excuse for an upgrade...

[luckybob]

My sister has been complaining about her computer and I basically shut her up with a dual cpu quad setup. Well mostly. ANYWAY... Now the "onboard" video isnt good enough.

So I was looking at getting 3 of these cards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814162067

why 3? Well 1 for my sisters setup, the other two will go into my server. Hopefully the 4x slot gives enough bandwidth... we shall see.

That being said. Is it worth spending $30 more per card to get a 450 based card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125342

*I was also getting a pair of 3.8ghz xeons for my server too. and maybe some more ram... but thats not really relevent here.

[SlaveOnDope]

For folding I'd go 2x430's (looking at a pair myself) as I believe the output is slightly more than a single 450 and power consumption is better with 2x430's(49x2=98w) vs. 450's 105w

As far as cost go I see the 450 at $110+shipping vs. $60x2+free shipping =$120.

If you are going to game at all and money isnt an issue 2x450's would do nicely and can be SLI'd.

Dont know any ppd off hand sorry

[PatonB]

Okay DO NOT THINK THE CURRENT PEDRFORMANCE IS NORMAL!

Fermi projects are still in the infancey stage. Infact the current projects are starting to overburden lower fermis, and soon will be crap cards with lots of *****ing.

Bottom end cards are just that.... bottom end cards with crap processing power.

If this is a folding rig use too, go atleast a 450.

[luckybob]

no gaming at all. The onboard video is limited to 16mb and she got herself a new screen and it doesnt cut the mustard.

http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=478

Thats what she has in her system.

I know that the more I spend the more ppd I will get, but getting 3x 450 cards is going to cost quite a bit... are there older "faster" cards that would do the same?

[Hickeydog]

Well, I picked up 2 9800GT's from TigerTirect for $100 (for BOTH), and they crank out about 6k PPD. Plus the ones I got overclocked like you wouldn't believe. They're doing 750 on the core (with linked shader. Can't remember the speed) with a 50mV DECREASE in voltage. I think the deal is still going on. There's a thread about it in the "Great Deals" section.

[PatonB]

Honestly, I'd only go 2 450s if price is an issue. They plan on eventually phasing out the gpu2, so unless youre going to upgrade sooner, I'd stay with 1 better fermi card than a good g92/gtx200 card.

Hickeydog. Unless its a gaming rig, Hitting 750 core isn't a useful overclock, as its shaders that give the power.