SuperSteve

So I've been looking for quite a while at upgrading to 64bit and PCIe, and finally got around to it. I'm commiting roughly 800$ to a new motherboard, processor, some RAM, and video card(s). I'm still a highschool student, so I don't have much more money . But, I have picked out a Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 2gb Corsair Valueselect RAM, and an ABIT SLI ready motherboard. My only dilemma is in picking out a videocard. I'm stuck between one XFX GeForce 6800GS, or 2 XFX 6800XT's. Both cards have 256mb of RAM, both are 256bit. The 6800XT has slightly lower clock speeds, but after lots of reading, I know that it is quite the overclocker. I've seen an AGP model of the 6800GS in action with 1.5gb of RAM on an Athlon XP mobile 2600+(?) @ 2.1ghz. It ran all the games I play a lot better than what I am now. I thought about just getting a 7600GT, but I can't afford to add another 100$ to my pricetag. Give me your opinion.

__________________

root: I do it to
steve: OMG
steve: TOO
root: ****ing hell
root: Spelling nazi down! MEDIC!

Go ahead, you know you all envy me, I corrected root's grammar

TychoCelchuuu

Two 3d cards are going to take 1 3d card, take it outside into an alley, and beat it over the head with a lead pipe. The 6800GS is an amazing card, but a SAW is an amazing gun and I wouldn't go up against 2 guys with AK-47s any day of the week no matter how tricked out my SAW is.

__________________
|TG-Irr|TychoCelchuuu

Trooper

direct X10 cards come out this summer, hopefully, id would just go low end for now then upgrade high end when those are released..



..i seem to say that alot in my threads reguarding Video Cards

__________________
that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

SuperSteve

Well, the 6800XT's are actually right at 190$ for 2 after 70$ worth of mail-in's. The GS is 200$, and the issue of new things coming out soon has crossed my mind many times. I'm definately leaning towards the 2 XT's. Hopefully all goes according to plan and I am able to order the stuff soon.

thanks for giving me a second/third opinion guys.

__________________

root: I do it to
steve: OMG
steve: TOO
root: ****ing hell
root: Spelling nazi down! MEDIC!

Go ahead, you know you all envy me, I corrected root's grammar

boudreux

i completely agree with trooper. I would think you are building for the long run, so I would wait and get a Direct X 10 capable card, as they come out in the 2nd half of the year, so you are as capable as can be come Vista time. For now, i would just stick with your current card, or get a lower budget model.

Darkilla

As a note from someone who's done overclocking. Try not to unless you have to. I have my GeForce2 Ti 64meg right now rather heavily overclocked.

Things are not meant to be overclocked. Think of Tim the tool man Taylor. How many times has be blown something up just because he wanted it to be more MAN-LIKE.

As for a card, think for a moment. Do you like Vista? Will you be upgrading to it? Do you see yourself sticking with what you have for a while, or upgrading often? Do you play games that need high end? Or do most of your games run fine on year old cards?

Picking a video card is like buying your girlfriend clothes, so many choices, so many bad bad choices to choose from.

Start off, Nvidia, or ATI. I think your leaning towards Nvidia, which is an honerable choice. They both have ups and downs, which as it turns out seems to come more from teh games, and less from teh cards themselves. Games are being designed for one card or the other (while both will run it, one will do better). Think of hte games you play, and see if they're teamed up with ATI or Nvidia.

Nvidia has some solid cards out. The 6800GT is a great card, hands down. But if you were to save up some money, the 7800GTX blows most things out of the water. Can you afford to wait?

__________________
Ambriento for comm! Vote today!

SuperSteve

I have had lots of experience with overclocking, and will probably purchase some new cooling for whichever card(s) I choose to get, along with some artic silver. I've had my share of bad experiences with overclocking though, fried my Athlon 1600+ that I ran at 1900+ for over a year without heating issues (I attribute it to the fact that I bought it from someone I knew). My friend and I ran a system with an Athlon XP 1400+ that we clocked up to nearly 1.8ghz from 1.4. That just recently fried after years of loyal service running at speeds that were much higher than intended on stock cooling. I don't think I will be upgrading to Vista, from what I have read, I don't like lots of the things being added to it. I'm actually in the process of learning linux (slowly) so that I can use TacOS most likely.

With regards to the games I play, I tend to stick with certain games all of the time. I think that all of them run fine on my POS 6200, and I'm quite alright with running at low settings on games that come out a year from now/2 years from now, because by that time, I will be able to by something better.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention 2 of my favorite OCing experiences. A 5900XT with stock speed something like 350/700 we had at nearly 500/850. That card still runs perfectly fine, and is now in a backup machine . And that 1400+, spent one night getting a real qorkout when we tested its limits. We had been changing the settings to see how we could get the maximum stable preformance, and we had the BIOS post the 1.4ghz CPU at somewhere around 3ghz. I don't think it actually was running at 3ghz, I think it was a fluke, simply because we were changing the multiplier/fsb so much. And with the settings we had, it should have been like, 1.85ghz.

edit: I can't afford to wait, I'm going to be in the water to my parents 530$ if everything goes the way they want it to. I can't afford to wait until they change their minds .

__________________

root: I do it to
steve: OMG
steve: TOO
root: ****ing hell
root: Spelling nazi down! MEDIC!

Go ahead, you know you all envy me, I corrected root's grammar

SuperSteve

My items also changed a bit, I'm getting 2gb Corsair XMS and an MSI motherboard. I'm happy about the motherboard because I've owned MSI before (and currently use one) and they are wonderful products. However, if I find a motherboard that supports 2 x16 slots in SLi, for a similar price, then I will get that.

__________________

root: I do it to
steve: OMG
steve: TOO
root: ****ing hell
root: Spelling nazi down! MEDIC!

Go ahead, you know you all envy me, I corrected root's grammar

TychoCelchuuu

The A8N-SLi mobo from Asus is always a good choice. I concur, though, that if you can just hold out until the DirectX10 cards you'll get more bang for your buck. I'm holding on to my Radeon 9600 until DX10 hits shelves.

__________________
|TG-Irr|TychoCelchuuu

Trooper

Im in the same boat my 9600 wont last much longer, then its upgrade time..darn PCIe

__________________
that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

drew_952

super,
Have you considered waiting for AMD's new socket, the AM2? Here is a quick run-down from anandtech.com

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...oc.aspx?i=2688

SuperSteve

Unfortunately, I cannot wait at all . Also, when AM2 debut's, it will probably be way out of my price range...

__________________

root: I do it to
steve: OMG
steve: TOO
root: ****ing hell
root: Spelling nazi down! MEDIC!

Go ahead, you know you all envy me, I corrected root's grammar

Trooper

Im doing some looking to see when and if Direct x10 cards are gonna be released. Nvidia, which in my view is gonna make some better cards. The 8000 series cards are gonna be about 6-9 months out. From what ive read Direct x10 hasnt been completely written. But Vista wont require only Direct X10 to run, 9 will do just fine, re-re-reading those vista specs and it says 9 is compatable but wont give you the best hardware usage.


So maybe ive been wrong all along but i think its a smart idea to wait for atleast the 8000 series.
more to come as i get it

__________________
that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

xTYBALTx

Or you could upgrade now & upgrade again once Vista comes out - purchase a nice, quick card like the 7900GT, whose price is very reasonable for the performance you get. This gives you plenty of performance and will tide you over 'till DX10 card prices depress to reasonable levels (about 9-15 months from now).

Edit: Just re-read the original post and saw that the 7900GT is above budget. Must've confused 7600GT with 7900GT with first reading. Regardless, I think the same concept applies.

__________________
A policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy. -F.A. Hayek