8800GT sli or 9800GX2?

hello all. im getting a new computer soon and as the title states, im having a problem deciding between the 8800GT sli or 9800gx2. i'll be running my games at 19x12 on a 24" monitor. ive heard that the 9800gx2 generally performs better at higher resolutions. i dont upgrade video cards very often so i guess my real concern is whether the 8800GT sli will be able to handle the games that come out for the next couple of years. i would think that the 9800gx2 will be able to handle future games, given the option to add a second card as well. i guess im trying to decide whether the 8800 is as futureproof as the 9800.

system specs:
Q6600
nvidia 790i motherboard
winVISTA
1k PSU
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM

thanks all!

Nah. The 9800gx2 is basically two 9800 cores and memory cramped together on one card. The result? One PCI-E port intstead of two means half the bandwidth of a SLI configuration. (well, in theory)

This is why the guys here are nice enough to put together this every month:

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 942-5.html


In short: 2x8800gt or even 9600gt/3870 in sli wins!

the gx2 marginally outperforms 8800 GT SLI and there is a larger margin between 9600gt and 3870hd and the gx2 still

Yea, it wins on price per dollar, but thats not the point I guess. I use 8800 GT SLI myself, I didn't feel the gx2 was worth it.

thanks for the replies guys. i think im gonna go with the 9800gx2. im getting the card for $400 which i think isnt that bad of a deal. also, with the new cards coming out soon, im hoping the 9800gx2 will drop down in price within the next few months. quad sli dosent sound too bad.

Wait lil bit and you'll get better price

Actually you can get SLI 88GT for under $250USD after MIR. No contest in terms of value IMO. The 98x2 may outperform the 88GT pair in some synthetics, but in real world application, those synthetics don't amount to a meaningful difference. IMO, by the time the price of a 98x2 actually drops to a price point anyone will consider "cheap", it'll be hopelessly outdated and no one would want to drop in a second card at that point.