gfx brands ?

[Kerith]

currently using a gf 6600 GT (Asus - AGP)

planning on upgrading to SLI and wondering what brands to go for, or which to void (also what model for low-mid price range )

 

[Kerith]

k drawn up overview of the upgrade im gonna go for, opinions/advice would be wicked ^^

mobo: asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4
CPU: Athlon64 3700+ San Diego
HDD: Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ
GFX: Gainward BLISS GF6800 GS (PCI-E)

coming to ~£470

i currently got 2x 512ddr ram so thats not rly too much of an issue atm, but as im gettin new mobo to accomodate new CPU, seems like i have to move away from AGP gfx too.

quite costly considering i first set out just to get new cpu ^^

 

[rah]

gainward is a good choice, they're back to making really good cards

 

[Naffets]

A64 3700 is an uber choice, this is mine

edit: I can push it as hard as 2900 aswell, but only with rly expensive memory that i cant afford atm

 

[confused]

Gainward are my personal fav, and they've got a very good rep for reliabilty etc, other nv makes to go for are XFX and BFG, I hesitate to mention leadtec as they're the only Nvidia producer that i've ever had problems with, though everybody else seems to think they're good

 

[Darzil]

Bear in mind when going for SLi that it won't (apparently) make much difference in Camelot, though it will for some others.

Ran tests on a 7900 GTX SLi setup. Doing 3D Mark benchmarks, there was a 20% benefit for SLi on some benchmarks, 60% on others. I've also seen tests with a 10% penatly for SLi on some games. If you mainly play games which don't benefit much, you'll get a much better benefit from getting a card that is twice the cost, rather than 2 cards in SLi.

Darzil

 

[cHodAX]

A single 7800GT is a much much better option that going SLi with 2x 6800GS. With the 7800GT you will see huge framerate increases in every game, with SLi you will be lucky to see more that 30% increases over a single 6800GS in 75% of games, you will also require a much bigger power supply to run SLi and you will be consuming alot more power so your electric bill is going to take a hit as well. Seriously, as a 6800GT owner myself with an SLi motherboard I can tell you that SLi is really only worth doing if you have...

a) lots of spare cash
b) are going high end SLi, the mid-range just isn't doesn't deliver the best performance for the price
c) have a monster screen that can support resolutions above 1600x1200


Oh, as for brands. I have had 2 BFG 6800GT die on me for different reasons, however BFG set up an RMA really quickly and I had replacement cards with the week. I am not happy the cards died but the actual support was first class.

 

[Tualatin]

XFX really good, overclocks a bit standard.. maybe a bit loud.
ASUS really good,
Club3D good, cheaper then XFX/ASUS

Bottom line, doesn't really matter: All cards are about the same.. maybe some are little bit higher clocked, and others may have more games included with them.

 

[Kerith]

Bear in mind when going for SLi that it won't (apparently) make much difference in Camelot, though it will for some others.

Ran tests on a 7900 GTX SLi setup. Doing 3D Mark benchmarks, there was a 20% benefit for SLi on some benchmarks, 60% on others. I've also seen tests with a 10% penatly for SLi on some games. If you mainly play games which don't benefit much, you'll get a much better benefit from getting a card that is twice the cost, rather than 2 cards in SLi.

Darzil

ye i typo'd when i said SLi meant PCI-E. seems most mobos these days dont support AGP

 

[confused]

Atm it looks asif the Gainward "goes like hell" 7800gt is the top notch one for price while going nvidia