I might start to look into a new computer soon.

[JonZ]

nVidiot powered.

Yep, I am now looking to the green/dark side. For now

I wonder if I should purchase now a new CPU/GPU, or wait till xmas or a new tech coming etc.
I'm very out of the loop concerning hardware, been very busy lately to care about hardware.


I currently have:

Abit AT9-32x
AMD 64 x2 dual core 4200+
2 gig of RAM OCZ Platinum
ATI x1900XT
Seasonic 600w PSU.
Audigy 4 card.

[werty316]

Since you already have a dualcore I would go with a GPU upgrade and would you look at that, the new 8800GT is scheduled for a release in one day.

[SirBaron]

While the 8800GT looks to be a fantastic card especially for the price... i am however not happy at how any of the cards run Crysis .

Which is why i am now wanting two new cards. (obviously i have to wait)

However if you don't want to wait for next gen cards (no idea how long you will be waiting), then get the 8800GT as it can't be beaten in the price/performance ratio. Hell you could probably buy 2 in SLI, and only cost a little more than a GTX while being far faster.

[JonZ]

Since you already have a dualcore I would go with a GPU upgrade and would you look at that, the new 8800GT is scheduled for a release in one day.

Yeah but I can no longer upgrade my cpus and other components because it no longer supported. I want to go Core 2 quad next.

[Comzee]

Yeah but I can no longer upgrade my cpus and other components because it no longer supported. I want to go Core 2 quad next.

Get an SLI motherboard if you go Quad core. I got A motherboard that supports Quad but no SLI. Biggest mistake ever.

[seadude99]

^ depends. The best OCing mobos (Gigabyte P35 DS3R and DS3L, and ABIT IP35-e, IP35 Pro) don't have SLi.

[Cjl64]

The 680i chipset overclocks really well and has SLI. Not to mention if your a gamer.. the extra OC a single slot mobo will not come close to equaling the added speed of another video card.

[seadude99]

True, but most of the time SLI is worthless. You pay double for maybe 30-40% increase in speed while losing OCablility. The only time you'd need SLi is when playing at uber high resolutions. One 8800GT can handle many of today's standard resolutions very well.

[JonZ]

I don't think I will ever go SLI. I think SLI/Xfire is the biggest scam marketing whoring happening to computers on these day. Paying 2 cards for an exorbitant price when it barely supported in games or only gain negligible percentage of perfs when 2 months later a new card come out and outperform these cards all together for a smaller price. Yeah I might exagerate a lot here but that's how I feel.

BUT I don't overclock too so (I do sometime but always frustrating results and time).

[SirBaron]

I have SLI, hell my first review here was SLI... and not i never intend to go single card ever again.

[m3talc0re]

I highly doubt I'll ever go SLi for the simple fact that I would do good to afford 1 good GPU, much less 2...

[JonZ]

it is still true that you need Vista to make DX10 happen? Or some smartass found a way to make it happen in XP too? I don't intend to upgrade to Vista until I am forced to.

[Cjl64]

it is still true that you need Vista to make DX10 happen? Or some smartass found a way to make it happen in XP too? I don't intend to upgrade to Vista until I am forced to.

There really is nothing wrong with Vista. I have been using it now for almost 6 months and have not had any problems. As for dx10 to xp.. no.. however if you where talking about crysis.. there are alot of "dx 10" features that can be enables in dx9/xp so as of now its still not a huge deal.. but it does have a few interesting additions, but nothing to really wright home on. The new 8800GT would be a good option if you get an EVGA model... with any luck in 3 more months you could step-up to the next gen of cards for dx10.1 and a nice boost over the G80 line.

[JonZ]

Well vista was causing me a hell of problems on my Laptop. So I copied the partition in an image and put it in the freezer until future generations could solve the awful problems

I have it also installed on my HTPC and for the minimal usage I do with, there's always small weird problems that I never encountered in XP, forcing me to format a couple of time.

So I rather wait until some serious service pack before doing the move.

[Cjl64]

Well vista was causing me a hell of problems on my Laptop. So I copied the partition in an image and put it in the freezer until future generations could solve the awful problems

I have it also installed on my HTPC and for the minimal usage I do with, there's always small weird problems that I never encountered in XP, forcing me to format a couple of time.

So I rather wait until some serious service pack before doing the move.

Well stick with what works in any case.. sorry to hear about the issues... i for real have had none so far and find that alot of my external hardware like printer, game controller, digi cams ect.. have all been easier to use in vista because it is fast to install its own drivers that all work totally fine.

[JonZ]

haha see, me it the reverse. I discovered after install that scanners and printers wouldn't work because no drivers were supported and I was lucky for the capture card because the support of it is average at best, and causing strange bugs like computer won't sleep/hybernate properly etc. Plus the video drivers from nVidia was much poor quality than the one delivered with Vista, took me time to figure out... so I had to stick with these.

I heard a lot of these issues will be addressed in SP1. Last time I heard, it is due to the end of year.

[FiggyG]

Vista has been improving since then, yeah, for one of the DX10 cards, no reason to stick with XP in my opinion. Core2 quad seems like an excellent upgrade path too... I'm also with you on SLI, yet another slew of crap you have to deal with to get things working right. I don't mind upgrading drivers for games, but I don't have the time to fiddle with everything.

[RAY16]

My advice is that since your current computer is far from horrible, wait for Penryn and the rumored 8800GTS refresh (which will be more powerful than the 8800GT) before you make any purchasing decisions.

[SirBaron]

My advice is that since your current computer is far from horrible, wait for Penryn and the rumored 8800GTS refresh (which will be more powerful than the 8800GT) before you make any purchasing decisions.

Especially if Crysis is one of those games you wish to play, as that game rapes any hardware out.

[synk]

If you are dying to upgrade thier are a lot of games out now that I consider worth upgrading for (crysis is not on that list...yet) but If you can hold out and still play the newer games at reasonable settings I would wait on any purchase until late spring to make sure your new parts don't get trumped so soon.

[Tarkin]

build one like mine...

except nvidia drivers ******* suck worse than ATi did back in the 9700 days...

OH BOY NVLDDMKM HAS STOPPED RESPONDING, BUT RECOVERED..AGAIN..AND AGAIN...yet again...

though I'm not sure if spending $1,500 on video cards (1700 after I w/c them) was a wise choice with the vista/x32/nvidia/sli compatibility bullshit...

[Cjl64]

build one like mine...

except nvidia drivers smurfing suck worse than ATi did back in the 9700 days...

OH BOY NVLDDMKM HAS STOPPED RESPONDING, BUT RECOVERED..AGAIN..AND AGAIN...yet again...

though I'm not sure if spending $1,500 on video cards (1700 after I w/c them) was a wise choice with the vista/x32/nvidia/sli compatibility bullshit...

Thats not the driver.... there is something unstable in your computer causing that error besides the video cards. I have had it before with other reasons besides the video cards. Your system is awesome... but i agree with the other poster... if you need to upgrade now then get a cheap 8800GT for now... but as far as crysis goes.. your going to want the next gen of cards to actually run crysis full blast.. assuming the new cards will be able to do this