EVGA 01G-P3-1284-AR GeForce GTX 280 SSC Edition 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 for $220.99 and a $20 MIR.

Seemed like a pretty good deal, and a nice upgrade from my GeForce 6800 GS w/256MB of RAM. Right now I'm running an Ath XP 3700+, but I will be going Nehalem later this year with a complete PC rebuild and figured this would be a good video card to throw on it.

Here's the link if any are still available:

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/17271/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-280-SSC-1GB-GDDR3-512-bit-PCI-E-SLI-Supported-Video-Card-201-after-20-MIR

1/10/2009 10:41:20 AM

That's a ridiculous deal.

1/10/2009 10:53:21 AM

Wow according to reviews, the 3DMark 06 score for my old card is 2919 while this card scored a 16119. Might notice a little performance boost on my games and I guess I can really crank the graphics up now.

1/10/2009 11:04:07 AM

One question. I am using Windows XP Pro at home and have a 500 watt PSU. Do I need to run Vista/7 on there to be able to utilize this card and DX10? Also I'm kinda nervous about the power requirements. Anybody running one?

1/10/2009 11:50:44 AM

You need vista for dx10.

1/10/2009 1:21:04 PM

Yea I see that now.

Ok, so here is my quandry. This thing comes in next week. I am going to do a total system upgrade around my birthday in Sept./Oct., which will require a new motherboard. My options are:

1) Buy Vista Retail now. I can use that now and in the future.
2) My current work desktop PC is a dual-boot setup with Vista/XP. The work computer isn't hoss enough to run Vista as smooth as I would like, so I could do away with it. I was planning on trialing Win7 on that drive. So if its retail, I could use that Vista copy on my home PC and then wipe everything out and reinstall in Oct. If its OEM, there is no chance of that.
3) Use Windows 7 and kill the product deactivation date until 7 is really out. But I'm not sure how reliable it will be for my everyday use.

What would ya'll suggest, buy Vista now with a new OS coming out soon, try and use my Vista Business from work, or just go with the free beta OS?

1/10/2009 2:50:46 PM

^ How is 7 beta? Is it stable? Can it be used as a replacement OS or just for messing around in vmware?

1/10/2009 3:06:05 PM

Well its a full open beta on the website, so you burn the ISO and install it. Yes you can use it as a full OS without running it in VMWare. Just not sure if I am going to have drivers and stuff to run everything on it. Hence why I think I will dual-boot it for the next couple of weeks till the new card gets here to see how stable it is on my rig right now.

1/10/2009 3:24:04 PM

it can easily be a replacement OS.

1/10/2009 3:24:29 PM

Yea I think I will dual boot, then when the card comes in, just not run the XP install. Now I hope my 500W PSU is up to snuff. It says it will need 550W, but I am running a lower in processor, so I hope that its drawing a lower amount of power, thus allowing the GTX to get whatever it needs.

1/10/2009 3:31:07 PM

Skip Vista, go ahead and install 7.

1/10/2009 3:59:20 PM

Power consumption, Nvidia suggests 550W and 40 amp on the 12V rail. But I'm assuming they figure somebody that will buy this is going to be running a lot of other high end shit (procs, etc.) and I am running a relatively light Athlon XP 3700+. My PSU is a Dynex 500W. Here is the link to the specs:

http://www.dynexproducts.com/skins/skin_1/Topics/Documents/DX-PS500W_UserManual.pdf

Do you think this will be enough?

1/10/2009 7:43:19 PM

^i still can't believe you got that deal. I'm pretty sure it was a mistake because they changed it pretty quickly. That's waaaaaay too low for that card. "on sale" for that card would still be over $300.

1/10/2009 7:50:27 PM

If you are worried about drivers in Windows 7 you really shouldn't be. If it works with Vista it will work with Windows 7.

1/10/2009 8:20:18 PM

Got 7 running on my 30 gig HD. Loving it so far. Now can't wait to get this card in and pop it in.

1/11/2009 10:40:55 AM