what video card to get for gaming computer?

Question

i am going to build a gaming computer and i am not to sure what to get for a video card. I have about a 400 dollar budget. Should i get a more expensive 512 or should i get 2 cheaper 512 and bridge them. processor is going to be duo core intel.
any help would be appreciated THANKS

Answer 1

For $400 you could get either a ATI HD2900XT or a GeForce 8800GTS. No, and let me repeat for emphasis, NO, dual card setup will outperform either of those two cards for $400 or less, just plain and simple isn't gonna happen, so this question is not at all difficult for people who actually are familiar with the cards performance, and don't just say "2 is better than 1."

Answer 2

First you need to make sure your motherboard will support SLI or Crossfire configurations before deciding whether to get 1 or 2 identical video cards. Once you know if you can use SLI (Geforce cards) or Crossfire (ATI cards), then I would recommend using the paired setup if possible, you divide your graphics processing across two processors and available pools of graphics dedicated memory for faster framerates and response times when compared to using a single card. The next thing you have to decide is which operating system you are going to use, Vista still does not support SLI or Crossfire configurations at this time, though both manufacturers are working to resolve these issues. If your budget is around $400 and you are going to use Windows XP Pro or Media Center, I would suggest using these: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3241598&CatId=1826 . I run these in SLI mode with Windows XP Pro which means I have a pair of them, what makes them nice is they each have 512mgs of dedicated video memory, each card has a nice performance rated graphics engine for video processing, they don't use fans for cooling - they use heat dissapation fins which means less chances of overheat from dust and dirt buildup on fans which is common with any fan cooled component, and lastly, they are made by XFX. XFX backs all their video cards with a Dual Life Time Warranty covering both parts and labor. Dual lifetime warranty means that when you register the cards to you, you get a lifetime parts and labor warranty on each card, and should you later decide to upgrade or replace your video cards and sell them to someone else, they can register them and receive a matching lifetime warranty on parts and labor just like you had. No other manufacturer offers this strong of a warranty.

-----Note: another benefit of these two cards is they are only single face cards, so they won't block access to other expansion ports on the back of your computer like other high end models of video cards that have a dual exposure facing.

Answer 3

I would check out Tomshardware.com and look at the VGA charts. Probably, you are better with one good card NVidia 8800GTS GPU possibly at that price range.

Answer 4

that my recommendation for 2x cards