with DX10.1 going to become a standard fairly soon, and AMD already having DX10.1 in the market, which should i jump for in the ~$100 price range, also it seems that ATI's offerings have 320 Stream processors, yet nvidia only has 64-112, are they different technologies?
consider:
Games(Colin McRae: DiRT, NFS Prostreet, new NFS: Undercover(when it comes out) and other new FPS/TPS titles)
Folding(keeping vicaphit at bay )
Windows XP PRO with option of Vista at no cost
1440x900 19" monitor
In terms of gaming performance, it's 9800GT > 9600GT > 9600GSO. In terms of folding, it's 9800GT > 9600GSO > 9600GT.
I myself have a 9600GT and it's more than enough for me since I'm more of a casual gamer. At your gaming resolution, I'd say 9600GT or 9600GSO. If you do play on getting a 9600GSO, I believe there's some deals going around that offers $50 MIR.
Intel Core i5-3570K @ 4.2Ghz @ 1.16V (CPU-Z + LinX)
Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H F14 BIOS
ASUS GTX 460 768MB @ 800/1950
Kingston HyperX DDR3 8GB @ DDR-1333
Corsair AX750
Crucial M4 128GB
Western Digital Black 1TB
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ EVO
BenQ E2420HD
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I AM CANADIAN!
Nvidia has the new 180.43 drivers for FarCry 2 out, their just SLI improved for FarCry 2 but they will soon be full fledged for all games.
I'm seeing great scaling so far, as much as 80-85% on GTX-260's, I tested a single GTX-280 and will be testing 280's in SLI today but I expect them to scale as well as the 260's.
The 9600's are known to scale well so that's tempting.
So far Crossfire has been fairly disappointing in real life applications, great for benchmarks if you enjoy benchmarking.
Free Alone in the Dark w/ purchase, limited time offer(limit 99 per customer)
Don't even bother installing this game. My friend bought it on the PC release day and shelved it after 2 hours of playing because of terrible control design. Only 1 action can be assigned to a single button, which means to open and close your invintory you have to use 2 keys.
Great price for the card though!
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Andy
New Rig: Intel Q6600 (2.7ghz), ASUS P5KC, 4GB DDR2-800, Palit 9600GT (1GB), Ultra X3 1KW (thanks LR!), Vista 64bit
Dell Rig: AMD Athlon X2 4000+ (2.1ghz), 2 GB DDR2 Ram, MSI 8800GT (512MB), Vista 32bit