Upgrade questions - SLI/ram/vista

[mcl5000]

Hi guys. I'm looking to upgrade my system a little bit. It runs fairly well now, but I would like to bump it up to the next level. My main specs now are:

2 gigs of ram
XFX 8600gt 512mb
5300+
Windows XP

Ok. Now for my questions. I have a few different possibilities that I am thinking of doing, which I will lay out here.

-I will def. be upgrading to 4g ram or 6g (depending on vista or not)
-I want to up my video card. Should I get another 8600gt and SLI or buy a 9600gt. I'd like to save money from a 9800gt, unless the 9600gt isn't a good choice.

So basically here are my proposed configs.

-SLI 2 8600gt's w/ 4 gigs in XP
-SLI 2 8600gt's w/ 6 gigs in Vista
-1 9600gt (9800?) w/ 4 gigs in XP
-1 9600gt (9800?) w/ 6 gigs in Vista

Out of those 4, which do you think will give me the best performing gaming machine?

Thanks a bunch, I appreciate it.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Why not go for an 8800GT and another two gigs of RAM? You'd save some money, that you can spend on a new CPU if you want. The 8800GT has slightly more shader-processing power, but gives otherwise similar performance as a 9600GT. The 9800GT is simply a 55nm version of the 8800GT, so you'd get no performance increase from it. The only real upgrade would be an HD 4850\9800GTX+.

 

[mcl5000]

Rage,

Thanks for the input. The reason that I didn't think about the 8800 was because I didn't realize how screwed up nVidia's naming scheme was. I didn't do too much research and assumed that a 9800 was far superior to an 8800. I'll def. consider that.

One more thing...I have an AMD processor. Should I be using an ATI card? I have heard that I will get better performance from an ATI on AMD, but I have also heard that it doesn't make a difference.

If that is the case, I was thinking about going with a HD3870 and 2 more gigs of ram. It is GDDR4 so that seems like a great card for a great price.

Had I done my research, I would have realized that the 8600gt isn't really that great of a gaming card and saved some hassle now - but theres no looking back at this point.

My friend is going to buy the 8600 from me for $40, which I think is pretty fair for both of us. They're $50 after rebates now, and it is slightly used so that seems to work out.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Nah, it won't make much difference if u have an AMD CPU. Also, the HD 3870 is a nice card, but quite inferior to the 8800GT, which bests the AMD card by around 30% or more in most games.

 

[Gflo]

9800GTX is worth every penny you spend

Halo 2 Vista everything on high 1600x1200 4x AA

I get about 60-70 fps average and I bought the 675mhz model

EDIT:

and you will only need 4 gb of ram for vista.

I have NEVER used over 75% of my ram even with Vista

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The HD 4850 is a far better deal, especially since it can be had for as low as $140 and provides better performance than the 9800GTX\GTX+.