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need help choosing new card or cards

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hello all, i would like some advice on a new Graphics card for my system. i will do SLI if advised also. what is my max graphics setup while not bottlenecking my CPU?

S939 nforce4 mobo with 8x capable SLI
X2 4600+ Oc'd to 2.6
2 gb pc 3200 ram
7900GT that needs replacing
2 HDD
OCZ Gamextreme 700W
antec nine hundred case

oh yeah i will be playing on a 1440x900 on a 19in. widescreen

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by hemir1 on 04-27-2008 at 05:27:44 PM
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hemir1 wrote :

hello all, i would like some advice on a new Graphics card for my system. i will do SLI if advised also. what is my max graphics setup while not bottlenecking my CPU?

 

S939 nforce4 mobo with 8x capable SLI
X2 4600+ Oc'd to 2.6
2 gb pc 3200 ram
7900GT that needs replacing
2 HDD
OCZ Gamextreme 700W
antec nine hundred case

 

oh yeah i will be playing on a 1440x900 on a 19in. widescreen


8800gt or g92 8800gts are the best bang for the buck. Aviod sli for now, it's not worth it. New cards are coming up.

 

Get more than 2gb of ram. It's not enough.

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
Reply to dagger
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would 2 g80 8800 gts be a consideration for under $300 or will the cpu bottleneck, or not even better than 1 8800gt or g92 8800gts

Reply to hemir1
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hemir1 wrote :

would 2 g80 8800 gts be a consideration for under $300 or will the cpu bottleneck, or not even better than 1 8800gt or g92 8800gts


2 g80 8800gts should outperform 1 g92 8800gts, but I wouldn't think it's a good deal. G92 8800gs is even cheaper, but perform about the same as g80 8800gts.
http://en.expreview.com/2008/04/02 [...] up/?page=9

 

With 2 cards, you've already used sli option, and will have to change out both cards on upgrade. With one g92 8800gts, you still have room for another one for sli. After MIR, one card cost $169.99, which is certainly more money, but not by so much, for far higher performance:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814134037

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
Reply to dagger
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so my best bet will be 1 G92 8800 GTS and add one later? will adding one later bottleneck my cpu? can my PSU handle 2 of those cards later?

Reply to hemir1

Yeah, it can handle 2 8800GTS(G92), so go for it and have fun!

------------------------------ Needs a job...
Reply to romulus47plus1
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hemir1 wrote :

so my best bet will be 1 G92 8800 GTS and add one later? will adding one later bottleneck my cpu? can my PSU handle 2 of those cards later?


Yes, the new cards, when they come out, should produce a healthy discount to existing cards. Or you can just upgrade to the new cards, if you have the cash.

 

That cpu isn't so bad, it shouldn't bottleneck.

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
Reply to dagger

Agrees with dagger...

------------------------------ Needs a job...
Reply to romulus47plus1
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what about a 8800GT 256mb or 2 of them?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150279
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125089

don't really like MIR's

will 512mb ram with 2 of these at my resolutions do what i need?


Message edited by hemir1 on 04-27-2008 at 06:21:57 PM
Reply to hemir1

NO!!! NEVER BUY THE 8800GT 256MB edition!
Get the 8800gs if you're really tight on budget!
Or the 9600gt, a lil better.
If you insists on getting an 8800gt, get the 512 one...
Tell you this: 256mb video memory will bottleneck the GPU like hell, ensuring you'll have wondefully low frame rates and laggy performances...

------------------------------ Needs a job...
Reply to romulus47plus1
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romulus47plus1 wrote :

NO!!! NEVER BUY THE 8800GT 256MB edition!
Get the 8800gs if you're really tight on budget!
Or the 9600gt, a lil better.
If you insists on getting an 8800gt, get the 512 one...
Tell you this: 256mb video memory will bottleneck the GPU like hell, ensuring you'll have wondefully low frame rates and laggy performances...

 


That's right. Those are lemons. :p

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
Reply to dagger
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I have pretty much the exact same system as you with a g92 8800 gts and I play crysis at 1440x900 with all med to high settings.

Reply to wip99gt
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wip99gt wrote :

I have pretty much the exact same system as you with a g92 8800 gts and I play crysis at 1440x900 with all med to high settings.

 

Same here, I get 50+ fps on high settings, 1280x1024 resolution.

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
Reply to dagger
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If you can get 2 8800GTS 640mb for under 300 that would be an excellent deal and will outrun anything in that price range. It will even beat 8800GT SLI at higher resolutions if they are the 112sp versions. I just bought 2 9600st SLI for the price versus performance. Although the 88gt are a little faster I didn't feel they were worth the extra money.

Reply to cisco

dagger wrote :


Get more than 2gb of ram. It's not enough.



Not that more ram would hurt, if you are running Win XP your 2 gigs should be fine for most things. If you are on Vista, though, that is another story.

------------------------------ http://www.custompcmax.com
Reply to basketcase
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okay then it will be 1 8800 G92 gts now and 1 for later, any brand particularly better than the other or better OCer's?

Reply to hemir1

EVGA! XFX! These are King brands!

------------------------------ Needs a job...
Reply to romulus47plus1
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My Bfg has been pretty solid

Reply to wip99gt

BFG is good too, along with brothers XFX and EVGA.

------------------------------ Needs a job...
Reply to romulus47plus1
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hemir1 wrote :

okay then it will be 1 8800 G92 gts now and 1 for later, any brand particularly better than the other or better OCer's?

 


They are exactly the same. Pick the cheapest one.

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
Reply to dagger
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It looks like dagger got a better oc than I did. I got 757/1817/1001 out of mine

Reply to wip99gt
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wip99gt wrote :

It looks like dagger got a better oc than I did. I got 757/1817/1001 out of mine

 


Still overkill for nearly all games. Don't worry about it.

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
Reply to dagger
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Oh yeah, I'm not complaining.

Reply to wip99gt
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814261001

i actually decided on this card and ordered it!
give me the good, the bad, and the ugly?

Reply to hemir1
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hemir1 wrote :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814261001

 

i actually decided on this card and ordered it!
give me the good, the bad, and the ugly?

 


The 9600gt's g94 core, with 64 stream processors, is half a 8800gts's g92 core with 128 stream processors with overclocking. If you count the number of transistors, it's literally half a core. :p

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
Reply to dagger
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its been ages since i have seen any hype ofver a BFG :( anywho i would have said 2 8800GT's....anywho is he still around to let us know how it worked out...

Reply to V3NOM
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