athlon 64 X2 5600+ @ 2.8ghz 2gb DDR2 ram M2N-E Asus Mobo PSU 650 watt i believe current video card - 7800GT nvidia PCI-E im deciding on buying a new video card im just not sure which one. Asus 9800GTX is going for 265.88 CAD and the Asus 9800GX2 is going for 600.00. 9800GTX is 512mb and 9800GX2 is 1gb. is it overkill to buy the 9800GX2 i like to play games at the top quality but not sure if 9800GTX can cover every game at top quality and really good frames. i usually play 1280x1024 but once i get a new monitor will be higher resolutions probably 1600x1200 or whatever it is. games like age of conan and supreme commander. also new games coming out like starcraft 2 and alot of the new FPS games coming out. any tips ? appreciated and thanks.

oh and is quad core neccessary for top gaming? not sure how many games utilize quad core

Not many games currently use quad core but have you considered a ati radeon 4850 as these have a very good price/ performance ratio. The are on par with a 9800GTX if not better.

hi some vast musings,, i recently upp'd from 7800gt to a gx2 before gt260 existed ,not ati fan soz so cant compare. gx2 you need yea BIG case, it runs hot, it needs two power cables 8+6 pin . Some interesting times we live in, heres anandtechs very new shiney report 14 july note the ludicrous Over the top hardware and screen res's then meditate on fps's results. ,graphs are amusing diversion till you note sli& cf are compared. http://www.anandtech.com/video/show... AOC: at ludicrous res, gx2 just playable gtx280 hot on its heels @ 1650x1080 crysis:1280x1024 i remember why i bought this card. oblivion: measly 1 point between them then scroll down to realistic res 1640x and lo! ditto for Griddle, ok so unless playing in 2560x1600 well scores r on the doors. what no single 9800gtx scores, i was confused with the results here as they say 9800gtx+sli so i took that to mean run in sli mode not single. interesting... price v performance you want the best so I would compare and contrast the gx2 vs Gtx 260 not the 9800gtx. 16 july UK prices Bfg oc 896 meg gtx260 £211 no price for the r700 pny gx2 £299 leadtek gx2 £232 !! 512 9800gtx £170 difficult decisions ahead i see. :)

nice so your saying the GTX280 over the GX2?

i mean GTX280 over the 9800gtx i dont think the gx2 warrants the extra cash as your not playing high res. when i bought at the time i was comparing sli options which were silly prices for little game benefit. Then the gx2 appeared, fills my requirements fine , maybe with hindsight i wouldve waited a month later for the 280 @ now £237 vs the gx2 @ £197 thats some depreciation in one month!!! your cpu will the limiting factor as the link shows they run on 'best' cpu and your rig's hardly going to stress the 280. also just watch the prices, nvidia have announced further price drops. seems somthing is spooking them, it isnt me tho id slap nvidia for the credit charge.