AFSniper:
First off, I'd like to thank you for your service in Iraq ^_^. Regarding your questions,
400 for a GTX isn't bad, but it's still a card that has been out for 13 months, when you think about it that way, it's a real turn off. The 9800 series is rumored for a 1q 2008 February release, we have no idea if it's true though. WoW is a real pushover when it comes to graphics though, I haven't played it though, I was a lineage 2 man ^_^ (I miss my account =(...), I told myself I would never play wow in fear of getting addicted, and I stayed with that. But even so, we all want to play other games as well. For the money though...The GTX is overpriced, a 8800 GTSg92 offers pretty much identical performance to the 8800 GTX, behind by as much at .5 fps in some titles, while in other titles ahead, they go for around 370 or so retail brand new. They also take less power, since they are on a smaller process, which would mean less on your electric bill, who doesn't like to save money? (not the case for SLI though, chances are it will be slightly more, or slightly less) ^_^.
Is the 8800 GTS g92 worth it?...no, it's too much of a premium, If it was priced at around 300, yes it would be, but the 8800 GT's priced at around 250-300 offer nearly the same performance as a GTX, for a fraction of the cost. Is it worth getting two 8800 GT's in SLI?...absolutely, is it good for you? It all depends on your resolution, what resolution do you play in? size of monitor? native res? All are key factors for SLI needs. If you play at 1650 or above...Will two 8800 GT's beat a single 8800 GTX in sli capable games? Absolutely yes...By how much? Massive...
Check these charts out, keep in mind these are only a few titles, not all games support SLI, but all the newer games will be slowly transitioning over since SLI/Crossfire is becoming more affordable, with large benefits.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=1057&model2=706&chart=318
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_sli2007.html?modelx=33&model1=1068&model2=804&chart=378
As you can see, the first chart is for single solutions, the second is for a SLI solution. The first chart shows a 8800 GT g92, and a 8800 GTX in a single setup. The second chart, shows the 8800 GT in SLI, and the 8800 GTX in SLI. Now compare the two, notice how close they are...Now look at the first chart's 8800 GTX (which you have), and compare it to the second charts 8800 GT Sli...See the difference?..for almost the same price as well (if you get the 8800 GTX at 500 retail). Now, browse between the other titles if you wish, such as battlefield 2142 at 1920x1200 resolution with 4xaa and 8xaf. Look at the 8800 GT/GTX in the single chart, they are both matched identically...Look at the SLI setups 8800 GT which you can get for the same price as a GTX, it's literally double the performance...a single 8800 GTX and 8800 GT SLI cost nearly the same. It should be obvious which way to go. Crysis is way too demanding of a game for even a GTX, SLI really does help since they are fixing the SLI/Crossfire issues with the game (didn't support it well before). Overall, for the same cash, you get a SUBSTANTIAL boost in frames. But keep in mind not all games support SLI..those that don't, you might see just a tad bit less performance then a single card setup, or the same performance as a single card setup. But regardless, the future titles are all becoming more sli/cf supportive, so it makes sense.
I love MMO's also, but damn do I get addicted, I should never have sold my 70 TH (Treasure Hunter, Human dagger class) in Lineage 2, but I got a pretty penny for him ^_^. But it's good to see you picked up raptors, they offer a beneficial performance to MMO's. Have you every played an MMO and the comp would lag or freeze up for a second or two when running, and it's always in that same damn spot?, meanwhile, in the distance, you start seeing new areas beginning to render and pop in. Same goes with lots of characters, as you run, and they come into view, it begins to lag as their textures loads up.....Full world rendered MMO's that aren't preloaded realms benefit heavily from raptors, their faster random access time and IO performance help in pulling/finding the small amounts of data quickly, it will end up speeding up your gaming experience and eliminating those pesky lag scenarios. Glad to see you are getting them, I'm nabbing 2 for my next rig, one for xp 64 bit, and one for vista home premium 64 bit, I'm going to dual boot each, with the paging file on the opposite drive. Damn I get giddy! But think about it this way, In full world MMO's without any preloaded realms, all those textures, mobs, models, are in tiny files on the drive, with a raptor's faster access times, you'll be able to locate and load the files at a quicker rate...Yes the new PMR drives may beat the raptor in read/write performance thanks to the newer technology, but they still can't touch the Raptors IO/access time performance.
But yea, you made some good choices, I'm not sure if a raid would be the best route, but that's up to you. Raptors are heaty and loud suckers, so having them both roar up to full speed will generate some heat and noise. choice is yours though.
BTW, I'mma add you to my contact list, always looking for fellow MMO'ers...I try to play new ones from time to time, if I get addicted, I dedicated and enjoy, going to add you just in case we end up playing the same game ^_^, after all, you always need some friends to play with, and especially people you can trust when it comes to MMO's ^_^.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask, I'll answer as soon as I read it.
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