New video card - choice

[Rico]

Ok, I want to get a new video card for my main PC before the WOW expansion hits next week.  Narrowed down to a couple choices.  Very similar specs, both nVidia GTX 460 EVGA cards.  One has slightly more memory, but slightly less clock speed.  Exact same price on both.  Ok, tech heads, what one would you pick of these two?

P.S.  The formatting doesn't copy and past well, but each line has the two specs for the two cards listed.

Item#    N82E16814130562    N82E16814130591
Model#    768-P3-1360-TR    01G-P3-1366-TR
Brand    EVGA    EVGA
Interface    PCI Express 2.0 x16    PCI Express 2.0 x16
Chipset Manufacturer    NVIDIA    NVIDIA
GPU    GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi)    GeForce GTX 460 SE (Fermi)
Core Clock    675MHz    650MHz
Shader Clock    1350MHz    1300MHz
Stream Processors    336 Processor Cores    288 Processor Cores
Effective Memory Clock    3600MHz    3400MHz
Memory Size    768MB    1GB
Memory Interface    192-bit    256-bit
Memory Type    GDDR5    GDDR5
DirectX    DirectX 11    DirectX 11
HDMI    1 x Mini-HDMI 1.4a    1 x mini HDMI
DVI    2 x DVI    2 x DVI
RAMDAC    400 MHz    400 MHz
Max Resolution    2560 x 1600    2560 x 1600
SLI Support    SLI Ready    SLI Ready
Cooler    With Fan    With Fan
System Requirements    Minimum of a 450 Watt power supply

(Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 24 Amps.)    
Power Connector    2 x 6 Pin    
Dual-Link DVI Supported    Yes    Yes
HDCP Ready    Yes    Yes
Card Dimensions    4.38" x 8.25"    8.25" x 4.38"
Features    NVIDIA CUDA technology with CUDA C/C++,DirectCompute 5.0 and OpenCL support
NVIDIA PhysX technology
NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround Ready
NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology    NVIDIA CUDA technology with CUDA C/C++

DirectCompute 5.0 and OpenCL support

NVIDIA PhysX technology

NVIDIA 3D Vision support

NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology

[Rico]

Decided to go with the slightly faster card, but slightly less memory.

[Jobydrone]

I got one of those iMacs that were on sale on Black Friday.  It's last years model, the 3.3 Ghz Intel Core 2 duo with 4G of memory and a ATI Raedon 4670.  I know full well for what I paid I could have gotten a top of the line PC with components I put together myself, instead of last years iMac, but when I got home I took it out of the box, I plugged it in to the wall, turned it on, and I was done.  I guess it's a high price to play for that kind of convenience but so far I absolutely love it.  WoW is running like I have never seen before, beautifully, and the 27" screen is totally gorgeous.

Don't scoff at me, Rico and Chris, I know I copped out, I appreciate the help you gave me in the past with finding the right components for putting together a customized PC, but I truly think this will be the perfect computer for me and my family.

[Bryancd]

I got one of those iMacs that were on sale on Black Friday.  It's last years model, the 3.3 Ghz Intel Core 2 duo with 4G of memory and a ATI Raedon 4670.  I know full well for what I paid I could have gotten a top of the line PC with components I put together myself, instead of last years iMac, but when I got home I took it out of the box, I plugged it in to the wall, turned it on, and I was done.  I guess it's a high price to play for that kind of convenience but so far I absolutely love it.  WoW is running like I have never seen before, beautifully, and the 27" screen is totally gorgeous.

Don't scoff at me, Rico and Chris, I know I copped out, I appreciate the help you gave me in the past with finding the right components for putting together a customized PC, but I truly think this will be the perfect computer for me and my family.

This brought a tear to my eye..   :wub

[Jobydrone]

Ha ha, I know I and everyone in the world like me are boons to your stock portfolio.  Glad to be of service.

[Rico]

Sounds like a nice machine Joby.  Let me know if you try a more hard-core game on it sometime.  Curious on how it handles that.

[Bryancd]

Ha ha, I know I and everyone in the world like me are boons to your stock portfolio.  Glad to be of service.

They are really lovely machines. :)

[Bryancd]

Sounds like a nice machine Joby.  Let me know if you try a more hardcore game on it sometime.  Curious on how it handles that.

The problem with the latest, greatest game on a Mac isn't always a hardware limitation, it's that the ports that are done done from PC to Mac are often clunky at best. The trick is to run graphic intense games in Boot Camp running Windows, then you can buy a native PC game and run it on a partitioned HD as opposed to Parallels, which is software and too slow.

As Apple OS becomes more and more prevelant, especially in the portable space, I think you will see more games made for the platform or made in conjunction with the PC side.

[Jobydrone]

I have the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles for all my gaming needs.  There's no PC-only game out there that I would be insterested in playing on my iMac other than WoW.  Well, that's not entirely true, I did want to check out "the Witcher" and was disappointed when the console version got cancelled.  Maybe I'll check out if there's a Mac version of that game.  Otherwise, no games other than WoW until Diablo 3 comes out, if it ever does.

I did download the Steam client for Mac, but the list of Mac games on that service was a little thin.  I guess I should get used to that now.

[Rico]

Sounds like a nice machine Joby.  Let me know if you try a more hardcore game on it sometime.  Curious on how it handles that.

The problem with the latest, greatest game on a Mac isn't always a hardware limitation, it's that the ports that are done done from PC to Mac are often clunky at best. The trick is to run graphic intense games in Boot Camp running Windows, then you can buy a native PC game and run it on a partitioned HD as opposed to Parallels, which is software and too slow.

As Apple OS becomes more and more prevelant, especially in the portable space, I think you will see more games made for the platform or made in conjunction with the PC side.

Boot camp shouldn't really impact performance with modern Macs.  So install Windows if you need it and run games or other software there if it's Windows only.

[Jobydrone]

I wonder if I can use the disc that came with my laptop when I bought it a few years ago or if I would have to buy Windows again?  My laptop was bought when Vista first came out.  If I can even find the disc, that is.  I really need to take better care of these important things. I think Boot Camp came loaded on the iMac, I'll look for it when I get home.

[Bryancd]

I wonder if I can use the disc that came with my laptop when I bought it a few years ago or if I would have to buy Windows again?  My laptop was bought when Vista first came out.  If I can even find the disc, that is.  I really need to take better care of these important things. I think Boot Camp came loaded on the iMac, I'll look for it when I get home.

Yeah, Boot Camp is partioned on the HD. Hold down the shift key when you start the iMac and it should give you the option to boot from it.

[X]

Congratz on the new buy. If it works for you, that's all that matters in the long run. I think they are pretty too and wouldn't refuse any Apple product. I'm not anti Apple, just anti me paying for it.

[Jobydrone]

Thanks Chris, glad you're not too disappointed in me ;)

[Rico]

Back on the original topic of my new video card, it should be at my apartment when I get home from work later today.  So, I should be rocking in WOW in Dalaran later tonight!  I'll be all ready for the big expansion next Tuesday too!  :)

P.S.  Oh, one other nice thing about the new video card is it has a mini-HDMI out port (with an adaptor).  So, I should be able to dual screen with my nearby HDTV.  Nice!