$1500-$1700 for a new desktop

RockDiesel said:
Roy, I think I will go with your videocard, if and only if you give me a better explanation why, so I at least understand why I am making this choice.
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OK here we go, 2 graphics giants, ATI and nVidia, are currently battling out in the graphics arena. their flagship cards The X1900XT (ATI) 7900GTX (nVidia). AMD has made a contract with third party vendors, being Nvidia. for the past few years, nvidia has been making chipsets for AMD: nForce series. Now they have come up with, the SLI chipset, which enables 2 identical nVidia cards to be paired for better rendering performances.

What you've got in Bs list, is the perfect gaming system.
Thanks to an AMD CPU, SLI motherboard and an :mad: ATI card???:mad: Remember, SLI only works to nVidia cards. I think it's not logical to buy an ATI card with an SLI board. This move cancels out your upgrade option to SLI, will not get the radeon's best performance, which further downgrades your overall system performance. If you want the Radeon, go for a crossfire motherboard. But it isn't as stable as SLI boards because crossfire is only a desperate move from ATI because they know that their butts are getting kicked by nVidia!

OVERALL! perfect gaming system? AMD CPU, SLI motherboard and, get ready for this, an nVidia graphics card (or two:D ).
 
What is the point of making lan cards anymore. I mean every single motherboard that is being made has onboard lan. Im surprised that they still get enough sales to warrant production of these cards
 
I'm thinking the reason Big B Suggested the single ATI card on that nVidia-chipset based board is because you can use single cards on either manufacturers chipsets, you just can't use the multi-GPU technology on the other manufacturers chipset (eg Crossfire on nForce and SLI on the ATI Chipsets).
The nForce chipsets are more mature than ATI's chipsets and so may perform slightly better.
 
The fastest single GPU card is the Radeon X1900XTX. Just because you have an SLI motherboard doesn't mean you have to use an nVidia card. Given how inexpensive an SLI motherboard can be had for these days, it's a good bet for the future. As far as multiple GPU's go, SLI is simply more mature. Crossfire has drastically improved, but requires a few more hoops to jump through, which is why I'm not quite sold on it...yet. ATi will get there, but nVidia simply has had SLI out longer and have continued to iron out issues. Also, Crossfire motherboards don't come as cheaply as SLI boards do.

So to sum things up:
-Single GPU: ATi X1900XTX
-Multi-GPU: nVidia SLI using high-end cards (7900GT/GTX)

Currently, nVidia and ATi are being 'tards and limiting multi-GPU configurations to specific chipsets:
-nVidia: nForce 4/500 SLI chipsets
-ATi: Crossfire and high-end Intel 900-series chipsets (955 and up, last I checked).
 
ok B. it is very unethical to buy a v8 engine for a Mini cooper right? how bout with nvidia and SLI boards? i didn't say you didn't have to buy an ATI. it's just that if you buy an ATI, you would cancel out upgrade options for further performance. overall, it would be very nice, if you could get an nvidia card and pair it with an SLI board not vice versa. OHH YOU GET THE POINT!!
 
why would it be "unethical" to put a V8 in a Mini Cooper? if you shoehorned a V8 into a Mini Cooper you would have one badass Mini Cooper. I don't see anything "unethical" about it.
 
Yes but the budget doesn't allow for a good SLI setup, that's why Big B chose the X1900XTX as it's the best card for a single GPU setup right now.

Multi-GPU technology still isn't fully utilised at the minute so it's not needed.
 
by how far? a few FPS. whereas you can improve it by adding a second nvidia card. I don't care wat you get as long as you're happy with it.
 
i ordered all my parts today. can't wait to get it this week and start on my adventure of building a pc. do the directions get complicated, or should I look for a guide on the internet? If anyone has any good links please feel free to share. thanks again for all your help.
 
not at all. everything basically falls into place like a k'nex toy. very easy. so what card did you go for??
 
If you can read a manual, use a screwdriver and prepare to be patient / cautious if it's your first time then you'll be fine. :good:
 
hey i don't know about the sli setup not in his budget. i spent 1,500 something on my rig (you can check my computer for specifics) and i have sli, granted its not massivily sweet but its good. just thought i would throw that in there
 
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