Deciding on a Video Card

[Shifty]

I'm building a new computer VERY soon, and I'm decided on everything but the graphics card. I first need to know if SLI/CF is worth it, and if so, which is better. Knowing this, it will shorten my list of choices... Thanks for your help.

 

[raven_87]

Depends on your budget, preformance needs/wants and the resolutions, details, and settings you want to play your games at.

With all intents and purposes, a Multi-GPU setup has real world advantages, but it will come at a price. If you want to get into max settings gaming and run 1600x1200 and sustain high frame rates, SLI/CF would be a nice idea.

If your content with a nice looking game and below 1600x1200 (usually 1280x1024) and a small hit on game detail....a single high end GPU setup will do just fine while be much more forgiving on your wallet.

You must first make your decision on your wants/needs before we even get into recommending a platform.

 

[Shifty]

I would like to run 1600x1200 with max settings, but this isn't a must. I'm not sure if its a good time to toot X1900 XTXs Crossfired. Dx10 cards are coming out soon, would it still be worth it? I do have money, but not an insane amount, and I am trying to buy smart here.

 

[Adamant]

I think one of the best cards out that you can get now is the x1800xt. You can find it on newegg for 300 dollars. Should handle your needs until dx10 is out and won't kill your wallet.

 

[raven_87]

I think one of the best cards out that you can get now is the x1800xt. You can find it on newegg for 300 dollars. Should handle your needs until dx10 is out and won't kill your wallet.

Agreed. However that would be based on the fact that he has a PCI-E supported board now....or he plans on purchasing the system, however spending less on the GPU's now in order to spend more later on.

 

[Shifty]

I was thinking I shouldn't go SLI/CF because it isn't worth it. Since I'm going with one card, I still shouldn't go too crazy on that going with a X1900 XTX, because theres a whole new generation coming out soon, plus comparing an X1900 XTX to an XT is a complete waste of money because I hear they are they same exact thing but the XT is clocked down 25 or so. So I was thinking either an 7900 GT or an X1800 XT. If I were to get the 7900, I would pretty much get an A8N32, I'm not sure as to the X1800 XT, any suggestions?

 

[jaguarskx]

Go for a powerful single card solution. Adding a second doesn't double your performance. It's more like 0% - 40%.

DX10 cards are coming out when Vista is released, but unless you are going to immediately upgrade to Vista, it's not worth buying a DX10 card. Sticking a DX10 card in Windows XP, it will act like any other DX9 card.

DX10 instructions are only used by Windows Vista. The only game that has been announced that requires DX10 is Halo 2. That means if you want to play it, you must have Windows Vista and a DX10 card.

I won't bother upgrading to Windows Vista until they release Service Pack 1 for it, and only when it is part of the installation discs. In other words late 2008 or 2009.

 

[Misrach]

I just upgraded my 7800GTX 256mb card to an X1900XT, mainly for the 512mb frame buffer. If you want to run at 1200x1600 or 1200x1920 resolutions, you'll really want a large buffer. With a mail-in rebate and shipping costs, the total came to around $425. For newer games like Oblivion and F.E.A.R., it was well worth the upgrade. And with the Chuck patch, I can run Oblivion with HDR and AA enabled -- something nVidia cards cannot do. Even though I purchased the 7800GTX only 7-8 months ago, I'm very satisfied with the upgrade. I loved my 7800GTX, but ATi has really made something special with the X1900XT/X cards, and you can actually find one in stock.

Compared to my "old" 7800GTX (256mb) card, I get around a 20-50% increase in framerate. Keep in mind that I enable VSync for all my games, so the gain in performance could be higher.

If you're not going to invest in a fast CPU (AMD FX-55 or Intel equivalent), dual-graphics cards might not be the way to go, unless you're using 2 older cards. The CPU can become a bottleneck. Since I "settled" for an AMD64 3500+, I only went with a single-slot mobo. At the time, CF hadn't been released, and nVidia was struggling with widescreen resolutions. My next build will have 2 PCI-E slots, but as of right now, I'm very satisified with my setup.

As far as a Vista-compatible card goes... listen to the other posts. It's really not worth worrying about at this point. I'm sure the whole Win2k fiasco makes most gamers leary about upgrading to a new OS as soon as it's released. Personally, I'm figuring on giving it 4-6 months after Vista's release before I upgrade, and only if there's a compelling reason to. Halo 2 isn't one of them.

But if you're building a PC from the ground up, there are other reasons to consider waiting until the summer. AMD will be releasing their new socket design very, very soon, which will support DDR2 RAM. Also, Intel will be releasing their Conroe CPU as well. By that time, ATi and nVidia should be ready with their next batch of GPU's. And maybe we'll finally get to see if the Aegia PhysX card is all that they say it's supposed to be.