Which card for my rig, please help me !!!

therubble · 13 Jul 2007 at 09:35

Im currently looking to get an new dx10 gfx card, either the 8800 GTS or and 2900 XT.

I got a 3800 x2 with 3 gig ram, whats the best bet with what I got, im completly undecided and not sure what to do.

paradigm · 13 Jul 2007 at 09:40

What resolution do you play at?

I currently run a 3800+ X2 with an HD2900XT, and to be honest the CPU is the bottleneck of the system (upgrading to C2D today).

EDIT: That's not to say that my system is slow by any stretch of the imagination. I would link you to my 3DMark06 result, but the ORB seems to be down. I get just over 9100 3DMarks at the moment.

melbourne720 · 13 Jul 2007 at 09:49

For that system, depending on res, an 8800 GTS 320MB would do the job nicely.

paradigm · 13 Jul 2007 at 09:57

melbourne720 said:
For that system, depending on res, an 8800 GTS 320MB would do the job nicely.

As would the 2900XT :confused:

Mr Paul · 13 Jul 2007 at 10:25

Depends on your PSU, if you have 30A or over on the 12v rail go for the HD2900XT if you have under 30A get a 8800GTS.

therubble · 13 Jul 2007 at 10:25

I do plan on upgrading / overclocking the CPU as well as for the res that I play at initially it will be 1280*1024 until I get my new monitor and then 1650 * 1050. If that helps anyone with there advice?

I was told that getting a card with anything less than 512 would probably hinder me in the newer games on the horizon. Don't know if that is true?

therubble · 13 Jul 2007 at 10:26

Mr Paul said:
Depends on your PSU, if you have 30A or over on the 12v rail go for the HD2900XT if you have under 30A get a 8800GTS.

I got a 580 watt hiper PSU if that helps at all?

jaykay · 13 Jul 2007 at 10:41

That can run a 2900xt.

paradigm · 13 Jul 2007 at 10:41

therubble said:
I got a 580 watt hiper PSU if that helps at all?

Get that replaced first off. Terrible, terrible PSU. I really liked mine till it died

I wouldn't trust it to run either card reliably.

therubble · 13 Jul 2007 at 11:10

That's something that I'm going to address when I update the rest of the system. In vista whats the best card atm?

LoadsaMoney · 13 Jul 2007 at 11:57

Have a look through this A64 performance review with the GTS here , Doesn't look to bad considering the 3800+ would be quite a bottleneck, id imagine the 2900 would probably be about the same, but either the 2900 or the GTS would do as they both top cards, and your Hiper would power either fine, Tom|Nbk's powering his 2900 on the same PSU with no problems at all.

paradigm · 13 Jul 2007 at 13:18

therubble said:
That's something that I'm going to address when I update the rest of the system. In vista whats the best card atm?

At the moment vista performance is greater with ATi than nVidia, but remember that this may not always be the case. I'm more than happy with the performance of my x2 3800+ and HD 2900XT in vista, only reason I'm moving to C2D is because I fancy a change.

It may just be coincidence, but my Hiper Type-R was 100% stable UNTIL I got the HD 2900XT, then within two weeks, it was dead.

melbourne720 · 13 Jul 2007 at 13:56

paradigm said:
As would the 2900XT

My thinking being the CPU bottleneck might nullify the advantages of a faster card such as the 2900 - a 3800 and a 8800 GTS 320MB being a good match.

therubble · 13 Jul 2007 at 15:27

Looks like a 2900 for me then. Perhaps another PSU as well althought this one is only 6 - 8 months old.

I'll O/C the nuts off the 3800 as well should make for a relatively good setup I hope.

paradigm · 13 Jul 2007 at 15:38

Your 3800+ should 2500MHz with ease, mine will do 2750MHz with a bit of extra voltage (not in vista though :confused:

)

therubble · 15 Jul 2007 at 20:38

whats the best way to O/C what's safe temps? New to all this.

vairo · 15 Jul 2007 at 21:33

Go for 8800 GTS 320

therubble · 16 Jul 2007 at 08:10

vairo said:
Go for 8800 GTS 320

Just brought the ATI card

paradigm · 16 Jul 2007 at 08:55

therubble said:
Just brought the ATI card

Where did you bring it from?

therubble · 16 Jul 2007 at 09:49

paradigm said:
Where did you bring it from?

OCUK Brought the 512 Meg PowerColor, hope I got a good one!