DDR2 vs DDR3

[GaryRW]

General consensus is that SLi isn't a feasible upgrade path as when the time comes you're better off selling your current card and using the cash towards whatever's new on the market.

That's what I'd always thought, but isn't the tide starting to turn? AMD certainly seems to be taking crossfire more seriously and their 3870 x2 card seemed to work well (i.e. not so buggy as previous x2 cards) even if not all games scale well.

I've only just built my first computer and didn't even consider multiple Gfx cards, but since then I've started to wonder that maybe next time round things will be different...

I suppose it depends on how long you plan on holding on to a motherboard.

[NightshadowUK]

SLi and Crossfire are great if you have the cash to buy both cards at the same time but as an upgrade path...

'Oh yeah I'll just slap in another card in 9 months time to boost my performance.'

... it makes no sense. In 9 months you'd be better off selling your current card and getting a single card that beats the performance of your old card in SLi / Crossfire. Plus two cards = more noise / heat / space.

And the 3870X2 is still a single card solution, it just has two GPUs.

[EarlGrey]

SLi and Crossfire are great if you have the cash to buy both cards at the same time but as an upgrade path...

'Oh yeah I'll just slap in another card in 9 months time to boost my performance.'

... it makes no sense. In 9 months you'd be better off selling your current card and getting a single card that beats the performance of your old card in SLi / Crossfire. Plus two cards = more noise / heat / space.

And the 3870X2 is still a single card solution, it just has two GPUs.

What he said

i wouldn't bother with SLI unless you want two high end cards right now, and have the cash to splash to manage it.

As for the original memory question, the OCZ 6400 kits at Cas 4, are the best value at the moment. But you can get any 6400 low latency kit depending on which kit is cheapest at the time

[UrbanKiwi]

What he said

i wouldn't bother with SLI unless you want two high end cards right now, and have the cash to splash to manage it.

As for the original memory question, the OCZ 6400 kits at Cas 4, are the best value at the moment. But you can get any 6400 low latency kit depending on which kit is cheapest at the time

Thanks, I am going to go with the OCZ 6400 kit for the reason you stated: CL5 (5-4-4-18)

[EarlGrey]

Despite what I said the other day (...doh!) it turns out that there is a good SLI solution at the moment, in the shape of the new 9600GT!

GeForce 9600 GT SLI Performance

AnandTech: Bringing Competition to Midrange: The GeForce 9600 GT Raises NVIDIA's Sub $200 Bar

at around £120, getting two of these may be out of your budget for now, but you should consider that these in SLI are cheaper and faster than anything less than two 8800GTs in SLI...

At £240 they whip both a 3870X2 and a 8800Ultra...!