Help choosing Video Card...

[OTSS]

Alright so I am purchasing a second computer for gaming only and I need help choosing a video card without destroying my wallet. Alright so first off I am going to be using the computer for games like bioshock and Unreal Tournament 3. I am also going to get all the big shooter and RPG games.

Ok so here is my set up so far.
Case = Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gamer Case
Power Supply = Antec TruePower Trio 650W
Processor = AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Black Edition w/ 2x1MB Cache
CPU Fan = Zalman CNPS7500-AlCu LED Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
RAM = OCZ 2GB PC2-6400 Gold Gamer eXtreme XTC Edition (2 sets for 4GB total)
Hard Drive = Seagate 500GB

Alright so I am stuck with the video card and the motherboard to go along with it.

Alright well first question is SLI in x16 x16 mode alot better than x8 x8 mode?(there is like a $100 price difference in motherboards)

Second one is would buying 2 cheaper cards in SLI mode better than buying 1 really good card?(Again would affect my motherboard choice)

I use www.memoryexpress.com as my supplier because it is local and has a very good warranty. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

PS. Just a quick easy question about RAM. Which is better 4-4-4-15 timing or 5-5-5-12?

 

[sek3o1]

firstly i would get the 16 by 16 if you have the money its superior and will be future proof

i would get the better card then sli it in the future usualy 1 high end card is better then two low or mid grade cards

idk bout the ram timings

 

[esa193]

get the 16 by 16 deff
and lets say your getting to 6800 in sli or one
7300 in that case the 2 6800 would preforum better but thats becouse the cards are so close but if your widing the game go for the one more powerfull card (this dosnt apply to dx10 cards) like if your choosing to 8600 or 1 8800 you get the 8800

 

[OTSS]

Alright so if I understood correctly. If I am buying 2 older cards it would be better to sli 2 lesser power cards rather than buy a midrange card? and if I am buying new cards it would be better to buy 1 top end card rather than 2 slightly less powerful?(1 8800 is better than 2 8600) is that correct?

Alright so I found eVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDTV-Out for $389.95 CDN

Would that be better than getting 2 eVGA e-GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDTV-Out for a total of $339.90 CDN

Also still same question about the RAM and timings.

Also Forgot 1 last question when I SLI 2 cards do they have to be the exact same card? or someone just explain what can happen with 2 different cards

 

[sek3o1]

no they dont have to be the same exact card like they have to be 2 8800 gts or 7600 but they can be from diff companies they will run at the slower cards clocked speeds however................i would get the one 8800 gts then later on add another one,i think the 2 8600 would have a slight edge over the 8800 but only marginal.

 

[OTSS]

oh ok so SLI 2 cards would be same as running 2 different frequency RAM.
I think I will do that then around christmas or new year the price of the 8800 will drop enough to buy a second one for a decent price. So anyone know about the RAM timings then?

 

[esa193]

do what i do
instead of wasting money with sli
just keep buy a better gpu

 

[sek3o1]

i like my sli setup even though i agree with you if you can afford to upgrade ure gpu every so often it would be better there now coming out with the 9 series of cards so if you get the 8 and a powerful game came out u could get the 9 series......................they change too much i think lol...........to be a real gamer these days u need loads of money.

 

[Rudster8161]

getting 1 card gives you much better performance, SLI doesnt even come close to doubling your performance, if you want to do it though get 2 ATI cards, Crossfire is much better, offers much better performance when using 2 vid cards

for example to 2900's beat 2 8800GTX's. simply because of the difference in SLI and Crossfire technolgy. stand alone the cards are far off, the nvidia being better.