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Zantham · 04-22-08, 11:12 PM

bert8for3 you might want to also check out www.ncix.com, they are also a Canadian distributer, and quite often cheaper than Tigerdirect. For example:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...550&CatId=1826
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...anufacture=XFX

I believe they will pricematch also.

I agree with avoid active cooling on the motherboard. Even if the fan is replaceable, you may not find out it needs replacing until your motherboard no longer works because its northbridge overheated.

There is no issues with dropping an ATI card on an nVidia board, nor putting an nVidia card on an Intel chipset board. The issue comes in when you try to add a second video card. You cannot Crossfire an nVidia board, nor can you SLI an Intel-chipset board. There may be exceptions, but I'm not aware of them.

The GeForce 8800 series: 8800GT comes in 256, 512, 1GB versions. Best bang for buck of the 8800's I think. Unless you plan to run 1920x1200 or higher, or heavy antialiasing, these cards are affordable and fast.

GeForce 8800GTS has undergone some revisions. Earlier ones were inferior to the 8800GT and came in 320MB and 640MB versions. Newer ones use the newer GPU core, and I think come in 512MB version. Others can chip in here.

GeForce 8800GTX 768MB is a strong card, mine plays SH4 at 2560x1600 with the high-res Pacific environment mod enabled, and never drops below 30fps (usually well over 60fps). Has been somewhat replaced by the GeForce 8800 Ultra.

GeForce 8800 Ultra is essentially an overclocked GTX. There was no redesign done to the GTX except very minor ones. The Ultra was to replace the GTX, but you can still get GTX's all over the place. Some earlier Ultra's had serious problems with heat.

GeForce 9800GTX: bears little semblance to the 8800GTX, is more equivalent to an 8800GT in terms of comparative product performance. A person with an 8800GTX would not really wish to upgrade to a 9800GTX generally.

Currently the fastest video card out is the GeForce 9800 GX2. The closest ATI has is the HD3870x2, which is a bit slower, and a lot cheaper.

Processors: very little currently will get full use out of a quad core CPU. SH3 never exceeds 50% total CPU use on my system, which basically means it only uses the equivalent of 2 cores. The general consensus right now is its better to spend the same oney on a faster dual core than a slower quad core. Of course, if you have software that can take full advantage of quad core, then that changes things. Also, the quad core will be more futureproof, as you can be certain that software makers will start making their software compatible with multiple cores. The question being... by the time games come out that require quad core, will a current quad be fast enough?

The Core 2 Quad q6600 has been replaced now with the more efficient Q9xxx series. These are built on 45nm process so should run cooler, and if you really want to, should overclock better. Also has more cache memory (6MB instead of 4MB) and a faster FSB, besides running at 2.5GHz compared to 2.4GHz (q6600 vs q9300).
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ufacture=Intel

ATI x1650 is old news. You want at minimum a midrange HD2xxx series card, or a HD3xxx series card. You can get a HD3850 512MB card for under $200CDN now.

04-22-08, 11:12 PM	#20
Zantham 中国水兵 Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 283 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 1	bert8for3 you might want to also check out www.ncix.com, they are also a Canadian distributer, and quite often cheaper than Tigerdirect. For example: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...550&CatId=1826 http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...anufacture=XFX I believe they will pricematch also. I agree with avoid active cooling on the motherboard. Even if the fan is replaceable, you may not find out it needs replacing until your motherboard no longer works because its northbridge overheated. There is no issues with dropping an ATI card on an nVidia board, nor putting an nVidia card on an Intel chipset board. The issue comes in when you try to add a second video card. You cannot Crossfire an nVidia board, nor can you SLI an Intel-chipset board. There may be exceptions, but I'm not aware of them. The GeForce 8800 series: 8800GT comes in 256, 512, 1GB versions. Best bang for buck of the 8800's I think. Unless you plan to run 1920x1200 or higher, or heavy antialiasing, these cards are affordable and fast. GeForce 8800GTS has undergone some revisions. Earlier ones were inferior to the 8800GT and came in 320MB and 640MB versions. Newer ones use the newer GPU core, and I think come in 512MB version. Others can chip in here. GeForce 8800GTX 768MB is a strong card, mine plays SH4 at 2560x1600 with the high-res Pacific environment mod enabled, and never drops below 30fps (usually well over 60fps). Has been somewhat replaced by the GeForce 8800 Ultra. GeForce 8800 Ultra is essentially an overclocked GTX. There was no redesign done to the GTX except very minor ones. The Ultra was to replace the GTX, but you can still get GTX's all over the place. Some earlier Ultra's had serious problems with heat. GeForce 9800GTX: bears little semblance to the 8800GTX, is more equivalent to an 8800GT in terms of comparative product performance. A person with an 8800GTX would not really wish to upgrade to a 9800GTX generally. Currently the fastest video card out is the GeForce 9800 GX2. The closest ATI has is the HD3870x2, which is a bit slower, and a lot cheaper. Processors: very little currently will get full use out of a quad core CPU. SH3 never exceeds 50% total CPU use on my system, which basically means it only uses the equivalent of 2 cores. The general consensus right now is its better to spend the same oney on a faster dual core than a slower quad core. Of course, if you have software that can take full advantage of quad core, then that changes things. Also, the quad core will be more futureproof, as you can be certain that software makers will start making their software compatible with multiple cores. The question being... by the time games come out that require quad core, will a current quad be fast enough? The Core 2 Quad q6600 has been replaced now with the more efficient Q9xxx series. These are built on 45nm process so should run cooler, and if you really want to, should overclock better. Also has more cache memory (6MB instead of 4MB) and a faster FSB, besides running at 2.5GHz compared to 2.4GHz (q6600 vs q9300). http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ufacture=Intel ATI x1650 is old news. You want at minimum a midrange HD2xxx series card, or a HD3xxx series card. You can get a HD3850 512MB card for under $200CDN now.