[link590o]

while that may be true, that still precipitates the need for a monitor that can display graphics at a decent resolution just so you can even see those benefits. so while you may have that one aspect covered, you've still got the monitor as your problem. where as if you stick with one card, you don't NEED to go to a high resolution to see a frame rate increase. meaning you can cut out the need for a monitor.

that second basic principle is one that's necessary to be considered. one can only assume that if you're upgrading to a card like that, the rest of your rig is probably not going to be very much newer. so for the sake of ease, i'm going to assume that someone getting a card from the 7 series doesn't have that large of a monitor. or at least not a decent one.

that would therefore increase the costs almost 4 fold if not more.

in comparison, buying a single 180 or 240 dollar card, and sticking with the monitor you have will prove more cost-efficient and still gives you very decent results.

you also have to assume that not everyone buys a motherboard that is approved for sli. and you still need a power supply good enough to run 2 cards at the same time and run everything else and still have a little bit of room for more.

[link590o]

even though it is a slight bump, i can't help posting it nonetheless. i literally just got the 9600gt and it is a wonderful card indeed.

while my monitor's resolution doesn't go higher than 1280x1024, i still was able to max all graphical elements out and maintain framerates above 60fps on all games i tested including a demo of bioshock.

it was marvelous. now all i need is a complimentary screen and to test it out at higher resolutions to see what it is capable of.

[redden137]

so i guess the 9800gt is impressive then, have you managed to play crysis with it yet?

[link590o]

i don't have crysis, and nor do i really want to play it. i guess if you want me to benchmark it and see how it does, then i'll get a demo and see what happens.

but either way it wouldn't be anything truly conclusive because like i said my monitor won't reach past 1280x1024

[redden137]

No its okay m8, just wondered if you have played it or any other game to test it thats all

[link590o]

well i played Call of Duty 2. the frames never sank below 60 even with everything as maxed out as possible. and i played a demo of Bioshock and it was the same thing. everything maxed out, and it still played through it like it was nothing.

i also played through portal and again, same story. so far, with my current rig, i can shred almost any game out there, probably with the exception of crysis.

[Krlll]

Not very exciting examples.
Portal and COD2 are not that difficult to run even on modest hardware,Bioshock is not really that heavy on the juice either.
I wouldnt worry about Crysis,I dont think any rig can "shred" it.

[link590o]

the idea that Bioshock isn't tough on the machine is an outright fabrication. Bioshock's graphics were the cause of many failures of a bunch of XBox 360s. and there are even a few sli systems i know of that are having trouble rendering Bioshock on full detail at high resolution. so the fact that i can run it without any noticeable dips in frames says something about the card.

i know the other examples weren't all that great, but it's all i've got really. and i tried crysis. i can handle it nicely on medium detail, and it's playable but not so great on high detail.

and again, many of my examples won't be conclusive anyhow because my monitor's resolution can't go high enough to fully benchmark anything. if i can run most things at say...1600x1200 with excellent frame rates, then i'd say i have put this new card through its paces. and i would have to try some of the latest games like Call of Duty 4. but for that, i need money. and i just blew everything i had buying the card :3

the main thing i was trying to demonstrate by posting earlier was that the card itself is performing up to expectations, and it's doing incredibly well with some of the best games out there, namely Portal, and Half Life 2. after all, they are two of the most popular games out there, so i figured i'd at least test those out too.

[Krlll]

Ok its relatively tough I guess but you dont need a "great" graphics card to play it.

Recommended System Requirements:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo processor

System RAM: 2GB

Video card:
DX9: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT or better)
DX10: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or better

Sound Card: Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ series (Optimized for use with Creative Labs EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0 or EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 compatible sound cards)

Important Note: Game requires Internet connection for activation

I have no idea what the poor build quality of XBox 360s has to do with any of this.
Perhaps Bioshock had issues in the begining but really it can be run on a decent AGP card.
Im glad the card is performing up to expectations but what else should it do?
Basically your post drew my attention because it sounded as if you were trying to make a brand new graphics card sound great just because it can play medium spec games.
Its a cheap card that just about cuts it with todays games.
The End.

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by Krlll

Its a cheap card that just about cuts it with todays games.
The End.

That's not really true at all, unless you call the 8800GT a cheap card as well.