Which path should I take???

[Tek-Almighty]

Well, I sit facing a pickle.

 

My trusty old Geforce 6800 GT is doing funny things. I think one overclock too many.

 

Now, I've been planning on replacing it and going to PCI-X when I have the money (which is coming up shortly).

 

However, the dilemma is this: I have several routes to take. So perhaps my fellow hardware gurus can weigh in on this.

 

Options:

 

1) Buy Asus A8N32-SLI, use my current CPU (Athlon 64 4000+), and get an eVGA 7900 GTX.

 

2) Buy Asus board, use current CPU, and get a superclocked eVGA 7900 GT (only 256 mb vs. 512 in GTX, and slightly lower clock speed) possibly aquire a 2nd 7900 GT within a month or two.

 

Now option 1 is about $200 more than option 2, but I get about 15-20% performance boost on highend games from the GTX (really want to play UT2007 with most eye candy possible!)

 

Option 2 is cheaper and I would possibly be able to get a 2nd GT down the line, and basically outdo the power of the lone GTX.

 

Of course, there is always the issue of the new 940 socket AM2 from AMD...dual core and DDR2 memory...

 

In that case, ahhh...heck...forget that scenario.

 

In either case, I will probably replace my CPU in about 4 months, with a dual core.

 

Anybody wanna say something?

[Cujo]

i like option 1 personally. not a big fan of sli. then do a big overhaul and possibly add a second gtx on the eve of vista in jan 2k6.

[avengence]

The new AM2 socket CPUs are supposed to be pretty nice. There are some articles about them I would read before making a decision to upgrade.

[Unclean]

I'm in a very similar situation. Upgrade the 4000+ and X800XL now, or wait until UT2007 comes out before doing the upgrade?

 

It's easy to get caught up in all the hype and coolness of uber hardware, but do you really *need* to upgrade right now? If UT is your main passion, at maxed settings you'll still see 85 FPS (since that's the cap for UT online play). You won't see any benefit from an upgrade.

 

However, if you wait until November when UT2k7 comes out, then the 7900GT/GTX cards will be cheaper, and there may be cards that allow for even MORE eye candy then. So what I'm doing is limping along with my current setup until then, and THEN upgrading all at once. It'll be cheaper for the same hardware, or around the same price for even better hardware that will last longer.

 

So two questions :

1. What other games besides UT do you play?

2. What kind of "funny things" are you seeing right now?

[Cobalt]

It really all depends on whether or not your computer is acting complacent enough to get you to an AM2 setup. If you can wait the 3-4 odd months it is going to take for people to get board benchmarks and tests done with the AM2 stuff then you should go that route. If you do go that way you will also need new memory as well. If you decide NOT to wait for an AM2 setup then get a 7900GTX because it is just a better option at this point in time.

[Tek-Almighty]

So two questions :

1. What other games besides UT do you play?

2. What kind of "funny things" are you seeing right now?

 

 

1) Well, UT is really the only multi- I play...

 

Single player, I play Half-Life 2, quake 4, COD2...

 

I would like to start playing oblivion and Crysis when it comes out. I know that right now the GTX and the X1900XTX are the only cards that can even stand up under the severe abuse that games like Oblivion deal out at high res...

 

2) Funny things, such as sudden freezes, screen resizing constantly and spontaneously, sudden drops in framerates (I've documented this with benchmarks) and "static" on screen during game play. That kind of weird stuff.

 

 

Cobalt...

 

You know, AM2 really isn't even an option for me now, because 1 year ago I put $400 into the Athlon 4000+ and I just upgraded to 4 GB of OCZ platinum Ram (2 GB of which I cannot use until Vista debuts). I just saw some early benchmarking of the new AM2 based Athlon 5000+ and even DDR2 800 came in below DDR 400 because of the higher latency. I really think it will be another 2 years before DDR2 and DDR3 surpass DDR. By that time I will be ready for a new MOBO etc...

 

I just would like to stick with the socket 939 for now, because my CPU is 1 year old and works really well (@OC it is just as fast as FX-55).

 

So I suppose question is: spend the extra cash on the GTX or save $200 and apply that elsewhere down the line...I suppose the option to upgrade to SLI is always open (actually, I will do SLI probably 8-10 months after buying)...I know that games based on Unreal 3 will take a heckuva lotta horsepower...

 

Thanks for input...keep it comin.

[Preacher]

i like option 1 personally. not a big fan of sli. then do a big overhaul and possibly add a second gtx on the eve of vista in jan 2k6.

 

Well Jan 2006 was 5 months ago lol

 

My thought would be to go option one. Personally I like my ATI X1900XTX much better than the 7900gtx I built for a guy. It just seams to have cleaner graphics IMO. I have the x1900xtx with the Asus a8n32 MVP board. It's almost the same money and if you are going expensive anyway ATI>GF and after 64 days it's been almost hassle free for me.

 

Edited May 26, 2006 by Preacher

[Cujo]

lol sorry i meant 2k7.

 

anyway, lol i'm still laughing at 4gigs. i'm a pretty hardcore user and 2gigs is enough for me. i can't imagine what it would take to use 4gigs. btw, winxp will recognize up to around 3gigs just fine so could throw all 4gigs in if you want. you'd get less performance though having to drop to 2t though.

 

honestly guys, when ut 2k7 comes out a 7900gtx or x1900xtx probably won't be enough to play it in it's glory. by next fall the next gen from both companies will be out. look at oblivion now. it barely plays on a 1900.

[Unclean]

honestly guys, when ut 2k7 comes out a 7900gtx or x1900xtx probably won't be enough to play it in it's glory. by next fall the next gen from both companies will be out. look at oblivion now. it barely plays on a 1900.

Right on... this is the exact reason why I have $800 earmarked for a November upgrade. Still torn on the PhysX card though.

[Preacher]

I play oblivion on full everything without a hitch so I'm not sure what you mean. So far there isn't a game out there that has even turned my video cards fan up.

[Cujo]

preacher, based on reviews, i don't believe you.

 

what res are we talking about anyway?

 

just a link to prove my point:

 

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html...W50aHVzaWFzdA==

 

i don't consider 1280x1024 with no aa and a min of 25/avg 36 "full everything without a hitch". yes, your cpu is a dual core but dual core provides about 10% improvement (http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2747&p=3). they're using crossfire and still getting a min of 25fps with your cpu.

 

edit - just checked your system in the sticky and i see you have a 19inch lcd. that means you're stuck at 1280x1024. i can believe you run everything full but i'm sure your fan spins up. it's the same heatsink as what's on my card and mine spins up in cs:s. though i run 1600x1200 with everything full so maybe that stresses it a bit more. if you're vid card fan isn't spinning up it means your cpu isn't fast enough to make your vid card run at it's fullest potential.

Edited May 26, 2006 by Cujo

[Tek-Almighty]

lol sorry i meant 2k7.

 

anyway, lol i'm still laughing at 4gigs. i'm a pretty hardcore user and 2gigs is enough for me. i can't imagine what it would take to use 4gigs. btw, winxp will recognize up to around 3gigs just fine so could throw all 4gigs in if you want. you'd get less performance though having to drop to 2t though.

 

honestly guys, when ut 2k7 comes out a 7900gtx or x1900xtx probably won't be enough to play it in it's glory. by next fall the next gen from both companies will be out. look at oblivion now. it barely plays on a 1900.

 

Yeah, like I said...I got the other 2 gig for a steal and since RAM prices are going up, I figured I would hedge my bets for Vista and get the 4 gig now. I tried to run 4 sticks of 1 gb DDR and no matter what it resulted in slowdowns in ALL my benchmarks...Too bad, eh? XP is the teh big suxors, as far as I'm concerned (see other threads in this topic for cobalt and I remarking on that.)

 

Yeah, Preacher (I def respect you and all) but I've read about 12 reviews of gpu's and cpu's benchmarked with Oblivion and the outdoor segments deal some serious pain to high-end graphics cards (1600 x 1200 with 4x AA and 8x AF)...The marks I saw were in the 20's and 30's for high end cards and in the 30's and 40's for SLI/Crossfire rigs. As well, I would like to say that I started as an ATI guy, but the adaptability of nVidia won me over. That said, the AVIVO technology on the new X1000 series is the real deal...rich saturated colors, and great fluidity in video form...

 

However, considering going to dual card graphics, from personal and anecdotal evidence, nVidia wins dual graphics hands down.

[Cujo]

you're going to get the same slowdowns with xp and vista. it's the hardware not the software that causes that. it's an issue of the memory controllers on the amd cpus.

 

xp is a great operating system. just because 6 years ago, when it was developed and released, no one had more then a gig, doesn't make it a bad operating system.

 

i wouldn't say nvidia wins dual gfx hands down as ati currently has the fastest single and dual card performance. sli is just a more refined architecture and is more easily implimented.

[Tek-Almighty]

you're going to get the same slowdowns with xp and vista. it's the hardware not the software that causes that. it's an issue of the memory controllers on the amd cpus.

 

xp is a great operating system. just because 6 years ago, when it was developed and released, no one had more then a gig, doesn't make it a bad operating system.

 

i wouldn't say nvidia wins dual gfx hands down as ati currently has the fastest single and dual card performance. sli is just a more refined architecture and is more easily implimented.

 

 

Well, I don't wanna start the whole debate ATI vs. nVidia, b/c it's not worth it. However, I will say that I've done a ton of reasearch into these cards...and depending on game and AA and AF settings the top cards perform differently. ATI wins sometimes and nVidia others. For instance:

 

Tom's hardware on two top cards using diff benchmarks and real world

 

Here's another

 

And another

 

More (with Oblivion, for PREACHER!)

 

I would like to note that in Crossfire setup with two cards, you have to disable one in the drivers to watch video, then get both back in it for gaming. You don't have to do that with nVidia. The latest MaximumPC mag also talked about some weird driver issues with both cards on some benchmarks...

 

Hmmm...well who's to say?

Edited May 27, 2006 by Tek-Almighty

[Cujo]

i believe you only have to disable it to watch tv in/out. watching videos on a windows desktop off your hard drive shouldn't be a problem. at least you don't have to reboot to enable/disable crossfire like you do sli.

 

as those articles all say it's pretty tough to call a winner so i'd nod towards ati for their monthly drivers and better image quality. ati also seems to make their gpus more future proof. when my x1800xt came out it was neck in neck with a 7800gtx. now it's clearly ahead of the 7900gt which is a slightly faster gtx and with my bios flash it's basically equal to a x1900xt. i'm betting in future games the ati card will take you further.

 

main thing to do when buying a vid card is read all the reviews that have the games you play in them because nvidia is good at some and ati is good at others.

Edited May 27, 2006 by Cujo

[Tek-Almighty]

main thing to do when buying a vid card is read all the reviews that have the games you play in them because nvidia is good at some and ati is good at others.

 

 

I could not have said it better myself...

[Dingy]

 

 

main thing to do when buying a vid card is read all the reviews that have the games you play in them because nvidia is good at some and ati is good at others.

 

 

I could not have said it better myself...

Or better yet, ask yourself "what do I really want to do"? At a minimum build around your requirements, and splurge if you want (and can affordi it).

 

Granted, it is neat to blow the socks off of everyone else, but how often will all the bells and whistles be used? Too many people out there (and I work with one) have to be on the bleeding edge, and then complain on how expensive it was - just so that something was a little bit faster.... Something to keep in mind anyway.

 

Of course, it would be nice to build a future-proof PC, but the way technology changes it can be hard - especially with graphics cards.

 

Just some of the many things we have to go through to have fun killing each other

[dragonfly]

 

 

main thing to do when buying a vid card is read all the reviews that have the games you play in them because nvidia is good at some and ati is good at others.

 

 

I could not have said it better myself...

Or better yet, ask yourself "what do I really want to do"? At a minimum build around your requirements, and splurge if you want (and can affordi it).

 

Granted, it is neat to blow the socks off of everyone else, but how often will all the bells and whistles be used? Too many people out there (and I work with one) have to be on the bleeding edge, and then complain on how expensive it was - just so that something was a little bit faster.... Something to keep in mind anyway.

 

Of course, it would be nice to build a future-proof PC, but the way technology changes it can be hard - especially with graphics cards.

 

Just some of the many things we have to go through to have fun killing each other

 

Yeah... You have to, at some point, just pick a point of technology and run with that. Then's the tricky part: be content with what you're settled on once you get it, because most of the world doenst even have food to eat let alone a pc Though, we should not feel guilty for having one, but rather simply enjoy what we're blessed with.

[dwEEziL]

Yeah... You have to, at some point, just pick a point of technology and run with that. Then's the tricky part: be content with what you're settled on once you get it, because most of the world doenst even have food to eat let alone a pc Though, we should not feel guilty for having one, but rather simply enjoy what we're blessed with.

Why would people eat a pc?

[Tek-Almighty]

Interesting comment.

 

I certainly agree....and please don't get me wrong...It's not like I sit around for hours everyday and obsess over pc parts.

 

I am certainly interested in what parts best do the job they're intended for.

 

I know all about how most of the world lives. I'm a public school teacher and introduce children to the fact that 80% of the world doesn't live like us...I've built refugee housing in foreign lands and lived on the edge of scrimping because I don't believe in rampant consumerism. BUT...I do believe in buying something that lasts and is worth all the sacrifice. So...thus the reason for the thread...

[Dingy]

Interesting comment.

 

I certainly agree....and please don't get me wrong...It's not like I sit around for hours everyday and obsess over pc parts.

 

I am certainly interested in what parts best do the job they're intended for.

 

I know all about how most of the world lives. I'm a public school teacher and introduce children to the fact that 80% of the world doesn't live like us...I've built refugee housing in foreign lands and lived on the edge of scrimping because I don't believe in rampant consumerism. BUT...I do believe in buying something that lasts and is worth all the sacrifice. So...thus the reason for the thread...

Hit the moving target is always a fun game to play, isn't it (and I'm not talking UT2K4 Tek ) ?

 

You make a very good point, and one I'm sure that many people neglect in their race for the "bestest".

I agree wholeheartedly about building something that lasts - and this is even more of a problem when

you need to balance your addiction (gaming is, isn't it?) with using the PC for other things (like work).

 

I remember the pain that I went through to upgrade last time, and don't plan on doing that for a long time

(other than adding additional disk space). The hard part is building a mcahine that balances price and

performance. It is a challenge, especially since everything is such consumer-driven and people are proud

of how much money they spend.

 

BTW - if anyone wants, I can make you a deal on an 8086-based system with one of the "special"

coprocessors (don't remember if it was a Wytek). The machine may still run - and probably has

an old copy of Turbo C installed on it!

[dragonfly]

Yeah... You have to, at some point, just pick a point of technology and run with that. Then's the tricky part: be content with what you're settled on once you get it, because most of the world doenst even have food to eat let alone a pc Though, we should not feel guilty for having one, but rather simply enjoy what we're blessed with.

Why would people eat a pc?

ha

 

 

touche

[Tek-Almighty]

Well, today, tired of waiting for better deals and rational thought...I bit the bullet.

 

Placed my newegg order today for

 

Asus A8N32-SLI deluxe motherboard

 

and

 

eVGA 7900 GT KO superclocked

 

I figure this combo will get me by for another 2 years of gaming...hopefully. I suppose, If something really scary happens in gameland, I can always find another 7900GT and upgrade to SLI...or perhaps there will be a better, cheaper, single card solution by then...

 

eh...whatever...

 

I figure I got the best bang for the buck, as the 7900 GT superclocked is pretty close to same speeds as the GTX but it is only $299 as opposed to $489 or $500 for GTX or for X1900 XTX

Edited June 5, 2006 by Tek-Almighty

[Cujo]

cool, now overclock that cpu!

[Tek-Almighty]

cool, now overclock that cpu!

 

done and done...

 

I'm already OC'ing on my Asus A8V, and it is running very stable at a 10% OC. So effectively I have my 2.4 ghz Athlon 4000+ running at about 2.6 ghz, so that is as fast as the FX-55. I've found that Asus boards are great for the OC...I suppose it helps that my sys runs pretty cool b/c of my case and my CPU hsf.

 

I will post some benchmarks once I get it all up and running by the end of the week. Unfortunately, I'll be out of the UT2K4 game for a couple days until it is all running stable.