What kind of video cards should I buy for Xmas?

[Polygon]

wait for later this month, Dec 13th is the unconfirmed (but most likely) release date for the 6970. That's less than two weeks

[Zhanger]

Also, what is your native resolution? No use in SLI-ing GTX 580's if you're gonna be playing on a dinky 17" monitor.

[sskilla]

Originally Posted by Zhanger

Also, what is your native resolution? No use in SLI-ing GTX 580's if you're gonna be playing on a dinky 17" monitor.

I'm planning on 1920 x 1200, but i'm not sure my motherboard supports SLI. I think my motherboard only supports crossfire.

[FlyingFish]

Originally Posted by sskilla

I'm planning on 1920 x 1200, but i'm not sure my motherboard supports SLI. I think my motherboard only supports crossfire.

Depending on the motherboard most of them can be hack'd to run SLI on any motherboard.


Whats your screen size?

[Alouette Radeon]

Given the choice of one card over two for the same price, it's always best to go with the one card. Since you only have a GX chipset that becomes even more critical as you only have 2 slots instead of 4. What this really boils down to is what ATi (I refuse to call it AMD) wants for their 6900 series cards. ATi has a tendency to price their products attractively and who knows, you might even end up getting a 5970 if the 6970 and 6990 cause the prices to drop far enough. That's the thing I love about video card releases, you never know what's going to happen with the existing products and to me, that creates a little bit of excitement. I actually got my sister an ATi (Yes, a REAL ATi) Radeon X1300 Pro for Christmas off of eBay because she has an AGP slot and has no desire to upgrade from her Athlon XP processor...lol

Santa wears red and white, gives things away for free and lives at the north pole. Yup, he's Canadian alright! :D

[belgolas]

No your motherboard does not support SLI.

At 1920x1200 you will need some serious power if you want to max all current games. You also did not give us your budget.

Here are my recommendations. Nvidia GTX 580/570 or a cheap 480. ATI wait till their new GPU's come out as I wouldn't go with the 6870 or 5870.

[Alouette Radeon]

Originally Posted by grifter11

I'd go for a pair of Gigabtye Radeon HD 6850's.

When it comes to ATi cards, I only tend to buy XFX. That double-lifetime warranty is a nice reassurance when you're paying that much money. Mind you, since I only buy ATi cards because I can't stand "Dear Leader", that means I only buy XFX cards...lol

[ineedhelp]

Depending on your budget, there is different things. You could wait or buy now, I would wait, but if you choose to buy now get the 6870, or wait for the 6900 series. If you have a lower budget go for the 6850. If you wanted an Nvidia card, go for the gtx 470 or 580, or wait for the other 500 series of cards to come out. But a big factor is budget and you did not specify so with an unlimited budget, there is unlimited capabilities.