£1,000 upgrade - advice, please?

[directhex]

vista!

[DaKid]

Am very interested in the widescreen thing, specifically whether 2x8800GTS > 1x8800GTX ... anyone know of any specific benchmarks testing this for 1900x1200 resolution in the latest games?

Will spend some time scouring that widescreen link you posted. I've had a quick look, and although I can see lots of useful info, it doesn't seem to have much about the 8800s on it yet.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the likely prices come March of the 8800 cards? They seem to be about £290-£350 for the GTS and anywhere from £390-£450 for the GTX currently. I guess I'm hoping they'll drop to aboue £200-250 and £275-£350 ... you reckon there's much chance of that? Saying that, that's only about £100 cheaper ... is two months' drooling really worth it? LOL

[frosty15]

First must have is a Tuniq Tower 120, these hsf's will run your overclocked cpu at the same temps as stock settings with a stock hsf. - http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling...spx?i=2906&p=5

E6600 - X6800 will have slightly more performance at a similarly overclocked E6300 or E6400 due to their extra 2mb cache, but the lower multi on the E6300/E6400 means they'll scale higher on a 965P mobo. eg A P5B-E and E6300 can hit 3.6GHz, as can an E6600 on a P5N-E, but the extra 2mb cache will give the latter an edge (at a cost).

You have to decide where the bulk of your budget is spent, superclocking an E6300/E6400 and getting the best graphics, or overclocking an E6600-X6800 and having less of a budget for graphics. 965P, 795X or 650i, in fact 680i may be out when the time comes to finalise your order.

As mentioned previously frequency over latencies for C2D.

I could complicate things a little more by mentioning that the Q6600 is just about on the shelves for less than an X6800, but that would be cruel.

[DaKid]

I definitely shan't be overclocking. I don't have the experience or burning desire to do so. If I happen to have the right equipment and change my mind at a later date, then all good, but for the moment will stick with standard equipment.

[DratUK]

Am very interested in the widescreen thing, specifically whether 2x8800GTS > 1x8800GTX ... anyone know of any specific benchmarks testing this for 1900x1200 resolution in the latest games?

Will spend some time scouring that widescreen link you posted. I've had a quick look, and although I can see lots of useful info, it doesn't seem to have much about the 8800s on it yet.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the likely prices come March of the 8800 cards? They seem to be about £290-£350 for the GTS and anywhere from £390-£450 for the GTX currently. I guess I'm hoping they'll drop to aboue £200-250 and £275-£350 ... you reckon there's much chance of that? Saying that, that's only about £100 cheaper ... is two months' drooling really worth it? LOL

Nope but as I said it was off subject and for your info. A number of games do not have native 1920x1200 support these guys test out work arounds which help a great deal.

I ran the F.E.A.R stress test at full spec 16QX etc at the Dells Native resolution.
Results
Minimum Frame rate 77 Average FR 122 Max 255.

Then ran with Soft shadows on and min frame rate dropped to 35 ave 67 max 120.
This to me prooves that at this level of resolution to run on max settings u need something on the level of a GTX if you dont want to comprimise on the quality.

I can run stress tests on Company of Heroes HL2 Toam Clancys Rainbow Six Las Vegas if you wish and I will post the results. Let me know as I have to load the games on and then run the tests.

[DaKid]

Nope but as I said it was off subject and for your info. A number of games do not have native 1920x1200 support these guys test out work arounds which help a great deal.

Yup ... very appreciated!

I ran the F.E.A.R stress test at full spec 16QX etc at the Dells Native resolution.
Results
Minimum Frame rate 77 Average FR 122 Max 255.

Then ran with Soft shadows on and min frame rate dropped to 35 ave 67 max 120.
This to me prooves that at this level of resolution to run on max settings u need something on the level of a GTX if you dont want to comprimise on the quality.

I think I was always planning to waste my money on a GTX anyway, but this has definitely strengthened my desire to!

I can run stress tests on Company of Heroes HL2 Toam Clancys Rainbow Six Las Vegas if you wish and I will post the results. Let me know as I have to load the games on and then run the tests.

Thanks, but I'll pass for the moment. The results I've seen from many places all tell the same story that the card is basically the mutt's cojones, so no more convincing is necessary!!

[DratUK]

Thanks, but I'll pass for the moment. The results I've seen from many places all tell the same story that the card is basically the mutt's cojones, so no more convincing is necessary!![/QUOTE]

Thanks m8 I was looking at takin the kids out this weekend LOL. Its stunning and quality is just spot on.