Money to burn...

[dos1986]

Right well I sold my 8800gtx two weeks ago so now I've about €500-600 to burn on a new card/upgrade ( got €320 for 8800gtx), I had a gtx but wanted something slightly more powerful to crank up AA at 1680x1050. Initially I was thinking 3870x2, but reviews have been mixed and I was holding out for gddr4/9800gx2....

So - I was thinking - I can get an 2 8800GT for about 360 (I know it's not a huge step up but it should be the difference between 0 and 2/4x aa), and there's even 8800GTS 512's for 260-ish each?

I'm tending to lean towards the GTS...again while I was considering the x2 and even a cheap the 9 series cards, the 8800gtx was just almost powerful enough to run anything at max settings at native res, so I'd only be looking for something maybe 15-20% faster....

3d Mark 06 result on my system

Q6700 @ 3.2ghz
8800GTX @ stock
2gig 667mhz
Vista Premium 32 bit



More memory?

 

[dev1se]

4GB of 800mhz memory would be hitting the Vista 'sweetspot'... although some of this memory would be wasted because of the 32-bit restriction. So 2GB is fine, but possibly of 800mhz instead of 667.

As for video card, wait a while..... NO REALLY.... Wait a while. Till the end of this month at least.

See what the current status is in a months time and buy whatever's the best for the money. It might still be 2 8800GTS's, it might be the GX2 or the 9800GTX.... but definitely wait a few more weeks or else you might be paying over the odds for a card that's due to drop in price soon.

The rest of your rig seems pretty decent, you'll not be too CPU limited either. Nice setup.

 

[dos1986]

Waiting is going to be hard, stuck on a 7600gt for the moment lol...

The 9800 series look fairly horrible so far, 9800gx2 = 8800gt sli etc...

If the 9800gtx was 300 euro or under I could get 2, but I doubt I could get it for that...

2 gigs of 800mhz will cost me 40, 4gig 80..I can get 1gb of 667 ram for 15 to match the 2 I have already.

Sounds ok to me?

What about the 3870X2 gddr4?

 

[geofelt]

Go to 4gb; Vista will love it. At current prices, why not? 667 is ok, but because you you are overclocking, you should get some that is faster. Look for a 4gb kit of ddr2-800 or better in a 2x2GB configuration. Two sticks should be easier to overclock.

I would agree that waiting a bit would be wise. The 9800GX2 launch is imminent. It makes no sense to me that nvidia would launch it unless it beat the ultra, and that itwas priced competitively to the 3870X2

 

[dev1se]

Trust me and wait....

The cards you're considering buying NOW are all going to come down in price and you'll be left with a hole burnt in your pocket for any card you buy before they release the GX2 and GTX.

I expect 8800GTS cards to be at £150 before long...

 

[dos1986]

Thanks lads, going to wait.

Something to look to forward to in these dark days ..

What ram should I get, when getting the new cards?

Should have mentioned I have an xps710 with a crippled 590i board, overclocking isnt the greatest, I can get the cpu to 3.46ghz max and 667mhz to 796mhz...

That in mind...

1024MB DDR2 Kingston Valueram PC667/5300 €15

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=10375&agid=409

4096MB DDR2 Corsair Twin2X CL 5, PC6400/800 €80

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=10028&agid=599

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

If you want a single gpu solution that is faster than a GTX (8800 or 9800) then I'd get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261006
730/1825/2100 default clocks. Good chance of 780/1950/2200 or higher.

You could also afford 4gbs of faster ram with this option too.