So, I've got a few questions: I'm looking to buy a graphics card and some ram. Is it better to go with two XFX GeForce 8800GT cards (512 mb GDDR3) or with one BFG Tech GeForce 9800 GX2 card (1 gig, 512 per GPU)? Also, what is the difference between SDRAM DDR3 and DDR2?
if you dont play at high resolutions(above 1680 x 1050) you dont need sli. a single 8800gts 512 will be sufficient. but if you need sli and dont have an sli board then get the 980gx2. ddr3 ram outperforms ddr2 by a little bit and costs alot more. stick with ddr2.
I would avoid SLI if you can. It's not quite as good and simple as a lot of review sites make it out to be. You'd be better off with a single 8800GTS.
I wouldn't worry about the competitiveness of crossfire either, neither are very good platforms. The 9800GX2 is a simple way of achieving the results of SLI, but nothing better - SLI does not work for lots of games and can be problematic even for the ones that do work. A single 8800GTS is a much simpler bet.
thanks for the reply sammorris,but my mb is pci ex.and supports crossfire, even though i wont be useing the crossfire feature i would use the ati card,its and older azuez 939 mb and runs great i just want to upgrade my gpu to the best ati has to offer or one thats conparable to the 8800 series, ill just be using the single psi slot for now but dont want to upgrade again for a few years. thanks again.OKIE
Well the fastest card that's worth your while right now is the HD3870, which is what I use. They do make an HD3870X2 but all this effectively does is run crossfire in one slot - but at the same expense and power consumption, and with added noise, so I don't recommend bothering - especially after how difficult I found crossfire to get working. If you're willing to wait a few weeks the new HD4800 series should be out, and that will be significantly faster. On the same sort of performance scale, i'd put the cards thus: HD3850: 100% 8800GS: 105% 9600GT: 110% HD3870: 115% 8800GT: 130% 8800GTS G92: 140% 8800GTX: 145% 9800GTX: 150% HD3870X2: 60 to 200% 9800GX2: 100 to 220% HD4850: 150% HD4870: 180%
thanks sammorris for that info iam glad for your reply after reading up on the 4800 series iam going to wait till july for the 4870 to come out,there not as pricey as i thought they would be,i just hope i dont need vista to run it ,thanks again OKIE.
wow, i never knew there was a 4800 series coming out. does anybody have a clue on the price range? ive been googling but i didnt see anything. nevermind, i came across the one at tomshardware site.
It's all rumous at this stage (except for the fact that there will be a 4800 series, that much is true at least) but the 4800s should be more than the 'typical high end' cards we have today like the 9600GT, 8800GT and GTS, HD3870 and so on, but less than the dual cards like the 9800GX2 and HD3870X2.
