i want to build a core 2 duo machine

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

Can't believe no one has brought this up yet, but have a gander at our Recommendations page.

Hey, I know.....Oh never mind, I guess someone already mentioned it

[duckingzebra]

lol you guys are funnies...

[fps justin]

if you wait till this summer, you got lots of time to think about it, prices will drop by then too. More new stuff will come out as well. By then, 45nm intel cpus and K8L should be out, correct me if i'm wrong.

[Quakindude]

Do you plan on using SLI, Crossfire or a single video card?

[duckingzebra]

whats the diff? sorry lol, i dont know enough about them, thats y im trying to gather info know, so when i get money this summer i dont make a mistake with it.

[duckingzebra]

ok i looked up sli and crossfire and it depends, if my p.o.s. single graphics card can run ccs, so having say 4 top of the line graphics cards running together >(sli, correct me if im wrong) isnt that kind of redundant, or will my ccs look so much better that it will be worth it?

[drew and not u]

you're talking about quad SLI. SLI is when you use two nVidia cards to output a single signal. The ATI version is cross fire. CSS is an older game and would definitely not benefit from SLI. SLI only really shines when running demanding games at high resolutions.

[duckingzebra]

well...what would be like the most demanding game out nowadays?

[fps justin]

If your a mainstream user and don't need all the bells and whislters for every game every secound of your life, then SLi or crossfire may not be for you. I'f i had the choice, i would not buy SLI, partially because it is quite expensive for just a bit mroe quality. If you have one decent, solid card, you won't be disappointed.

If you think about the cost of SLI with two 8800GTX...

680i evga mobo
2 x 8800GTX
P + C 1k PSU

If you think about it, thats ALOT of money.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by duckingzebra

well...what would be like the most demanding game out nowadays?

That would be F.E.A.R., Black and White 2, Elder Scrolls Oblivion, BattleField 2 or 2142, and more that I can't think of right off the top of my head. The DirectX10 games (which will only be playable with full detail and compatibility in Windows Vista) will probably start hitting the streets sometime in 2007 and those will be much more graphically advanced and require a more powerful video card.

And as drew mentioned, SLI or CrossFire really won't be even close to worth the high cost unless you are running really high resolutions (24" LCD). I've found that over the years, it is actually more effective and cheaper not to try and buy a top of the line video card to last you through the next two years. Technology changes so much (which causes prices to also change (or drop) a lot as well) that you are often times better off buying a mid-range or low cost high-end video card and then just selling it and upgrading the newest card in that range when you find your games aren't playable anymore. Over time, higher end cards seem to drop more in price than lower end cards. Just some food for thought that buying the biggest and best to last in the computer world isn't always the best way to go...