1 Smokin card or 2 average cards?

[pwrhungry]

For SLI I cannont figure out which would be bettero for gamming. Would I be better of getting (1) 7950 GX2 1024MB vid cadr or (2) 7900 GT 256MB vid cards?

At what point if any is it better to go 1 over the 2? If I did get the 7950 no I would not be adding another later. I would stay as it was built the first time.

[jlreich]

I am thinking the 7950 GX2 is the way to go. In looking at some of the benchmarks the GX2 can do considerably better at higher resolutions than other cards.

A lot of the specs between one GX2 and two 7900GT's are similar and they use the same GPU/s. But in my opinion I would prefer to have it all on one card. Less things to go wrong than with SLI.

I will be honest and say I am not really sure about this, so you should probably wait to see if Saphalline can shed some light on the subject.

[TopChip7]

What size screen do you play your games on and at what resolution?

[saphalline]

It does depend on your screen real estate. If you have an LCD monitor that can go up to 1280 x 1024 max, then high end SLI is overkill. Then again, the performance difference between a single 7950 GX2 and two 7900 GT's in SLI is negligible. The 7950 GX2 has slightly higher core clocks (500MHz vs 450MHz) but the 7900 GT's have slightly higher RAM clocks (1320MHz vs 1200MHz). Of course, these are the stock clock speeds, so they may be moot for both. However, a factory OC'ed 7950 GX2 is expensive, and can't compete with factory OC'ed 7900 GT's for a much lesser price.

eVGA has a factory OC'ed 7900 GT (model # 256-P2-N584-AR) with core/RAM clocks of 500/1500. Granted two 7900 GT's in SLI have less RAM than a 7950 GX2 (256MB vs 512MB) but I don't anticipate that being a huge problem for a long time. DX10 and Vista will have to be released before 256MB is not enough for vid cards. And when that happens, we'll all have to upgrade again anyways since DX10 and Vista are rumoured to be an exclusive couple and not backwards compatible. At the very least, everyone will need to upgrade to a DX10 part for the geometric shading alone.

So if you don't have a 20"+ widescreen display right now, I'd recommend saving some cash and getting two factory OC'ed 7900 GT's in SLI. That gives you a budget boost for the DX10/Vista combo later.

[TopChip7]

Saphalline certainly knows his stuff.

It's also worth pointing out that by purchasing just ONE 7900GT now you can try it out for a fraction of the price of buying 2 x 7900GT SLi or 1 x 7950GX2 - it may just be good enough for you in which case you've saved a small fortune.

If then in say 6 months time you wish to add another 7900GT, the price very well may have dropped (especially after DX10 has come out) and that will save you a few quid too.

[pwrhungry]

Thanks for the info.

ATM I have the Viewsonic 19" VX922. When I upgrade my computer I am highly debating on going with the 24" from dell (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-4335).

I will be upgrading my computer so I dont have to do anything to it for a year+. I have built 2 computer now and from bad parts from newegg, getting things to work together properly or just getting the sys to run as a whole has taken its toll and not worth the headache. I am just going to get a custom one from Falcon, ABS, or somthing and let them deal with the problems. My sanity is worth the extra $400 or so to me.

Should I wait a few months to upgrade for somthing comming out soon specifically? ATM I have the 3500+ Venice and the x850xt video card in my current puter. I could wait a little longer for a computer if it would benifit me.

[saphalline]

Vista, and DX10 by extension, have been constantly delayed for at least a year. At this point, I'm not holding my breath. The DX10 specs aren't even finished yet, and Vista is planned for a September release, but that just makes me laugh! :p I won't mind eating my shorts if they do make it by then (especially if the rumours are true about adding tons of features with Vista's SP1, perhaps even DX10) but I don't see it happening very smoothly if that ends up being the case.

For now, the only new thing in computers that would be worth waiting for is Intel's new Core 2. If you want to wait awhile for Core 2's release to settle down (like 1-2 months) then that would be beneficial. Core 2 pounds A64 into the ground right now (relative to high end tasks) so if you haven't glanced at Intel yet, start leering! AMD has made a name for themselves in the gaming arena for being so much better than the P4 series, but Core 2 turns the tables.

If you're going to buy, go for broke! Go for Falcon and get some serious class with your next purchase. Don't get me wrong - ABS is good, but nothing special to someone who has built 2 computers previously. Falcon is the original boutique assembler. I say buy from them if you can afford it.