What will be better for my system? An eVGA 7900 GS, or 8800GTS 320MB?

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beef_jerky4104

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I am planning to build a new system using the following parts:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane OC
Biostar T-Force 550 Motherboard
Corsair XMS2 2GB DDR2-800 (1GB x2)
Seagate Barracuda SATA-2 320GB HDD
Lite-On DVD-RW Drive 16X
Emprex(Sony) DVD-RW Drive 18X
OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU
And either an eVGA e-GeForce 7900 GS 256MB or 8800 GTS 320MB

I will be using Windows XP PRO SP2.

I want the 8800 because of DirectX 10. But I'm going to upgrade to Vista for about a year and a half which makes it pointless to have a DX10 card if I'm not going to have DX10 on the PC anyway.

Another reason being the fact that there are only 3 DX10 cards anyway so why would I go for one if the choice will be expanded soon, by nVIDIA and ATi.

And yes I'm a nVIDIA fanboy. But if an ATi card kills an nVIDIA card I'll consider it.

P.S. This will be a mid-range gaming computer with 19" LCD moniter. I'll be playing a lot of the new FPS games. Most of which I already have but just look "OK" on my current PC.

EDIT: My budget is under $1000. So removing the 8800 saves money. Plus I look forward to rebates and my nest egg.
 
Well, I would stick with the 8800GTS, as I don't see many models coming out (besides the R600) for a bit. It will take time for nVidia and ATI to try and destroy each other (did anyone catch Bill Gates and Steven Jobs yes :haha:?).
 
The 8800GTS is far more powerful than the 7900GS. Really there's no competition. But if you won't have DX10 for a long time, it might be better to get 1 7900GS now to save money, and down the road when it's starting to show it's age on new games, get another one for cheaper (because it will have gone down in price by then) and go SLI. Only problem with that, is right now you need to make sure your system has an SLI motherboard and a PSU with enough Watts and Amps on the 12V rail(s) to handle it.

Really, the 8800GTS would be the better buy, but the 7900GS and SLI later on is a good option if you really can't afford the 8800 right now.
 
I've been running an XFX 8800 GTX card, and if the GTS' performance (albeit slower and less onboard RAM) performs anything like it, there is no need to even run two cards in SLI mode.
Also, it's a very large card, which takes up not only my PCI-e 16X slot, it takes up two PCI slots because of the built in cooling system. One slot for intake and another for exhaust.
Either way, it may still be a bit pricey, but it's gotta be one of the best cards I've ever owned. My vote is for the GTS card.
Also, like MetalX stated, make sure you have at least a 550-600 watt (dual rail preferably) psu since these monsters are power hungry. If I was to run to of the 8800 GTX cards in my system, I'd have to up my psu from the current 700 watts to 1000 watts. Two in SLI call for minimum of 700, but if the system is taxed, I don't want to be standing still or run the chance of a problem.
 
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