It allows for two or more Nvidia cards, so in a few years when the Geforce 8800 GTS is cheap on ebay, you can get a second one and boost your performance significantly in certain applications.What's so great about SLI?
If he does decide to go with ATI, though, there are a lot of great options out now that usually beat Nvidia in price/performance comparison. IMO the Radeon HD 5670 would beat the Geforce 8800 GTS, and with the motherboard 87dtna picked out he would be able to crossfire it eventually. :good:A 5670 is better performance with DX11 support, no need to go 4000 series at all anymore really....but he's already stated he wants Nvidia only so it's a moot point.
i'd keep the xeon. they overclock like beasts, are built like beasts, and its hard as hell to take them down.
the reason they are so expensive - built to withstand HIGH clocks and voltages, but clocked lower for extreme stability. they are server processors, they are meant to be running 24/7 under high loads and NEVER die in the process.
If he does decide to go with ATI, though, there are a lot of great options out now that usually beat Nvidia in price/performance comparison. IMO the Radeon HD 5670 would beat the Geforce 8800 GTS, and with the motherboard 87dtna picked out he would be able to crossfire it eventually. :good:
Now that's saying something. Either way though, I still think that the Radeon HD 5670 may be a tad bit more powerful. Of course, if he wants Nvidia, he wouldn't go over to ATI just for a "tad" bit more power. The crossfire would be the major decider in this scenario.ehh, thats a toss up on performance there. I can underclock my 8800gts_512mb to 500 core and 700 memory and it still pegs the max 125 FPS in cod WAW almost all the time....1920x1080 resolution. It's a beast of a card, I like it so much I just sold my gts250 and kept the 8800gts!
A 5670 is better performance with DX11 support, no need to go 4000 series at all anymore really....but he's already stated he wants Nvidia only so it's a moot point.
He's like me, I'm not interested in crossfire or SLI because a single card plays the games I want...and once it doesn't, it's time for a newer single card. So instead of two cards sucking up massive amounts of juice, I've upgraded to a newer tech card that is as powerful as those two cards, takes up less space in my tower, consumes way less energy, and makes less heat in the case.
I see... well in that case, then if you want Nvidia then just go with the 8800 GTS that 87dtna listed. It's powerful and it's a good deal for a good brand, so all in all I'd say it's a good choice. You're still going to need a pretty beefy PSU for it, though. I'd say.... 500watt?What he said
Plus I don't have the funds to spend on what I want right now, so I have to be 'picky'. But once I'm done w/ school, married, and have a full time job instead of a part time job. Then I'm going to blow $1k on a computer that I've always wanted.