General GPU direction

[hamster_powered]

I'm in the initial stages of speccing out a new build that i'll put together sometime July-August ish. Budget is still up in the air somewhat, but should be able to throw as much as $2k at it, though i'd like to fall back closer to $1500 if i can pull it off.

Anywho... I've decided that I want to shoot for 19x12 on the display resolution, and from benchies and such have been unable to tell what GPU route I need to be looking into. If anything I have a slight NV bias, but certainly open to either ATI or NV. That doesn't matter so much to me right now as both the 3800's and 8800's seem to have some ok options.

What i'm shakey on is that I can't figure out if a single GPU (from either company) is likely to be passible for moderate 19x12 gaming , or if I need to be shopping more in the direction of SLI/CF. Anybody have some advice on this?

I'm not talking crysis@OMGMAXRES w\OMGFPS; just something that can run 90% of games at better than average settings at high resolution with a smooth (40-50+?) framerate. Should i expect this out of a single G92/38x0? Or do I need to be looking at CF/SLI options?

 

[dagger]

I'm in the initial stages of speccing out a new build that i'll put together sometime July-August ish. Budget is still up in the air somewhat, but should be able to throw as much as $2k at it, though i'd like to fall back closer to $1500 if i can pull it off.

Anywho... I've decided that I want to shoot for 19x12 on the display resolution, and from benchies and such have been unable to tell what GPU route I need to be looking into. If anything I have a slight NV bias, but certainly open to either ATI or NV. That doesn't matter so much to me right now as both the 3800's and 8800's seem to have some ok options.

What i'm shakey on is that I can't figure out if a single GPU (from either company) is likely to be passible for moderate 19x12 gaming , or if I need to be shopping more in the direction of SLI/CF. Anybody have some advice on this?

I'm not talking crysis@OMGMAXRES w\OMGFPS; just something that can run 90% of games at better than average settings at high resolution with a smooth (40-50+?) framerate. Should i expect this out of a single G92/38x0? Or do I need to be looking at CF/SLI options?

You do not need sli or crossfire. A g92 8800gt will do fine for just about all games, except Crysis, of course.

 

[Zenthar]

You do not need sli or crossfire. A g92 8800gt will do fine for just about all games, except Crysis, of course.

Make it at least a GTS (G92) for 1920x1200. You could build a SLI capable rig (PSU + MB), put in one card and add another one later if you see that newer games require more.

 

[hamster_powered]

Yeah; whether the initial build includes SLI/CF or not, i'll be buying other hardware that leaves the option open. After being burned by 2 flakey PS's in a row (one TT, one antec; neither one cheap) I'm done screwing around with anything but top shelf stuff in that dept. For this build, i'm gonna spend the $$ and start talkin PC P&C or something of that calibur.

 

[Zenthar]

Yeah; whether the initial build includes SLI/CF or not, i'll be buying other hardware that leaves the option open. After being burned by 2 flakey PS's in a row (one TT, one antec; neither one cheap) I'm done screwing around with anything but top shelf stuff in that dept. For this build, i'm gonna spend the $$ and start talkin PC P&C or something of that calibur.

If you like modular cabling, you might want to take a look at CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX, I got the 520W version and I just love it .

 

[A_Dying_Wren]

If you're getting a computer in July/August then wait for July August. While we aren't likely to see drastically new CPUs (E9xxx hopefully), there will be a whole new range (9900GX2 et al) of GPUs coming out from both Nvidia and ATI.

If you desperately need a new computer now, reuse your old card then buy a new one soon.

Meanwhile look at an E8400 or a Q9450. Motherboard w/o CF/SLI to go for is Gigabyte P35 DS3R or Abit P35. case is up to u and i completely agree with the above poster. i'd get the 620 Watt one to play safe especially if u get the quad core.

Get some decent DDR2 800 or 1066 ram. 800 can easily turn into 1066 with overclocking.

 

[hamster_powered]

I do desperately need one now... actually need it a few months ago; but i won't have the $$ to do all this til July/August...

I hadn't realized the 4000's and (real) 9000's were that close on the horizon. hopefully they're nice stable cards when they come out.

 

[Zenthar]

I do desperately need one now... actually need it a few months ago; but i won't have the $$ to do all this til July/August...

I hadn't realized the 4000's and (real) 9000's were that close on the horizon. hopefully they're nice stable cards when they come out.

What you could do is buy an EVGA card, whatever's descent for you in June and Step-Up in July/August. It will cost you shipping, but it could be worth it if you can't wait that long. The 2 downsides to this are: 1) Price difference is based on EVGA's price which is much higher than retailers like NewEgg so you might pay more than if you simply had waited; 2) EVGA only sell NVidia cards, so no step-up to ATI 4XXX cards when they come out.