Which GPU to pick?Post Date: 2008-04-01 |
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Pablo 
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 Topic: Which GPU to pick?Posted: 01 Apr 2008 at 4:29pm |
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Hi everyone,
I'm having a hard time deciding on a graphics card set up. I've got a 19in monitor on my current desktop by I have 27in that I'm thinking about hooking up when I place my order & get a new rig. So, I'm not sure what set up would be best: 9800 GX2 2 x 9800 GTXs or is it worth spending the money on 2 x 9800 GX2s? I do play games on my current rig but I've stayed away from good looking games because my little ATI x1300 can't do very much.  Any input would be most appreciated! |
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Thx
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Joined: 29 Mar 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 13 |
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Posted: 01 Apr 2008 at 4:49pm |
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One gtx would be more than enough for a 19inch, because the sli in the gx2 and the sli'd gtx's only show there power in the high rez areas. Its really a persinall preference, but i would say gtx's/
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SunfighterLC
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Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1527 |
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Posted: 01 Apr 2008 at 5:03pm |
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27 inch eh? Sounds like a hanns G. SLI really starts to take effect on larger resolutions. 1600x whatever and up is a good starting zone to where SLI usually starts to get used a lot. Make sure you play your games in that size, otherwise for the most part your just doing some major overkill in the GPU department, and you wont see much improvement in your frame rates over a single card.
Pros of the 9800GTX:
Cheap.
Slightly faster then a 8800GTS 512
Seems to have a nice cooling system on it it stays fairly cool.
Cons:
Power usage is a bit high
Loud fan according to tomshardware. Almost as loud as a 3870X2.
Read up some reviews on it and see if you exactly need the latest and greatest. for the most part, an 8800 card will still give you some milage, and with the 9800s coming out now, i expect all of them to drop a bit in price over the next few weeks, but we will see on that point.
Now the GX2s Compared to a single 9800GTX they are faster, but vs 9800GTX SLi i can almost guarentee it will be slightly slower, by how much yet, im not totally sure. Keep in mind though that a duel 9800GTX set up will cost more then a single GX2. The difference right now on DS is 102 bucks. Which isnt anything to sneeze at. But if you do plan on getting a GX2, and you want to improve to a second one later, youll need at the very least a 1000W Silverstone strider or higher power supply in your system. Then again, youll need that as well for going triple 9800GTX, maybe even more.
Id wait a bit to find some 9800GTX SLI vs GX2 comparisions to see whether id think itd be worth the extra 102 bucks..
Also keep in mind this point too...the GTX has a much better cooling system on it. In this link below you can see that the GX2 runs EXTREMELY hot for idle speeds, and as another negative the venting port on the back of it is too small, so a lot of that heat gets sent back into your case, baking everything....god knows what 2 of them doing that would do to a case. Though if you notice the strange effect of it under load, its actually cooler then some of the 8800 Cards. So im not sure what to make of that or if its a problem at all. Would a SLI 8800GTS have a higher in case temp then a GX2? Or would its better venting mean its temps, while higher wouldnt leak as much into the case? Thats something ive been curious about. So maybe the whole heat temps is a mute point, but i still think the venting issue is the real problem, and Not the fact it runs hot while idle.
Edited by SunfighterLC - 01 Apr 2008 at 5:17pm |
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Pablo
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Posted: 01 Apr 2008 at 5:22pm |
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Thanks for the feedback, guys.
Yeah, 27in...honestly it's a bit too big to use as a monitor IMO, but I do want something bigger than my 19in. I know I'll end up getting a 22in or maybe a 24in so I can play at higher resolutions. I have read reviews on both cards but I haven't found one that compares the 9800 GTX in SLI to a single 9800 GX2 yet so I'm still undecided. I'm leaning towards getting the 9800 GX2 then getting another later on. How easy or difficult is it to add another card in down the road? Is it just a matter of putting the card in the PCI slot, connecting the SLI bridge & updating drivers? |
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skyR
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Digital Storm Apprentice 
Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2220 |
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Posted: 01 Apr 2008 at 5:45pm |
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http://guru3d.com/article/Videocards/518/
^ is one of many that compares SLI GTX to GX2. Yep it's quite easy to add another card by yourself. You just take it out of the box and insert it into the PCI-E slot, hook up the power cables and screw it down. |
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SunfighterLC
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Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1527 |
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Posted: 01 Apr 2008 at 5:45pm |
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I have a 27.5 from best buy Hanns G, got it for 439.99 since it was a diplay model and it had one stuck pixil that I fixed when i got it home, its a great monitor, but its built extremely bare bones, so if your a monitor freak that likes to tweek with yours and stuff, dont bother with this thing. Its color quality is average to good. Its way way too bright out of the box, i have it running at 10 (1-100 scale) and its still too bright. It also has some serious light bleeding going on, so games that are very dark like bioshock dont look too great as the dark areas get a strange kinda of sheen to them, but im not a complete color nazi so I dont let it bug me too much. Text is extremely good though, its scales well with the resolution changes.
Here is a 9800GTX review with the GX2 in the benchmarks as well.
Keep in mind the resolutions youll be playing at usually.
Also take note that quad SLI (2 GX2s) is EXTREMELY buggy right now. Sometimes the gameplay will slow to a crawl for no reason at all, and the performance will fall to a point where even single cards of the 8800's will beat it, so for something that could run possibely over 1000 bucks, youd be pissed if that happens. Im hoping that its just driver issues that will be ironed out sometime in the future, but who knows.
Here is a link to a Quad SLI review where you can see the bug in action, where the performance in the graphs is extremely spikey and at times below the speed of a SLI 8800GTX.
Edit: Thanks for the SLI 9800 GTX review, i was looking for one of those  (kinda strange their test system was only a 680I mobo though, and another thing, why do they always wrap the GPUs in black? Doesnt the color black hold in heat better then say...white? lol)Edited by SunfighterLC - 01 Apr 2008 at 5:57pm |
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SunfighterLC
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Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1527 |
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Posted: 01 Apr 2008 at 6:09pm |
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Im actually pretty impressed with the performance of the single GX2 in that 9800GTX SLI review SkyR. 102 bucks cheaper, yet its only at most 1-5FPS behind a SLI 9800GTX, and sometimes in the lead at resolutions i plan to play on (1900x1200).
So either the 9800GTX SLI is below what I expected, or the GX2 is better then i thought. Still has that heat issue though. Though it could be the damn 680I mobo they are using.
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Pablo
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Posted: 01 Apr 2008 at 7:34pm |
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Yeah, after reading those reviews, I think I'll go with the single GX2 & add another later on if need be. & hey, It's 100 bucks cheaper than than the 2 x 9800 GTXs!
I'm not so worried about the heat, I have a feeling Stage 3 air cooling should be enough.  Thank you kindly for the links & the feedback! |
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