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So basically get an ATI card if you want more than 1 monitor as they fucking own... there is nothing wrong with ATI, and nVidia arent any better, they just have a bigger market share.
AMD FOREVER (even though my new PC is Intel/Nvidia, my old one is AMD/ATI)
Also, will have my old PC soonish as well as my new one as my dad is getting his own laptop...
Don't want to turn this thread into an ATI/nvidia war, but in the case of single card solutions, nvidia are currently the best for high end cards.
When it comes into the crossfire/SLi realm, ATI just have better drivers and are more advanced in their technologies. Nvidia's SLi just isn't as good. I am actually really excited about crossfireX since it allows you to use 2 different ATI cards together which is proving to be awesome in benchmarks (drivers are still in development).
Actually that was only true about 3 generations ago,
SLI scales the same as Crossfire after the high end 7 series.
Nvidia has won and ATI/AMD will be gone/boughtout soon, and all the major new games have been financed by nvidia to work much more effeciently with there drivers.
I'm getting confused by all the different 8800GTX's etc, there seem to be many coming from different makes, I though they were all nVidia GeForce?
nVidia dont actually make any of the chipsets, they essentially franchise themselves to other companies like BFG, XFX etc who make the cards, but there shouldnt be any huge difference between companies. Certainly shouldnt be what you choose it on, but if it sounds like a dodgy company its probably a dodgy card.
nVidia are better. End of.
But, going by what's been said, I'd want ATI because I'm running and want to continue running duals...
...Am I right in saying so?
All single card solutions from both Nvidia and ATI can do dual screens fine.
1 graphics card get an Nvidia.
2 graphics cards get an ATI (for doing dual screens).
Just get the 8800GTX like you originally had, it will be fine. I have an 8800GTS G92 and I will soon be adding a 2nd monitor.
Okay. Thanks for clearing that up.
I'll post a revised item list soon...
But whatever you do, DO NOT get 2 8800GTX's, they overheat and cause the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death.)
Next question...
OS... I currently have XP x64 and HATE it.
XP x32 Pro or Vista x32?
I have XP 32bit Professional and it is great. My PC flies through games and I have had no driver or crashing issues.
I have heard that 64bit Windows Vista is much better than the XP version, so you could go with that. IMO I wouldn't get 32bit vista, especially because vista is a memory hog.
With 4GB of RAM, it doesn't really matter whether you have a 32 or 64bit OS because even though you can see and use the extra RAM on the 64bit OS, every application and the OS itself uses more RAM, so it will feel very similar to a 32bit OS unless you have more than 4GB of RAM.
If you are into futureproofing for when you may want 8GB RAM, then I would get Vista 64bit. I just got XP 32bit Pro because there were loads of issues with Vista at the time I was building my PC.
I'd get vista 64-bit, and 4GB of RAM, you don't need any more than 4GB for anything, and you can just buy more when needed.
You need more than 4gb if you are using 64bit.
Also 64bit anything has major issues with alot of programs...
You don't need more than 4GB to use 64-bit, you could run it with 1GB if you wanted to. And maybe it's better to check all your programs work with it before hand.
Even if you only have 4GB of RAM, you are still getting more RAM than you would with 32-bit, a whole 750mb in fact, if he gets a 8800GTX. Considering that 32-bit and 64-bit are the exact same price, and most of your programs work with it, why not just get it and future proof and make sure you can upgrade RAM in the future?