9800 GTX+ OR 9800 GX2 Please Help

If you are looking for the more powerful gaming card of the two, the 9800GX2 is what you would want.

If you are looking for a powerful gaming card with a reasonable price and great HDMI support, look at either a 4850 or 4870. The 4850 is a bit faster than the 9800GTX+ and the 4870 does not trail the GX2 by to much in terms of raw performance. Both cards have very nice HDMI output implementations including onboard 7.1 sound cards that output through the included HDMI adaptor.

outlw6669 was quick would certainly go with his suggestion....if given an option i would go for the 1GB 4870...it will help in high resolutions...

No I was just saying the GX2 & GTX+ was because they both have a true HDMI port because I was told when using the DVI to HDMI adaptor it loses resolution and some times is even darker picture and that’s happened to me with a 1080i up scaling HDMI DVD player & my old 1080i DVI TV it just didn’t look right but I don’t know with this newer technology.

So the 4870 runs cooler & quieter then a GX2 and is just slightly losing in performance?

Does a company make it with a HDMI port? It’s odd that only one company makes it for the GTX+ & all most all the companies make it for the GX2 but if it’s loud and hot I don’t want it.

So if I was to get a card, say the Palit 4870 and i didn't have a monitor that supported HDMI inputs can i simply use an adaptor, HDMI - DVI to connect that monitor.

Im asking because I want to upgrade my GPU but dont have an HD monitor yet. Top res is 1024 x 1050. Does this mean that i cant get a 4870?

Be really careful with that. There's a difference between having HDMI support and actually having the HDMI port built into the card itself. Most cards require a special adaptor which you probably have to buy separately (good luck there too).

Definitely go with the 48xx series if you are going to use an HDTV. Native HDMI support, with 7.1 PCM audio. ATI Theater is also extremely kick ass, and the onboard decoding is better than the Nvidia equivalent.

Also, if for whatever reason you have overscan issues, it's a lot easier to fix than an Nvidia card (I haven't owned my 8800GT in a year, so maybe things have changed). When I had my 8800GT, I had to use a custom resolution, which was a problem due to not many games supporting that resolution (1206x688), but when I traded it for a HD 3850 plus some money, I was able to use their overscan adjustment feature, and it left it at 720p.

My new TV doesn't have an overscanning issue while hooking it up to the PC, but it's still something to consider.

before you make that decision, do you have the right power supply? you need at least 500. Dell usually give 4oo even on XPS.