My system:
Intel 3.2
2GB DDR2 RAM
Sound Blaster X-Fi
Logitech 5.1 350w surround sound, wireless rear speakers
Dell 28" LCD TV
Nvidia 256 7800GTX
Logitech G5 gaming laser mouse
(When it arrives) Logitech G25

I still suffer from some lags in framerates and many other problems such as games crashing and black textures. I run nearly all games at 720p.

A whole re-format of my cpu and operating system was no good.

For the same price that I purchesed my 7800GTX graphics card, I can get a 7950GX2 1GB

Would the upgrade be worth the money?

Does anyone know if these card support DX10 when it arrives, or should I hold back and wait?

Has anyone actually used these cards or know of an alternative around £250-£400?

There is too many problems with my current GPU, I'm fed up with it and really annoyed that I should have waited an extra 10 months, my warrenty is now expired in all

well, No card on the market atm supports DX10, or will, and you'll need Vista to get DX10, and 8-series card to get DX10. It isn't the 1Gb that is the GX2's strong point (btw - memory it has doesn't make much difference), it is actually two 7900GT's on one board, the "2" in GX2 is for 2 Graphics card, as such it has double the power (technically) and is hellishly fast, HOWEVER

Your CPU is holding you back - although even then that is a HUGE resolution to do, the cpu is the problem

Oh, and graphics card wise, there are better than the 7800GTX, ie the new 7900GS is slightly slower than a 7800GT, but retails for £140, however is (aparently) an excellent Overclocker. You could also get a 7950GT (basically it's a 7900GT, but slightly faster, but not as quick as a 7900GTX), which i myself just picked up (although go for the 512 Mb one if you can afford it, it does seem to be a fair bit quicker, i went for the 256 Mb one!) for £180 (The 7950GT does NOT have two cores like the GX2 does!)

Yeah, your video card is just about as fast as mine (7900GT 256MB) and I don't have any problems with it at all. My CPU, however, is considerably faster (2.13 GHz Conroe). I run LFS just great at 2048x1280 with 4xAA and 16xAF. Other games like CS:Source I run at 1600x1000 with 4xAA and 16xAF and my framerate VERY rarely drops below 80 fps in CS.

Wellllllll.......... funnily enough, I did hit a bit of a brick wall this last weekend in a league race. I'd decided to use 2048x2048 skins for all my competitors' skins. End result, 1fps. Cause: graphics memory.. 128Mb was wayyyy too little for my 6600GT to deliver the graphics it was trying to render.

Today, I don't think the *majority* of games need bigtime graphics memory, but I'll never again say that the memory on a gfx card isn't important. Big things are coming, and graphics card memory is going to have a role in making that happen.

I'd just ordered a 7950GX2 1GB but promptly canceled my order when i realised that the 8800's were around the corner, I may still buy the 7950 but next month when the DX10 make it drop by £100 or so. It was (OEM) £316 from scan- good price.

Next month? Doubt it - it will be a while before the 8000's come out

Quote from Forbin :

...My CPU, however, is considerably faster (2.13 GHz Conroe)....

I'm not much in the know, but your all saying an Intel 3.2ghz processor is slower than a 2.13ghz.

Sorry, maybe I confused you by missing off the ghz.

Anyways, I can't get most games to run over 60fps. LFS will run at 80+ with all the settings as "let application decide" soon as I put antailising, anostrophic settings etc. up by somethings like x2 or x4, it will do around 45-50.

I've also had problems with the new Nvidia drivers (e.g. black textures, can no longer choose profiles, advanced options always crash)

My monitor can't display over 60fps, so I am after a card that can stay well above this rate enabling me to have all the settings up at a HD res, as the v-sync and triiple buffer makes games gorgeously smooth when the fps matches the refresh rate. Otherwise I get too much tearing due to the crapy response time.

Makes me curious how people can get such high frame rates.

Waiting for the 8 serious (not bothered waiting for a while) might be the wise choice, or better still, invest in a better LCD.

GHz means little, let me explain something

his is a Conroe (also known as a "Core 2 Duo") - it's the latest processor from Intel, is really overclockable, and the quickest on the market atm, if you look at the GHz, double it before comparing it to the P4 as it gets double as many calculations done per clock than a P4 does (The conroe does 12, the P4 does six, so although his is a 2.13 Ghz cpu, think of it as a 4.26 Ghz P4)

In the same vein AMD cpu's do more per clock than a P4 (but less than a Conroe), thus my 4000 (called that as if you factor in the more per clock thing then it is the same as a 4 GHz P4) actually runs at 2400 MHz (well, i overclocked it to 2800, but thats a nother matter!)

Have you tried uninstalling all the nvidia drivers, then using Driver Cleaner, then re-installing them?

I too run 720p for all my games, off of a 17" dell widescreen lcd. 1280x768 more precisely, so one of the earlier interpretations of 720p.

If you look at that resolution 1280x768, it is significantly lower than traditional 17-19" lcd 1280x1024, much lower than larger widescreens 1680x1050, 1600x1200.

The GX2 really only excells once you get up to these high 1600x1200 and higher res.

The 7900GTX would be faster 9 times out of 10 for your resolution. For much less, ~$260 the 256mb x1900xt offers probably 90% of the performance of the 7900gtx. Also for that price, the 7900gto is available, which is a slightly underclocked 7900gtx, which is easily overclockable to and Over GTX speeds.

I'm planning on getting a 22" widescreen lcd soon, 1680x1050 resolution, so I'm planning of waiting to see if my x850xt will hack it after that big bump of resolution.

As far as getting a different lcd, i disagree with that for you. Gaming on a big lcd tv is awesome regardless of resolution, just long hours of computing might get strenuous.

Good Luck!

I have the 7950gx2 and it is a real beast.....I will be looking at getting another one start of the year so i can sli them.

@Breadstick3000: As Jakg pointed out, it is a common misconception that a higher clock speed on a CPU is better regardless of whether it's a completely different architecture. Intel capitalized on this misconception with the P4 with an architecure that could ramp up in clock speed immensely (although not nearly as high as they had hoped) but not do a whole lot with each clock tick.

Quote from Jakg :

(well, i overclocked it to 2800, but thats a nother matter!)

How stable do u find this mate? Coz i have an FX-62 Dualcore and when i overclock, after about half n hour my computer hangs and i have to go into the bios and reset to default which annoys the hell out of me

Quote from B11TME :

I have the 7950gx2 and it is a real beast.....I will be looking at getting another one start of the year so i can sli them.

I also have a 7950GX2 and was thinking about geting another one, but i read there is no point in having 2 unless your running all your stuff at like 2500x1600

Quote from Munza :

How stable do u find this mate? Coz i have an FX-62 Dualcore and when i overclock, after about half n hour my computer hangs and i have to go into the bios and reset to default which annoys the hell out of me

not very, is at 2724 MHz atm, rock stable, if your isn't, have you given the core more power (to cope with the higher FSB)?

I'd rather not help you because i can't explain it very well and am not an overclocking expert, check out a place like Overclock.net, will give you much better advice!

hmm more voltage, i didnt think of that (slaps myself) See i was using Ai Booster (came with Asus mobo) and figured it'd do it all automatically (as there r preset settings of o/c 103% 105% 108% and 110%) Both cores r 2.8ghz stock and with a 110% o/c it goes up to 3.08ghz per core.

Thanks for that overclocking link, i'll have to check it out

if i were you i WOULDN'T use software to do it for you, if you have an Asus mobo, which one is it? I have an A8N-SLi Premium, and on that the max voltage you can do is from 1.5>1.55v

Please say you have an aftermarket cooler!

lol Asus M2N32-SLi Deluxe motherboard. I got some help from Overclock.net and one bloke mentioned the best way for the FX series is to up the multiplier, which i adjusted from 14 to 15 giving me a core speed of 3ghz per core.

I got the stock heatsink, but they r much different to other AMD Heatsinks, they have copper piping out the side and a larger heatsink in general. Been using it for a while and temps all running around the same which is good

I took the cover off the card, there was a cloged ball of furr wraped in the fan and heat sink. Much quieter now

Only a minor improvement to frame rates, card is much more stable though.

Would duel core be compatiible on my current motherboard (I'm sure I've seen a socket type for one that rings a bell) or are only brand new motherboards compatilble?

I only purchesed my cpu a year ago and it was the best bits I could buy at that time (custom made, had someone to construct it for me.) Unforunetely can't use sli due to one PCI-E slot).

So all in all, does a more poweful processor actually increase frame rates? I thought most games rely on the graphics card and RAM, I have no speed issues and no stuttering at all, loading times are quick. Its just the frame rate.

I tried both drivers that came with the card, and from Nvidias site. The downloaded one is much better.

I've not hear of Driver Cleaner but I've got registry cleaner software which I used after uninstalling the drivers.

I'll try again with that software.

Quote from Munza :

I got the stock heatsink, but they r much different to other AMD Heatsinks, they have copper piping out the side and a larger heatsink in general. Been using it for a while and temps all running around the same which is good

not really - i'll dig out a pic of what you have, i'd imagine its the same as my Dad's X2 one (the copper bits have are heatpipes), when i started to overclock the stock fan didnt do it well, so i tried my dads (he has watercooling, so he doesn't need it!) - made about 1 degree difference!

On topic now...

Driver Cleaner and a Registry cleaner are MUCH different, Driver Cleaner's sole job is to remove a driver COMPLETELY before you install a new one (just uninstalling it leaves stuff) - instead of using the nVidia drivers i prefer to use the "XTremeG's" - they are here, they are designed for performance rather than getting good benchmark scores, and i really like them (they feel the same, just a bit quicker - never had any problems with them!). No offence to you, but in things like LFS, CPU is very important (Physics are done on the CPU, remember...), and tbh a year ago Intel was NOT the best bit at the time (AMD's cpu's, until very recently, ruled the roost), and depending on what socket it is upgrades routes are limited (ie AMD and Intel's work on different motherboards, due to them not working on the same socket). However, apart from the CPU, everything else in that PC is top notch.

If you want to know more about your computer, try getting CPU-Z (just use Google) - primarily designed to tell you about your CPU (...and it's overclock), it also tells you about your Memory, it's speed, make etc, and about your Motherboard

Hope this helps, if you need to know anything else i'll be more than happy to help

Jakg

jakg, took a pic of my heatsink, tell me if its the same (ignor the face the fan cable is going over it, its still got clearance and doesnt effect it at all)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/tycron/111.jpg

yay for messy wiring

Quote from Munza :

jakg, took a pic of my heatsink, tell me if its the same (ignor the face the fan cable is going over it, its still got clearance and doesnt effect it at all)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/tycron/111.jpg

yay for messy wiring

weird, it's different, a lot less beefy looking than the one im thinking of, ill try to get a pic if i can find it...

2.4ghz Conroe is about 20% more efficent than a AMD64 chip, which is in turn about 40% more efficent than any Pentium.


3.2ghz P4 is thrashed by a 2.13ghz Conroe.

A 2.8ghz Conroe demolishes anythng out there.

At 3.6ghz a Conroe beats any chip including if its overclocked (need about 4ghz AMD - AMDs top out at about 2.8-3.2ghz, so Conroe is a real good chip.


Buying that GX2 is a waste of money. Your system is only really quick enough for something along a 7800GS, even then thats abit of a waste if its under 1280x960...

a Conroe does 12 calculation per clock (aparently - unverified), an AMD does 9 and a P4 does 6

So a 2.4 GHz Conroe is a 4.8 GHz P4, or a 3.2 GHz AMD

Quote from Breadstick3000 :

I took the cover off the card, there was a cloged ball of furr wraped in the fan and heat sink. Much quieter now

Only a minor improvement to frame rates, card is much more stable though.

Would duel core be compatiible on my current motherboard (I'm sure I've seen a socket type for one that rings a bell) or are only brand new motherboards compatilble?

I only purchesed my cpu a year ago and it was the best bits I could buy at that time (custom made, had someone to construct it for me.) Unforunetely can't use sli due to one PCI-E slot).

So all in all, does a more poweful processor actually increase frame rates? I thought most games rely on the graphics card and RAM, I have no speed issues and no stuttering at all, loading times are quick. Its just the frame rate.

I tried both drivers that came with the card, and from Nvidias site. The downloaded one is much better.

I've not hear of Driver Cleaner but I've got registry cleaner software which I used after uninstalling the drivers.

I'll try again with that software.

I doubt your mobo would take the new CPU, there might be a chance is the socket is right AND there is a new BIOS upgrade for the mobo but in all reality its a very slim chance.

As much a PC makers like to clame future proof PCs is all really just crap. Once you get to the level of CPU upgrades to a new generation of CPU you might as well bin the mobo and chances are also the memory as well, unless you bought ram that was faster than you actually needed.

Also if you don't have a Sata HD you might as well junk your HD as well otherwise that will just be a new bottleneck.

Sounds like your system is topped out so prob best to stick with it a bit longer until you do a full upgrade.

Huh??

You have such a fast PC? So why do you want to upgrade??

I have a very old ATI 9800PRO. I'm running LFS at 1920x1200 with v-sync on at a constant 79Hrz!!! Your card should be many-many times faster than mine...

Yes I am using a SATA hard drive, also checked I've got 800mhz DDR2

Looks like I will be buying a new motherboard and processor, I can build PCs from scratch.

Will choose and Intel motherboard with Duel Core 2 2.13Ghz E6400

Coming to around £250 which is under my budget leaving some cash for Xmas beveragies

Looked at the specs very closely, theres only a small drop in performance compared to the 7900GTO.

Its a shame the 7800gtx is now discontinued as I could have gone for SLI later.