DX10 card

[this_is_gav]

Vista uses DX9.0c for Aero. Most half-decent cards can show Vista's desktop visuals in all their glory.

[dannyweb]

Hi,

The system spec your going for looks very similar to the one I currently own and it should be fine for you mate.

Im gonna be getting a DX10 card mostly not only due to the fact that there will be DX10 games coming out but because DX10 technology takes loads of the burden of the CPU processor and puts it where it should on the GPU on the graphics card. Meaning that your CPU does the work it should be doing instead of doing half the GPU's work as well.

I wouldnt bother getting a Dual Core chip tbh if you a gamer coz nearly all games are written with single threading in mind. If you got a dual core then both cores would only be running at 50% each where as a single core will be running at 100% given quicker results plenty of benchmarks out there to prove this.

Hope this helps you a bit mate coz I to have been weighing up on what to do regards getting a 8800GTS either way im waiting to end of Jan when Vista is out coz i'll be ordering an OEM licence with either the new card or PSU.

[kalniel]

Im gonna be getting a DX10 card mostly not only due to the fact that there will be DX10 games coming out but because DX10 technology takes loads of the burden of the CPU processor and puts it where it should on the GPU on the graphics card. Meaning that your CPU does the work it should be doing instead of doing half the GPU's work as well.

Actually Dx9 cards will see some of this benefit under Vista as well. I don't think a dx10 card will see any additional benefit when running older games.

I wouldnt bother getting a Dual Core chip tbh if you a gamer coz nearly all games are written with single threading in mind. If you got a dual core then both cores would only be running at 50% each where as a single core will be running at 100% given quicker results plenty of benchmarks out there to prove this.

With dual core you can easily set the affinity so that one core is at 100%, so this isn't a factor. Modern games are becoming multi-threaded (Oblivion, Quake 4) and do show an improved gaming experience with dual core chips (not necessarily always fps, but things like smoother/quickler area loading etc.)

The only advantage single core chips have is one of budget. If you are playing older games then the same amount of cash will get you a faster single core chip than a dual core. Obviously that is only applicable at the low end of prices, because when you can afford something like a core 2 duo it will be faster than even single core chips (because there isn't a single core equivalent of a core 2 duo).

[oralpain]

DX10 or not the new DX10 cards are fast.

If I had the money at the time, I would certainly have bought an 8800 over my 7900GS, the bang for the buck, even in DX9 titles, is unmatched. Yes, the 8800GTS cost more than twice as much. However, it's more than three times as fast, in many situations I would use it in.

Only thing that would make me hesitate if Ihad the money for it would be ATi's soon to be released card. I would like to know how that will perform.

At this point, I see utterly no reason to buy a single core CPU unless you are building a very low budget rig.

[dannyweb]

Well he is trying to stay within a budget so he'd be better looking at the single cores which currently perform just as well.

If i was to upgrade then yea i'd go for a dual core for future proofing but that would mean a new mobo as well so im gonna have to wait for prices to drop before I can change again cost me nearly £700 for my new rig last xmas and already the price would be around £350-£400 to buy the same which makes me want to cry!

[oralpain]

An Opteron 165, or X2 3800+ is not that much more expensive.

The X1950Pro is a clear winner at that price point (unless you want to vmodd a 7900GS), but I would still get a dual core CPU.

Another thing that might be worth waiting for regarding DX10 card is the die-shrink, performance increase that is almost certain to happen reasonably soon. The 8800s are nice, but the 8900s will be faster, will consume less power, and will probably OC better, for the same price. They may even be physically smaller.

[mr-nick]

Vista uses DX9.0c for Aero. Most half-decent cards can show Vista's desktop visuals in all their glory.

I understand now mate; I was getting confused by the fact DX10 is meant to run DX9 faster.

Think I'll be waiting for the mid-range G80 series as I only want a DX10 card for MCE

[oralpain]

http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20061120PD210.html

[trojan698]

Intel C2D E6300 £120
Abit AB9 £85
Sapphire X1950 Pro £130
Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro £20
Whatever PSU £50

Comes to about £400... of course you only have DDR at the moment, so you;d have to get DDR2 as well

Well worth thinking about, remember you can easily generate £100 quid from your old parts by flogging them on ebay. Your 1gb corsair kit should fetch a bit more at the moment too considering the sky high price of DDR. Those 2500 bartons generally go for £40-45 too.