Upgrade Advice!!

[ITgamer]

Hello to all! I need some advice on my next upgrade, and cant seem to decide what card to buy.

Here's my old (current) system:
AMD XP+3200
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
ATI 9800 Pro AIW
1 gig Corsair XMS DDR400
Antec True Blue 480

Upgrading to new rig:
AMD64 3200 (Winchester)
1 gig Corsair XMS DDR400
Asus A8N-E nF4 Ultra
Antec True Blue 480

Now my question is... should i grab this card:
Gigabyte 6600 GT (128mb) Turbo for around $230

<A HREF="http://www.xpcgear.com/gvnx66t128vp.html" target="_new">http://www.xpcgear.com/gvnx66t128vp.html</A>
THG gave this card a great review, btw!

OR drop some more cash and get this:
eVGA 6800 GT (256) for about $380?

<A HREF="http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130215" target="_new">http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130215</A>

I am a big gamer, so I dont use my PC for much else other than that.

Now, my concers are:

1. With either of these cards, if/where will I bottleneck my rig? And what should I do to prevent it?

2. Will I see a performance increase after this upgrade? If so, will it be noticable or minimal?

3. Is eVGA a decent brand to get? (vs the Gigabyte) I dont want to dump $380 and get a crap card.. lol, no one does..

4. Would it be a better idea to get the 6600GT and a AMD64 3500 (Clawhammer 130nm), than the 6800GT and a AMD64 3200 (Winchester 90nm)? Or what would be a better combination? Can only get one set or the other, cant do both..silly college budget..heh

And lastly, is it really worth it to drop an additional 150 bucks on a 6800GT vs a 6600GT?

Thanks in advance for any advice, sorry about the long, possible n00bish post, I'm at the end of the semester and ready for my break.

Thanks again fellas.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ITgamer on 04/22/05 12:37 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[scottchen]

EVGA is better than Gigabyte in most cases, yes the 6800GT is a great deal, you can get the 6800ultra by BFG from tigerdirect.com I'd recommend you to look for a different power supply because it's always good to get something that can pump a good 30A on the 12V rail. I'd also look elsewhere on that motherboard, DFI's Nforce Ultra board is really nice a simple modification can make it into a full sli compatible board. Don't worry about bottleneck from the CPU just overclock it a little bit. Winchesters are decent overclockers.

 

[Robc1880]

Another video card option you can go for it the x800xl for <A HREF="http://www.buyxg.com/store/item.asp?key=VC-141-118" target="_new">$289 free shipping</A>

 

[RX8]

whats wrong with your current rig?

<font color=purple> MY FINGER IS ON THE BUTTON! </font color=purple>

 

[cleeve]

First and foremost, don't bother upgrading to the 6600GT from a 9800 PRO. Your benchmarks might be higher, but your gameplay will hardly be any better. It's almost a parralel upgrade.

1. The 6600Gt would bottleneck your rig, the 6800GT is about right for you.

2. To the 6600GT, not really. To the 6800GT, YES! You will be able to turn on high levels of AA & AF with the 6800GT.

3. Sure

4. a 3200+ and 6800GT will be *TONS* faster than a 3500+ and a 6600GT. The videocard's the bottleneck, you can upgrade the processor later when they're cheaper.



________________
<b>Geforce <font color=red>6800 Ultra</b></font color=red>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~3300+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 416 FSB @ 2288 Mhz)</i>
<b>3dMark05: <font color=red>5,275</b>

 

[ITgamer]

Ok, so Ill go with this:

AMD64 3200(Winchester)
DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra
1 gig Corsair XMS, DDR400
eVGA 6800GT 256mb
Apsire 550w PS (36A@+12v)

Sound good?


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ITgamer on 04/22/05 03:21 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[cleeve]

Sounds very nice.

________________
<b>Geforce <font color=red>6800 Ultra</b></font color=red>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~3300+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 416 FSB @ 2288 Mhz)</i>
<b>3dMark05: <font color=red>5,275</b>

 

[pauldh]

I agree, sounds nice.

I see a X800XL for $100 less as being a better bargain though. It's about equal performance depending on the games you like most. You lose SM3 and option to go SLI later, which to me doesn't nearly equal $100 in added worth though. But maybe it's worth $100 to you. Personally, that's $100 for games, or to start that R520/G70 upgrade fund.


<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=658042" target="_new">3DMark05</A> <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3781954" target="_new">3DMark03</A>

 

[scottchen]

But if you go NVidia, you're possible to go SLI

 

[pauldh]

"possible" as in you might later want to go SLI, or "possible" as in you may luck out and be able to later find a matching card and get SLI to work?

I'm just not keen on spending $100 extra now to maybe be able to add a second card later. Same price, go 6800GT for sure. But at $275 now, X800XL now, and R520/G70 later would be more my kinda plan.


<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=658042" target="_new">3DMark05</A> <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3781954" target="_new">3DMark03</A>

 

[scottchen]

I agree X800XL is a great buy if you don't have any overclocking in mind.

 

[ITgamer]

Well this is great advice everyone, but I have a few last questions. After doing some more research on that DFI board and the Aspire PSU, I have come up with the following concern:

Here's the projected setup..

AMD64 3200(winchester)
DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D
1 gig Corsair XMS DDR400
eVGA 6800 GT

Now that I have read the reviews of that DFI mainboard and some are complaining that it NEEDS a 24 pin PSU. I got an earlier recommendation to get the Aspire 550W (+12v@36a), but that PSU does not have a 24 pin connector(dug up some pics and counted). Will this still be enough juice to run well? Or, MUST I get a 24 pin PSU?

AND

Is the ATI X800xt really a better card than the 6800GT?

My current feelings about ATi now arent that great(have to send off 9800 Pro for a month to get repaired). Their customer service is pretty lousy..

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for all the info guys, it helps!

 

[Rugger]

The <A HREF="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=270402" target="_new">Enermax 535W Whisper II model EG565P</A> is ATX12V v2.0 (has 24 pin power connector and separate 12V rails). Another great option is the <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-934&depa=0" target="_new">Fortron Blue Storm 500W</A>. Read some more on <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041223/index.html" target="_new">ATX12V v2.0</A>. And you can take a look at this recent <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050228/index.html" target="_new">THG Power Supply Review</A>. For that setup I would go with the Enermax Whisper II...

__________________________________________________
<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[scottchen]

The X800XT is faster than the 6800GT, it's true, since you're going PCI Express, we suggested the X800XL because it's the best price/performance card in that range. But If you're planning SLI in the near future, then the 6800GT's your choice. The power connector doesn't really matter, if your power supply is the original ATX 1.0 and 1.1 standards, it'll be a 20pin and a 4 pin so just plug both in. The newer ones has 24pin.

 

[Robc1880]

Like everyone has been saying, the x800xl will get you the best "bang for your buck". But, if your going to use SLI later on then go with the 6800gt. You also need to beware that if you try modding the DFI NF4 Ultra-d that the video drivers have a problem working in SLI with the modded board so you might want to get the SLI board itself.. I have the Aspire 520W PSU and I'm using the 20-24 pin connector and it is running my rig just fine.

My setup:
DFI NF4 Ultra-D
A64 3000
1 gig Patriot 3200llk
Sapphire x850xt
Aspire 520W

 

[Rugger]

I think nVidia did something with the drivers to prevent people from taking advantage of that mod, but I don't remember the driver version that will still allow the mod...

__________________________________________________
<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>