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Need Help

R

R0adK1ll

n00b
Joined
Apr 16, 2011
Messages
23
Hey all,
I'm pretty new to the forum
But, I need some help/advice.
I'm looking to purchase a new video card soon. Right now, I have strictly used AMD cards, the 6950, but I have been thinking about trying out a nVidia card. Any advice. I have an eyefinity setup ATM. Is nVidia's surround better or offer better driver support?
Let me know what you guys think,
R0adK1ll
 
Its hit or miss. If you say AMD drivers suck, there are bound to be people that say "oh, well I have never had any problems at all so you are definitely lying and are dumb". Same thing goes for saying something bad about Nvidia.

From everything that I have read, AMD drivers are not in the best place. Sure, some people it works great, and some people its terrible, but overall, I have HEARD AND READ more complaints from the AMD side of things. Honestly, you won't know till you try - and then you can just return the card for a refund and start over with the other - but while the drivers may not be perfect on the AMD cards, I do believe that they have a superior card when it comes to multi-monitor gaming.

Personally, I would go with a GTX 670 and call it a day.
 
A lot depends on what you use your computer for and how many monitors you have. If you have 3 or less then nVSurround can do what Eyefinity can. If you have 4 or more monitors then it is AMD all the way if you want to use only 1 video card.

What game(s) are you playing that a HD6950 can't handle? Does yours have 1GB VRAM or 2GB? How big are you monitors? What CPU/motherboard do you have?

Possibly the biggest question of them all - what is your budget???
 
My computer specs are as followed:
Mobo: Asrock X58 Xtreme
CPU: Intel i7 930 @ 2.8 stock cooling
RAM: 12GB of Corsair XMS3 1600Mhz
GPU: Powercolor HD Radeon 6950 2GB
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 2TB
Case: Coolermaster HAF 922
Monitors: 3 25'' Hanns G HZ251 @ 60Hz in eyefinity.

In my experience, the AMD drivers arent so great, they have gotten better though.

also, do you still need SLI for nVidia surround or do you need SLI for more than 3 monitors?
 
Last generation cards (gtx 580 and lower) did require SLI for more than 3 monitors. This generation, however, Nvidia smartened up and you no longer need SLI for it. You can run up to 4 monitors off a single card with the GTX 6xx series cards.
 
Phishy714 said:
Last generation cards (gtx 580 and lower) did require SLI for more than 3 monitors. This generation, however, Nvidia smartened up and you no longer need SLI for it. You can run up to 4 monitors off a single card with the GTX 6xx series cards.
Click to expand...
Okay cool. Thanks for that info man.

also what about performance? which are better in a surround gaming display?
 
Depends on your budget.

Also - don't let anyone fool you. Unless you are running three 30" monitors, you will almost NEVER need more than 2gb's worth of RAM. Sure, a couple of games will use more, but at your resolution, a single card may not be able to give you 60fps in those games either. AMD's 3gb per card is nice though.
 
I see, But doesnt nVidia's 670 stock 2 gb card out perform the hd 7950 3gb card??? or does the extra vram help out eyefinity?
 
I have two different 3 monitor setups.

one is dual 7970 EF the other is dual GTX 670 Surround.

I have been doing either/or since this was available with the 5000 series from ATI and the 200 series from nvidia.

To me, it seems that nvidia is quicker on releases of SLi Surround drivers.
Image quality is a complete draw.
Performance is very similar.
I have never seen my VRAM needs exceed 1.5GB on each card.

If I was going to pick a company, I have some subtle preference towards nvidia. This was solidified with Borderlands 2, as I think the Physx actually improved the gameplay experience.
 
magoo said:
I have two different 3 monitor setups.

one is dual 7970 EF the other is dual GTX 670 Surround.

I have been doing either/or since this was available with the 5000 series from ATI and the 200 series from nvidia.

To me, it seems that nvidia is quicker on releases of SLi Surround drivers.
Image quality is a complete draw.
Performance is very similar.
I have never seen my VRAM needs exceed 1.5GB on each card.

If I was going to pick a company, I have some subtle preference towards nvidia. This was solidified with Borderlands 2, as I think the Physx actually improved the gameplay experience.
Click to expand...

well i know that the 5xxx series for AMD didnt support crossfirex while eyefinity was setup, but what about single cards have you tried them???
 
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