9800GT madness

[jnmohsenin]

so i'm getting around to ordering all my parts (i7 860, UD4, 4GB DDR3, Antec Sonata III, etc.) and I've finally settled on the nVida GeForce 9800GT.

But the last thing I've done is found which one to buy!

I'm on a fairly tight budge (900 or less) so every dollar counts.

Right now, they range from 90-140$. Here's a few (with prices) that I'm looking at on amazon:

EVGA/9800GT/ 1 GB DDR3/ 2DVI/HDCP/600MHz Clock - $137.68 (http://amazon.com/?tag=tonymacx86com-20)
PNY XLR8/9800GT/ 1024 MB DDR3 2DVI/550MHz Clock - $104.47 (http://amazon.com/?tag=tonymacx86com-20)
ZOTAC/ECO 9800GT/512 MB DDR3 /2DVI/550MHz Clock - $89.99 (http://amazon.com/?tag=tonymacx86com-20)

Can anybody give me a solid answer on which is a good buy? The cheaper the better.

I don't know the real-world difference between 512MB and 1GB of DDR3. I will NOT be using this to play games, only do photoshop and final cut video work. Will 1GB do wonders for me as far as rendering goes?

And noise? I'm not super concerned about it, but if anybody knows which kind tend to be quieter the better.

And clock speed? Does 50MHz make a difference?

And finally, these will all fit with an Earthwatts PSU and a UD4, correct?

See how complicated this stuff is! Man!

Thanks for the read! I'd love to hear what you guys run/what works best (for the best price!)

 

[jimx86]

This is my view:

EVGA and PNY don't differ that much unless you're playing games, so go PNY.

If you're doing anything dual monitor-related, go for the 1 GB PNY.

If you're just single-monitor and don't plan to ever go dual, get the 512MB Zotac.

If you really want to spend money to ensure the highest quality (apparently the 'public' believes EVGA is worth every penny), go EVGA.

 

[jnmohsenin]

I defintly wat a dual monitor sétup. This menas i need 1gb of graphic card ddr3?

Ill look at PNY and othet moré budget 1gb cards.

 

[jimx86]

If you want a dual monitor setup and the cheapest 9800 GT out there, get this one with a 12% off bing cashback:

http://bit.ly/bHNqm0

I would get the one from tigerdirect since the site is more reliable.