• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Video Card Upgrade - Thoughts?

Z

Zetro

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 2, 2005
Messages
296
As always :D

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming primarily, I have a work laptop setup 90 degrees away on my desk with two monitors
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Only a single card, $500-600 is fine and shipping is not required
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
I live in Vancouver Canada and would be shopping at N-C-I-X locally
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Only a video card, if ATI is the route I would also need two Mini-DP Active to DVI adapters
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Core i7 920 @ 3.6GHz with a Push/Pull True on top
24GB of Muskin DDR3 Memory (6 x 4GB)
Corsair TX750 (Version 1)
Antec 300 with excellent Fans/Cooling
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes, I am running my CPU at 3.6GHz at 1.285V and I would consider overclocking the GPU. My CPU setup is 100% stable for 48 hours of prime.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I run an Eyefinity setup, I have three Dell U2412B IPS Displays that run at 1980x1200 each. Two are on DVI and one is on a DP to DVI Active Converter on my 5850. I run them in Portrait for Eyefinity (3844x1980)
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
As soon as I can get my hands on a 680
9) What games do you primarily play?
BF3, Counter-Strike, WoW, Portal 1/2, Solitaire

As you guys are the experts I have a few questions for you if you don't mind on a Sunday.

1) Is buying a 680 or 7970/50 a good upgrade for my now getting older gamer? Would I be CPU limited in games like BF3 at such high resolutions? I am able to run BF3 at Medium now at 3844x1980 and it is silky smooth, I assume the video card upgrade is worth while as the 1GB of VRAM in my 5850 must be just getting destroyed. In a 3-4 month time frame I am looking to build a new Gamer as well and relegate this LGA1366 system into a Hyper-V lab role, hence the 24GB of ram.
2) Having never run NV Surround (no 3D here) and having Eyefinity make me love PC gaming again I am hoping that it is either A) Better Than Eyefinity that it supports more games B) Just works. I have been reading reviews of it over the past couple of days and could not see a non fanboy answer on the issue. Comments are very welcome
3) Any other issues that I am missing on not being able to run this card? I have the space in my case and I believe I have more than sufficient power/cooling.

Thank you in advance for your always awesome insight.

Trev
 
1) Yes either of those cards will be a good upgrade.
2) NV Surround generally works better than AMD Eyefinity on games that are newly released. However, over time, AMD Eyefinity tends to either match or exceed NV Surround. But the key problem is time.
3) Nah, no major issue.

Video card wise I'd definitely recommend the GTX 680 over the HD 7970 unless the HD 7970 drops below the $500 price mark.
 
Thank you for the always excellent insight Danny

As I would need to purchase two Mini-D to DVI Active Adapters for a 7970 even if it drops in price the total cost of getting EyeFinity going again would be around equal to a 680. Plus as it uses less power, is shorter, and has more power it seems like a no brainer :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top