I am looking to buy a 8800GTX graphics card to run games like crysis, r6 las vegas and the other upcoming windows games.
I have narrowed my choice down to an XFX card, not through anything other than customer satisfaction reviews. The 3 cards I have levelled it down to are here in the url
I want a TV-out and only one of the 3 XFX cards has a tv out (PV-T80F-SHF9) which is also the lowest spec card of the 3. My question is, will there be a substanitally lesser performance in the lowset card as opposed to the other two cards which have a slightly higher spec but sill the same chipset!?
Also on a slightly different note, I currently have a 3.6Mhz processor and364.7W power supply, will these be able to handle a 8800GTX?
I would be very surprised if that's true. All 8800GTX cards have a TV-out. However, it's worth bearing in mind that the highest resolution S-Video can support is 1024x576. If you have a High def TV, you'll want an HDMI, Component or VGA cable instead, all of which can be connected to the DVI ports on the back of the card.
If you have a Pentium D 3.6Ghz, you'll be ok for running the games you mentioned. If it's a normal P4, you won't stand a chance, you'll definitely need a new CPU. As for the power supply, while your PC won't actually draw any more than 367W, you will definitely need a more powerful PSU. Unfortunately most PSUs can't put out anywhere near as much as they say they can.
Dual core CPU (Core 2 Duo series recommended - E4500 for low budget, E6750 for higher budget)
Socket 775 motherboard (I personally recommend something like the GA-P35 series from gigabyte. The DS3L will probably serve you fine)
The Graphics card (You may wish to consider an 8800GT, it's nearly as fast as a GTX and MUCH cheaper, not to mention uses less power, puts out less heat etc)
Power supply (I highly recommend the Corsair HX 520W, that's an excellent PSU and can certainly run an 8800GTX)
DDR2 Memory (In order to keep up with an 8800, you're going to want at least 2GB, so 2 1GB sticks of Corsair XMS2 for example)
Case ventilation (if your original PC is a stock pre-built one like an HP, Dell, Gateway etc., you will probably only have one or two small case fans. This could pose a problem for higher spec components, as they may need better cooling. You could purchase high speed case fans (noisy) or buy a new case that supports more and/or larger fans.
In short, the hard disks and CD-ROM drives are about the only things there's no need to replace. That is, of course assuming you have enough disk space to install said games! :)
