Advice for my newest rig.

Just done a rather good swap with my Dad...

Basically, I've given him the following:

ASUS T-3 Barebone Case,
E2160 CPU,
2GB Corsair XMS2 RAM,
7950GT 512MB GPU,
250GB SATA2 HDD
DVD-RW Drive...


And I've acquired:

ThermalTake Media Centre Case
E2180 CPU
ASUS P5-N SLI Mobo
2 x 6800GT 256MB GPUs
2GB Corsair XMS2 RAM
80GB HDD
DVD-RW

Now I intend on shifting those two horrible GPU's and using the funds to buy an adequate PSU for the rig... something enough to run SLi anyway... and I'll be running Windows XP on this machine.

What nVidia cards would scale best in SLi, with a max budget of £300 ? I'll be playing at 1680 x 1050 resolution with this machine, and overclocking the CPU to 2.8ghz per core.

Ive decided to put my E8400 machine into retirement until a decent enough GPU comes along to use the rest of the system's full potential. Possibly 4000 series cards in Crossfire, since I have an X38 board.

What would you put in that board to get maximum DX9 performance for playing Crysis and Gears of War?

hey, don't talk bad about 6800GTs I loved my pair (about 2 years ago)

8800GT or 9600GT SLI are both great options, just depends on which meets your budget. With that CPU, I'd go 9600GT's if it saves you some money.

You can see 8800GT SLI beats 9600GT SLI for sure, but also costs more. 9600GT is very attractive for the price.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] efault.asp

I had to give him a single card that'd be equal to / better than his SLi setup... and i'd only paid £20 for the 7950.

Gonna put those 6800's on ebay now... well, one of them anyway. Should expect to get £20+ for it...

Yeah in SLi they did fairly well on my Dads machine, played COD4 smoothly, scaled surprisingly well too.

yeah i was thinking get PSU and 1 GPU first...

Another question... Ive got a 300W Power supply spare ere out the barebone case I just gave my Dad, now that'll be more than enough to power just 1 CPU, 1 HDD & 1 DVD-RW.... and Ive got one of them 250W SLi Power Supplies laying around somewhere that powers JUST the GPUs... would the 300W + 250W be enough you think to power the lot once SLi'd?

Well I know the 250Watt one is a capable PSU, since I had it powering 2 8800GT's last year, but sold the cards to help pay towards xmas... I think I'll try that 300 + 250 setup and see how it goes... the SLi PSU is more than enough for the 2 9600's... and the 300W PSU powered a similar setup in that barebone... so logic says it should be ok.

It was a 250W GPU Only PSU...

It fits in a CD drive bay and powers only the GPU's... I had a 500W PSU on that rig to power the rest of the components.

Yeah I'm gonna chuck it all together on Saturday and get my first 9600 ordered.... but Im trying to find benchmarks of 8800GTS SLI, incase thats a much better option than the 9600 SLI... Since I'd rather have double the shaders if possible for Crysis.

£300?, Sli?, can you get another 50 pence from somewhere?
http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/product_ [...] 3d037a07ec

I've seen the GT's cheaper elsewhere... at 129 inc. VAT.... Does anyone have the links to charts showing crysis performance in SLI for the 9600GT and 8800GT/GTS?

Yeah I am always wanting the best without spending the most... like I never went and bought an 8800GTX cos it was rediculously priced, instead I waited for the 2900 PRO @ £165, when the GTX was still selling at £350!

Same for the 8800GT... but I sold my SLi setup cos I had xmas to pay for and didnt really want them at the time... plus they didnt really offer any performance increase in any of my games, even Crysis (led me to believe that I was doing something wrong in the end!) but was using 1680 x 1050 resolution which should scale well.

It's hacking me up this decision though:

2 x 9600GT's @ £210
2 x 8800GT's @ £260
2 x 8800GTS's @ £330

The GT's seem the best option when I look at it like that... but the 9800GTX may outdo the GT's in SLI yet... who knows.

Its a tough one...

I'd say wait until the 9800gtx's come out, then reevaluate..

2 weeks is nothing, when you have been waiting 6 months to play Crysis

I think I will wait infact... chances are the 8800GTS will drop to the current GT prices... and GT's will drop to just above 9600GT prices (which may drop also)...

I'll give it another month and just run on the single 6800GT for now... no point in gaming if there's nothing proper to power it.

I cant afford that right now, however.... I can imagine that WILL come down in prices over the next month or so... as more models begin to appear.

8800GTS SLi or 9800GX2?

9800GTX SLi would be nicest