[tuesdaysgone06]

thank you for your reply. i would really like to have a card that is great for my big monitor so i wouldnt mind waiting till the 9800GX2 came out but one thing i would fear is that i would not be able to find it in stock anywhere... or have to pay more for it because of the whole being out of stock thing. that would suck. so is there a card either by itself or being run in SLi that would match the higher resolution quality of the new cards coming out?

[Advertisements]

thank you for your reply. i would really like to have a card that is great for my big monitor so i wouldnt mind waiting till the 9800GX2 came out but one thing i would fear is that i would not be able to find it in stock anywhere... or have to pay more for it because of the whole being out of stock thing. that would suck. so is there a card either by itself or being run in SLi that would match the higher resolution quality of the new cards coming out?

That's the price you pay for being on the leading edge of technology
If you wanted to build now, I'd go with the HD3870x2, if you have time to wait, the next GPU from nVidia would be an option as well. Keep in mind it could be as far as a month away.
Below is what you should expect on high in DX10 on the HD3870X2.
http://www.hardwarec...-review-10.html
Keep in mind the drivers are still in beat so performance can only improve from here.
James

[james_8970]

thank you for your reply. i would really like to have a card that is great for my big monitor so i wouldnt mind waiting till the 9800GX2 came out but one thing i would fear is that i would not be able to find it in stock anywhere... or have to pay more for it because of the whole being out of stock thing. that would suck. so is there a card either by itself or being run in SLi that would match the higher resolution quality of the new cards coming out?

That's the price you pay for being on the leading edge of technology
If you wanted to build now, I'd go with the HD3870x2, if you have time to wait, the next GPU from nVidia would be an option as well. Keep in mind it could be as far as a month away.
Below is what you should expect on high in DX10 on the HD3870X2.
http://www.hardwarec...-review-10.html
Keep in mind the drivers are still in beat so performance can only improve from here.
James

[tuesdaysgone06]

yes i would totally go for the hd3870x2 except for the fact that i wouldnt have the correct motherboard right? wouldnt i have to get another motherboard if i were going to switch GPUs? i know it might be sounding like a pain, i am just trying to get my first computer built right, you know? i appreciate your help.

[james_8970]

Any motherboard will work, however it you ever wanted to run it in crossfire you'd need a crossfire enabled motherboard (and a quality, high voltage PSU).
To be honest, the P35 and X38 chipset motherboards are better then the 680i/780i boards.
James

Edited by james_8970, 28 January 2008 - 05:52 PM.

[stettybet0]

To be honest, the P35 and X38 chipset motherboards are better then the 680i/780i boards.

Fact or opinion James? You're making my 680i feel bad... To make it feel better I have to crank up my E6750's FSB up to 2000mhz to remind it how well its northbridge handles extreme OCing.

[james_8970]

SATA controller is known to break.
Memory controller is known to die prematurely.
It has terrible support for quads, unless you have the A1 revision from Evga.
It doesn't support the 45nm quad cores at all.
Northbridge runs very hot and has a tendency of becoming unstable because of which.
FSB holes.

So many people have had so many issues with these boards that they have given up and gone to Intel's chipsets. Intel's chipsets are far more superior in many ways. The 680i chipset is known to be "rushed to the market" and from what it appears right now the 780i is just the 680i with the a new south bridge for PCIe 2.0 support. Till this board is on the market for 6 months, we really won't know if a revised 680i or a 680i with PCIe 2.0 support. I have already heard about numerous issues about the north bridge on the 780i overheating. Then again you hear more about the bad then the good.
These boards aren't terrible, though I would take a Intel chipset over a nVidia chipset at this time.

If I really wanted to I'm sure I could up my FSB to 500MHz but at this point I have no need too. However I'd likely have to remove two of my sticks of RAM, as would you.
The only issue I have with my motherboard is a vDroop issue, but that's my motherboards fault not the chipsets. It's also something I plan on fixing in the near future with a mod (hoprefully it doesn't go wrong ).
James

Edited by james_8970, 28 January 2008 - 11:59 PM.

[tuesdaysgone06]

lol, so if i had a 780i mobo, and the hd3870x2 card then would i be able to do everything with that card (OCing and stuff) just the same as if i had the X38 mobo? like is there any conflict with this card and the 780i/680i chipset?

[james_8970]

lol, so if i had a 780i mobo, and the hd3870x2 card then would i be able to do everything with that card (OCing and stuff) just the same as if i had the X38 mobo? like is there any conflict with this card and the 780i/680i chipset?

None at all. I would suggest getting a x38 motherboard though considering they are cheaper and easier to find then the 780i at the moment.
Also, if you ever plan on crossfiring this card, then you'll need a x38 motherboard (and a quality 750W PSU).
James

[tuesdaysgone06]

i already ordered the 780i a couple days ago, i thought i would give it a shot. i have a 800W PSU, so i think i am good when it comes to that. i dont figure i would have to crossfire this card would i? seeing that it's 1GB and all that, and then if i ever decided to go with nvidia then i could do it. i mean since you can only crossfire the HD3870X2 with an HD3870X2 and that would be overkill correct? woulndt one of these be fine enough to keep for a while without having to have another one, or another card to repalce it anyway?

[james_8970]

To be honest, you can never have enough GPU power. Though keep in mind going the SLI/crossfire route your performance/$ drops significanty. Currently 1 HD3870X2 should be enough to play Crysis on high and playable settings (at your specified resolution) as well as other games. Will it be enough in the future? Of course not.
Remember nVidia is releasing a dual card solution next month, which might be worth considering as well. Though as it stands, if you need to build a computer ASAP, I'd go with the HD3870X2.
What PSU did you purchase?
James

[tuesdaysgone06]

i got the ABS Tagan http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817814014

also why does doing things in sli and crossfire lower performance? and how long do you figure the HD3870x2 would last, like i guess until it became outdated.

[reconman]

also why does doing things in sli and crossfire lower performance? and how long do you figure the HD3870x2 would last, like i guess until it became outdated.

It will lower overall performance of your computer because it requires more power to operate both cards at the same time. Of course, this all depends on your hardware. Better hardware means lower overall performance drops.

As far as becoming outdated, I consider most graphics cards to be outdated as soon as they hit the market. Especially now, it seems like as soon as a new card comes out from Nvidia or ATi there's one that's slightly better in a few months then there's a card that comes out with in the next 6 - 12 months that completely blows away the previous card(s). As long as it can run games that are out now, you'll be fine. Games aren't really going to get more performance heavy than Crysis for a year and a half or so (at least that's what I think).

[Seltox]

You should be fine playing games in a year or two on the current cards, but you'll be dropping the performance lower and lower with every new game (going from like large resolutions to low resolutions, and playing with detail and stuff on low rather than high).

[james_8970]

also why does doing things in sli and crossfire lower performance? and how long do you figure the HD3870x2 would last, like i guess until it became outdated.

It will lower overall performance of your computer because it requires more power to operate both cards at the same time.

Um, no
I said it'll lower your performance per dollar as crossfire and SLI does not yeild the 100% gain most people think it should.

and how long do you figure the HD3870x2 would last, like i guess until it became outdated.

It'll be outdated in 1 month I predict. The hard itself should play games for the next 2-3 years (though not on high settings), afterwards it'll begin to have difficulty.
James

[Seltox]

I'm running an OLD nVidia GeForce FX 5200 256mb, and I can still run games like Company of Heroes (lowest resolutions and graphics settings to get a playable framerate though).

New cards are being released all the time, but they don't offer a HUGE HUGE performance boost that will make all the games after it jump ahead so quickly that you'll be left behind. Upgrading your video card every 1-2 years is all that is required to stay up to date with games.