Placed the Order

[Afflikt3d]

I decided a few weeks ago when I CoD that it was time for a video card upgrade, so after some research, I landed on this :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130305

Placed the order this morning, and it should be here sometime tomorrow

Next up on the list is a nice 24" monitor. Any suggestions are welcome!

[darth_nevus]

oooo the ssc models have hit the shelves. they are based on the old G80 ore, but with an odd number of shaders enabled. let me know how this abad boy preforms in reality.

Otherwise, SWEET(pictures required of course)

[Duke{CLR}]

Nice Card you will enjoy it.

[Duke{CLR}]

I may be wrong but the link you put up there seems to have a higher price then this one I just got an Email couppon for. Is it the same card with a rebate?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...17&CMP=OTC-RSS

[Afflikt3d]

I may be wrong but the link you put up there seems to have a higher price then this one I just got an Email couppon for. Is it the same card with a rebate?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...17&CMP=OTC-RSS

That one is the EVGA 640-P2-N829-AR, the one I ordered is the EVGA 640-P2-N829-A3. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what the difference is, but I think the A3 is the newer card of the two.

[Duke{CLR}]

It may just be the package I just went to the ECGA site and the only similar one I can see is the one that is bundeled woth Crysis. I may just pick one up if it will sli with my current GTS 640.

[Duke{CLR}]

Ahhh now I see the A3 has compoite out.

[darth_nevus]

Ahhh now I see the A3 has compoite out.

actually both of them do. there is an "adaptor" that converts the s-video into composite. its surprisingly simple.

and the SSC card MIGHT do you well if Nvidia does good by its words about the Hybrid-SLI configs that will work with the new 780i boards paired with vista. not gonna hold my breath, as the ssc model will be forced to work at the same specs as the stock gts otherwise.

[Duke{CLR}]

Ahhh now I see the A3 has compoite out.

actually both of them do. there is an "adaptor" that converts the s-video into composite. its surprisingly simple.

and the SSC card MIGHT do you well if Nvidia does good by its words about the Hybrid-SLI configs that will work with the new 780i boards paired with vista. not gonna hold my breath, as the ssc model will be forced to work at the same specs as the stock gts otherwise.

From what I have been reading both cards will clock to what ever the speeds are in the primary slot. It is recommended to put the slower card in that slot and then OC up to and/or beyond the higher cards speeds. I have sent an email to EVGA tech support to ask if the SSC will SLI with my current one. I will post the response when I get it.

[Afflikt3d]

As far as monitors are concerned, does anyone have any experience with one of these :

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...9&sku=320-6095

I want to get at least a 24", and my friend has 2 of the ultrasharp versions of that monitor and swears by them. And as far as I can tell, there's no real performance difference between the regular and ultrasharp models. Slight differences, but not $300 worth.

[Duke{CLR}]

That's a great question. Here's a link with the two side by side. There are differences but I don't know exactly what they are or if they are worth the $300.00. I will be watching to what others say about this.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...-6095,320-5647

[WalkinTarget]

I bought the Soyo 24" Topaz S LCD from OfficeMax (of all places!) and paid $270 for it. This is an S-PVA panel which is much better at off axis viewing than the standard TN panels found.
There are plenty of threads on this monitor at Hardforum and Anandtech forums, and for its going price of $300, it cannot be beat. I got it for the lower price by applying for an OfficeMax credit card whick knocked another 10% off of the price.
Using that lower price, I added the MaxAssurance 2 year warranty to the panel, so total price was $320 plus tax. Thats a full 3 year warranty and I have had no issues whatsoever with it. If you don't want to go the MaxAssurance route, try SquareTrade instead.

The only issues that were reported from those threads involves issues with the panel in the first 2-4 weeks, with either green 'sparkles' or a thin black line showing up on the screen, which is well within the warranty period, so just drive back to OM and trade it in for another panel.

The newer the panel, the better they seem to be, as very few have reported issues with a build date of August and after. Nice choice on the vid card .. I love eVGA cards, and think their tech support is top notch.

[Afflikt3d]

I havent heard of that brand of monitor personally, but I will check it out.

Thanks for the kind words about the choice in cards. I was originally looking into XFX, but after hearing a lot about their support, i decided to go with evga since they seem to have the best reputation and products.

I currently have a 7600 gt ko that never really gave my any issues until recently, so I've been very pleased with their products.

[Afflikt3d]

That's a great question. Here's a link with the two side by side. There are differences but I don't know exactly what they are or if they are worth the $300.00. I will be watching to what others say about this.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...-6095,320-5647

Thanks for the side-by-side . Never even noticed they had that on there. That site is to difficult to navigate sometimes.