[Sideways52]

So i recently upgraded a few components on my desktop. I installed a new videocard, MB, and RAM.
Old: 2 (2x1Gb) DDR sticks... New: 2BG (2x1GB) DDR2 667
Old: 8xAGP Ati 9600 Pro... New:PCI Express x16 Nvidia 8600GT
And the MB just to keep install the new hardware on.

I know it's not perfect to run two monitors off one card but my old set up did not have the loss of FPS and Load time for games like World of Warcraft.

So i have some questions about making it better:
Should i get a MB that is SLI ready?
Is SLI necessary to efficently run two monitors?
Could i just buy a MB with two PCIE16 slots and Dual card?
Or should i just give up and go back to the old setup?


Any suggestions are welcome. I'm more than willing to post more information/specs if you need them to help.

[Carbon]

No, you should have done your research first. The 8600GT was never a good card, unless you only have $50 to spare.

Forget SLI, return your 8600GT and get a 8800GT (~$100) or 4850 (~$175).

[serverguy]

Originally Posted by Carbon

Forget SLI, return your 8600GT and get a 8800GT (~$100) or 4850 (~$175).

Totally agree.

You don't mention what CPU you have?

[Sideways52]

ok, i'll look into a different card.

I'm using a Intel Core 2 Duo 6400 2.13GHz

[Sideways52]

Do you think just switching to the 8800 will be that much more of an improvement and fix all the problems?

[link590o]

You need to have a look at some of the benchmarks, my friend. It will be an enormous improvement. The 8800gt is now the standard card you need for any game these days. It can run some pretty intense games like Call of Duty 4 and the like.

The 8600 is aging very quickly. Soon, it will be phased out entirely at the rate they're pumping newer cards out. If you have an extra 80 bucks to spare, just go all out and get a 9800gtx. They're about $200 on newegg.com now. I just bought one actually. That thing will tear anything you give it a new butthole.

If you don't have the spare cash though, the 8800gt will be a fantastic purchase.

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by link590o

If you have an extra 80 bucks to spare, just go all out and get a 9800gtx.

Why would you do that when the 4850 is cheaper and better? Or do you mean a GTX+?

[link590o]

I did indeed, yes. A GTX+. I shouldn't have forgotten to add that little detail...

[Sideways52]

I hear you that there are better cards out there. I'm looking into getting a 8800GT or better. I was just disappointing that switching from a AGP Ati9600 to a ECIE16 8600GT and didn't get improvement, in fact i feel that i lost performance.

I've even taken off my second monitor to see if removing the extra load would increase my FPS. BUT it didn't.

[link590o]

The loss in FPS can be attributed to a number of things. For one, you might be using a PCI-E 16x, but it could only be running at 8x due to the way some motherboard manufacturers make their boards. It could also be that you have viruses, you're using higher detail settings on your games than you were before, or it may even be that the 8600gt you got was faulty in addition to its already terrible stature.

Even some old AGP cards, such as the ATI x1950 pro, could outperform some of the early GeForce 8 series like the 84, 85, and 8600 models. So it also depends on the AGP card you were using in comparison to the new PCI-E card.

It's always a good idea before you buy a video card to check some of the basic benchmarks for the card. Whenever I do my shopping, I have a look at what a certain card can do with a graphically intense game, and what people have said about the card before I look into buying it.

While you feel that you may have lost performance, I think you haven't looked at your options well enough, and you haven't given PCI-E 16x or PCI-E 2.0 enough of a chance yet. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with how the 8800gt, or any of the better cards will perform.

So unless you're suffering from any of my aforementioned FPS killers, you should see a great improvement over the 8600.