Before we start Sorry for the long posts...
Ati and Nvidia Both make great cards..
If you want cheapest Price to Performance ratio... i would Go nvidia.
If You want to spend 200$ Ish on a video card....
Get the best 8800 You can.. something along the Lines of an 8800GT 512mb gddr3 Should Cost Around 160$ And you will be more that satisfied....
I can just say tho from experience that colors look less faded on most Ati cards... The difference is slight . . . but some people can be anal about things like that.
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If that is where you are getting parts from... sadly there 8800's are like 50$ overpriced...
Try going around to other computer stores in your area.... or ask for a *deal... you would be surprised how far some stores are willing to stretch on price . . . especially if the owner is Chinese... ^^
stores like that make almost no money on selling personal computers... most make money from setting up servers and networks for large/medium sized companies and build personal computers and sell parts on the side for a little extra cash.
Hell whenever I go to this chinese computer store on 8th Avenue . . . I don't pay any Tax and get like 20$ off every Item ^^...
Anyways Id advise you to shop around as that stores prices are not very competitive at all =/
^^ Never hurts to ask for a deal lol...
Just be like hey this guy I know said he would buy me an 8800 GT for 170$ can u match price..? ya know shop around/lie a little lol its like playing poker ^^ just dont break the guys balls, cause 20$ here and 50$ there ... adds up after a while
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600/ 2.40GHz/ 2x4MB Cache/ 1066FSB/ LGA775 $223.00
XFX 8800GS Alpha Dog Edition 384MB, DDR3, 192bit, PCIE, Dual DVI, TV Out, HDTV, HDCP (PV-T88S-FDF4) $110.00
Seagate Barracuda 250Gb 7200RPM 16Mb SATA 2 $63.00
LG GH-20NS10 SATA DVD Re-Writer (20x/Dual Layer Black) $37.40
Corsair DDR2 4GB PC-6400/800 (2x XMS2 2GB) TWIN2X4096-6400C5 Ram $114.40
=`640$ +tax w/e
You can add an extra 8800 Gs for a little more kick... and it will be equiv or more powerfull than most cards you can get for 250$+
XFX 8800GS Alpha Dog Edition 384MB, DDR3, 192bit, PCIE, Dual DVI, TV Out, HDTV, HDCP (PV-T88S-FDF4) $110.00
so that would be with SLI tho...
Two 8800Gs cards running as one...
What I would rec.
Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4L motherboard $123.20
XFX 8800GS Alpha Dog Edition 384MB, DDR3, 192bit, PCIE, Dual DVI, TV Out, HDTV, HDCP (PV-T88S-FDF4)110$
XFX 8800GS Alpha Dog Edition 384MB, DDR3, 192bit, PCIE, Dual DVI, TV Out, HDTV, HDCP (PV-T88S-FDF4)110$
Or get an 8800 GT In a way I would prefer getting one 8800 GT over two 8800 GS just because it is an overall better version of the card...
Not to say the 8800Gs wont kick butt... just one 8800 Gt is far more powerful... and two 8800 Gs would probably only out perform one 8800Gt by a small margin...
Again i hate to push SLI into the equation... But for the price of the 8800 Gs it looks enticing.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600/ 2.40GHz/ 2x4MB Cache/ 1066FSB/ LGA775 $223.00
Seagate Barracuda 250Gb 7200RPM 16Mb SATA 2 $63.00
Corsair DDR2 4GB PC-6400/800 (2x XMS2 2GB) TWIN2X4096-6400C5 Ram $114.40
LG GH-20NS10 SATA DVD Re-Writer (20x/Dual Layer Black) $37.40
Total = Around 780 to 800$
so that would be
2.4Ghz Quad core
dual 8800 GS In sli
4gb DDR2 ram
250gb HDD
and a DvD Burner.
Case ? I think i read you where going to use one you had already?
Power Supply ? Make sure any you have are Strong Enough and have PCIEX power connectors and over 40 Ampers on the 12V Rail
Watage does not make much a difference =/
PS: for gaming most games will not really take advantage of all the cores... you will not really notice a differance from gaming on quad or dual core...
So if you really want you can get a cheaper higher clocked Dual core..
But the Quad core is nice to have for the Future . . . would make system last longer in a way.... it will stand the test of time better...
Its all about budget and personal preference . . . some people prefer to game on Dual Core, over Quad . . . because of the cheaper higher clock speeds....
But realistically there is little to no performance difference in most situations.