. It runs both monitors flawlessly (main at 1920x1200, secondary at 1600x1200).

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Folks,

I am looking for some video card advice.

My rig:
Core Duo x6800 Extreme (clocked up to 3.3)
2GB of DDR2 running at 500MHz
Pair of Seagate cudda's (7200.10) running in RAID 0
1000watt PC P&C powersupply
Dell 2407FP Monitor and a no-name brand 19" LCD next to that (game on one, work on the other, effective)
and
1 ATI 1600x

*hangs his head in shame*

My video card /sucks/.

I am running XP Pro, but am looking at a Vista upgrade here in the future (I was gifted a copy of Ultimate)

I've been waiting to upgrade my Video card for the R600 release, but I am not really all that impressed, so, before I go out and spend money. I was wanting to get some thoughts from you folks on what video card I should go for.

I am a avid MMO player (WoW mostly, but waiting with baited breath for Warhammer) and frankly, my 1600x doesn't get the job done at 1920x1200 resolution.

So, I am looking to upgrade.

There are a few options I am looking at

1. 2900XT - Still looking at this card, it's early on, but the reviews haven't favorted it well
2. Pair of 8800 GTS 320's - I am wary of this combo, as I have heard that if you run 2 monitors (even 2 on the same card, out of seperate interfaces) in SLI mode, the 2nd monitor stops being displayed and I quite enjoy this functionality
3. 8800 GTX Ultra - Costs about the same as Option 2, and if what I previously stated is true, I can still retain use of my multi-monitor setup while gaming. I do not think it would give me the performance of Option 2 however.

I wanted to know what your alls thoughts were.

My preference is Option 2, but damn, It would be /hard/ to live with out a 2nd monitor while gaming.

There are better options. The GTX is one. The 640GTS is another. Youll want at least the 640 for your resolution. And then theres this problem. If youre going to use Vista, then youll maybe want to think about any SLI setup for it. The drivers arent good, and anytime you SLI or crossfire, youre limiting yourself to good drivers for all games. My best for you option, if money isnt an objective nessesity would be the GTX hands down. Dont go the GTS320 route, and the 2900 is still young and to be improved, but isnt the GTX. And like I said, SLI in Vista is a big questionmark. And also , some games suffer with dual card setups.

 

[kansur0]

I am running two Dell 2407's (1920 x 1200) with an ATI V7100 workstation card. I know it isn't the card you mention...but this card has 256Mb video RAM. I think that has something to do with it.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

One question? Hows the gaming going?

 

[kansur0]

You know...I haven't tried to strap a game onto this system yet. It would be interesting to see how games do perform even though the drivers supposedly don't match per se. I just don't game any more. Got in the way of me wanting to work.