Hi all: I'm interested in buying some GPU's which is the best to buy at the best price - I see each model by many manufactures at all different prices - I am on a very tight budget - and want the best bang for the buck - I am currently running only 2 boxes -

1: Intel Q6600 quad core w/ ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro w/ 4 GB memory

2: Amd Athlon XP 3100+ w/ VIA/S3G UniCrome IGP w/ 512 MB memory

I want to maximize my points for $500 or less - what can you reccomend - Should I buy a PS3 for $400 or 1 or more GPU's?

Thanks for the help

If you have enough PciX slots, you could buy 2-3 9800GT for that money, i think that will give you the best "bang for the buck", at least on GPUGrid. See on their forums, they have a few threads with calculation of credits/$ spent (the prices might be a little outdated). And if GpuGrid has problems, you could crunch Seti beta or (hopefully) Lattice in the near future.

Can't help you with the ATI cards, hadn't own one of those for a long time.

Edited: See here the last thread.

Hi Mark. PS3 are Passe & only good for maybe 4000 Points a day @ best @ the GPUGrid Project. If you buy a NVIDIA Card I would go with a 285 right now, much faster than a 9800GT and much more Future Proof too. For ATI I would go with a 4850 at least, but I would also hold off buying one right now too because everything is in a turmoil @ the Milkyway Project & nobodies really sure how it's all going to end up once the dust settles. There's some rumblings @ the Project that the ATI Cards may not even work there anymore once the new GPU part of the Project starts up, I find that hard to believe though & it's just some rumblings like I said.

If things work out as planned at the Milkyway Project you may want to go with the NVIDIA Card, you won't get as many Credits for it at Milkyway that a ATI Card could get if the work is available but you could run both the GPUGrid & Milkyway Project with it where as the ATI Card won't work @ the GPUGrid Project @ the moment and may never work there.

PoorBoy, of course 285 is better than 9800, i suggested that 2 or more 9800 might be better than 1 285, if you can get them at the price of 1 and have PciX slots available.

And yes, a PS3 isn't worth it as credits/$, but it would be a good idea to get one instead of, say, an X-Box, if you or your kids want a game platform; so it could crunch while not in use.

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: July '09 - 07/21/2009 by Don Woligrosk


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