Hi,

Presnetly I have a X1900XT which has served me well over the last year or so. However - I'm playing more games and looking to up the spec a little.

I'm using a ga965p-DS4 Mobo - so I can only consider a single card solution. On the Mobo specs it says 1x PCIe x16, 1x PCIe x4. - But I THINK if i'm not mistaken that if running crossfire they will both run at x8?? --- please correct me on this if i'm wrong.

I am thinking 8800 Ultra, or a 8800gtx or the 9800GX2? I'm only playing on a 19inch monitor and not at really high res... so I don't know what would be the best solution.

I'd like to be able to play Crysis and COD 4 and a few others at high settings, but on my modest monitor.

I hear the GX2 struggles with only 512mb on each GPU in games like crysis... is this true?

I thought if I get the 8800gtx or Ultra in the future I could go sli (with a cheap 650i mobo) which run the cards at x8, as opposed to getting a board that can run 2 9800gx2 in quad but needing 2 x16 card slots.

I have not kept up to date on the ATI cards so if there is a crossfire option there I could consider that.

About £250 ($500) so spend. - What do you guys think? Any advice is appreciated!

Go get the the ati 4870 and crossfire it! Its todays best performance/price graphic card! (well if ur mobo support crossfire)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 70&x=0&y=0

If ur in budget, get this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 50&x=0&y=0
The hd 4850 beat the nvidia 9800gtx in overall performance.

Yup, 2 4850 owns a single GX2 in most games.
4870 performs even better.

Check this out:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] efault.asp

Ati hd4850 and hd4870 ROCKS!!

The 4800 spanks AA like AA's nothing.
Good, let's see how the R700 performs in weeks to come.

get a single 4870 ... .you don't' need CF on a 19" screen its a waste of money... maybe further down in its production life and as games become more advanced you can add a second one... but at that point the next gen of cards will be coming out...

SLI/CROSSFIRE doesn't work... get the top card in your price range that will work for you... then when its time to add another card... a new generation comes out... you don't ever need sli/cf

cheers for the fast reply.
I checked and my DS4 mobo does do crossfire but will run one at x16 and the other at x4 --- which is pants and totally pointless. Best stay with a single card.

What about an 8800Ultra for $400 - is that a good idea. Then on day get a mobo that can run sli and get another. - That would be when I upgrade my monitor.. as I think one Ultra will handle this 19inch monitor easily?

Ultra or GX2 or one 4870?

GX2>4870>Ultra. Now you choose.
Best bang of the buck is with the 4870 there, you can buy other stuffs with the money remaining.

Like I said before.. hd 4850= $199, 8800ultra=$400. And YES, hd 4850 outperforms the HIGH-PRICE nvidia 8800 ultra. Go get the hd 4870 for even more performance only @ $309!

Ok gotcha. I did like the look of the GX2 - but I saw in benchmarks that it suffered from only having 512ram for "each card". Especially in games like Crysis.
This is why I was thinking about the Ultra - as it's been around ages and does handle the game well with it's extra RAM. I saw in one benchmark when AA was on the Ultra outperformed a single GX2... which is where I became confused and decided to ask you guys!

Is the 512 Ram on the 4870 enough? Or will it suffer like the GX2 in that respect? (I can find the review in needed).

Cheers.

Here it is:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] page15.asp

If cost is not an issue for u, go get the gx2. Hd 4870 is good @ 512mb gddr5.
But still, I didnt think take the gx2 is a wise plan..

The 512 RAM on the cards only suffer at higher resolutions. At 1280X1024 512 is more then enough. Only at resolutions like 1600X1200 will 512 start to suffer.

If you look at the benchmarks most resolutions are over 1600X1200. Crysis at 1280X1024 with cards like the 8800GT can run around 30FPS on high. The HD4850 at 1680X1050 in High average about 30 FPS on Very High about 18 FPS.
HD 4850 Review with Crysis on High
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=191574

1Haplo