looking to upgrade both or just sound card. Mainly for flight sim X.

Currently have a 7800 gtx and on board sound.

Looking at getting a 8800 gts and sound blaster xfi extreme gamer for the added xram. Read it really helps with performance issues and slightly better frame rates. Good idea or is there better options? Don't want to spend much money.

8/21/2007 11:58:40 AM

I wouldn't buy a creative sound card. Chaintech 7.1 envy for $25 from newegg is the way to go. True 24/96 as well, drivers don't suck balls.

8/21/2007 12:23:22 PM

I'd rather stick to creative. Ive always had a sound blaster and I'm happy with their driver support and game support.

Now if you have a different creative card to recommend then im all ears

8/21/2007 12:29:14 PM

Creative rocks.

8/21/2007 12:37:57 PM

I would suggest the 8800gts 320, since the recommended video card should have 512mb, because they are on par with the older 640mb versions for much less cash.

8/21/2007 1:29:44 PM

I think circuit city had those in stock.

8/21/2007 1:31:47 PM

Quote :

"Chaintech 7.1 envy for $25 from newegg is the way to go. True 24/96 as well, drivers don't suck balls."

i concur, if you read many A/V forums you'll know that the processor on the chaintech is by far better than all the budget/midrange creative that cost 4x as much. i've owned the chaintech 7.1 envy for 3-4 years and it's still my favorite

i would also recommend the 8800gts 320, you don't really need much more than that right now, esp for flight sim X

8/21/2007 2:09:41 PM

does buying a BFG vs PNY vs eVGA etc make much difference when it comes to the same chipset? I don't ever over clock but the eVGA was on sale for 279.99 from $349.99

8/21/2007 8:05:06 PM

yeah i have creative driver probs and i heard they only get worse w/ vista.
i'm looking for a different brand to move to because of this.

is Chaintech any good w/ vista?


[Edited on August 21, 2007 at 8:37 PM. Reason : .]

8/21/2007 8:35:52 PM

^^i love evga, i'd choose them over pny (in my book evga>bfg>pny)

^good question, i haven't tried, the chaintech i own is on MCE 2005

8/21/2007 8:48:45 PM

Evga is great. The 8800gts 320 is probably fine for flight sim x.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=778&model2=722&chart=293

8/22/2007 3:18:24 PM

Yo ho ho I'm looking to upgrade my video card in the next few weeks so that my comp can handle Bioshock and Crysis decently. I'll probably be getting some more RAM too since I only have 1gb right now (I'm am in serious need of a new computer all together ). I'm gonna try and run the Bioshock demo tonight to see how well my current comp handles it, but what recommendations would you guys have for video card that will have no problem handling these games? Additionally I'm probably gonna get a new TV within the next few weeks so I would prefer if said card had DVI or HDMI out (I know most probably do anyway) so I can hook up my TV.

8/22/2007 3:47:30 PM

^most newer cards you buy are going to have a dvi, and you can pick up a dvi--> hdmi cable and run it to a tv. I just bought bioshock last night from steam.com and it's amazing maxed out at 1920 by 1200. The water effects are the best i've seen. Game is freaky, but really fun to play. If you want to play bioshock and crysis at a decent resolution get a 8800 gts 640, evga if possible.

[Edited on August 22, 2007 at 3:57 PM. Reason : .]

8/22/2007 3:57:04 PM

For a video card upgrade, I wouldn't bother right now. If the rest of your system is up to the task, you can play any game out right now (including Bioshock), just fine with the 7800 GTX. For Crysis, which is released in November, I would wait for the release of nVidia's next line of video cards based on the G92 core, which should be released around that same time. The G80 series of cards are amazing for DX9, but their DX10 performance is still subpar, and drivers can only do so much to fix that. The new hardware will be head and shoulders better, especially in DX10. If you have to upgrade now, get the cheapest 8800GTS 320MB you can find.

As far as sound card, going from onboard sound to that Chaintech card will probably be a lateral move at best, as most onboard audio these days offers surround sound and Dolby Digital output. For a serious gaming upgrade, the Sound Blaster X-Fi series of cards is basically your only option. Almost every new game these days support EAX 4/5 HD, and you simply can't get that with any other card. Also, the dedicated sound hardware should improve your overall performance in the game over onboard sound. Their driver support and sound quality has improved dramatically since the Live/Audigy (which sucked asshole) days, and can be recommended with almost no reservation. You can pick up an X-Fi gamer for $85 off Amazon.com, and get all the audio features of the most expensive cards in the lineup, without all the fluff. If you buy Bioshock, it even comes with a $20 mail in rebate on the X-Fi Gamer.

[Edited on August 22, 2007 at 5:29 PM. Reason : :]

8/22/2007 5:27:30 PM

^good suggestions, i concur that most onboard audio is more than sufficient unless you go with the x-fi series, the chaintech envy24 chipset will support pretty much anything except EAX, so if you buy into that EAX surround for gaming then you will be forced to buy creative

as far as the G80 being subpar, i don't know where you get that idea from, sure it's only going to get better, but it's kind of hard to be subpar when there's currently nothing better out right now and will give you ~15-20fps higher than the 7800GTX

but i still agree with your overall consensus, there's really not enough games now to constitute the DX10 cards, though they are still the best out 'right now'

[Edited on August 22, 2007 at 7:11 PM. Reason : .]

8/22/2007 6:51:18 PM

Well unfortunately I'm currently running an ATI Radeon X700 which is perfect for games like BF2 that were top of the line back in 2005 when I last upgraded, but I don't know if that will be able to handle Bioshock without looking like crap. I guess I'll see later on tonight though, I'm currently downloading the demo.

additional: I just checked my RAM and I have 2 512 sticks and no empty slots. This might seem like a stupid question but can I mix a 512 and a 1gb assuming they are the same speeds?

[Edited on August 22, 2007 at 7:19 PM. Reason : ]

8/22/2007 7:06:29 PM

I'm addicted to bioshock now. The dx10 version looks much better than the dx9 one too. The water is simply amazing.

^^Been playing bioshock, lost planet, and call of juarez. Company of heroes is nice too with the DX10 patch. The DX10 performance is nice in these games, and the 8800 series runs DX9 great too. I guess it's just a variety of things i notice between dx9 and dx10 versions of these games. Before getting my 8800 i ran lost planet in DX9, and once upgrading there was a big difference. The DOF, lighting, shaders, and water in bioshock made the difference.

V haven't really noticed any DX9 driver issues in vista. All the games i've tested seem to run just as well. Maybe a few fps drop, but you can hardly tell.

Just wondering, how many of you guys have actually run the DX10 games, both with DX9, and DX10? On a big screen? It's hard to judge until you've seen bioshock on a 24" maxed out. It's crazy rediculous. The DX9 version just doesn't touch it.

[Edited on August 22, 2007 at 7:34 PM. Reason : .]

8/22/2007 7:24:04 PM

^^^Not to mention you have to get Vista for DX10, and have to deal with it's inferior DX9 performance and driver woes. I'm personally not going to touch DX10/Vista until SP1 at least.

^^Yeah, you probably will need a video card if you want to play Bioshock today. You also can't mix different RAM sticks if you want to run dual channel. Your best bet is to go grab a pair 1GB sticks. RAM is dirt cheap these days.

[Edited on August 22, 2007 at 7:31 PM. Reason : :]

8/22/2007 7:24:36 PM

Quote :

"additional: I just checked my RAM and I have 2 512 sticks and no empty slots. This might seem like a stupid question but can I mix a 512 and a 1gb assuming they are the same speeds?"

It might work, but it's not optimal.

[Edited on August 22, 2007 at 7:31 PM. Reason : .]

8/22/2007 7:30:57 PM

Haha well I got the demo to run but it wouldn't even display the mouse cursor on the menu . I was able to navigate to the actual game but the graphics were completely fubared. Oh well, looks like I'll be getting a new video card in the new future.

So if I get two 1gig sticks they will work fine with my computer just as long as they are both the same speeds/types right?

8/22/2007 10:33:19 PM

Yes, sir. Just buy one of those handy dandy matched pair kits they sell.

8/23/2007 12:24:01 AM

Damn, I was going to try to stick my 9600XT in my new computer and hold off buying a new vid card until warhammer. I guess I'll see how it goes when I get it.

8/27/2007 9:56:49 PM