any suggestions on video cards?

[Baltika (#9)]

I've currently got a evga nvidia 8600 GT w/ 1G DDR2
my system board can handle 2 nvidia PCIe cards in SLI

I'm looking for a decent bump w/o spending much more than $200

Single great card?
Two decent cards in SLI?

[crazydog]

I've heard good things about some of the higher end ATI cards recently, but I'm an nVidia person, so I wouldn't be able to help specifically.

[Baltika (#9)]

I've heard good things about some of the higher end ATI cards recently, but I'm an nVidia person, so I wouldn't be able to help specifically.

huh?

Suggestions on nVidia cards is what I'm primarily interested in.
Or are you saying that I can't pick up anything decent for under $200?

[Mustard]

I have an ATI 4950, great card, shit software.

[Baltika (#9)]

Right now I'm thinking about either a pair of 1 Gig GTS 250's for $99/each
or a single GTX 465 for $250

I know the smarter choice long term is the GTX 465 so that I can put it in SLI later...but lets be honest, if I'm not using the SLI configuration now, I'm not likely to do it later when the next shiny comes out.  It does support directx 11...but do I really care?

Are there any other cards that I should be looking at?

[crazydog]

What I meant was as of recent, ATI cards seem to be having a better price to performance ratio than nVidia, but I don't know enough about ATI cards to give you a specific suggestion.

On the topic of Dx11, some newer games have been DirectX 10 ONLY games, so I wouldn't be surprised to see some Dx11 ONLY games coming out in the near future.

[Frag_68]

Unless you go SLI right off the bat, ignore it, and don't let it weigh into your options.  I've always been an nVidia guy, but the new batch of Radeons are nice cards.  I have a 5770 that I recently picked up for a reasonable price and it's pretty good.  The nVidia's 260 is a stellar card as well. 

You could always check this out... which does some analysis for you:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card-geforce-radeon,2646.html

[crazydog]

Check this out
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/nvidia-geforce-gtx-460-becomes-everyones-favorite-midrange-grap/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+weblogsinc/engadget+(Engadget)
The card just came out today.

Or, I'm willing to sell you my 9800GTX for $100 or something, and I'll get that card.

[kline]

Right now I'm thinking about either a pair of 1 Gig GTS 250's for $99/each
or a single GTX 465 for $250

I know the smarter choice long term is the GTX 465 so that I can put it in SLI later...but lets be honest, if I'm not using the SLI configuration now, I'm not likely to do it later when the next shiny comes out.  It does support directx 11...but do I really care?

Are there any other cards that I should be looking at?

That's what I use, a pair of gts250s, does the trick for me.

[skrizach]

I don't know much about nvidia lately, as I'm an ATI fan, but if it's anything like CrossFireX, don't you have to have the the same GPU on each card for the SLI to work properly?

[crazydog]

Correct. That's why most people end up buying a single card, and getting the 2nd one later once the price drops, or get two older cards. SLIing two newer cards is way too expensive for the performance gain you get. Better to get a single card that's more powerful than the two SLI'd. Less power, less heat, but a better....experience?

I just ordered one of the new GTX 460's (came out yesterday), so I'll have it by Friday and be able to give a better opinion on it.

[verm]

just built a new PC in april. put in a radeon 5850 which is taking everything i can throw at it now. plus, i have another PCI x16 slot left over for if/when i need to throw another 5850 in there way down the road (when it will be nice and cheap).

[crazydog]

I just got my GTX 460 today, and I am throughly impressed. My 3D mark vantage graphics score almost doubled, and I get over 200% better performance in TF2 (even with higher settings than I was using with my 9800 GTX+)

[Fraggle79]

I just ordered a GTX460 last night also

MSI N460GTX CYCLONE 1Gb

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127510

Will post a review after I get it and install in a few days.

[crazydog]

lol what's with the blue DVI ports? I thought they were VGA at first

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