If you were building a pc right now, what single video card would you go for?

go the GTX 280, and unless u have money burning a hole in your pocket, you dont need skulltrail..darksusperia

lol thats y i said if money isnt an issue... id go with the 780i sli bro, i have it and it works great.

If, I were building a computer today I would get this MB:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136042

And the HD4870.

P35/P45 with pci-express 2.0 + 1 HD4870

I've never been interested in Crossfire or SLI.

If money is no issue: GTX 280

If a $300-$400 budget is the issue: HD4870

If this were real life: HD4850, because I can't justify spending over $300 for graphics. :P

He said 300-400 range. Are you set on single cards btw? Especialy since you're getting an SLI mobo.death1505921

At first i was thinking to go 8800 gt sli, but it seems both gtx 260 and hd4870 provide about the same performance for the same money without the double power consumption. I got ocz stealthgamer 600W psu, so power drain is sort of a concern. Sli or crossfire mobo is more for a future option of adding another card, which, at that point, may lead to a psu upgrade as well. Another issue I got with hd4870 is the heat, and with gtx 260 is the noise, although the noise doesn't bother me as much as the heat. Still, for a hundred buck I may just be able to put up with the heat, especially considering future bios/driver upgrades that may bring the temperatures down.

And thanks for that mobo link. Hows DFI, anyway? Never had any experience with that company.

funny you should ask... i AM building a pc right now, and i just bought the 4850. the 4870 is too much right now.krazykarl0419

What mobo did you get?

[QUOTE="krazykarl0419"]funny you should ask... i AM building a pc right now, and i just bought the 4850. the 4870 is too much right now.TryDaBeardON

What mobo did you get?

This one. Granted it's only single slot, but i'll just upgrade my card if and when i want.

I'm on the same boat as you TC. I've spent countless nights planning out my PC build. I'm stuck on the mobo and GPU. My budget is: "Money isnt a factor." When I asked other gamespot'ers they all responded, Asus X48 + HD4870 or HD4870 crossfire. I even had one member say, if they knew what they knew today, they would have went with that setup instead of his Nvidia mobo and gfx. With all fanboy opinions and bias aside, what do you guys think? No matter what the responses seem to be, there will always be people saying Nvidia!, or ATi! From performance charts, it looks like the GTX280 is the best single GPU but the HD4870 isnt far behind as a SINGLE card. Now, step it up to Crossfire and you got yourself an ultimate PC. Now, theoretically speaking, if you you were willing to shell out another $600+ for one more GTX280, your GTX280 SLi will pretty much rape all other setups out there. So really, it all comes down to money. But what I'm worried about also is stability and overclocking. From what I've seen, Nvidia seems to be more overlocking friendly. Is there truth to that? The veins on my forehead are about to pop. I need some major advice. Asus X48 + HD4870 Crossfire or Nvidia 790i Ultra + GTX280 or GTX280 SLi?Elann2008

I prefer the gigabyte x48 personally if I was building again. However the Asus is very nice. ATI is supposed to have done alot of work on microstuttering on the 4870x2 and I would suggest you wait, if you can, till the middle/end of july to see if the reports are true. Multi-gpu setups are NOT perfection and some games do exhibit microstuttering and driver issues along with scaling can be an issue as well.

It would also be foolish to spend that much money on the GTX280 since it is pretty certain they will be doing a shrink or some revision soon to make the card more attractive. It is a damn fine card mind you. It just isnt worth it right now overall, in light especially, with improvements on the near horizon and cheaper costs to the home user.

People think launch day is the day to buy. I say its 2 months after and at least to the end of the initial lineup. Since ati is bringing out the 4870x2 I am going to wait until augest to see, unless the fixes are also viable on the 4870 CF setup, and make a decision then. I run a gigabyte x38-ds4 so I am partial to ati this round.

Do I have money for a 280GTX? I am spending the money for one on a Corsair hx1000 psu and velociraptor instead. If the 280GTX had the sheer confidence, and no looming improvements to it's core design so soon, I would have bought one even at the price. I think it will scale well but I think buying something for 600ish just to have it pushed aside within 6 months with another single card solution is a kick in the sack.

The best overclocker right now on the market for intel lga775 is summing up to be the p45 but it has only 8x/8x crossfire. x48 and 790i are about head to head, depending on who makes it and design flaws or improvements, in the end. So if your looking for a SLI/CF board that fully utilizes the GPU and also OC you really cant go wrong with the x48 or 790i. If you were asking about the 780i I would say its behind abit on the intel chipset tier brother but you said 790i.

I'm on the same boat as you TC. I've spent countless nights planning out my PC build. I'm stuck on the mobo and GPU. My budget is: "Money isnt a factor." When I asked other gamespot'ers they all responded, Asus X48 + HD4870 or HD4870 crossfire. I even had one member say, if they knew what they knew today, they would have went with that setup instead of his Nvidia mobo and gfx. With all fanboy opinions and bias aside, what do you guys think? No matter what the responses seem to be, there will always be people saying Nvidia!, or ATi! From performance charts, it looks like the GTX280 is the best single GPU but the HD4870 isnt far behind as a SINGLE card. Now, step it up to Crossfire and you got yourself an ultimate PC. Now, theoretically speaking, if you you were willing to shell out another $600+ for one more GTX280, your GTX280 SLi will pretty much rape all other setups out there. So really, it all comes down to money. But what I'm worried about also is stability and overclocking. From what I've seen, Nvidia seems to be more overlocking friendly. Is there truth to that? The veins on my forehead are about to pop. I need some major advice. Asus X48 + HD4870 Crossfire or Nvidia 790i Ultra + GTX280 or GTX280 SLi?Elann2008

Well, giving good advice on PC building right now is rather hard !!! First you have all the new video-cards and by the end of the year Intel will be bringing out it's newest cpu's Nehalem, and they will require all new motherboards. To be able to give descent advice there's a few very important factors: 1. Most important, will you be overclocking....if you don't it changes everything. 2. How often do you plan to upgrade or not.....i.e. how long do you expect this build to last you. 3. What resolution will you be playing at.....if it's above 22'' it's important 4. Are you going to use Crossfire or SLI. 5. What's your budget.

So, with those question in mind I built a computer about a week ago. My plan is that this will be my last build until Spring09, after the new Intel cpu's are out. I like to overclock and upgrade pretty often...so, I picked a DFI X48LT MB great for overclocking...but still uses DDR2, CPU Intel E8400 an 2x2GB OCZ ram....I overclocked it to 3.6 and can push it a little higher if I need too. I bought one HD4870 and if I need to I can add another. So, I figure I'm set until next Spring or longer should the situation requires. And that's one person opinion of the current pc building situation.

[QUOTE="Elann2008"]I'm on the same boat as you TC. I've spent countless nights planning out my PC build. I'm stuck on the mobo and GPU. My budget is: "Money isnt a factor." When I asked other gamespot'ers they all responded, Asus X48 + HD4870 or HD4870 crossfire. I even had one member say, if they knew what they knew today, they would have went with that setup instead of his Nvidia mobo and gfx. With all fanboy opinions and bias aside, what do you guys think? No matter what the responses seem to be, there will always be people saying Nvidia!, or ATi! From performance charts, it looks like the GTX280 is the best single GPU but the HD4870 isnt far behind as a SINGLE card. Now, step it up to Crossfire and you got yourself an ultimate PC. Now, theoretically speaking, if you you were willing to shell out another $600+ for one more GTX280, your GTX280 SLi will pretty much rape all other setups out there. So really, it all comes down to money. But what I'm worried about also is stability and overclocking. From what I've seen, Nvidia seems to be more overlocking friendly. Is there truth to that? The veins on my forehead are about to pop. I need some major advice. Asus X48 + HD4870 Crossfire or Nvidia 790i Ultra + GTX280 or GTX280 SLi?--Anna--

Well, giving good advice on PC building right now is rather hard !!! First you have all the new video-cards and by the end of the year Intel will be bringing out it's newest cpu's Nehalem, and they will require all new motherboards. To be able to give descent advice there's a few very important factors: 1. Most important, will you be overclocking....if you don't it changes everything. 2. How often do you plan to upgrade or not.....i.e. how long do you expect this build to last you. 3. What resolution will you be playing at.....if it's above 22'' it's important 4. Are you going to use Crossfire or SLI. 5. What's your budget.

So, with those question in mind I built a computer about a week ago. My plan is that this will be my last build until Spring09, after the new Intel cpu's are out. I like to overclock and upgrade pretty often...so, I picked a DFI X48LT MB great for overclocking...but still uses DDR2, CPU Intel E8400 an 2x2GB OCZ ram....I overclocked it to 3.6 and can push it a little higher if I need too. I bought one HD4870 and if I need to I can add another. So, I figure I'm set until next Spring or longer should the situation requires. And that one person opinion of the current pc building situation.

1. Overclocking: Yes. 2. How often do I plan to upgrade?: Least as possible. :D 3. What resolution? 19x12 on a 24" BenQ V2400WD LCD Monitor or on my Samsung Series 7 46" LCD HDTV 1080p :D 4. Crossfire or SLi? Heck yes. :) My budget is $2500. I have everything listed down and I'm set on those other components. The only two things left are the MOBO and GPU. I'm leaning more towards HD4870 Crossfire. But 3-way SLi with GTX280 is so tempting. But when I think about it, 3-way SLi hasn't been optimized yet and show slight improvement over 2-way SLi. And $1800 for GTX280 3-way SLi sounds absurd to me unless you're a wealthy man or woman. This really leaves me with not much of a choice. I guess I'll answer my own question and go with the Asus X48 and Crossfire HD4870. Hopefully, I wont have to upgrade until Summer of next year or up into the Holidays of '09.

[QUOTE="--Anna--"]

[QUOTE="Elann2008"]I'm on the same boat as you TC. I've spent countless nights planning out my PC build. I'm stuck on the mobo and GPU. My budget is: "Money isnt a factor." When I asked other gamespot'ers they all responded, Asus X48 + HD4870 or HD4870 crossfire. I even had one member say, if they knew what they knew today, they would have went with that setup instead of his Nvidia mobo and gfx. With all fanboy opinions and bias aside, what do you guys think? No matter what the responses seem to be, there will always be people saying Nvidia!, or ATi! From performance charts, it looks like the GTX280 is the best single GPU but the HD4870 isnt far behind as a SINGLE card. Now, step it up to Crossfire and you got yourself an ultimate PC. Now, theoretically speaking, if you you were willing to shell out another $600+ for one more GTX280, your GTX280 SLi will pretty much rape all other setups out there. So really, it all comes down to money. But what I'm worried about also is stability and overclocking. From what I've seen, Nvidia seems to be more overlocking friendly. Is there truth to that? The veins on my forehead are about to pop. I need some major advice. Asus X48 + HD4870 Crossfire or Nvidia 790i Ultra + GTX280 or GTX280 SLi?Elann2008

Well, giving good advice on PC building right now is rather hard !!! First you have all the new video-cards and by the end of the year Intel will be bringing out it's newest cpu's Nehalem, and they will require all new motherboards. To be able to give descent advice there's a few very important factors: 1. Most important, will you be overclocking....if you don't it changes everything. 2. How often do you plan to upgrade or not.....i.e. how long do you expect this build to last you. 3. What resolution will you be playing at.....if it's above 22'' it's important 4. Are you going to use Crossfire or SLI. 5. What's your budget.

So, with those question in mind I built a computer about a week ago. My plan is that this will be my last build until Spring09, after the new Intel cpu's are out. I like to overclock and upgrade pretty often...so, I picked a DFI X48LT MB great for overclocking...but still uses DDR2, CPU Intel E8400 an 2x2GB OCZ ram....I overclocked it to 3.6 and can push it a little higher if I need too. I bought one HD4870 and if I need to I can add another. So, I figure I'm set until next Spring or longer should the situation requires. And that one person opinion of the current pc building situation.

1. Overclocking: Yes. 2. How often do I plan to upgrade?: Least as possible. :D 3. What resolution? 19x12 on a 24" BenQ V2400WD LCD Monitor or on my Samsung Series 7 46" LCD HDTV 1080p :D 4. Crossfire or SLi? Heck yes. :) My budget is $2500. I have everything listed down and I'm set on those other components. The only two things left are the MOBO and GPU. I'm leaning more towards HD4870 Crossfire. But 3-way SLi with GTX280 is so tempting. But when I think about it, 3-way SLi hasn't been optimized yet and show slight improvement over 2-way SLi. And $1800 for GTX280 3-way SLi sounds absurd to me unless you're a wealthy man or woman. This really leaves me with not much of a choice. I guess I'll answer my own question and go with the Asus X48 and Crossfire HD4870. Hopefully, I wont have to upgrade until Summer of next year or up into the Holidays of '09.

Something cheap for me as always. I wouldn't spend over £150 on a graphics card these days. I tend to go for best bang for buck card.

I used 9600GT, 8800GT. I would have a go at the HD4850. A couple of those in Crossfire own for a cheap £££££

Get a X48 and one HD 4870, then if you think you need more power later get another HD 4870.

I have a Gigabyte X48 and 2 HD 3870s, maybe next year I will get rid of the HD 3870s and get a HD 4870.

GTX 280 is $520 at the egg, that is down $130 after a month.

Still a little high, but not as insane as the launch price.

The bottom line with high end components is, you will regret it a couple months later.

Either something better will be out, or the price willl be lower than what you paid.

You have to make a decision and not look back.

GTX 280 is $520 at the egg, that is down $130 after a month.

Still a little high, but not as insane as the launch price.

The bottom line with high end components is, you will regret it a couple months later.

Either something better will be out, or the price willl be lower than what you paid.

You have to make a decision and not look back.

dayday6

Yeah, just trying to look to the future a bit. With my 600W psu, I know I'll have to upgrade it if I want to add another hd4870 for CF, but with gtx260 I may be able to get away without upgrading. Not really interested in gtx280. Price to performance difference between that and 260 is about as bad as the difference between 4870 and 4850, but while I can do with wasting 300 over 200, wasting 500 over 300 is definitely not for me.

Still, all things considered it'sprobably going to be GA x48 plus single HD4870 for me. Going from AMD CPU + NVidia GPU of the previous build to Intel+ATI. No, I guess I'm not a fanboy ;)

If, I were building a computer today I would get this MB:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136042

And the HD4870.

--Anna--

Seconded

I would get the HD 4870. Wait a minute... I already did that!:P

Well I'll definitely go with one of the ATI cards.I will wait for reviews on the 1GB 4870 and then do a thorough comparasion of 4870 1GB,512MB and 4850 to see what is best for my needs and money.

Bear in mind though that I just hate SLI and crossfire.But I am beginning to realise the amazing price performance that can be had with these now days like look at 8800GT SLI or 4850 CF.

I'd pick up one of the Asus Rampage motherboards and a 4870, despite being more of an Nvidia fan.WDT-BlackKat

What he said.

HD4870 or GTX260. The price on the GTX260 has come down (299+) but I still am not a fan. I'd say go for a HD4870 and a higher-end P45 mobo.Staryoshi87

X48