upgrading.

[FieryGoose]

I've asked your guy's opinion last time i upgraded and everything worked great so i figured i would ask agian. Last time i upgraded i didn't get a pci-e board or card for money issues, but this time i think im gonna have to. right now i have a neo2-plat. but now i want to either get a msi or asus sli board for 200 or less. I saw a review for the MSI K8N Diamond Plus but i couldn't find it at newegg, what other board are respectively "good"? also im thinking about another vid. card, i'm upgrading from a rad. 9700 so i think even a single 6800gs would be a significant upgrade but im not exactly sure what would be a better buy if im going to eventually go sli. The card needs to be in the 250 or less price range so maybe even a 7800gs or gt... I'm hoping to run ut2007 but i don't know if this will do? all help/comments are greatly apreciated. Thanks.
Update how about this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130277
The only thing about that package is im not familiar with that mobo and if it's made very good in comparision to my neo2-plat.?
Oh, and i forgot to ask, how about dx10, how is all that going to work out is there going to be specific cards that take advantage of it or is a software upgrade the only think needed?

 

[FieryGoose]

bumpidy bump...

 

[Asus]

Microsoft Vista + DX10 card = DX10 graphics

MSI boards are still good. No change there, they are just all around good boards. DFI and Asus boards seem to be more popular now though. Asus has some nice designs with the silently cooled chipset and DFI with the super overclockability. So you pick.

7800GT is the best performance for the money IMO.

 

[FieryGoose]

So will the directx 10 graphics cards be pci-e also or will a new interface be put into the scene? Maybe now's not a good time to upgrade? i will be getting everything by april so vista will not be released nor will directx 10 cards. so will two 7800gt's be good in october or whenever vista comes out? i didn't really want to wait another year but what do you guys think?

 

[Naudian]

Man...everything about your rig now is fine except the 9700...

If I were you, I would buy a kickass AGP card (6800GS/7800GS seem purty good) and then wait year to get a new PCI-E/DX10 setup

 

[Asus]

Well I'm not sure how long they will continue to make AGP cards for the higher priced cards (6800GS). If they have them out when DX10 comes then you might be able to snag one for AGP but I doubt it. Those cards will be on PCI Express for sure.

 

[FieryGoose]

ok, so i've been looking around and it seems to me that i can buy a pci-e mobo and card for the same agp card's price, it seems like a better bet to get a new mobo and mid range card.
Im just wondering if i'm gonna have to upgrade my mobo to handle directx 10? I was thinking about getting the Asus A8n32-sli deluxe. I was also wondering if even though to board is advertised as supporting nvidia's sli if it will work with just a single ati card also, i'm not talking about crossfire? So i was thinking that board and either the x1800xl or the 7800gt, but i'm not quite sure which one would be better for battlefield 2, and hl2 w/hdr, and basically which card is "better" in general, has anyone had any experience with either of these cards and how do you like them?
I'm figuring that when directx 10 comes out i'll just switch out my card, if that mobo will be futureproof. And lastly i'm gonna keep my cpu/heatsink, so do i just pop it out and stick it in my new mobo or is there some stuff i should know, Thanks.:cheers:

 

[Naudian]

Well, thats a good idea I guess.
But the thing is, I've heard about new 939 boards coming out that will support DDR2 ram, which currently only work on Intel chipsets or something like that...
DDR2 can be a lot faster than old DDR...so you might want to look into waiting for some 939 boards that support it.

Unless you can't wait, in which case yes just do your idea and go for a new motherboard that has 1 or 2 PCI-E slots, depending on if you want to SLI or Crossfire...you won't need to upgrade the mobo for DX10 I don't think.
I'd just save money and get a board with only 1 PCIE, as SLI isn't really worth the money yet.

For a PCIE video card, the 7800GT is definitely a great deal for a high end card.
But if you don't want to spend 300+ now, and then 400+ later for a DX10 card, then just get a 6600GT for like 140+.

Do some researching before you buy though!

This is the board I have, it's good so far. Don't know if you can overclock the CPU though...if you're into that.

 

[Asus]

If you are going Socket 939 you will be sticking with DDR memory. Intel is using DDR2 and when AMD switches Sockets they will also be using DDR2. IMO that isn't as important. PCI-Express is pretty important since video cards and upgrading that is important for gaming.

 

[FieryGoose]

If you are going Socket 939 you will be sticking with DDR memory. Intel is using DDR2 and when AMD switches Sockets they will also be using DDR2. IMO that isn't as important. PCI-Express is pretty important since video cards and upgrading that is important for gaming.

So i take it that if i wanted to upgrade to amd's new socket i would not only have to get a new vid. card but a 700 dollar processor, and possible ram? So pretty much i don't want to do a full overhaul i'm just doing a less major upgrade. So the 7800gt is the way to go over the x1800xl, although the x1800xl will work on the asus board non-crossfire, correct?

 

[Naudian]

Yes the 7800GT is a better buy. I should think the x1800XL will work on any PCIE board by itself.


If you have the money:
Get a EVGA 7800GT.
You should look for a Single-PCIE board, rather than a crossfire or SLI one. Something from Asus or DFI should do well. Like mine And if you DID want the option to SLI in the future, then get the SLI version of mine

Just my silly advice though, again, dooooo reeeaaaseaarrrrch....