OK,
Comp USA, after many phone calls and run arounds, is basically going to send me my money back after I send the card back to them. Unfortunately, the whole process is going to take a few weeks. The good news is, I will have $350 to spend on a video card which leaves me with many options. The one I am leaning to is:
1.) BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC2 / 768MB GDDR3 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / DL Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card
Here is a link with specs:
CLICK HERE
I plan to buy at pricegrabbers.com where I can get the same card for $320 after a $50 mail in rebate. Or, my other option is:
2.) Buy two of the following video cards and link them together with a SLI bridge.
PNY GeForce 9600 GT Video Card - 512MB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, Video Card
Here is a link with specs:
CLICK HERE
The price for either option is about the same. By looking at it, I will get the most performance out of option #2. However, if I buy option number 1, in a few years when the price drops significantly on this card, I can buy another just like it (option #1) and essentially double my performance making the system last that much longer. The motherboard also supports up to 8GB RAM, so that is another easy future upgrade.
What do you guys think? Should I go with the two cards now which offer better performance for about the same price, or buy the single more expensive card, and leave room for upgrading later. I'm not sure how much better having two cards will increase my system. If you just double everything, it looks significant, but I do not know if that is how it works (heard only get about 25% increase with 2 cards versus 1).
What this means is, I probably need another motherboard. Since either of these cards supports PCI-e 2.0, I should get a motherboard that supports this feature.
In addition, I think the motherboard should support DDR3 incase I choose to upgrade later. If I get a motherboard that can handle DDR3, will it also support DDR2 (not at the same time, but I have DDR2 already available, I can use that until the price of DDR3 drops and then upgrade my system). I have not seen DDR3 so I am not sure if the electrical connections are the same. Thoughts?
Thanks in advance!
EDIT: I just reformatted my current computer and have been loading all the software back up and getting it running decent again. So far, so good but the video card is still acting up. I'm starting to go into withdrawal symptoms here with no games...
EDIT #2: Let's not call it a price limit, but a price range. I am willing to spend a couple hundred more if it is a significant improvement (remember, the video card is separate funding).