Graphics Upgrade

[EnderXi]

Hi Guys,

Would appreciate a little advice from the learned tech heads around here, i have recently purchased a i7 920 D0 cpu with a Asus P6T Deluxe v2 and 6GB of corsair dominator GT ram and am now looking for a graphics upgrade as i can now afford it.

My thoughts are edging towards the Saphire Vapor-X 5870 one for the moment and another to follow later for crossfire, i have a few concerns, should i wait for Fermi (price is an issue i can source these cards much cheaper through my company) £4-500 is too much for me to spend on a single card I am looking to spend about £600 max on 2 cards either crossfire or SLI

Also how much of an impact is not having Phys-X going to be on performance, initially on the 5870 solo and then on a 5870 crossfire, i have a 8800 GTX currently is it possible to run this as a phys-x card only to support the 5870.

Basically what card would you recommend to go with the system i have.

Cheers

 

[bJN]

If you bought a 5870 now I think, not completely sure though, that you could use your 8800GTX as a PhysX card alongside the 5870 for rendering.
A 5870 would be the obvious answer to what card you want to get; but honestly I think it would be better getting a 5850 and then crossfiring it with another one if you feel you need more power because it's cheaper than a 5870 and not far off in performance to be fair

 

[MCH]

yeh i agree with the guy above , just get a 5850 which imo is more than enough to run things well atm and then if you feel its not enough you can xfire or just upgrade to a better card a year down the line etc the price for 5870's dont justify the performance gains imo .

You could go with xfire 5770s which will outperform the 5850 but obviously leave you no room for upgrading (dont think you would need to tho just depends on how much of a bragging rights person you are )

 

[EnderXi]

i can get the 5870's for the same price as the 5850's through my company on their staff discount program so i will probably go for a pair of them eventually.

Looks good and everyone loves abit of braggin rights, my only concern is the physx on how badly that will affect stuff.

 

[MCH]

i can get the 5870's for the same price as the 5850's through my company on their staff discount program so i will probably go for a pair of them eventually.

Looks good and everyone loves abit of braggin rights, my only concern is the physx on how badly that will affect stuff.

if u can get the 5870s that cheap you might aswell go ahead and get a single 5870 and then xfire later on

 

[DavyBoy]

Mate, you aren't going to notice any difference from not having PhysX..

Unless the only games you play are Batman AA and Mirrors Edge!!!

I personally think that an 8800GTX for PhysX only is overkill, a 9600GT is enough from what I've read.

 

['Wes]

Forget about PhysX, honestly.

 

[reflux]

Forget about PhysX, honestly.

This. Nvidia has so far failed to make it any more than a marketing gimmick.

 

[EnderXi]

seems so, shame really cos its a good idea dedicated physics card but if its a gimmick i will take your advice and put in my order for a 5870