I need expert opinions >.<

[Kitty!]

Hey, of course, Maxis does it again, and i need to make an upgrade to my pc to be able to actually enjoy sims 3, im sure my pc wontbe able to handle it, so im on this dilemma, im building my own computer and im not sure which video card i should buy, theres this SAPPHIRE 100251SR Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card from ATI radeon ( i have never used these cards before) and theres this EVGA 02G-P3-1185-AR GeForce GTX 285 2GB 512-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card from nvidia and im not sure which one is more reliable or better , i dont wanna buy a video card that will only make it for 6 months, they both expensive but im willing to buy one but im not sure which one, pls help...

[saowens]

Well, just comparing the cards the 4870 was rated a better card than the GTX 285 but not by enough to make that much of a difference for the reason you are looking to buy one. When it comes down to these two cards the price should be the determining factor for you.

One thing about the radeon is it requires 2 6 pin PCIE slots and is a half an inch longer than the 4870. The extra half an inch could be an issue with installing it in your system.

Now, having said that there are other factors involved here.

Can your system handle either one of these cards? 
Does your mother board support PCIE 2.0?
What is the wattage of the power supply in your pc?

These are all things to consider when looking for a new video card. Also, what type of monitor do you have? With either of these cards I would recommend using a DVI monitor.

[Kitty!]

Ok.  I already have one part, the monitor, cause im building my comp from ground up, so i got this widescreen Viewsonic VX2240w 22" LCD.

the motherboard im gonna get is GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

and the processor is Intel Core i7 940 Nehalem 2.93GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

Im still researching about the rest of the parts, like the cooling system and ram and power supply i need, im gonna get these cause a friend told me this is the best for sims 3 but i honestly am clueless so u tell me ^^ thx for ur response

[saowens]

You may want to read the reviews of the mother board here before you go and purchase one. I would recommend that you read all of the reviews not just the ones with 4 stars. 24% of the reviews were average to very poor. Mostly due to D.O.A. issues and failures within the first 30 days and the poor customer support they received from Gigabyte. 24% may not seem like a bad number but in my world that's one out of four customers being down or upset. That's an unacceptable number.

I would put as many fans in the system as the case can handle. One case, cpu, power supply and gpu fan won't be enough. 120 mm variable speed case fans would work great if the case you are looking at will allow that size of fan to be installed.

For a power supply I'd recommend at least 650 watts. 1000 watts if you can afford it. Your video card and cpu will use  200 or so watts by them selves. That way you won't have to worry about an add on card down the road over tasking the power supply.

I kind of slammed the mother board a little bit I guess but that's the heart of the system and the most pain in the butt piece to have to replace so doing some research now could save you a lot of frustration later.