It's time to upgrade! (possibly)

[Sedako]

First of all, I have a couple of questions. I'm looking into overhauling my PC sometime soon - new processor, ram, vid card and the likes. Now, my dilemma is in choosing a new Nvidia video card(s). My after narrowing it all down, I decided on going SLI with 2x XFX 7900 GTX. After looking around some more, I stumbled upon the Gigabyte 7950 dual GPU card. My first question is: which would give me a better overall performance, the SLI setup or a lone 7950?

Also, is it a good idea to upgrade now, or wait for the DX10 cards to come out? I have no clue how long from now they will be released, and i'd rather not waste money on something when a significant upgrade could be just around the corner.

 

[The Brick]

The main thing you want to wait for is the new CPUs coming out this month. The AMD cpu prices will drop about 50% and there is a very interesting new intel cpu coming up (Core 2 duo E6600, it beats the fx-62 and will be about $320). About the graphics, don't buy two of those 7950 GX2 cards. That would mean a quad SLI setup and there are no working drivers for that yet. Also, do note that you are spending alot of money (too much IMO) on GPU power. When the dx10 cards come out and you do want one, you'll be sorry that you spent $700 on graphics cards 6 months earlier.

 

[Sedako]

I wasn't planning on buying two 7950s, but rather either one of those or SLI 7900 GTX's. I agree that two 7950's would be over doing it a bit much. As for the processor you speak of, $320 for a top of the line cpu? Or is that the price of the lowest possible speed available?

 

[The Brick]

No it's not a joke. Here is the thread about it. Details on the prices are posted by Asus, reply nr 25.
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=107378

Edit: To the point benchmark http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/intel_core_conroe_benchmarks/?www.dailytech.com

 

[Warbie]

Aye, wait for the conroe's to come out. I've my heart set on a 6600 (but may wait till Vista is released and see what's about)

 

[The Brick]

Conroe is set to be released July 23rd and the AMD price drop is the day after, July 24th. Wait for atleast somewhere in august. Then there should also be a few nice motherboards with the new Intel chipset.

 

[Naudian]

SLI would give you better performance than the one 7950.

But, unless your current system is crap, don't bother right now, wait for dx10.

 

[Sedako]

Is there any info on intel's new processor concerning load temps vs AMD? That's one of my concerns, as I like to OC. Intel's chips tend to run a little warm.

 

[The Brick]

Is there any info on intel's new processor concerning load temps vs AMD? That's one of my concerns, as I like to OC. Intel's chips tend to run a little warm.

The NDA expired today and the reviews are flushing the internet.
This is the review you want to read for performance.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/intel_core_2_performance/default.asp

This is what you want to read for overclocking.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=18


Because the cpu is based on 65nm architechture, it takes less power to operate and allows for more overclocking. They also made this serie to have more operations per clockcylcle, thus saving more power. These processors are really power effecient and therefore don't produce as much heat as the previous pentium D cpus. The E6600 is the cpu you want to get.

 

[Sedako]

Yeah, i've been on top of the conroe since you first told me about it, thank you for the links though. Not sure if i'll wait for a couple revisions or try and get one as soon as the 23rd though.

Where can I get one of these Tuniq Towers?