Best Graphics Card?

I run 2 x nvidia 8600 GTS in SLi.

SLi itself appears to me to make little discernable difference in SL. However, it makes a big difference in *some* other games. The two graphics cards, however, do allow the running of multiple monitors without any impact on SL.

EDIT: if you do go the 8800 or 8600 route, especially if in SLi, you should first check that your existing PSU Unit is adequate as they require significant additional power over other cards. . You can do this using a PSU Calculator like the one here: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

In most cases, when you read stuff like that, it's bogus. Lots of times, they say stuff like "the eye can only detect 24 FPS", which is completely untrue. People just know that number because that's the rate that movie cameras operate at. That's not the only number that tends to get spouted, by the way. It's just an example of one of the common ones.

The truth is the eye does not actually operate in frames, so there's really no way to answer the question of how many FPS the eye can detect. I guess if you really wanted to measure, you'd have to clock how quickly a photo-receptor cell on the retina can fire (which is primarily a chemical reaction), how fast can the nervous system transmit the info to the brain (which is primarily electrity), how fast can the vision center make sense of it (no idea what's involved there), an how fast can it inform your conscious mind what it's seeing (again, no idea what's involved with that). I'd imagine the answer to all that is "pretty damned fast". But precisely how fast, I don't think anyone knows for sure.

You might as well ask what is the speed of thought? The question can't be answered.


There's a pretty good article on how we perceive FPS at http://www.100fps.com/how_many_frames_can_humans_see.htm

SL uses openGL not DirectX, whether the card is DirectX 10 compatible or not is irrelevent.

True, however, though it might not matter for SL (The app asked about), its unlikely that it will only EVER be used for SL, as spending so much money on a single-app machine is kinda.. not so common. Its better all-around if you are capable of DX10 on your machine, as if anything changes or you want to run something that requires it, you can. DX is used in a *lot* of things, and so... well.. its just logical to have it in my opinion ^^

I completely agree.

Some would argue you should get one of the new ATI cards which supports DirectX 10.1, but I would stick to Nvidia for the better performance and driver stability.

This bears repeating. SLi offers no real benefit to SL. I'm running with two 8800GTS cards, and the performance increase was negligible. Don't even bother with SLi if SL is the only game (or PLATFORM) you play.

I'm guessing it varies from system to system, probably dependent on many factors. As I said, I get about a 30% FPS boost in SL with SLI turned on.

My understanding is that programs do not need to be written in any particular way to "take advantage" of SLI. The software doesn't even have to be aware of SLI at all. At the hardware level, SLI it takes each frame and divides the pixels between the two cards so that each one renders half the scene. The result is you can draw twice as fast. I'd have a hard time imagining that there would be any program that wouldn't benefit from that.

If someone knows more about the subject than I do though, please chime in and edumacate me.

I'm guessing it varies from system to system, probably dependent on many factors. As I said, I get about a 30% FPS boost in SL with SLI turned on.

Could someone explain to me what SLi is? Feeling very ignorant here, but am looking at having a new pc built for me, and want to know all pertinent info

SLi is a Nvidia system where you can pair two graphics cards together for improved performance.

Unless you get a bargain pair of cheap graphics cards (or run massively intensive games on huge monitors ) it's not really worth the money and your better off with a single better card.

ATI also have a version who's name escapes me which is technologically better.

a little bit disingenuous to say it is "technologically superior" considering the cards used could be called technologically inferior...

the nvidia 8xxx stream processors are a LOT more efficient than the ones ati is using...thats why ati cards have such a massive number of them in comparison, and also why they have higher power consumption than a comparable nvidia card.

and honestly, it is all a matter of preference really.

Hi Rock,

I found your FSB speed. It will supports a FSB of 1066/800 MHz

But when I went to the memory manufactureres online, I couldn't find your motherboard model (Microstar MS-7160) in their drop downs, so I'm not sure what actual type of RAM they are specifying to use with that motherboard.

EDIT:

Found it

Main Memory
• Supports dual channel DDR2 533/667, using four 240-pin/1.8V DDR2 DIMMs
• Supports the memory size up to 4GB

Now the question is:
Are you using the DDR2 memory?

While speaking of "graphics cards" (interesting topic), I am getting some good input as to what to include in my new computer when I purchase it. That said, I am not knowledgeable enough to made a good decision on the guts of a new computer. I do graphic arts, play highly graphical games and like running more than one program at a time. I want enough power and space to accomplish multitasking without constant drag and freezing up. I'd like to be able to run SL while also doing, let's say some Microsoft Office projects. I'd like to include the new Vista and I am currently using a cable Internet connection.

Can someone help me decide on the "processor", ram, graphics card, etc. that I should consider when having my computer built. While I am not into spending $5k for it, I am willing to go as far as perhaps $3k....which should buy me a somewhat decent computer I'd say.

Thanks for your help!

The key words are :-

4 gig RAM
Intel Core Duo CPU
and with your budget probably a Nvidia 8800 Graphics card.
Oh and a 5-6ms Response Timeon on the flat panel (minimum 19" LCD monitor.

I'd also reccomend a quality case to keep things cool, I'm a fan of Lian-li cases. Excellent cooling and VERY lightweight.

The rest is pretty incedental.

The key words are :-

4 gig RAM
Intel Core Duo CPU
and with your budget probably a Nvidia 8800 Graphics card.
Oh and a 5-6ms Response Timeon on the flat panel (minimum 19" LCD monitor.

I'd also reccomend a quality case to keep things cool, I'm a fan of Lian-li cases. Excellent cooling and VERY lightweight.

The rest is pretty incedental.