looking at a new graphics card (and people's opinions)

[KaiserZr]

Ok for some weird reason I am deciding to remodel my system (maybe out of boredom or something), any ways on my current system I own a single Nvidia 8800GTX. I have been hearing a lot of hype about ATI's new line of Radeon cards, specifically the 4850 and 4870 series. My question is, would dual HD 4850 cards be better than my single 8800GTX? I am liking the pricing on those cards, and depending on the prices of 4870 series I may consider it too.

 

[aevm]

Yes, HD 4850 Crossfire beats a single 8800GTX.

Keep in mind that you need an X38 or X48 MB (usually over $200). Two HD 4850 cards on a P45 don't work at their best. On a P35 it's worse.

If you find a buyer for the old 8800GTX I guess it's worth it.

 

[pcgamer12]

4850 CF pwns. 8800GT SLI pwns it too.

 

[grieve]

You could find another 8800GTX on ebay...

 

[aevm]

What kind of motherboard, PSU and case do you have?

 

[KaiserZr]

My PSU is a Antec 600W (I can't remember the exact name of it), the motherboard is a A-Bit AW9D-Max, and my case is APEVIA X-Navigator.

Honestly I am thinking about selling my current system and starting all over...I even have the CPU I want picked out, but motherboard, memory, and video card is where I am having trouble deciding. So I thought I would ask about the card here.

 

[aevm]

I think that's the smart thing to do, yes.

Your current MB supports Crossfire but HD 4850 would be handicapped in PCI-E 1 slots at x8. Compare that with a GA-X48-DS4 or aBit IX38 QuadGT where they would have PCI-E 2 slots at x16, i.e. 4 times more bandwidth available.

The PSU should be enough for HD 4850 Crossfire IMO.

Nice case. OK, I personally don't like lights and 80mm fans, but it's got good cooling. You need something very well cooled because the HD 4850 pumps out a lot of heat and the single-slot coolers with no vents don't let the heat get directly out. We've seen this before with the 8800GT. Maybe some brands will have dual-slot coolers, that would be great.

Memory: pick a motherboard first, then the RAM. Not all combinations work well, you know... There's some Corsair DDR2-800 2x2GB at newegg for only $80 now, for example.

 

[KaiserZr]

Ok, I guess now I need to find out how much I can get for my current system. It currently has a Intel Core2Duo E6600 2.4 GHz processor, Creative X-Fi Fatality sound card with Front I/O Panel, a Seagate 7200RPM 500 GB Hard Drive, 2GB 800MHz memory (I forget the brand), DVD Burner, and card reader.

Hopefully I can get at least $1000...that would be a good startup amount to make my new system.

 

[alfrido]

Sell me your 8800GTX Those are hard to find. I had my eyes set on one of them.

Btw If you want to have a card that can pawn the 8800GTX wait till all the cards are released and yes after the gtx260 get released also.

Then your decision will be more wider and open to your cards selection.

 

[dagger]

The decision is good now. Basically, 8800gtx = g92 8800gts = 9800gtx = hd4850. 2 hd4850s will far outperform a single 8800gtx. You'd need 8800gtx sli to have a fair comparasion.