MY new rig thoughts

[George Hallam]

hey guys,

I am just starting my GCSE's and have been doing alot of studying and so that is one reason why i have not been on here a great deal lately.
But back to the point over summer i will be working again and saving to upgrade my PC, as lately i have noticed it lagging this is also due to the need of formatting but i am waiting to do that.

My budget is as much as i can save and how long i work for (and how much i go out at night ) Also my current specs are as in my Sig

My first upgrade will be my MOBO, because my ye oldie i975x chipset is dated and has very little support aswell as being real bad at OC'ing.
i have chosen the 780i chipset because it can SLI and the previous 680i did very well and has had alot of support.
i have chosen this model the EVGA, i have read through a large amount of reviews on newegg about the Asus formula II but it has bad support for DDR2 1066Mhz aswell as not been that good for its price on the whole. I also dont want to go with a 790i because DDR 3 is very expensive still and the high speeds are not needed.

My second upgrade will be to the Q9450 because it will have massive performance gains over the Q6600 and has double the cache of the Q9300. Also it should (fingers crossed) OC way pass the QX9650 so it will keep me happy for a while.

Now comes my problem, i have the 8800GTX which i still think is a fantastic card but i have noticed it being slowly beaten by other newer cards. My problem is that im not sure what card/cards to get next my choices are

9600Gt x 2 + ATI HD 3450
8800Gt x 2 + ATI HD 3450
8800Gts x2 + ATI HD 3450
9800Gtx x2 + ATI HD 3450
9800GX2

the reason i have the have the ATI HD 3450 is because i have dual monitor set up (one master one slave) and i dont think SLI supports it yet. I am looking towards the 9800Gtx x2 because it has new architecture and is very good on the whole. Can someone help me with my decision or give me some evidence on what i will get from these? thanks

With extra money i have i will buy 4Gb of DDR2 1066Mhz and maybe a soundcard.

any input on my descion will be a help

P.s heartbone what is the 9800GTX like

[Heartborne]

well, if you're already using the 8800 gtx you probably won't notice a big difference. The 9800 gtx performs slightly better at low to medium resolutions and for gaming it tends to shine when antialiasing is turned on.
The main advantages though are that it runs cooler and consumes less power than the 8800gtx, is about $100 cheaper and can be used in SLI setup up to three cards.
My personal experience with it is that I can get away with really pushing high settings on most games without getting bad framerates, so I can't complain there. In most of the graphics tests in 3Dmark06 my framerates stayed at or above 100 fps, except for a couple of times where it dropped to around 60.

If you're going to go with 2-card SLI, your best choice there is obviously the 2 9800 gtx cards. However, that will wind up running you about $700 u.s., something to the tune of 400 british pounds if I'm not mistaken. Also, they take up 2 expansion slots which means that you will be blocking at least 1 of your pci slots. Also you will need a psu with 4 6-pin pci-e connectors.
2x 8800 gt will deliver about the same performance as a 9800 gx2, but will not take up too much space or require a hefty power supply.

I've never heard of being able to install additional video cards without them being part of the SLI setup. Is this something you've done before? Especially different video cards with different drivers. If you want dual monitors, you can simply set that up with even just one video card. All of the cards you mentioned have dual dvi outputs and if you're really desperate you can use a usb to dvi adapter for your second monitor. There is no reason that you can't run a dual monitor setup with just one video card.

[Heartborne]

an additional note on the 9800 gtx... it's long. I would say about 2" longer than the 8800 gtx. Make sure your case has clearance.

[George Hallam]

Also you will need a psu with 4 6-pin pci-e connectors.

that is a problem hmmm. i dont want to go with the 8800Gt because they have about 20% less performance that a 8800GTX so about 26% on a 9800GTX and in SLI i will loose alot. How many 6 pin PCi-e cables does the 8800GTs take?

it's long. I would say about 2" longer than the 8800 gtx. Make sure your case has clearance.

thats fine got a nice big wind tunnel of a case

I've never heard of being able to install additional video cards without them being part of the SLI setup. Is this something you've done before?

nope

Especially different video cards with different drivers.

very good point never thought of that do you think it is possible?

All of the cards you mentioned have dual dvi outputs

i know that but when in SLI apparently you can only use one monitor so it will make the other 3 DVI outputs useless

[Heartborne]

I do not think it is possible to install additional video cards that are not part of a SLI setup. If you really need two monitors, do the SLI and use a usb to dvi adapter.

[Heartborne]

The 8800 gt requires one 6-pin connector, so if you have two connectors you can do the 8800s in SLI or a single 9800 gtx. If you can afford two 9800 gtxs though, why not just go with the 9800 gx2?

[Rick]

I do not think it is possible to install additional video cards that are not part of a SLI setup. If you really need two monitors, do the SLI and use a usb to dvi adapter.

dual video cards is not only possible
It has been done all the way back to the days of dos3.3
Most common was for Cad use
Many people have been using two monitors and two video card for decades

Just a matter of installing the drivers

On SLI with dual DVI ports
As designed it should work with two displays connected to one video card

In games it is more a matter of the Game supporting the two displays
extending the display / playing field across both or just using one

[George Hallam]

why not just go with the 9800 gx2?

hmmm ye a single 9800GX2 might be good

and its cheaper than two 9800GTX's

thanks for that info rick