Im looking at buying a new computer. Im thinking of going with Dell again because the last one I bought from them is still trucking along with out ever having a problem 3 years later.

Im looking at getting one of thier dual core pentium D systems. What im wondering is are dual video cards really worth the extra hundreds of dollars? I had read some things saying they wernt really all that much better at all.

Btw im not dead set on the Dell, as I have that AMD 64 from monarch that i still absolutely love, and has been awsome.

What do you use the computer for? Is your use or intended use going to justify the cost of the high dollar video card? Do you use any applications that can make use of the technology?

I mostly game, if i was going to be doing more editing or rendering id go with an apple. Mostly play WoW and EQ, and some newer RTS and FPS games.

bumpity.

Somebody linked me this today about dual cores. (Take with a grain of salt, I can't vouch for the source)

http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles.php?id=23

As for dual vidcards, I'm still running an X850XT PCIe which can be had now for 160.00 and am completely happy. I remember when 3dfx pulled this SLI stuff before and it seemed to fade away when more inexpensive, more powerful, less power-hungry, smaller footprint, hardware came out. I'll let history dictate until proven otherwise. Oh, and I'm a cheap bastard too. I upgrade my video card once every year (or so) for 150-180.00 to stay with the curve and with directx 10 incoming with Vista sometime this winter, I'll wait I guess. Your milage may vary.

_eliot

I'm partial nVidia myself and I am still getting some bang from a 6800 with 256MB of RAM they are cheaper than the 7800s and I haven't found a game yet that doesn't look great on my system :)

But on to your question... I play with a friend who has 7800s in SLI on a 32 inch wide screen (yeah he has no kids) I see no huge differences over my setup and his. And sometimes when he switches to windowed mode his screen gets very funky and he has to restart the game.

But the bottom line is, if you have that kind of cash and want to spend it do it.

I LOVE my 7800gtx and am looking foward to the 7900gtx. If you wanna enjoy Prey, Oblivion eq2, Vanguard and games of that kind its the only way to go.


With stuff like the unreal 3 engine and this new crytech engine coming soon I cant imagine playing these games on anything less than a 7800.

For People in the Realistic world who cant afford a 500 dollar card, im pretty happy with my ATI 1300 card but I am probably gonna be heading back to Nvidia cards soon.

Im not hearing anyone praise the glory that is dual video cards, plus I know some games have problems with SLI. So I think im gonna stick with a nice single card.

Not being able to afford to drop $500 every year on a new vid card, I stick to a similar path that Fil appears to be following. I've got a 6800 GT with 256, that still looks gorgeous. I'll likely be upgrading the card this winter when I build a new system. But until then, I just dont see anything worth dropping a huge amount of bank out there.

Sticking with this conversation, im debating of buying a PCI express Motherboard, do you really see any kind of difference between PCI Express and AGP? Will AGP be around for awhile longer or the better I change over to PCI express the better?

When I upgraded my hardware recently I chose to stay with my AGP motherboard b/c I just couldn't see myself spending that kind of money. I am perfectly happy with what I got but I am pretty sure the 7800 will be the last AGP card :(

When it drops in price I may snag one who knows, or I may go to a new architecture. I cannot stay with the bleeding edge simply b/c I have a family and b/c everything I do I have to have two of b/c of my hunny :( Curse her for being a gamer too!

That doesn't mean I don't drool openly at the new stuff. It just means I am about a 1.5-2years behind the curve but still above recommended specs on most games :)

But yeah I doubt AGP will be around much longer. But we can hope!

The only thing I've ever seen PCI-E being used for is video. A good majority of the newer video cards (especially the high end ones) are only available for PCI-E.

I'm still a little miffed that there isn't any sort of sound card available on PCI-E because I hate onboard sound. Like it or not, PCI-E seems like it's going to be the future... but if you were going to get a motherboard, get one that has both PCI and PCI-E slots.

My 6800 Gt 256 meg is fast and runs Oblivion on all high settings at 40+ FPS. Wifes x1300 Pro 512 meg runs Oblivion virtually the same. and its only an AGP x4 mother board vs. my nifty PCI-e x16. Just get a good middle 9f the road current generation card and call it good. Just get the ones that support pixel shader 2.0/3.0 and you golden.

I'm a huge lover of NVidia, however I have to admit, the X800GTO Fireblade edition is a pretty nice card :)

I'm happy with it and it's price. It's by no means a 6800GS, BUT I saved myself about $100 as well and still play all the games I want on max or near max.

Dual 7800 GTs, and it gives me panty wetting framrates in BF2, HL2, etc. Only have a 500watt poer supply so they arent too power hungry.

But in reality, do I need it? No, but if you had the choice to bang the Prom queen or the fat chick next door which one would you do?

Depends does the fat chick have a nice personality?

def you should get pci. The last card made for agp is the 7800gs i believe which is a good card my father has it. Down the road in a year or 2 you might want something better than a 7800gs so go with pci.