PNY XLR8 GeForce 9800GTX 512MB 256 bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 DVI + DVI + HDTV/SDTV 3 Way-SLi Supported Dual-link HDCP Capable Video Card (VCG98GTXXPB)

The PNY XLR8 GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB graphics card raises the performance bar with full-throttle. Compatible with 3-way SLI technology, this GPU offers everyone extreme HD gaming and a first-class entertainment experience. Core Clock - 675 MHz Texture Fill Rate - 43.2 Billion/sec. OpenGL 2.1 support Dual-link HDCP Capable NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology - The combination of high-definition video decode acceleration and post-processing that delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for movies and video NVIDIA HybridPower technology - HybridPower technology lets you switch from the GeForce 9800 GTX graphics card to the motherboard GeForce GPU when running non graphically-intensive applications for a silent, low power PC experience NVIDIA Quantum Effects Technology - Advanced shader processors architected for physics computation enable a new level of physics effects to be simulated and rendered on the GPU?all while freeing the CPU to run the game engine and artificial intelligence (AI) Two dual-link DVI and one HDTV output 128-bit floating point High Dynamic-Range (HDR) lighting 16x full-screen Anti-aliasing Technology 3-Way NVIDIA SLI Technology Full Microsoft DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0 support NVIDIA GeForce Unified Driver Architecture (UDA) System Requirements - Intel or AMD, PCI Express or Express 2.0 with one x16 graphics slot, 512MB RAM, two 6-pin supplementary power connector, minimum 500W Power Supply, 50MB Hard Drive, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Drive, Windows 2000 or higher, VGA or DVI-I compatible monitor

HDTV Technology - Should I Get a 1080p or 720p HDTV?

Cost.

A 1080p set will almost always cost more than a similar set built with 720p resolution. If you can't see much difference in picture quality, why spend more?

So, it would seem that 1080p is clearly better, and 720p is not really worth considering. But, there are actually some good reasons to choose 720p over 1080p:

As you search for the perfect HDTV, you'll come across dozens of different terms that explain different types of technology, different styles of display and different levels of quality. One term that you will need to be familiar with is the screen resolution. An HDTV picture is made up of many small dots, or "pixels", and the amount of pixels that are used to make the picture is referred to as the resolution. In general, the more pixels, the better, and since an HDTV has more pixels than a regular TV, that's one of the things that makes it better.

There are two different levels of resolution commonly used in modern HDTVs. The lower one is called "720p", which means that there are 720 rows of pixels and it's a progressive display. In a typical widescreen HDTV, each row has 1280 pixels. The higher resolution, 1080p, means 1080 rows of pixels, usually with 1920 pixels per row.

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Screen size.

If the screen size is smaller than 50 inches, it will be very hard to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. At a normal viewing distance, they will look essentially the same.

If you want to get a really big HDTV, you'll want to seriously consider 1080p resolution. In any set larger than 50 inches, a lower resolution will look choppy, since you'll be able to see individual pixels.

What, you may ask, is a progressive display? In a progressive display, 30 times a second, the screen shows the full picture, then erases it to make room for the next frame. The other way to show a picture is with an "integrated display". That's where the TV draws the even rows of the picture on the screen, then the odd rows, then the even rows of the next frame, and so on. This technique has been used in regular TV sets for decades, because it takes about half as much effort and looks almost as good as a progressive display. Now that we have better technology, though, we can make every HDTV with a progressive display and bring picture quality up to the highest possible level. TV shows are still usually broadcast in an integrated format because it takes less bandwidth, but an HDTV will always "de-interlace" these shows to display progressively onscreen.

Other factors.

When looking at the big picture in your HDTV purchase, the screen resolution is only one factor. Contrast ratio, black level, likelihood of problems and even customer service can all be more important factors than screen resolution. Don't let one exciting feature convince you to buy an inferior set.