Graphics card opinion

[tufunuf]

Hello. I am a first time poster.

My grandson is planning on buying a computer and changing out the graphics card with a  - BFG Tech BFGE88512GTSE GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card. Here is the actual link to the card:

Link Edit

He wanted someone's opinion on the card. I know very little about it so I decided to try and help him.

Here are the games he intends to play -
Medal of Honor : Spearhead
Medal of Honor : AirBorne
Call of Duty : 2
Call of Duty : 4
World of Warcraft


He intends to purchase a standard computer (Intel Pentium 4, 2.8 ghz, Dual Core technology - nothing fancy) and upgrade to this graphics card.

I know that I haven't furnished very much information for the answer I am hoping for, but if you can tell me what you think about the graphics card itself, I would really appreciate the help.

Thanks in advance.

Tuf

[Calum]

that's a very good graphics card, in fact it's the best single card you can buy right now, in terms of both performance and price:performance ratio.
However, a P4 CPU will bottleneck that card severely.
If he's spending some serious cash on that graphics card, it's worth saving some more and getting a system to match - a Core 2 Duo CPU and 2Gb of RAM would be good.
Hope this helps.

[tufunuf]

Thanks for the reply to my question.

Can you give me a some more information on the type components that he would need in a computer? It would surely help. I noted the 2 duo CPU and the 2 Gb of RAM. What else does he need to have in a computer to make it as effective with that type graphic card I listed?

Thanks in advance.

Tuf

[elxr06]

1. Check Power Supply. Does it have enough watts to handle the new card?

2. Core 2 Duo processor is good, but AMD X2 is also another good option, depending on price for the exact model you're purchasing.

3. 2GB ram is good if Windows Vista is used. 512MB -1GB is good enough if Windows XP is used.

4. Maybe you want to get 2 lower cards (like 8500GT cards or 8600GT, for example) and use SLI (requires SLI capable motherboard) which may be just as good if you still think the 8800 is on the expensive end, even though the 8800 is reasonably priced given how much power it gives.

[homer]

in order to give accurate information regarding which RAM to buy and which CPU to use, we will need to know the motherboard make/model, or the computers make/model if this is a pre-built PC.

[homer]

Maybe you want to get 2 Geforce 8500 cards and use SLI (requires SLI capable motherboard) which may be cheaper for performance.

absolutely not. two 8500's will not even come close to competing with a 8800 GTS 512mb, but they will, however, be significantly cheaper. you must remember, tests have shown that an SLI configuration only boots performance by about 40%.

[tufunuf]

in order to give accurate information regarding which RAM to buy and which CPU to use, we will need to know the motherboard make/model, or the computers make/model if this is a pre-built PC.

He isn't to that point yet. When he finds out more about the machine he will get I will post more information. But, from what I gather so far, the 8800 is a good card to have.

Thanks for all the information. It has been very helpful!

Tuf

[Calum]

Go for 2Gb of RAM (DDR2 800 is a good speed to get) a Core 2 Duo CPU (right now the E8400 is at a good price, very good performance too (link), an 8800GT or GTS 512Mb video card, and a motherboard that can support all of that.  Plus, a 500W PSU will be a good wattage to have.
Note: two 8500 video cards barely beat a single 8600.  It's not cost effective or good sense to buy them.  It's worth saving the cash and not needing to upgrade for longer rather than buying just what you need now, and then having to upgrade very often to keep up with what you need.

[elxr06]

Well, I don't know about SLI. NVidia I heard (was/did) come out with triple SLI, which meant that you have 3 cards instead of 2 in the slot ?

[homer]

that is correct, nvidia has 3-way SLI now. look for 780i mobos.

[elxr06]

so that's what I meant.

Would triple-SLI'd 8500GT's or 8600GT's give a better performance for price ratio than a single 8800GTS would?

Or would the performance of a single 8800GTS still beat the performance of the triple-SLI'd lower end cards?

And another thing, how does SLI compare with crossfire in terms of performance?

[homer]

Would triple-SLI'd 8500GT's or 8600GT's give a better performance for price ratio than a single 8800GTS would?

i highly doubt it, however i cannot be sure.

And another thing, how does SLI compare with crossfire in terms of performance?

you will need to research this yourself for i have no knowledge of this. from what i have heard though, crossfire is more effective.

[Calum]

Would triple-SLI'd 8500GT's or 8600GT's give a better performance for price ratio than a single 8800GTS would?

No.  Compare the price, and look at some benchmarks.  Then think logically.

Crossfire and SLI are similar technologies to do the same thing.  From what I know, Crossfire is more scalable, but SLI can be less hassle (early Crossfire setups required special master cards).  Crossfire does not need two graphics cards that are based on the same chip.

[fpsmitch]

i believe i also read somewhere that crossfire uses the video memory and gpu wheras sli only uses two gpus...not positive tho...

[Deerpark]

SLI uses the video memory of both cards.
There is a limitation though. If you use two cards with different amounts of memory, SLI can only utilize the lowest of the two amounts on both cards. So if you have one card with 320 mb and one with 640, only 320 mb will be used on both cards.