need help picking out second video card

At stock performance the 8600 gt is about 13-14% behind the X1950PRO, but the X1950PRO is also 13.29% more expensive. They have the same price/performance ratio and therefore there is no premium. MSIs 8600 gt comes factory OCd already, and if tha17 is going to be building his computer, I'm pretty sure someday he will want to know how to overclock. By the way, I like your overclocking FAQ .

First, ask yourself what you are going to do with your computer. Do you primarily want to play games, or do you need it for school/work etc. If you just want to play older games, then the X1950PRO is just fine, but if you want to be able to play new games w/o terrible lag, then you should get something that supports DX10. Like I said before, you should wait until later this month for Ati to release their new cards, and then pick the best midrange card between the Ati and Nvidia. DX10 is NOT a marketing gimmick! DX10 is a complete restructuring of all of the previous DXs with some additional features. This restructuring makes it WAY more efficient and faster. DX10 allows game studios to put MUCH more into their games at the same performance levels of DX9 games. If you don't beleive me, just check out Crysis or Alan Wake.

how much is there new cards?

and i want to play good games all this summer....then it will be only for school...and on weekends it will be for gaming...etc... so basically both...but a gaming computer can do anything a regular work computer can do...better.

You can check out the pricing of Nvidia's 8 series cards on Newegg right now, but you'll have to wait until Ati releases their new cards to find out how much they'll cost. For the first couple of weeks, I imagine they will be above MSRP, but then the price will drop just like all of the 8800s have. Oh, I just saw this:

If you can spend $250 then get the PNY 8800 gts 320 Mb. It has been as low as $240 after rebates. Here is a benchmark that shows the 8800 gts 320 whooping an X1950xt. Please note that the 8800gts 320Mb may drop in price pending the release of Ati's cards.

what bout this card though
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102082
CMH recomended it to me...

and i dont know how i am going to get sound? i dont really want to use headphones and with speekers u need a sound card but thats not that big of deal because they can be as low as 30 bucks. also i have a ?...how many PCI slots or were you would put the sound or video card would go how many do i have? it looks like that video card takes up 2 ?! and then would i have enough for a sound card or 2 video cards? i dont get it...i have 7 pci thingys on the case but i only see like 2 on the mainboard...

OK.

1. Like I said in the last post, the GeForce 8800 gts 320Mb beats the Radeon X1950xt and it costs about the same price. There's no reason to drop $250 on an old Directx 9 video card like the X1950xt, when there are better performing Directx 10 video cards for the same price.

2. You don't need a sound card in order to use speakers. EVERY motherboard has an onboard audio chipset just like every motherboard (excluding the high-end ones) has an onboard video chipset like the GeForce 6150 on the computer you were thinking about buying. If you want to buy a sound card, then it would go in one of the standard PCI slots.

3. The abit motherboard I recommended comes with 1 PCI-Express 16x slot (where your video card will go), 3 PCI-Express 1x slots, and 2 standard PCI slots, for a total of 5 slots. Both video cards take up the same room as 2 slots, but if you look at the pictures, you cans see that only 1 PCI-Express 1x slot will get blocked by the video card. That's ok because you really don't need those PCI-Express 1x slots.

4. You wouldn't be able to put in 2 video cards because you only have 1 PCI-Express slots (another reason to get a better video card). To have 2 video cards, you would need an SLI or an Crossfire motherboard.

5. It doesn't matter how many expansion slots your case has. Since the case and motherboard are both ATX standard, you can be sure the motherboard will fit just fine. The 2 extra expansion slots on the case will just not get used.

ok i was looking at that video card and all of the reviews said that it was the hottest thing in their case...should i get another fan or 2?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ortField=0&SummaryType=ALL&Pagesize=10&Page=2

also i am not going to be able to get the computer untill late june...i dont know how much the "new cards" are and when they get released but ya...just thought i would tell you that and do you know how many USB ports i have?

There's never any harm in putting another fan or two your case. Just keep in mind that the more fans you put in, the louder your computer will be. If you get the 8800 gts, it would be a good idea to put in another fan. I just realized that the power supply in the case I recommended doesn't come with a 6-pin PCI-Express connector, which you will need for the 8800 gts.Here's another case that does. It is a little bit more expensive though. The motherboard I recommended comes with 4 USB ports (so they will be in the back of the computer) and the new case has 1 in the front.

Since you won't be getting your computer until June, the prices for all the components will probably drop a little. Just be sure to post back here before you buy your computer so you don't accidentally buy something wrong (I've done that on several occasions!).

At this very moment, we can only speculate about how good DX10 really is. There are no games out there yet utilizing this. Thats all I'm going to say about DX10 at the moment.

If you can wait till june/july, its best to get back here then, as we're expecting a whole new batch of graphics cards sometime this month.

If you're torn between the 8800gts and the X1950XT, I'd actually recommend the 8800gts. However, only a handful of people would recommend getting something from the 8600 series over anything else, as its a really crap series straight from release. We'll be waiting for the ATI DX10 midrange cards, hopefully they aren't anywhere near as crap.

Like I mentioned, the motherboard I picked is a midrange motherboard, you might be interested in something a little lower end. The abit motherboard should suit your needs, but my interest really lies in mid-high end. Which is why I somewhat disagree with wagan8r saying that most motherboards come with onboard graphics....

About on board graphics, it is true that most motherboards out there today have onboard graphics. But this takes into account all those Dells, eMachines, office machines, etc, where all that the owner does with the computer is word processing, surfing, music, some movies.... Not gaming. In a forum like this one, where enthusiasts gather, motherboards with on-board graphics will come out in our comversations RARELY. 90% of motherboards recommended here will NOT have on-board graphics.

Also, we're getting into very nitty gritty stuff here (except for the DX10 graphics card issue). If you might foray into overclocking, get one of the motherboards I recommended (the cheaper one would be fine). My views on DX10 is that its a marketing gimmick right now, we won't see much difference between DX9 and DX10 cards for quite awhile IMO.

p.s. I didn't recommend the X1950XT in the sense of the word, I just said its not too bad a suggestion. I should've checked prices with the 8800gts.

I agree that there is no proof that DX10 is better than DX9. Debating whether DX10 is any better than DX9 is really irrelevant. The fact is that sometime in the near future, games will require DX10. That's all. I also agree that the 8600 series is pretty dissappointing (I was hoping for 64 sp, 512Mb, 256-bit!). I only recommended it because of the limited funds of tha17 and because it's DX10.

Wow, I didn't know that I would strike such a nerve! LOL. Although, I can't say that tha17 is an enthusiast gamer!

bumpped to the top of the forum!! yay

ok...so now i dont know what i should do...im thinking i should wait for the video card and then should i get your parts chm?:

C2D E6320
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3
Gskill 2gb DDR2 800mhz 5-5-5-15
Leadtek 7900GS
Antec Sonata II ATX with 450W PSU
Seagate 250Gb SATA
Liteon 20X DVDrw PATA

just with what video card?

ps: my house is going to be hot this summer..does that mean i should get another fan...or should i get a water cooling system?!

You didn't really strike a nerve, I just wanted to clarify a few things.

About that list, its totally up to you, the only thing which would really bug anyone would be the graphics card.

But there isn't any reason why this system wouldn't perform as well as you need it to.


Someone like you should avoid water cooling. They're pretty high maintenance. If you're really interested in lower temps, look for a Zalman 7700Cu. They're not the best around, but it should keep your CPU cool enough.

The case mentioned there should hold enough fans to keep your PC cool, but if its not cool enough, even with the Zalman, by all means, go ahead and get more fans.

also is this motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128012 the one that you wanted me to get?

also the cd drive :http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106055
is that going to be fast enough?
and i guess im going to wait untill the releases for the video cards come out and then i will cheak back here unless you know of a video card that you think i should get now?? thanks again for all of your help o 1 more thing...i was thinking about geting a pc wirelesscard for internet...i think it takes up a pci slot and that means i am going to need to get a different motherboard with 2 or3 pci slots...probrably3 cause my videocard is going to take up two cause it is so big!

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