BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC Video Card - 512MB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready Asus P5Q Deluxe Motherboard - Intel P45, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, PCI Express 2.0, CrossFireX Ready, Dual Gigabit LAN, S/PDIF, Firewire, USB 2.0, eSATA, RAID In preparation for building my new rig, I've been researching the above two components. I have a few questions that I'm hoping somebody can help clarify. Firstly, will I have an incompatibility issue with the graphics card using GDDR3 memory and the motherboard using DDR2? Secondly, what does SLI Ready do for me? Both my power supply and graphics card are marked as such but I don't believe the motherboard is. Should I be concerned? Thanks in advance for your replies, CanadaPhil
First off, you wont have a problem between the DDR2 in the mobo and the DDR3 in the GTS. Secondly, as far as I know the SLI Ready branding for power supplies just means that it doesnt limit the power to the rails or something like that. For the graphics card it just means you could use SLI if you wanted; but your motherboard is not SLI compatible because it isn't a nVidia chipset (but Crossfire is supported for your mobo)
I have the Geforce 260 with DDR1 RAM The RAM on the video card, sound card, modem, any other cards you put in, has NOTHING to do between your computer main RAM which is for your CPU and only for it. It could be GDDR2000 and it won't mather.
Personally, as the graphics card isn't the newest out there, I'm assuming you won't be buying a second one for SLI pairing. Also, what monitor resolution will you be using (i assume you'll be gaming with that?)? I am considering that board because of the expressgate feature, easy raid, and eSata, on board power/reset switch and so on. I won't be bothering with SLI as every few months new cards are coming out that defeat/overpower the point of having sli. I've tried Sli with two 7900gt cards when it first came out, and not even half a hear later, the 7950GX2 that was essentially two cards in one followed by the 8800GTX that was even more powerful, and the saga continues. If however you think you might like SLI, and are sticking with Nvidia, then the P5N-T Deluxe is a similar specced and priced model with the 780i chipset.
As you suspected, I don't plan on using multiple graphics cards and I do plan on using the computer for gaming. I selected the graphics card because it was a good performer and reasonably inexpensive. Should I be looking at an alternative graphics card?
I have the GTS and personally think its a great card; but bit-tech's reviews show that the ATI 4850 is about even (more or less) and that the 4870 outperforms the GTS.
Hmmm... perhaps a video card that is behind the times isn't the best choice. I've started to investigate the 9800s. Does anybody have any experience or know of any good reviews of the nVidea 9800 cards? Thanks, CanadaPhil
