Hey guys. I have been a member here for quite some time and I am in need of some advice.

I have just sold my 7800gt's for $150 each and I am woundering if I should get a 8800gts or a 8800gtx. I have been reading and have stumbled upon many people saying that my current CPU will bottleneck these cards.

I have an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ @ 2.2ghz. It is watercooled and running on an ASUS A8N32-SLI motherboard. I also have 2GB of DDR400 ram that I have had for quite some time now.

The help that I need is should I just buy the 8800 series and use my current CPU and MB and RAM or should I sell the CPU, MB, and RAM. Now I run my own computer business so selling these parts will be easy. I could probably get around $450 for my CPU,MB, and RAM. Or would I be just fine getting the 8800 and sticking with my good old AMD and ASUS.

What would you guys do? I am willing to go Intel or AMD right now. I was actually looking at an E6600 and the eVGA 680i SLi motherboard for intel and some GSkill DDR2-800 Ram.

Let me know I need to know quick so I can sell what needs to be sold to my eager customers.

~Tim (a.k.a. HouseOfBugs)

Your computer is already better than most others...i'd keep it if I had it, core 2 duo is an option also but I dont think you'll be seeing a dramatic increase in speed...as for the video cards the 8800gtx out performs the 8800gts, so if you've got the money id get the gtx...

Most games these days depend more on the graphics card than the CPU anyway, so I'd leave it 6-8 months and see what's around then.

Give it a couple of months to see what the 680i motherboards are going to do. Abit's will ship after the first of the year and DFI should be out soon as well. That way you won't get "early adopter regret" if a much better board comes out. A lot of stuff is going to be timed to hit the shelves during or just after CES in January.

Even if you can sell your current board for decent cash, switching to Conroe isn't cheap. Especially with the price of DDR2 right now. But if you have the cash, it is definitely the way to go right now.

Ok so I have two guys saying different things. So first off how much should I sell my CPU, MB, and RAM for? Second here are the parts from NewEgg.com that I was looking at getting:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor - Retail

Either of these ram
Newegg.com - GeIL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

EVGA Nvidia 680i MB
Newegg.com - EVGA 122-CK-NF68-AR ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

I have the money to go with the 8800gtx but not if I need to upgrade my CPU, MB, and RAM. Will going to that core 2 duo really make much of a difference? Tomshardware shows that it has a gain on my chip. But in the real world will it matter?

But if I do need to sell my CPU, MB, and RAM I can get $600 for all of them.

~Tim

Holy crap. TomsHardware had just what I was looking for. Check out these other benchmarks when they used a Intel Conroe X6800 and when they used the Athlon 64 FX-60.

GeForce 8800 Needs The Fastest CPU | Tom's Hardware



~Tim

Make sure you get a really good PSU for the gtx. I am going sli on those bad boys in a few months, and they are power hungry....

Quote: Originally Posted by raydub Make sure you get a really good PSU for the gtx. I am going sli on those bad boys in a few months, and they are power hungry....

I ended up just getting the 8800GTS after talking with EVGA and XFX they told me that I will get past GTX speeds with the GTS when properly OC'ed. I have a 680Watt PSU right now so I am fine.

I also sold my MB, CPU, and RAM for $600. So I am getting a Core 2 Duo E6600 with a 680i MB.

Quote: Originally Posted by houseofbugs I ended up just getting the 8800GTS after talking with EVGA and XFX they told me that I will get past GTX speeds with the GTS when properly OC'ed. I have a 680Watt PSU right now so I am fine. I also sold my MB, CPU, and RAM for $600. So I am getting a Core 2 Duo E6600 with a 680i MB.

ASUS P5N32-E SLI Motherboard all the way. Built one for my uncle, one of the best. I didn't overclock anything on it, but it's pretty solid. But I can't wait for the new DFI boards to come out.

Quote: Originally Posted by raydub ASUS P5N32-E SLI Motherboard all the way. Built one for my uncle, one of the best. I didn't overclock anything on it, but it's pretty solid. But I can't wait for the new DFI boards to come out.

I was looking at one of the ASUS boards with the 590 chipset. What is the best board for the E6600? I am water cooling it so there will be overclocking involved. My 8800GTS comes today. And I am selling my other 7800gt today. Next week my CPU, MB, and RAM and going. So I need to get the best board. Just I am not spending more than $250 on a MB again. LOL Long story.

What is the best 775 motherboard? SLI would be nice but i am probably going to stick with one 8800gts as SLI does have it quirks.

~Tim

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Most games these days depend more on the graphics card than the CPU anyway, so I'd leave it 6-8 months and see what's around then.

I disagree.

Source engine.