Have been planning on buying a 7800gtx, now considering a x1900xt...

C

Chaos_Being

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 26, 2005
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173
Ok folks, here is my dilemma. I'm going to be building a new pc soon. I alraedy have the processor on hand, an Opty 165. My plan for a while now was to get a SLI-capable motherboard and a 7800gtx (256 version.) I would run it single-card for now, and hopefully add on another 7800gtx later in SLI.

I hadn't even looked at ATI's newest until very recently. I admit that I have preferred Nvidia stuff in the past. However, the x1900xt is looking pretty nice too. It looks like I can get one for ~$50 more than the 7800gtx, and it outperforms the other one as well in a single card vs. single card situation by a pretty good margin. SLI'ed 7800gtx's of course beat it, x1900xt crossfired are similar to the SLI setup. The only review that I could find that actually compared these two cards in single and duo modes was this one: http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q...00/index.x?pg=1

Here's the kicker though. Current crossfire motherboards for AMD suck and there's no way I'd buy any of them now from what I've read about them, while there are plenty of very nice SLI boards to choose from. I don't even know if I would be able to afford two video cards for a SLI/Crossfire setup anytime soon, but I'd like to have the option to do so if I wanted to. If I was to choose the ATI card, I'd have to get another new motherboard for it later if I chose to go crossfire (assuming that better crossfire boards will be released,) or just stick with upgrading to another single card later. Another option would be to go ahead and get a SLI board anyways, and maybe upgrade to two Nvidia cards much later. If I go Nvidia, I can just get a good SLI board now and stick with it.

The x1900xt is definitely tempting because of its high single-card benchmarks...and although this is minor, I also like the heatsink design (because it dumps heat out of the case.) However I want max upgradability out of this new pc, and for that reason (among others) SLI really appeals to me. Then again, SLI is more expensive in the long run. I'm hoping to use this pc for a while (therefore current overkill would be a good thing)- honestly I'd probably still be happy with my current pc if not for the fact that it is using AGP, and I no longer have a good video upgrade path. I don't feel that the cpu (a 2.4c @ 3.3) is all that "slow" yet, but my 6800gt is.

Indecisive, aren't I?

As far as my monitor goes, at the moment I have a Viewsonic G90fb (19",) with a max resolution of 1600x1200. I am going to want to go larger sometime in the soon-ish future, probably to one of the 24" Dell widscreen LCD's. So the ability to game in high resolution is going to be a must (which is why I have been considering SLI/Crossfire in the first place.)


So I guess the question boils down to, should I go with a SLI board and a 7800gtx (with the plan to SLI later,) or a regular nforce4 board (or even a SLI board anyways) and a x1900xt (and have to swap mobo's later if I decide to go crossfire.) I've checked out nforce4 ultra boards and I hate the layout of pretty much all of them which is a drawback...even if I were to go ATI, I"d probably still have to get a SLI board to get the sort of layout/functionality I want, lol.

Of course, the 7900 is also coming out pretty soon, but spending ~$500 on a video card is already stretching the amount of money I can stand to spend on a single component. I'm guessing that the 7900 will cost more than a x1900xt.
 
Wow, well, uhmm.. I have never personally considered sli/crossfire a valid upgrade path for me.. I mean.. If I have a 6600gt I would not buy a second one at this point and run sli.. I would sell the 6600 for whatever I could get out of it and buy the best single card I could afford.. But your wants may be different..

IMO sli/cf is for people that want/can afford the absolute fastest, or upgrade to sli/cf in less than 6 months from the purchase of the first card.. But, if you are buying this with the intention that it serve you well for gaming for a year or more then sli/cf is not really your best route.. The newer single cards would be nearly as fast or faster than your sli setup a year later.. For the $500 you stated I would buy the fastest single card solution I could find.. Also, if you buy a non sli/cf pci-e mobo you have saved from $20 to as much as $70 which you can put toward a better cpu, gpu, ram etc..

But if you really want the sli/cf option then I believe NV is the way to go at this point.. CF is not mature enough for me, and as you said the mobos are not quite as good.. Single card, I would go with the 1900xt and a non sli nforce mobo from asus or dfi.. Just my opinion..

edited for lousy spelling :D
 
Get a X1900XT now and just replace the motherboard when the R580 boards are released. Crossfire boards are much cheaper than SLI boards so money isn't a big thing.

Spend as much as you can on the CPU as these new GPU's are CPU hungry (4800+ minimum).
 
I'm sorta in the same situation as you. I already purchased everything for a new computer (including an opty 165 like yourself) except the motherboard and video card. The reason I haven't purchased the MB and video card is because the RD580 (ATI's next crossfire chipset) is going to be released in a week or two to my understanding. If I were you, I'd wait to see how the new crossfire chipset / boards performs before making a purchase. If the new crossfire boards are better than the old ones, then you can get that X1900XT without worry. This is assuming you don't need to finish building the computer in the next week or two.
 
Here's my take on SLI. It's not an upgrade path. People think that if they buy one card now, they can upgrade to a second one in 6 months for the added performance boost... That is, IF the exact manufacturer and revision card is still available. SLI is damned picky about boards and bioses, afaik. The other thing to consider is that in 6 months to a year, both ATi and nVidia will have new graphics card lines out, with rasta-shading IV for really cool looking dreadlocks and whatever else, and you'll want to get those features, not another one of a card you already have.

My advice? Unless you can afford 2 of whatever you're putting in your computer, forget SLI. Buy the best you can afford, and when you upgrade, sell off your old one and buy the best single card you can afford again. Just my 2 bits.
 
You know, the more I think about it, the more I start to think that perhaps a single card would be the best for me as of now. I doubt that I would be able to snag two high-end cards from the get-go, and it would be several months before I could get a second one most likely. Therefore, the x1900xt is starting to look pretty darn good.

However, that is interesting that the new crossfire mobo's are coming out soon, I wasn't aware of that. Either way, I'm not building this rig *right now,* within a month is more likely. Suffice to say I'll be watching what is coming out closely, both crossfire boards (now that I know they are coming out soon,) as well as the 7900 series.

Of course that leaves me with the choice of mobo, which is a whole other story. I'm eyeing some boards by Epox (both nforce 4 ultra and nforce 4 SLI, I still like the layout of the SLI boards better,) as well as the Asus A8N-SLI Premium. I had ruled out the A8N a while ago because of reports of so-so overclockabiltiy, but I keep coming back to it because the heatpipe chipsink appeals to me so much (I'm aiming for a quiet setup.) Whatever can push my 165 to 2.6 will work for me.
 
I already have a cpu anyways, an opty 165. I'm hoping to get it up to 2.6ghz for a cheap fx-60 :D
 
actually with the newest drivers from nvidia, sli isn't picky anymore, you can run any card with any card so long as its the same model.
 
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