Ok so I am building a new rig finally and I had a few questions. I am upgrading from agp to pci-e, so I find myself attempting to compare apples and oranges. What I am hoping to do is run sli but I don't know what the performance ratings are versus price. I am hoping to keep the pair of cards under $300 if thats at all possible. So far my system specs (the pieces I have already) are.

AMD opteron 146
Dfi nf4 sli-dr expert
WD 250 gb sata2 hard drive
Antec truepower II 550watt.

Memory is gonna be 2 gig of either the corsair xms or the g-skill extreme(haven't decided yet)


What I am attempting to beat in performance is my old 9800pro in my current system. I obviously don't want to take a step backwards but also can't afford the latest and greatest cards.

Please also throw in some ati options if you think something from their line outperforms the nvidia cards as a single card versus one or two of the geforces. Thanks much for any help you can give.

VF1000ride

Dont go Sli with cheap cards ,instead spand your money on a single sli compatable card like a 7600 or 7800 series card ,and buy a second later on as money permits.
you'll thank yourself later...

wish I would have done the same ,cause id be running a pair of 6800Gt's instead .

You'd have to pay around $350, but you could get dual 7600GT's. They are really damn good cards for the price. You could get a pair of 7600GS's for under $250, but those things would suck in comparison (only DDR2 memory, YUCK!).

Your best bet would be to pick up a single 7900GT. It'll play high-res gaming better than dual 7600's (256-bit memory interface, twice the pixel pipelines), and then you can add another one and have one sick SLI system. That is what I would recommend over dual 7600's.

Well, thats kinda what I was curious about. Newegg has the 6800 extreme reasonably cheap right now and I could afford a pair easily under 300 bucks. I didn't know if something like that could keep up with a single 7900gt card or if the 7900 would run better.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150130 6800extreme
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150139 7900gt

I may just save up for another paycheck and spring for the 7900gt.

i have one bfg 7900 gt oc and all i got to say is its nucking futs. It's was worth every penny it plays every game so nice and crisp and soo pimp it all rdy has a nice copper cooling on it to. So yeah if you can get a 7900 i like i am sure you will too it. Plays fear, far cry, black and white2, half life 2, and cs's i have not tryed bf 2 yet all tho i want that game. all tho the only card better then it right now wold be the 7900 with 512 of mem or the 1900xtx

6800 "Xtreme" = 6800XT = 6800LE with GDDR3 memory (the original 6800LE had GDDR1).

Now if you'll remember, people coveted the 6800LE because it cost less than or about the same as a 6600GT, but was unlockable to run nearly as fast as a full 6800 or 6800GT (depending on card). The 6800XT isn't unlockable like the 6800LE was.

I was considering a single 7600GS as a replacement for a 6800LE which bit the big one, cos it was fanless and comparable in speed, but then realised that on my budget, the PCI-E mainboards available to support said 7600GS were sucktacular.

Hak Foo is absolutely right...the 6800XT really, really sucks.

6800XT: 8 pipes @ 350Mhz core.
7900GT: 24 pipes @ 520Mhz core (plus more texture units, pixel shader processors, ROP's, better memory, cooler manufacturing process...should I go on?).

I know this would kill the purpose of having an SLI board, but the ATI X1900GT (256MB) looks pretty tasty for 350$


Radeon X1900 XTX 650 MHz 1.55 GHz 48/ 8
Radeon X1900 XT 625 MHz 1.45 GHz 48/8
Radeon X1900 CrossFire Edition 625 MHz 1.45 GHz 48/ 8
Radeon X1900 GT 575 MHz 1.2 GHz 36/ 8

http://www.pricewatch.com/video_cards/991995-1.htm

Or for a true 512MB card the X1800XT still moves the pixels quickly for 329$

http://www.pricewatch.com/video_cards/829252-1.htm


You can see how they all stack up, just choose the bench to compare em' below

http://www.tomshardware.com/site/vgacharts/index.html

Also see

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/05/...de_2006_part3/

Hak Foo and Ator, thanks for the call on that one. Looks kinda like I may be leaning towards the 7900gt I linked to. It has the best performance of what newegg caries for just under 300 bucks.

$SOLID$ Necro, Thanks for the input on those couple ATI cards. They are just over what I was looking to spend on one. I know 20-30 bucks isn't a huge amount but the vid card is gonna push me over my budget on this build as it is and I still don't have memory for it yet.

NP, I think the 7900GT would be the best choice also, but I had not seen anyone lay the ATI cards on the table...I wanted to be sure you had looked at all the options

There are a few other lower priced ATI options but nothing that compares directly with the NVIDA, especially given the SLI option too add another card down the road!