Some input...

[NC37]

I've read the news on site awhile but never posted as i'd typically see a lot of brainless fanboy replies depending on the topic. But now i'm in a position where trying to track down the info I need is getting troublesome and I know theres some knowledgeable folks hiding in here .

So anyways, blah blah...i'm looking towards a new GPU upgrade coming up. You know, standard stuff. But i'm stuck trying to decide...which you've all heard before. However in my situation i'm presented with not only price but power considerations.

First things first. I probably will wait till after the holidays. But right now I might as well get this all figured out so I can watch prices better. Mind you, i'm not interested in the highest of the high end performer. Price range is $100-200~.

Upgrade options from my current card that i'm looking at are:

3870 - Got a friend with an original he's never even installed or used. This would be the cheapest route.
3870X2 - Because originally this was the next upgrade I had hoped to go, an X2.
4850 - I'd like 4870 but I don't think I can swing it atm.
Dual 9600GTs - Price will probably go over my mark unless these drop more but from the few benches i've seen, it has me curious. I might be able to scrounge a little more if it is the best option for the $$$.
9800GT - Haven't really thought about it much as if I went single GPU again i'd probably go with ATI. But this one would have an SLI option for later.

Where i'm stuck:

-Price vs Performance in regards to the 3870. I can get the board from him for about $100 (maybe less). But at the same time for a few $$ more theres the 9600GTs and for a bit more than that are the 3870X2s.

-My freaky PSU setup. Originally I had a larger wattage PSU but it broke down. All I could get at the time was the Antec Trio 430W. It has 3 +12v rails but i'm not using the PCIe connectors for the GPU. The X1900XT I have running off the Thermaltake 250W SLI PSU (got it for $40 on sale so I figured i'd use it). It does state it splits it's rails down to 125W on each. This mostly concerns the 9600GTSLI option as to if this setup could handle two.

-Performance of the 9600GTSLI option on a 8x/8x SLI board. I realize my board is only a nForce 570 and the limitations on that. I knew that at the time when I bought it, but again it was the best board I could get for the $$$ and the new 7 series AMD chipsets were just starting to trickle out with high prices. Problem is I can only find benchmarks of 16x/16x setups.

-Finding an adapter for the 8pin connector on the 3870X2. Currently I don't believe I have a connector for this board. Would need an adapter but so far i've only been able to find the Molex - 6 pin adapters.

-Cooling can be an issue but it isn't my highest problem. It does get hot here in the summer. Which is why I had to downclock my 5000+BE from 3Ghz to 2.81 (it can do 3.2Ghz but my cooler sucks). I don't really have the extra funds to dump on a new case and coolers atm. Currently i'm running with the guts out and a slot blower aimed at the voltage regs on the X1900 (these were overheating a lot). Can't run with case closed without the X1900 overheating, even after I added an new GPU cooler a year ago.

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Now I have no plans of buying another PSU. Really i'm rather tired of doing this. Gone through quite a few over the years and i'm glad to finally have one operating solidly.

I've used both nVidia and ATI back and forth over the years and despite the clunkiness of Catalyst, i'd rather use ATI if possible. Backwards compatibility in XP i've found is better with ATI for some of the old games I play at times. Its just the prices and performance of an SLI setup finally seem reasonable and I could get around the issues with compatibility via using Vista. Plus since I have the hardware for it, I am considering that if the PSU can handle it.

This would be used most in WoW raiding but I do play a lot of others besides this that are more modern. Frankly i've gotten spoiled on my 1650x1080 LCD so I hate not playing in native res. WoW/UT3/etc...all I play in native res with max detail. Because of this the X1900XT has finally started struggling, especially in WoW now that they've added a few more effects...as well as the insane number of people returning for the Lich King coming up.

So anyways, thx for any help and input. Got a hunch this might just end with looking at the 4850 a little more seriously but, i'd like to check anyways. If I can cut costs on one aspect I can prolly swing a RAM upgrade at the same time. I do plan to go Phenom before I say goodbye to this board (it has been good to me so far), but i'm gonna wait till the last AM2+ revisions get released. The ones with slightly larger caches. Heh, who knows...maybe by that time there will be something else coming that will entice me to completely change out all the guts again.

(Oh and as far as I know. Newegg hates me still after a botched Fedex delivery. I do check their prices but I generally can't purchase from them anymore. Basically Fedex delivered wrong then refused to do anything about it. Newegg refused to do anything either. So I contacted my CC and forcefully took the $$$ back from Newegg. They got pissed off over that $75 and blocked me...losing a lot of business since I might add. Was back before Newegg switched to UPS.)

[IggSter]

Hi there and welcome!

Firstly, I am not an fanboi

Ok with that out of the way let me try and address some of your questions and maybe share my opinions.

With regard to power draw of graphics cards:

The best list I have come across is: GPU Power reqs

With regard to chosing between single GPU or Dual, I would always spend my cash on the best single GPU card available. Why? Well I've yet to see any form of benchmark that shows a Crossfire or SLI setup that get twice the performance of a single GPU and that to me is not good bang for buck. I totally understand that an dual GPU will out perform a single GPU but with a realistic budget such as yours.....my vote goes firmly to a Single GPU. (This will also help the power draw and heat issues)

With regard to choice of card:

From your list I would go with the 4850 (having ruled out and SLI/Crossfire solutions)

Another thing to be aware of as you mentioned 8x8 vs 16x16 PCIe slots: My 8800GTS 512 will not work in a x8 slot ..it has to be a x16. Therefore it would be worth double checking that any dual slot solution you might consider with work on your motherboard...maybe someone else can clarify this further.

[NC37]

Ahh, I was wondering about the 8x mode compatibility of some cards. Thanks.

Been coming across a lot of differences on the advantage of SLI/Crossfire over single. I know some who swear by it but others who don't think its worth the price. I've been kinda on that fence where i'd like to mess with it but I didn't see myself spending over $500 on video cards.

Guess this rules out the dual 9600s idea. So then it just comes down to probably the 4850 or one of the 3 series options.

Thanks for posting the link to that power reqs page. So far that has been the most helpful i've found. Also answered some questions on the 8 pin connector.