pedestrian01

I'm looking into buying a new gaming machine for myself. I know pretty much everything I want except for the video card. Right now I can only afford getting either 1 GeForce 768MB 8800 ultra or I can get two 768MB 8800 GTX's running SLI for about the same price. I have absolutely no expeirience running SLI. So I was hoping someone here could give me some insight.

__________________

.....

MagnaCentipede

Looking at a spec sheet, the only difference I see between GTX and GTX-Ultra is an overclock, which is cute but not worth paying for when you can clock it up yourself. Did you mean to say two GTS cards in place of the GTX-Ultra, or are they really charging that high a premium on the Ultra?

__________________

Zoopy

Buy one 8800GTX and then give me the rest of the money.

xTYBALTx

Skip the SLi. I speak from experience. It's buggy and not worth the money.

Get either one 8800GTX or one 8800Ultra.

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

Anospa

Hahah, pedestrian are you trying to waste money on this build?

In all seriousness though, unless you're going high-res, go for a 8800 GTS. The cards out right now are pretty nice, but the prices are absurd, and the Ultra is not worth it, no matter what anyone says, unless you have enough money not to worry about it. Only reason I'd say to grab a GTX/SLI would be if you're playing a pretty high res/want to play latest games on high settings. If I were building a PC right now, I'd probably stick with the same card I have (7900, gets me through everything I play very well on high/max settings @ 1440x900) and save money for the next rollout of cards. Pretty sure the 8900 should be coming out sometime relatively soon. Also consider the 8600 cards, they're pretty comparable to the 7900, maybe a bit less, but still support DX10.

I guess what I'm saying is if you're going for a top of the line system, I'd hold off on the video card a bit for now and treat yourself when they come around again later this year.

__________________

Zoopy

The 8800 Ultra is probably going to be the highest end card for a while. ATI is going for the value middle market, and not releasing an xtx version of the 2900. nVidia does not have a 8900 card, despite the rumours. So the Ultra or GTX should last till the 9XXX nvidia card comes out.

Anything under the 8800GTS 320 is a waste. If you're going with a HUGE monitor (i.e: larger then 1950X1200 ) then go SLI or Ultra. For now the 8800GTX should be fine (and could possibly be overclocked to the Ultra speeds).

Buckets

I have had great experiences with SLi. The Ultra is a huge waste of money and a bit of a fool's purchase. The 2 GTXs in SLi would blow the single Ultra away but honestly, the 8800GTX is so powerful that you might as well just buy one and save the rest of the money for the next generational leap in Graphics cards.

__________________
The artist formerly known as "pecker"

Zoopy

SLi is alright, only some problems I've experienced are:

- Need a better PSU
- Creates more heat
- Creates more noise
- If a game doesn't work with SLI, you gain nothing
- New games need a new profile to use sli.

Other then that it's good, especially with large resolution monitors

stickyjeans69

go with one 8800GTX, unless playing at 2560x1920 resolution, you aren't going to need two. honestly..................

use the money saved towards the next generation cards

Zoopy

The problem with all our suggestions is we have no idea how these cards will perform under DX10 games. I have a 8800GTX and the Lost Planet DX10 demo runs at like 17FPS at max settings.

-=DW=-Hitman

dx 10 games , i'ts to soon ..!

xTYBALTx

Is 2142 DX10? Does DX10 have rockettes?

Then I don't need no stinin' DX10.

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

Anospa

Haha, well said tybalt

Here's my logic: if the top of the line card is only geting mid 20s FPS in a DX10 demo, then why shell the money out for it now if its not as good as what could be coming out and isn't showing the strength it could be. Thats why I say stay current gen. I'm hoping something comes out around the time Crysis rolls around thats a good buy.

__________________

Zoopy

I don't think you should judge solely on a crappy console port with bumpped up graphics... but I guess you can wait for Crysis to see.

Anospa

Was it an actual port?

In any case, I can't see the reason being to get a 8800 to be to get a DX10 card, should be to get an upgrade, etc.

So, Pedestrian, what are you thinking? Wanna hear how it goes/what the rest of the build looks like.

__________________