Let me explain what I plan to do before the obvious choice, 7800 GT, is said by everyone. EVGA offers the Step-Up program, which allows you to trade a card within 90 days of purchase and receive a newer card, but you have to pay the price difference.
My ideas were as follows, to either get 6600GT SLI's (due to very comparable cost to a single 6800GT) then use the step up for when Nvidia releases a 7600 version of their cards, which I'd assume would be comparable to SLI'd 6800 Ultras or at worst 6800 GTs. The other idea was to get a 6800GT, wait for the price to come down more in 90 days then upgrade to a 7800GT or even possibly a 7800GTX (very unlikely the GTX would drop nearly $200 in 3 months). The last idea was to get the 7800GT packaged w/BF2, since I'd play the game and it technically drops the cost of the actual card to around $350 w/o the game. Additionally, in 3 months, I could potentially be able to upgrade to a 7800GTX without much of a problem.
Performance wise, I'd assume 7600 SLI would be the best, but I am also taking a risk that 7600s do indeed come out in 3 months. At worst, I'd probably then upgrade to 6800GT/Ultra's SLId, which still out does a single 7800GT/X at the cost of additional heat and noise. On top of this, I'd have to get a SLI board, which would add to the cost.
If I go with the 6800GT, it saves me the most money out of all the other choices, but will be the worst perfomance in the long run. I'd upgrade to a 7800GT/X in 3 months.
If I go with the 7800GT, I get BF2 spend the most initially, get the best performance initially, and will get the second best performance in the long run.
To simplify this I'll list it as Pros/Cons
6600GT SLI
Pros:
Best performance long term
Second best performance short term
Lies in the middle for cost
Cons:
Banking on the release of 7600s within 3 months
Produces the most noise and heat
6800GT
Pros:
Cheapest solution
Less heat/noise
Guaranteed to be able to upgrade to a 7800GT
Possibility of going for a 7800GTX
Doesn't rely on SLI
Cons:
Worst performance long term
7800GT
Pros:
Best initial performance
Comes with BF2, which "reduces the cost"
Able to upgrade to a GTX
Less heat/noise
Doesn't rely on SLI
Cons:
Highest initial cost
Second best performance long term
Odds are I would not go out and buy another video card, but then again, nowadays that tends to be the real bottleneck for future gaming while in the game. I'd keep this system for at least 2 years, but in that time I'd probably want to build an entire computer again with all the advances that occur rather than add an additional card.
My ideas were as follows, to either get 6600GT SLI's (due to very comparable cost to a single 6800GT) then use the step up for when Nvidia releases a 7600 version of their cards, which I'd assume would be comparable to SLI'd 6800 Ultras or at worst 6800 GTs. The other idea was to get a 6800GT, wait for the price to come down more in 90 days then upgrade to a 7800GT or even possibly a 7800GTX (very unlikely the GTX would drop nearly $200 in 3 months). The last idea was to get the 7800GT packaged w/BF2, since I'd play the game and it technically drops the cost of the actual card to around $350 w/o the game. Additionally, in 3 months, I could potentially be able to upgrade to a 7800GTX without much of a problem.
Performance wise, I'd assume 7600 SLI would be the best, but I am also taking a risk that 7600s do indeed come out in 3 months. At worst, I'd probably then upgrade to 6800GT/Ultra's SLId, which still out does a single 7800GT/X at the cost of additional heat and noise. On top of this, I'd have to get a SLI board, which would add to the cost.
If I go with the 6800GT, it saves me the most money out of all the other choices, but will be the worst perfomance in the long run. I'd upgrade to a 7800GT/X in 3 months.
If I go with the 7800GT, I get BF2 spend the most initially, get the best performance initially, and will get the second best performance in the long run.
To simplify this I'll list it as Pros/Cons
6600GT SLI
Pros:
Best performance long term
Second best performance short term
Lies in the middle for cost
Cons:
Banking on the release of 7600s within 3 months
Produces the most noise and heat
6800GT
Pros:
Cheapest solution
Less heat/noise
Guaranteed to be able to upgrade to a 7800GT
Possibility of going for a 7800GTX
Doesn't rely on SLI
Cons:
Worst performance long term
7800GT
Pros:
Best initial performance
Comes with BF2, which "reduces the cost"
Able to upgrade to a GTX
Less heat/noise
Doesn't rely on SLI
Cons:
Highest initial cost
Second best performance long term
Odds are I would not go out and buy another video card, but then again, nowadays that tends to be the real bottleneck for future gaming while in the game. I'd keep this system for at least 2 years, but in that time I'd probably want to build an entire computer again with all the advances that occur rather than add an additional card.