Best bang for the buck?

[tpho2500]

What is the best card in money/performance wise? Under $200 please. I have a friend running tri-sli on some nVidia 8 series card. He says that it's the best out of the 8 series and only a limited number of them are being made. Dunno if he's lying but I'm pretty sure he knows what he's talking about, he's a gps programmer.

I heard the EVGA 260GTX Core 216 is a better money/performance card than the EVGA 260GTX.

[[R-DEV]Dunehunter]

I'm using an 8800GTS 640mb. A bit of an older card, but it can still hold it's own.

[tpho2500]

what is the best 8 series card out?

[=TFU= M-Coke]

The best of the 8 series is now been re branded into the 250 gts, basically.
If you can afford it definately worth spending the extra and getting a 260.

[tpho2500]

Originally Posted by =TFU= M-Coke

The best of the 8 series is now been re branded into the 250 gts, basically.
If you can afford it definately worth spending the extra and getting a 260.

What is the minimum speed for a processor so i don't bottleneck a 260? I originally was thinking the E8400 but I'm not drawn towards a quad core. But for some reason i feel like the Q6600 is now out of date and there are better cheaper processors. any ideas?

[MonkeySoldier]

Originally Posted by tpho2500

What is the minimum speed for a processor so i don't bottleneck a 260? I originally was thinking the E8400 but I'm not drawn towards a quad core. But for some reason i feel like the Q6600 is now out of date and there are better cheaper processors. any ideas?

The X3 720 seems to be a good CPU. And yes, the Q6600 is a bit out of date. (counts for the whole 775 socket by (the end of?) 2010.

As for the best card for under 200 bucks, I'd go for the ATi HD 4890.

[tpho2500]

Originally Posted by MonkeySoldier

The X3 720 seems to be a good CPU. And yes, the Q6600 is a bit out of date. (counts for the whole 775 socket by (the end of?) 2010.

As for the best card for under 200 bucks, I'd go for the ATi HD 4890.

I'm not an AMD or ATI person but thanks.

[Tofurkeymeister]

Originally Posted by tpho2500

I'm not an AMD or ATI person but thanks.

In my opinion, only worry about brand name if one has something you want which the other does not. In truth, ATI and nVidia are basically the same, so I'd buy the best value (whatever that is )

[tpho2500]

Originally Posted by Tofurkeymeister

In my opinion, only worry about brand name if one has something you want which the other does not. In truth, ATI and nVidia are basically the same, so I'd buy the best value (whatever that is )

They are most definitely not the same, but close. The Phenom X3 is equivalent to the E8400. A triple core vs a dual core. Obviously Intel has the upper hand on creating a really good dual core processor but AMD decided to go for a triple core.

AMD have 'real' quad core processors, they didn't just slap 2 dual core processors onto 1 chip and called it a quad core, they redesigned the whole thing from top to bottom.

Intel decided to grill a hamburger and put 2 dual cores on 1 chip and renamed it a quad core. But Intel have the i7 which AMD have nothing to compete against. Though the i7 are really cheap [/sarcasm].

Crysis which was made specifically to run well on nVidia video cards and not ATI. So it will perform better on nVidia cards.

Imo AMD/ATI are better for budget systems but I'm aiming for long lasting products. Since Apple started using Intel processors for their 'green' prodcuts I think it's a better buy to go with Intel.

AMD/ATI are good but I prefer Intel.