Building a computer? Need advice/suggestions? Come here!

Okay, so I think I've settled on ATI's Cypress GPUs, hopefully the XFX Radeon HD5870 and at the very least a XFX Radeon HD5850 , as Nvidia's Fermi GTX 480/GTX 470 appears to be very power hungry and possibly be a disappointment in performance due to the expectations raised by its tardiness and new architecture. For sure, I know both the HD5870 and HD5850 can barely fit in the Antec 300 and I'm somewhat sure my power supply can handle those two cards, though extra verification would be exceptional.

Now I have another predicament that rears into view. I need a wireless network adapter preferably one that is internal. Right now, I have 2 Airlink 101 AWLH4130 cards in my old Dell Dimension 1100 and my most recent system. Though the card works in my old system running Windows XP Home x86 SP2, it doesn't work with Windows Vista x64 SP2. I guess I have narrowed that down to driver problems as the power light blinks for both PCs but doesn't work with the new PC. I have 2 options right now, feel free to suggest other cards also, but without further ado: D-Link DWA-556 Xtreme N PCI-E x1 Desktop Adapter or D-Link DWA-552 Xtreme N PCI Desktop Adapter . What do you guys think taking into consideration the placements of my expansion slots on my Asus P7P55D Pro Motherboard as I will be using the main dark blue PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot for my a new video card, which will be dual-slot, and in the future, I am thinking of a USB 3/SATA 6 card , which I believe uses the black PCI-Express slot on my motherboard?

On the contrary, Fermi will probably be more powerful than the 5870, since that has historically been the trend. It will also be more expensive though, so...yeah.

Possibly, but I heard it won't be using the same architecture as the HD5xxx (40nm)? If so, it will be less efficient. Hell, I think a 5850 uses less power than my 4850 for double the speed?

Clearly you should do more reading. Part of the reason that Fermi was delayed was because nVidia was having a hard time working out all the kinks in TSMC's 40nm process (they are not as experienced at moving to brand new processes as ATi). As for architecture, of course it won't. nVidia and ATi have always had differing architectures, even more so now. ATi prefers smaller, scalable cores whereas nVidia prefers to make a single monolithic core and scale it down for lower-level graphics points.

But yes, Fermi does indeed run hot and is very power hungry compared to ATi's offerings.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Warsaw

But yes, Fermi does indeed run hot and is very power hungry compared to ATi's offerings.

---

According to Charlie, who has a 'consistent opinion' of nvidia products.

He also has a bias. I get my information from more neutral sources like AnandTech.

So im given myself a certain allowance from my tax return and i think Im gonna buy this, or possibly 2. Should I go for it?

Why not? The first review of Fermi has it performing almost exactly on par with the HD5870 give or take a couple of frames from either card depending on the game. The only place where it wins is when the game makes heavy use of tessellation, and at this point none of them do. Given that the GTX480 will enter the market at a $600 price point and that the 5870 will undoubtedly come down when it does, I'd definitely spring for the latter.

But wait for Fermi to come out so you can get in on those inevitable price drops.

I think the only reason people will want the 470 or 480 is due to the increase in graphics memory and their faith in Nvidia's reputation to be for enthusiasts.

Prices won't drop very much if at all, they never do.

Hope to see if Nvidia really changed their game up on the way they build their GPUs.

I'm just waiting for Nvidia Surround, I couldn't care less about the GTX 400 series... I just want the driver update that's coming with them!