New build dilemma.

Hmm. I'm going to read some reviews of the two cards and see which one I think would be more suitable for me. One issue I have is the idea of going SLi/CrossFire in the future. Is it really worth having two high-end graphics cards? Is there anything that would get full use from them?

Well, put it this way. The HD 4870, which is cheaper, consistently outperforms it.

It also features DX10.1 support and is a reasonable 9.5" long, compared to the 10.5" GTX 260. So it will be much more likely to fit in your case.

Anyways, back to the original question. As your not overclocking, I'd say go with the Phenom. Simply because I think the 790FX motherboards are better than anything you can get for the Q6700.

Oh, right. Thanks :)

On a side-note, how do the two processors perform in comparison to one another?
 
How much better are we talking here? Because I've always been wary of ATi cards, seeing as both of the ones I had previously ended up dying rather quickly. Ever since, I've stuck to the nVidia side of the fence. :/

I'm willing to try something different provided I know that it's not going to be dodgy. The Sapphire cards are supposed to be good, aren't they?
I know how you feel. I had two ATi products and for both of them, they had absolutely crappy drivers, and bad support of their products. I could hardly find the drivers for my TV tuner. :( I know someone who has the 4870 though, and he is happy with it.
 
I know how you feel. I had two ATi products and for both of them, they had absolutely crappy drivers, and bad support of their products. I could hardly find the drivers for my TV tuner. :( I know someone who has the 4870 though, and he is happy with it.
Meh, I had an X1950 PRO, and I never had any problems with it, I think I've had more driver issues with my 8800GT. I hate the way we have to go through all of Nvidia's beta drivers to find the one with the best performance. Whereas at least ATi put out a certified driver every month without fail, no beta testing on the consumer.
Hmm. I'm going to read some reviews of the two cards
Here's a good review: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341
Anandtech are a very trustworthy site and they do the benchmarking the right way.
On a side-note, how do the two processors perform in comparison to one another?
Review
Unfortunatly, the Q6700 isn't benchmarked, but you can count on it's performance being slightly better than the Q6600's. In other words, pretty much the same as the 9950's.
 
I know how you feel. I had two ATi products and for both of them, they had absolutely crappy drivers, and bad support of their products. I could hardly find the drivers for my TV tuner. :( I know someone who has the 4870 though, and he is happy with it.

Has he mentioned what the power consumption and heat production is like? Because at the moment, my 9600GT doesn't even break fifty degrees when I'm playing Crysis on High for hours on end, and it only takes up one PCI-E plug.
 
^
I have not ask or heard him talk about it, but I can ask him next time I see him (Tomorrow night).

worshipme said:
Meh, I had an X1950 PRO, and I never had any problems with it, I think I've had more driver issues with my 8800GT. I hate the way we have to go through all of Nvidia's beta drivers to find the one with the best performance. Whereas at least ATi put out a certified driver every month without fail, no beta testing on the consumer.
They changed their ways then, because when I was dealing with them, their drivers were made by chimps or something.
 
^
I have not ask or heard him talk about it, but I can ask him next time I see him (Tomorrow night).

They changed their ways then, because when I was dealing with them, their drivers were made by chimps or something.
I think it was something like a couple of years ago, AMD/ATi made a promise to release new WHQL certified drivers every month.
 
^
I have not ask or heard him talk about it, but I can ask him next time I see him (Tomorrow night).

Alright, thanks. :)

Denthúl said:
Hmm. I'm going to read some reviews of the two cards and see which one I think would be more suitable for me. One issue I have is the idea of going SLi/CrossFire in the future. Is it really worth having two high-end graphics cards? Is there anything that would get full use from them?

Could somebody answer that? I've never really looked in to either technology in any detail, to be honest.
 
Well, in my honest opinion, SLi and crossfire is not worth it. You usually get a 40% boost by the second card, and only a handful of games fully utilize it. The ones that do it will probably make a much more noticeable difference, but you still are going to be paying a lot for two cards.

Not only that, but you also have to consider upgrading your power supply, motherboard (if it does not have two cards and support one or the other), and cooling.

All in all, that is a lot of extra money. Chances are your single high end card will do the job.
 
Fair enough, thanks. Like I said, the motherboard is there waiting and is essentially free of charge (I just have to take my old board in and leave it there as a spare). Likewise, the PSU (Hiper Type R 530w) is there, but from reading things I have realised that I would need something more than that to power more than one of any of these cards.

So really, I'd just have to buy a new PSU and the additional card. But then we're talking nearly £300 extra. I think £180 for a graphics card is quite enough cost-wise, to be honest :p
 
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