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Looking at revised rig sli 8600gt or single x1950xt

Forum Homebuilt Systems : General Homebuilt - Looking at revised rig sli 8600gt or single x1950xt

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Sli 8600gt (heavily oc''d) or x1950xt (stock)

Sli Inno 3d 8600gt (oc''d by me)
x1950xt (stock)

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Hey all. Having posted a build about a month ago i have been thinking. My previous choise was great but somewhat expencive for what it was. And so ive been going back to the drawing board having learnt some lessons from it. (like needing a decent psu!

Anyway i was looking at graphics cards. Now i was going to go with a 7900gs and oc it but i having played some recent demoes that tore my go 7600 apart at minimum settings ive decided i need more power! :twisted:

So i was looking at 8600gts but for what it is its really expencive. I cant justify a 8800gts to my dad and dont want to spend that much on graphics anyway.

So i saw the x1950xt which looks pretty awesome. And after a £10 google checkout bonus its £120

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/119441

Or i can get two inno 3d 8600gt's (which oc really well) which after the £10 rebate on both comes to my max buget of £130

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/126974

Which should i go for????

The rest of my purposed build is as follows (all prices have had £10 rebate added into price as i will buy all seperately!!!)

Case: Media Centre style case. £30
Case fans: 2x80mm £1. 2x 120mm £2
Psu: Igreen 600w 85% efficient £53
Mobo: Asus M2N-E SLI £41
CPU: Amd x2 4600 2x 512mb L2 £61
Ram: 2gb Kingston ddr2 667 (£38)
Hardrive: Seagate 320gb 7200rpm 16mb cache £41
Monitor: Belinea 22inch widescreen 1680x1050 1000:1 £160
Optical: Samsung SATA 18x DVD±RW £20
Printer: Epson Stylus Dx4000 All-In-One 12ppm USB £39
Os: Vista home Premium oem: £55
Mouse + keyboard: Extra value wireless optical: £10
Speakers: Logitech X-230 2.1 Speaker System - 32W £15

Selling old system - £250

Total: £316

+ either £120 or £130 for graphics

£426 or £436

Final option would be to use a x2 3800 as long as it wouldnt limit the graphics at 1680x1050. That would knock off £20!!!

Phew...

regards Patrick -

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Don't get the 8600gt unless you want cheap.
The only advantage of the 8600GT over the x1950XT is DX10.

The X1950XT is much faster than the 8600GT. You can crossfire the X1950 as well.
If you really care about speed, get the 8800GTX. Blows the doors off the 8600
If you care about future-proof, get the HD 2900XT

I suggest you get the X1950XT now and get a GOOD DX10 card when you really need it. If you have some extra cash, get the 8800GTS 320 - plenty fast and less of a need to upgrade later.

Reply to enewmen

well as i wont be upgrading the graphics until i buy a new computer - in like 3 years time dx10 might matter. I havent managed to find any 8600gt reviews that include an x1950xt in them.

Remember that it is SLI 8600 so they will be a hell of alot better than just a single one. Becuase they are SLI they will be £10 more expencive than the x1950.

An 8800gtx or even gts is simply beyond my buget. Even if i did have the money an 8800gts is just more than i would be willing to spend.

Does anyone have either of these card setups? If so how good are they?

Thanks

Reply to Black-heart

Since you have a 7600GT right now I don't think that either option you've laid out is cost effective, both would cost a significant amount without providing significant speed boosts. I'd say start saving up and either pick up a 8800 when you can afford it or grab the 8650 when (if?) it comes out.

Reply to fredgiblet

i would deffinetly go for the 8600 coz your not going to upgrade for 3 years, that means youll be without DX10 for ages. but what i would recommend would get 1 8800gts

Reply to dobby

Well that would be a fair point but i have the go7600 with ddr2 memory (laptop card) . This in reality performs like a 6600gt which as you would probably agree is much less powerful.

regards

patrick

Reply to Black-heart

OC the X2 3800 and get the 8800GTS for £148.88. Thats just £18.88 over the sli and you said you will have £20 by using the X2 3800. The current 8600GT is over price and falls between a 7600GT to a 7900GS in performance.
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/125114
Here is a review that should change your mind on the 8600GT.
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel [...] 8600_gt/1/
Note that SLI 8600GTS is unplayable at high settings where 8800GTS SLI doubles its FPS. The 8600GT SLI would lag behind the 8600GTS SLI by 2~3 FPS.
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel [...] 600_gt/29/

Reply to elbert

Quote :

Yeah i see what you mean. That performance kinda sucks i did find some better sli performance though. I was kind of dependant on the game rather like the hd 2900xt! :lol: Unfortuantly that 8800gts was £150 excluding vat. It was like £180 including it.

Also as its my dad who is paying for it (mainly for non gaming except me!) he wont like the graphics card being the most expencive part by £100 + with an 8800gts. It looks pretty bad already with a x1950xt!

Im already having to chip in for half the graphics costs to as he doesnt wanna pay more than £65 (ie 1 8600gt) And although i hav the money gaming just is not worth that much to me!

What would you say about dx10? When would you say it will be standard (with no dx9 option)

Regards

Patrick

Reply to Black-heart

Quote :

i would deffinetly go for the 8600 coz your not going to upgrade for 3 years, that means youll be without DX10 for ages. but what i would recommend would get 1 8800gts

Yeah thats what i was thinking. As i said i really dont like games enough (and cant justify it to my dad) buying a 8800gts its like £50 more. If i was building a system with a £300 processor then a £200 gpu wouldn't feel so bad but as this is primarily for him and mum i dont wanna abuse the trust they have given me by letting me build a pc. Yeah i could probably afford one but they dont need one. And their paying!

They said £65 for graphics. I hav another £65 to add to it!

Reply to Black-heart

Also would change mobo to this:

Abit NFM2S 6100 GFX SKT AM2 7.1 Channel Audio SATA DDR2 PCI-E

If i go with the x1950xt as by the time i would need crossfire dx10 would be the only value option!!!

that would bring total cost down to £411

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Reply to Black-heart

I see well just get a X2 3600+ brisbane and OC it to out perform the X2 4600+. The X2 3600 should save about £10 over the X2 3800+. Maybe that will save enough for the 8800GTS. Tell your Dad the 8800GTS is the better deal for the price as it over doubles the FPS on almost every game. The 8800GTS is less likly to be discountued for the reason of going SLI later.

Quote :

What would you say about dx10? When would you say it will be standard (with no dx9 option)

Reply to elbert

Quote :

Vista will make DX10 standard but Crysis will make you want it and may require the 8800 series card for playable performance. Im not suggesting the 8800GTS for DX10 only as it outperforms even the best DX9 GPU.

Now High performance GPU's arent only for gaming. Gelato allows you to use the FPU's for all sorts of video editing and rendering.

i can see where your coming from but hes not interested in doubling fps. He wants a cheap pc that runs fast for his office + media type aplications. I want play games and dont want to spend £180 on a 8800gts as gaming isnt worth that much to me. So i cant spend less on the cpu and spend more on the gpu.

On the other hand if the 8800gts had awesome video converting properties (like i think the x1950xt and 8600gt has) then it would be eisier to justify to him. however currently i just cant do that.

THANKS

patrick

I am leaning on the x1950xt. I might also switch to a 1440 x 900 19 inch monitor as it would be £75 cheaper.

Reply to Black-heart

The X1950xt is a more powerful GPU than the 8600GT and slightly better than the 8600GTS. The 1 turndown to the X1950xt will be sound as the fan is much louder. Im not wanting to keep you from getting the any GPU. My only wanting to give you all the information.

The 8800GTS can run circles around both the 8600 and the X1950xt. Gelato isnt limited just to video converting. Heres a link which may help you justify the 8800gts to your dad.
http://www.nvidia.com/page/gz_home.html

Quote :

NVIDIA® Gelato® rendering software allows anyone with an NVIDIA GPU to create stunning images fast. A hardware-accelerated, non-real-time renderer, Gelato was originally designed for the creation of 3D visual effects and animation in feature films. But Gelato is a powerful tool for any number of industries, including film & broadcast, CAD, architecture, and print.

Reply to elbert

Would two 8600gt cards be anywhere near a 8800gts. Of course my other alternative is the hd 2600pro crossfire or a single gddr4 2600xt.

On Gelato... That might just be justifyable. Espicially as my D+T teacher has just given me a copy of pro/desktop for my As level. It looks pretty cool. Am i right in saying that the 8800gts cant convert video like the 8600 can though????

The video converting i do is to ipod format (MPEG4) would i be able to use a 8800gts to do this with???

thanks for all your help.

Patrick

Reply to Black-heart

The 8800GTS is twice as powerful at the 8600GT so it should only take half the time. Gelato is free but some programs only work with the pro version. Driver support issues may come into play. Under the free version 3dsmax and Maya3d works for me. It depends on which programs your using to convert mpeg4. I do rendering mostly. Not a great deal with converting.
Heres some links articals on gelato.
http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype [...] le_no=3254

What you may want to look at is purevideo by nvidia. Purevideo has several compression's for video. I didnt see mpeg4 which may mean a copyright problem.
http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo.html

Reply to elbert

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