DDR2 800 - 2 gigs enough? vid card options?

[Rocketman9mm]

Hi, Its time for my bi-annual computer upgrade. I built a rig for HL2 and Doom3, which consisted of:

well its in my quote I think


Anyway, i'm upgrading, i'm getting

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Asus P5w DH delux wifi mobo
Thermaltake truepower 700W psu
250 & 500 gb sata hard drives + 2 IDE drives
X-fi platinum edition sound card

my remaining questions lie with my videocard choice and ram choice.

I want to get a BFG brand Geforce 8800 card. Even though my motherboard i'm getting is crossfire ready (damn asus, making my perfect mobo in every other way a damn ati mobo, gpu sli exclusive boards is bullcrap imo). Anyway, I've come at this upgrade with the idea that I'd spend a bit more than usual, but given that I also want to get a Wii and or xbox360, saving some cash would be nice.

Since I can only have one pci-e x16 geforce card, is the performance gains of the GTX over the GTS geforce 8800 worth the $150-$180 dollar price increase? Will I later miss the extra gtx oomf down the road when i can't go geforce SLI. I don't want to wait for ati dx10 cards. though i suppose down the road i could switch if I REALLY want sli. So should i go with a gts and put the difference to a wii/360/ps3? or will I later miss the xtra gtx punch later if i don't get it

I'm not even sure i'll get vista right when it comes out, and also, I wan to have this built before christmas so I can't wait for ATI dx10s. If I were inclined to wait for ATI DX10, what interim card is cheap and more powerful than my current, and unfortunately AGP videocard, BFG Geforce 6800Ultra OC?

My other option is to just get the asus p5n32-sli delux wifi mobo, or maybe a new 680i mobo, which would let me go nvidia sli, but has no second IDE connector for my old hard drives which means (if I don't go for an IDE pci card, which couldn't be used in sli anyway due to sli'ing would cover all but one PCI card which is reserved for my x-fi) possibly buying a 3rd sata drive as well as a huge pain in my rear transfering files.

RAM QUESTION:

Ok, i've mostly narrowed down the ram I'm getting, and it's likely going to be:

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

with the stats of timing: 5-5-5-15, volts 1.8-2.0

according to the new egg reviews its pretty well liked for quality and I like the cost. Anyway, I want to know if I should bother getting four gigs of it versus just the standard two. With the parts i'm going to get, will it make much of a difference, or should I put that cash to other things? I suppose I could try it and order more if I think i need it, but what do you all think?

 

[Aenama]

I was planning on getting one too.But its not worth it right now.Get one around eastern imo.

 

[Rocketman9mm]

one what? wii? dx10 card? and what do you think of my ram question? or if you're referring to dx10 cards, what is a good, cheap interim?

 

[3ssence]

There is no cheap interim dx10 alternative, just the 8800 line. If you wanted a decent card in the meantime, then i'd go with either a X1950 Pro or a 7900GS to tide you over until DX10 cards are more commonplace.

 

[Rocketman9mm]

yeah. I've been reading that its a good card for the price. but that still leads to the part about wasting the cash. plunking down $200 for just an interim card seems like quite a waste. i just want to upgrade now and love the features of a damn crossfire mobo whether i actually use it or not. but the damn SLI mobo's have too few pci & IDE slots and no onboard wifi incase my USB wifi receiver decides to revolt. I guess its just a bad time for me to upgrade. I mean this is all probly irrelevent because there is a very slim chance i'll ever go SLI anyway, but i'm still debating whether the extra cash and pain in the butt is worth having the option to execute that incredibly unlikely possibility.

 

[The Brick]

I think SLI is a worse waste of money than anything. SLI is only good if the fastest card in the world isn't fast enough. Like say, you think the 8800GTX is too slow? Then SLI can give you an extra boost. That, IMO, is the only proper reason to go for an SLI system. It's double the price for a 60% increase (avarage).

Anyway, the RAM looks nice. But it would bottleneck you if you plan on overclocking.

About DX10. The 8800's have proven themselves to perform excellent in DX9, but ATI's DX10 cards are very likely to kick nvidia's buttocks in DX10. If you want to get a very fast DX10 card, you do best by waiting for ATI's cards and perhaps even the second generation of DX10 cards. Those will pack a way higher price/performance ratio, meaning a smaller 'waste of money'.

As a temporary card, the X1950pro is by far the best performer for the price. You can find them for sub $180 and they will sure as hell do fine untill the time is right for the dx10 upgrade.

If you really want a superfast card right now, the 8800GTS would be the best choice. The extra money for the GTX would IMO be worth it (it's really that much faster), but on the other hand it's way too much money to spend on a graphics card. The price for the 8800GTS is pretty much the highest you'll ever want to pay. If that means you can get a Wii or X360 instead, go for the GTS.

 

[Rocketman9mm]

If i go with the x1950pro for now, should i go for the 256mb ram or the 512ram one? i can get the 256 for 200 & the 512 for 270. the extra 70 seems prohibitive for a temp card, but then again i may have it for some time while waiting for ATI DX10, which may be better than nvidia's current ones.

 

[CyberPitz]

My X1800XT seems to suit me just fine for the time being. I'll probably do a full upgrade from DX10...I'd wait personally. Your computer looks quite fine now. There shouldn't be too many games you cant completely max out on. And if you can't max on em, then you're at 90%

 

[Stigmata]

Do you really need 4 gigs of RAM right now, or can you just get 2 gigs now and an extra 2 gigs for cheaper when games need it?

Do you really need an 8800GTX right now, or can you wait until games will actually use DX10?

 

[Rocketman9mm]

Do you really need 4 gigs of RAM right now, or can you just get 2 gigs now and an extra 2 gigs for cheaper when games need it?

Do you really need an 8800GTX right now, or can you wait until games will actually use DX10?

yeah I decided to just go for two gigs to start. And i'm upgrading now, and I'd have to get a new card because my mobo is switching from AGP to PCI-E. Given this, I think Might as well pay for the top card now, which is a great performer now, whether or not dx10 games are out for it, rather than getting a temp $200 card then buying the big expensive beast later anyway.

 

[The Brick]

The $200 x1950pro runs any game out now perfectly fine at high graphics. Same for games soon to come. I don't think you will be disappointed with it. Then you can get a way better DX10 performer for $400 than the 8800 when the time is right.

Btw, no need to get the 512mb version. 256mb is just fine.

 

[phantomdesign]

512mb versions are mostly good for heavy 3D apps - where you have like 5-million poly scenes....which I happen to have, so I'll probably get 512mb version when I upgrade.