Quote:So what can a gaming enthusiast expect from modern multi-GPU platforms offered by ATI and Nvidia? Unfortunately, it is much easier to say what he or she shouldnt expect. And you shouldnt expect stable and flawless operation at least with the currently available drivers. When you decide on getting yourself a pair of GeForce 9800 GX2 or ATI Radeon HD 3870/3870 X2 graphics cards, you have to keep in mind that you will not only inevitably see no performance boost in some cases, but also will have to combat system instability, freezing, virtual artifacts and system overheating.
Beyond the jealous and malignant quote I think you find this article interesting since you are getting a pair of those.
Ps. I would be willing to accept the "hardships" of having a quad setup if someone just came to me and said "hey! I'd like you to have these free of charge", but paying dearly for them would definately make me think twice.
Could someone suggest me a good graphic card? I definitely need a better new one for running some games. I'm on an Amd athlon 3600+ dual core processor currently and using an old ati 9250.
More importantly. What's your budget? And are you PCI-E? I can't remember if 9250 were made for both PCI-E and AGP.
The 8800GT is the best bang for buck right now. Also Ati's line of cards are sound proof money wise.
roughly for PCI-E:
Nvidia:
around 100 euros 8600GTS.
around 180 euros 8800GT 512MB (don't bother with 256MB edition if you decide on 8800 series)
Ati:
around 70-80 euros 3650 <- very good price/performance ratio
around 120-130 euros 3850 <- If you can't afford the 8800Gt this is it. Very, very good price/performance.
around 150-160 euros 3870 <- If you still can't afford 8800GT this is the closest thing to it. But really you should scrape togeter the missing 30 euros to make it to 8800GT.
The 9600GT is lacking somewhat. It's priced the same as 9600GT but it slower. And the availability is not it's best yet.
I'd say that the pecking order and reasoning goes like this. Go for 8800GT if you can afford it. There are some very good deals for it. It depends on where you live though. Beware the 256MB version. The memory amount really brings down the performance in this card.
If the 8800GT is too expensive get Ati's 3870. Almost the same performance in SHADER intensive games wise but in some titles the speed is not so good as 8800GT 512MB.
If 3870 is too expensive still. Get At's 3850. Or check the 3850 vs 8600GTS reviews. I have no time to do so now.
Below those said 8600GTS or 3850 buy a used card dirt cheap.
Also since you can't really play any DX10 titles on 8600GTS well older DX9 era cards really are good. You can practically get X1950 Pro for free. Anyway any card you choose is a definite up-grade to your current 9250.
As they say, 8800GT or 3870. Those are the best price/performance cards out there.
Still, your CPU won't get all the juice from them, unless you overclock it. My 3600+ is operating at 2700Mhz (default freq was 1900Mhz) stable, with stock core voltage.
The x1950Pro is a nice card too. It's the one I have, and performs really well.
(If you find any mistake in my English, please let me know via a PM)
(Really, I speak terrible English, so please, tell me if I make mistakes. I'd like to improve it a bit )
Oh yeah. Korrd makes a valid point. You'd be wasting the 8800GT on the AMD of yours. The best thing for you would be getting a X1950 Pro now and save the real money and effort to the possible complete future computer over-haul.
Albeit the X1950 Pro is "old tech" it's still light-years ahead of 9250. You'll still get huge kicks out of it I'm sure.
![[Image: 3cfefe54.jpg]](http://lordkorrd.dynalias.org/docs/misc/3cfefe54.jpg)
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