| guigr said: Video card: Forget Sli and get a 8800GT or if you're can afford it a 8800 GTS512. Performance is better and there are issues with SLI. CPU: The new C2D processors E8300, E8400 (price/performance) and E8500 are the one to get. Phenom are way too slow for now for the price. PhysX card: it is already dead so if you want to waste your money. No game will make full use of it. |
On the video card I would currently lean more towards the GT 512, the performance difference is pretty small in most games and in some games (like crysis) the GT outperforms the GTS. Considering the GTS 512 is still about 50-60 more (depending on where you shop) I think its worth the savings.
On processor I completely agree to stay away from Phenoms right now. But on the E8x00 series while I agree it will likely be a good line there are no benchmarks yet (that I could find at the usual sites) so I would also look at some other options still just to be prepared. IIRC they said it would debut around the $150-180 region and provided performance is where most expect it to be should be a good deal, but its hard to tell and having other options will prevent you from making the kneejerk reaction of "Awe screw it, I already had this planned so I am gonna stick with it." if there is a problem.
Other than that I agree to stay away from PhysX card, they are pretty much dead now that physics stuff is being integrated into video cards. Which ultimately we hope will lead us to a single fully integrated footprint with CPU & GPU.
@mummelman,
You are somewhat missinformed on SLI, while it is true that it is definitely an enthusiasts setup its not true that you only get 15% increase out of it...if you're an enthusiast. SLI gets a bad name from people who have no intention of using it properly and usually no idea how to use it properly. If you have a monitor that supports 1920x1200 or 2560x1600 and you crank up settings on games..a lot...thats when you start seeing the benefits of SLI where you can get 80% increases in power. If you want to play World in Conflict at 1024x768 with max settings SLI is not for you.
Don't get me wrong, SLI is still not what I would consider to be a great price for performance boost but its not as bad as many think it is.
edit: Supporting Benchmarks:
% increase for GT SLI ~81% @ 1900x1200
% increase for GT SLI ~35% @ 1600x1200
% increase for GT SLI ~81% @ 1900x1200
but don't forget about power consumption also folks:
% increase for GT SLI ~56%
 |
| To Each Man, Responsibility |
