12-17-2006, 04:15 AM
Well, I went ahead and ordered it, actually right after I read DeeBye's post. While I agree that the Intel dual cores generally outperform the AMDs, it seems like the AMD is a decent enough chip at my price point (remember, I was already overbudget). It was also recommended by a Tom's guide, fwiw.
I'm also wary of SLI. It really strikes me as "Hmm, technology isn't improving quickly enough for people to need to buy new cards. I know- let's make everyone buy TWO cards!" But, in this case I feel like we didn't have that much to lose. I don't think I could have done much better on price for a quality non-SLI board, and for now we bought the best ONE video card that we could afford. In the future, we have the option of adding a second card for SLI, or replacing it with a newer card. Without the SLI board, we wouldn't have that flexibility. We're buying the machine now, and not 6 months from now, so whether or not we would be able to afford DX10 cards or quad-core processors (heh) in 6 months isn't really a factor. (Although it might be for me, as I will need a new comp if any new games come out that I want to play. We used to always buy two computers at once, but the price of two computers is significant enough that we haven't upgraded in so long that I can't even remember what year it was.)
I actually did go ahead and go for a 7900 GS card, though. I talked to a friend who had TWO of the XFX 7600 cards break on him, so we were switching to a slightly more expensive MSI card anyway. So, the price difference between the 7600 and 7900 was even smaller than it had been before.
I also stuck with the 500W power supply. I am thinking that a good Seasonic 500W might be better than an average 550W from somebody else. I also ended up buying from Newegg, because they had more choices in cases without power supplies, and the prices were comparable otherwise. It looks like we got a better case for about the same price.
We still need to figure out what is wrong with the old comp to see if we can salvage some of those parts for little Gris' computer (when we get an upgrade, she gets an upgrade, hehe). It would be nice to be able to move most of it over. I'm thinking it could be a power supply issue, and the problem began when the power flickered on and off for about 10 minutes before an 18-hour blackout. It could still be a lot of things, though.
I'm also wary of SLI. It really strikes me as "Hmm, technology isn't improving quickly enough for people to need to buy new cards. I know- let's make everyone buy TWO cards!" But, in this case I feel like we didn't have that much to lose. I don't think I could have done much better on price for a quality non-SLI board, and for now we bought the best ONE video card that we could afford. In the future, we have the option of adding a second card for SLI, or replacing it with a newer card. Without the SLI board, we wouldn't have that flexibility. We're buying the machine now, and not 6 months from now, so whether or not we would be able to afford DX10 cards or quad-core processors (heh) in 6 months isn't really a factor. (Although it might be for me, as I will need a new comp if any new games come out that I want to play. We used to always buy two computers at once, but the price of two computers is significant enough that we haven't upgraded in so long that I can't even remember what year it was.)
I actually did go ahead and go for a 7900 GS card, though. I talked to a friend who had TWO of the XFX 7600 cards break on him, so we were switching to a slightly more expensive MSI card anyway. So, the price difference between the 7600 and 7900 was even smaller than it had been before.
I also stuck with the 500W power supply. I am thinking that a good Seasonic 500W might be better than an average 550W from somebody else. I also ended up buying from Newegg, because they had more choices in cases without power supplies, and the prices were comparable otherwise. It looks like we got a better case for about the same price.
We still need to figure out what is wrong with the old comp to see if we can salvage some of those parts for little Gris' computer (when we get an upgrade, she gets an upgrade, hehe). It would be nice to be able to move most of it over. I'm thinking it could be a power supply issue, and the problem began when the power flickered on and off for about 10 minutes before an 18-hour blackout. It could still be a lot of things, though.
Why can't we all just get along
--Pete
--Pete