What's the best video card I can get for my Asus A8N-SLI Premium Mobo

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exilio

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Hey guys,

I have an Asus A8N-SLI Premium mobo that is about two years old and still running like a champ -- but I want to upgrade my nVidia 7900 GT (256MB) vcard so I can play at a nice 1920 rez on a 24" monitor.

Any suggestions? It appears as though I only have PCI-Express, so I guess PCI-E 2.0 spec cards are out?

Thanks in advance for any advice help you can offer.
 
You don't need to worry about the PCI-E interface, all 2.0 cards are backwards compatible and it doesn't currently offer any performance advantages anyway.

What is your budget? Either way, the minimum for 1920x1200 single card would be the 8800GTX. Don't expect to play Crysis though, for that you'd want SLI: GTX, 8800GTS 512, or 8800GT. All depends on your budget. Also, which CPU do you have?
 
I dropped in a 8800GS into that exact mobo about 3 weeks ago.. working great

playing some older games at 1920x1200 on my 24"

a 9600 should work as well..

not sure about the rest of the 8800/9800 series
 
skadebo said:
You don't need to worry about the PCI-E interface, all 2.0 cards are backwards compatible and it doesn't currently offer any performance advantages anyway.

What is your budget? Either way, the minimum for 1920x1200 single card would be the 8800GTX. Don't expect to play Crysis though, for that you'd want SLI: GTX, 8800GTS 512, or 8800GT. All depends on your budget. Also, which CPU do you have?
Click to expand...

Hi Skadebo,

My CPU, don't laugh, is an AMD Athlon 64, 3000, 1.81GHz -- is there a better one, that is worth the time and effort, I could/should put in my mobo?
 
exilio said:
Hi Skadebo,

My CPU, don't laugh, is an AMD Athlon 64, 3000, 1.81GHz -- is there a better one, that is worth the time and effort, I could/should put in my mobo?
Click to expand...

Most definitely, I'm not sure what socket that is, but a dual core will do you good. You can pick one up used for cheap, it'll give your graphics upgrade more legs in newer games.
 
I think I have the same motherboard as you and a 3800+ (2.4 Ghz). Just got a 9600GT and didn't bother getting a dual core. You may want to overclock that CPU a bit though.
 
skadebo said:
Most definitely, I'm not sure what socket that is, but a dual core will do you good. You can pick one up used for cheap, it'll give your graphics upgrade more legs in newer games.
Click to expand...

By the way, the socket is 939 -- the one I listed above seems to be the only one Newegg carries for it.
 
Gabriel said:
I think I have the same motherboard as you and a 3800+ (2.4 Ghz). Just got a 9600GT and didn't bother getting a dual core. You may want to overclock that CPU a bit though.
Click to expand...

I've always been a wuss when it comes to OCing -- I didn't want to create a mobo that runs too hot or has crashes -- my system has been VERY stable the past 2 years.
 
buy a new Dual core used 939 processor. you'll see an immediate upgrade.

and yes any geforce 8 series should do you fine. i'd suggest a 9600GT though.
 
So I think I misunderstood my mobo specs..I think I can use AMD X2 right? Here is the quote from the Asus page:

"Socket 939 for AMD Athlon 64FX / Athlon 64 /Sempron/Athlon 64 X2
AMD Cool 'n' Quiet"
 
You can but, the X2 on a socket 939 is pricey. Unlike a X2 cpu for an AM2 940 pin socket, you can get these cheaper. That Athlon 64 4000+ is not bad for $40. You will gain a boost over that Athlon 3000+ you have now. Pop in a 8800GT or 8800GTS, it should be good enough. There will be some bottlenecking on the cpu, but, not a big deal. As mentioned earlier, you don't have to run the native 1920 x 1200 res. You still can do 1440 x 900 - 1680 x 1050. It will look good on a 24". Don't spend too much money on your setup. You have a 24" or you will be purchasing a 24"?
 
HardwareGuru said:
You can but, the X2 on a socket 939 is pricey. Unlike a X2 cpu for an AM2 940 pin socket, you can get these cheaper. That Athlon 64 4000+ is not bad for $40. You will gain a boost over that Athlon 3000+ you have now. Pop in a 8800GT or 8800GTS, it should be good enough. There will be some bottlenecking on the cpu, but, not a big deal. As mentioned earlier, you don't have to run the native 1920 x 1200 res. You still can do 1440 x 900 - 1680 x 1050. It will look good on a 24". Don't spend too much money on your setup. You have a 24" or you will be purchasing a 24"?
Click to expand...

I was planning on it -- but I might wait another year and see what develops -- I just need a boost in my 1680x1050 gaming -- so the GTS card should suffice.
 
Yup, just get that 8800GTS 512mb card for now. See how this works out for you. I gurantee you will get a performance difference over that 7900GT video card. 2 x 7900GT in SLI still fails to compare to 1 x 8800GTS 512 in performance.
 
As it should say in my sig i have same mobo, you can use use any PCI-E or PCI-E 2 card with it, even SLI. So the best card you could get would be the 9800GX2 lol, but a 8800gt which you can pick up for real cheap these days will blow you away if you currently running a 7600. The 9 series is pretty much just a die shrink of the 8 series anyway, the 9800GTX performs the same as the 8800gtx but the 9800 is being sold for pretty cheap which is good to see computers being so cheap now.
 
All the suggestions for video cards listed above will work fine on your setup. My personal picks for a 24" LCD would be either the 8800GTX or the 8800GTS 512MB as those are same ones that I will be considering in the coming months when my funds come together. :D

I also have the exact same motherboard as you do so I can attest to having a dual core CPU work perfectly fine (overclocked, no less ;)) running stable 24/7 (see my signature). :D I would say don't bother spending money on the CPU you found on Newegg though. It is still a single core processor, and while faster then what you have now at stock speeds, your $40 can be better spent on something else. Check the For Sale forum and possibly even Ebay for any Socket 939 Opteron or X2 dual core CPU. They should be going for decent prices now and chances are you might find one that can overclock decently should you decide to ever undertake that endeavor.

Hope that helps. :)
 
Agreed with above. Anymore, for the price of a major upgrade to the 939 processor, you can almost swap the entire guts of your computer to AM2(cpu, mobo, RAM). That's what I'm in the process of doing...:)
 
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