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ATI SLI
Published: November 3, 2004
I'm due a computer upgrade. At the moment I have an AMD XP2600+ which has been overclocked to run at 2.420Ghz. That comes from a 220Mhz front side bus and the multiplier set to *11. For those that don't know what I'm talking about, put simply, most computers can be made to go faster by changing core settings. The downside to this is that considerable extra heat is generated so to balance things you need more fans and a better processor cooler, of which I have. The rest of the specification for the system is 1024Mb RAM and an ATI 9800 Pro (128Mb) graphics card.
Now, my budget is around the £1500 mark. Sounds like a lot I know but I can think of many other ways of blowing money away, like smoking for example.
Anyway, the computer is noisy so time for a change. There's much out there at the high end of things. I'm looking to get the new 64 bit AMD FX55 as it's probably the fastest desktop processor there is. Next up is memory, of which I'll be getting at least 1024Mb of low latency OCZ's finest. Question I now ask myself is what graphics card to get?
This has caused much debate in the forums as the new generation of GPU's such as the ATI X800XT PE and NVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra are formidable devices which have seriously increased 3D performance over their predecessors (although not to the shock the world got when the 3DFX Voodoo2 was lauched).
Just as I had my heart set on a purchase, there is now a new type of motherboard on the horizon that will allow two of these new monstrous graphics cards to be used together.
NVidia are already ahead of the game and I'm tempted to hang on for them but ATI have leaked news of a dual setup for their graphics cards as well.
What to do?, what to do?
Never has the statement "the best time to buy a computer is in 3 months time" been so true.