Graphics opinions

[saltynay]

I am trying to decide whether its worth selling or keeping when I get a new graphics card (around march I think after the market has settled again) currently have 2x8800gts (640mb) sli and playing at 1920x1200 I am not too bothered by AA and its only recently started to get frame drops on games (fallout 3 ultra high settings), otherwise every game has been silky smooth and at full settings. The current market price for this card new in the UK is
Eclipse Computers - Product Details
Second hand they are worth £60-70

So I potentially could get £120 selling both which would be half the price of the GTX260 that I want. But I also have a media centre build that is going to use up all my old parts, case and a motherboard without onboard video (so a video card is needed currently considering a silent 8500gt for £50 if I don't use a 8800gts) so I could put one of the cards in there and use the other as a dedicated physx card with the 260 good idea? I am on the fence atm fortunately these are only provisional decisions just looking for some peoples thoughts on the idea.

 

[chesirecat1701]

It's a shame the way these exchange rates work, honestly I don't think the 8800gts is gonna help the GTX260 and I hope your looking at the 216 version btw it is a great buy

EDIT: I think you mean you want to use the 880gts for the phys X rendering right? if so I do think that's unheard of

 

[Druid]

It's a shame the way these exchange rates work, honestly I don't think the 8800gts is gonna help the GTX260 and I hope your looking at the 216 version btw it is a great buy

What do you mean by that? How could it ever help the gtx 260? You can't sli two different cards.

 

[chesirecat1701]

i really don't know what he was trying to say in his post to begin with so ?? lol

 

[philbar71]

yes you can use the 8800gts 640mb for physx. that is not unheard of. you can use any 8 series or 9 series as well as the new GTX series for a dedicated physx card.

 

[saltynay]

Think you need to do some research before you reply on posts, giving people random guesses is not great especially for the under confident in the tech world. You can make it harder for people that actually know what they are talking about to get there point across. Fortunately I am "wizard techie" apparently so didn't take your info to heart especially after you editted and stated you didn't know what dedicated physx is.

You can sli only cards of the same model the exceptions are when the memory sizes are different which can add complications to the planning. Physx adds realistic details to some games that support it atm its only available as an nvidia technology and supported by there cards it is not particularly apparent in most games as designers want to sell to the entire market rather then dedicating resources just to nvidia. The idea of a dedicated physx card is to free up stream processors on the master card and using the physx card to work out all the physics in a game the gx260 would then be free to devote itself to just eyecandy textures. Any card after the 8 series can be used as a dedicated physx card but its a general rule that the 8600gt or higher is needed to make an effective gain.

The UK and US prices are completely different due to a multitude of factors; partly because were an island so everything needs to be transported in adding premiums, the market is quite small so supply and demand drives prices up and we get taxed more then you yanks. I originally spent £1600 on my pc flat out purchase at that time the exchange rate was £1=$2 so $3200 on a pc that wasn't even extreme top of the line it was just high end. The general rule of thumb is that prices on newegg for main components; ram, cpu, gfx card and cases just replace the $ with a £ sign and your around the right price for cpu's and gfx you normally then have to add 50 to that. A standard 260 over here sets you back around £230 if you do some shopping around you can cut off a few quid.

Edit: thanks philbar I found out through my own research any opinion on the matter I really am quite indecisive fortunately have a little while in the future to weigh up my options but just looking for some provisional decision making

 

[philbar71]

if it were me i would keep a 8800gts and use that for physx and get a gtx 260. then that would be a nice setup

 

[veg1992]

Think you need to do some research before you reply on posts, giving people random guesses is not great especially for the under confident in the tech world. You can make it harder for people that actually know what they are talking about to get there point across. Fortunately I am "wizard techie" apparently so didn't take your info to heart especially after you editted and stated you didn't know what dedicated physx is.

You can sli only cards of the same model the exceptions are when the memory sizes are different which can add complications to the planning. Physx adds realistic details to some games that support it atm its only available as an nvidia technology and supported by there cards it is not particularly apparent in most games as designers want to sell to the entire market rather then dedicating resources just to nvidia. The idea of a dedicated physx card is to free up stream processors on the master card and using the physx card to work out all the physics in a game the gx260 would then be free to devote itself to just eyecandy textures. Any card after the 8 series can be used as a dedicated physx card but its a general rule that the 8600gt or higher is needed to make an effective gain.

The UK and US prices are completely different due to a multitude of factors; partly because were an island so everything needs to be transported in adding premiums, the market is quite small so supply and demand drives prices up and we get taxed more then you yanks. I originally spent £1600 on my pc flat out purchase at that time the exchange rate was £1=$2 so $3200 on a pc that wasn't even extreme top of the line it was just high end. The general rule of thumb is that prices on newegg for main components; ram, cpu, gfx card and cases just replace the $ with a £ sign and your around the right price for cpu's and gfx you normally then have to add 50 to that. A standard 260 over here sets you back around £230 if you do some shopping around you can cut off a few quid.

Edit: thanks philbar I found out through my own research any opinion on the matter I really am quite indecisive fortunately have a little while in the future to weigh up my options but just looking for some provisional decision making

Your looking for dedicated PhysX right?

Ya you can use your GPU for full PhysX acceleration... (I made a thread that gives a how-to)

EDIT:
http://www.techist.com/forums/f78/using-nvidia-card-dedicated-gpu-physx-acceleration-191277/

 

[saltynay]

Yeah I know how to do it Vern I am just unsure whether I want to. I want a setup

Did it give a noticeable performance difference?
Could you give some fps examples with it on and off?
Whats your general opinion on which way I should go?

 

[philbar71]

i found this doing a google search on nvidia physx

Techgage - NVIDIA's PhysX: Performance and Status Report