New Graphics card.

[lavitz1125]

Hay yet again guys, dont freak. I don't want one, my big brother does. So the deal is he has 2x 9800GT's Which are good, but not good enough for what he wants. What he usually plays is
Mass effect 1&2
Crysis
And real time stratigies's

He likes them at max with 1900X1080 resolution (his native resolution)

Now ive looked in the case and he has a 750W dell PSU (yay!) to power the two GT's. What im asking is what card, i was looking at a 5770, or Cross fire 5770 (if the motherbard supports it) or maybe even a 58XX series card. heres my CPU-ID test

Now it is a Dell XPS 630i computer, its pretty big, and it must have two PCI-express slots for the two 9800GT's

SO what im asking is

1. What card can i get for around 300-500 Australian dollars

2.Can i crossfire on his Motherboard

3. Anything else i really need to upgrade?

Oh and he has vista too (-.-)

Well thanks in advance. This would be most likely a chrismas present, so i may even wait for the 6XXX series. Who knows. But if you could answer the questions i would greatly apprecaite it!

 

[welshmousepk]

you would need to check local pricing. i can recommend good price/performance cards, but can't tell you how much they will cost. i can google, but no idea if i will find comptetive prices.

basically i would go either with a single GTX 460 (if you can afford it, two in SLI is the best option on the market right now) or a 5850.

those are the 3 best value options, its just a case of which falls into your budget.

 

[lavitz1125]

Hmm ok, il look at some benchmarks. Also ive just relised i have only 2 6pin power connecters ( i havn't gone digging in there yet but i think thats it) so i can cross fire thing with more then one power connecter. Would ATI 5770 crossfire be anygood?

 

[welshmousepk]

I wouldn't recommend going dual card off the bat unless its a 460 setup (the scaling is insane, much better than anything else on the market).

you can get molex>PCI adapters, so you dont need to worry about the connectors so long as the PSU has sufficient amps to power the card.

breakdown: best option is 2 460's next option would be one now, and one later, or 3rd (if you don't want to SLI, which would be crazy IMO) is a 5850.

 

[lavitz1125]

Ok ive done some ebaying, and found the two cards, these are the two cheapest there
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Gigabyte-Nvidia-GTX-460-GTX460-1GB-GDDR5-Video-Card-/350375504260?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_Components&hash=item519401e984

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Sapphire-ATI-5850-HD5850-1GB-DDR5-Graphics-Card-/200500287812?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_Components&hash=item2eaebf9944

Brands aside for a moments, but the nvidia gtx460 is quite alot cheaper and performs about the same? ive seen some benchmarks and there pretty much dead on together. So am i right to say go for the gtx460? anything else i need to take in before i tell my brother?

 

[welshmousepk]

yeah, a 460 is just behind the 5850 in most cases, but beats it sometimes. but as you said, its also cheaper. plus the SLI scaling is at 90 percent and over. so adding a second means 5970 performance for half the price.

 

[lavitz1125]

Well i dont have 4 6pin power supplys, well im pretty sure il get one of these for him, then get a new power supply ect later, well unless some one has more input...

 

[welshmousepk]

like i said, you can get a molex to six pin adapter. you dont need a new power supply just because it doesnt have the right connectors.

 

[lavitz1125]

one mor thing before i close the thread, would Crossfire 5770's work and/or be good
?

 

[welshmousepk]

they would work, but they would only be slightly more powerful than a 5850, while consuming more power, more heat and noise. as well as severely hurting upgrade potential.
when you eventually need to upgrade you would have to replace both cards, instead of just adding a second 5850.

 

[lavitz1125]

So what brand?

 

[phenom90]

buy a hd 5850 and wait for hd 6xxx series....

 

[lavitz1125]

buy a hd 5850 and wait for hd 6xxx series....

your post makes no sense...

 

[lavitz1125]

Best answer selected by lavitz1125.

 

[welshmousepk]

most of his posts thus far have been pointless, ignore that guy.

as for the brand, you pretty much can just go for whichever is cheapest. however if you pay a little more for one with aftermarket cooling you will have more OC headroom. lifetime warranties only apply to the US, so you dont have to worry about that. just get whatever seems like the best deal.