Which graphics card(s) is best for me?

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apav

Gawd
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Sep 15, 2011
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Hey guys, I have a tough decision at the moment and I need some advice on which gpu I should go with.

I'm looking at getting 2 6950's Dirt 3 Edition:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/07/25/sapphire_hd_6950_2gb_dirt_3_video_card_review/

I'm going to start building in December, so I'm going to pick up a good deal for a gpu on black friday. It gets complicated because this pc will be only used on holidays or breaks. I go to college in CA, but I live and am building/leaving the pc in NY, in which I will only return for holidays, breaks and summers.

Primary purposes will be for gaming, particularly BF3 and Skyrim, which I expect to play max and smooth framerates (50+). Won't be much besides that. I have my laptop for work/web browsing when I am away/at school, I will rarely do anything but games and web browsing on this pc.

Basically what I'm asking is for my general use(and time constraints) is this still a good gpu option for me? Should I get either get 2 6950's off the bat(to start with power since they're great overclockers and hopefully their lack of constant use will make them live longer) or a single card like a 6970/580 and upgrade later? I think I would rather have a kickass gaming experience when I do come home than the option to upgrade, but do you recommend something else?

This is my first build, I'm worried if the cards will get close on my Asus P8Z68-V motherboard, and if they will run hot with a crossfire setup. Furthermore I don't know if not using the cards for an extended period of time will dull/hurt them or make them last longer? Obviously I would cover my computer in a blanket when I go away so it doesn't get dusty but I'm not sure if discrete graphics cards are like a car in the winter and need to run every now and then to stay healthy.

Please excuse me if I sound like a total idiot here. I know enough about computers to select and hook up the hardware, just not so much to maintain it :O

Thank you guys.

Here is a chart of my specs for my build so far, if it helps in any way:
Chart.jpg
 
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What's your budget? you can get a good mid range gaming notebook for what it looks like you're spending.
 
I originally was looking for one, but I decided I'd rather have an amazing gaming computer for the price of a decent gaming laptop.. I don't wanna mix school with games anyway xD I already have a laptop anyway. Appreciate the help though mate :)
 
apav said:
This is my first build, I'm worried if the cards will get close on my Asus P8Z68-V motherboard, and if they will run hot with a crossfire setup. Furthermore I don't know if not using the cards for an extended period of time will dull/hurt them or make them last longer? Obviously I would cover my computer in a blanket when I go away so it doesn't get dusty but I'm not sure if discrete graphics cards are like a car in the winter and need to run every now and then to stay healthy.
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Thankfully no, this isn't an issue.
 
I'd pick up one HD6950 for now and when the HD7*** cards are released sell it and buy 2 HD7*** cards for crossfire (assuming they are good for the price) or another HD6950 used for cheap.

I think a 120GB SSD for the OS and main programs would help complete your build.
 
I never understood the hype for SSDs. I'm not paying $300 more for extra space which I will never need(I have a 500gb HD in my current desktop and I think that's huge and my new desktop is getting a 1 TB harddrive- thats ENORMOUS) and a marginal difference in the OS speed. That's just me though.

Maybe for $100 I would consider. What is the lowest size of a SSD you could get away with as a boot drive?
 
No, SSD isn't hype, its fact. Most of your stuff will load faster, not just your OS apav! Looks like you should do some reading up, esp when you can get a nice SSD for $120 these days..... please read up, I think you (and 99% of computer users) would love an SSD over a slow 7200RPM drive.
 
I was under the impression that if I got a SSD I would only put my OS folders on there, that there wouldn't be room for other stuff.

If I put a game(such as Skyrim and any mods) on there would it load significantly faster?
 
Before, SSD size was like 32GB, but now you can easily get ones that are ~100GB or more. No reason not to put some of your most played games on there to load quicker. You can also use apps like SteamMover to switch between putting them on the SSD and HDD.

Honestly, on a new build like yours, there's no reason to limit yourself to 1TB of space in my opinion. Especially considering how cheap storage is now and how games, movies, everything are just getting bigger and bigger.
 
You are building a very sexy rig there may the Black Friday gods be with you!
 
The difference between my 40GB X25-V (which is not the fastest SSD out there) and the other boot drives I've used (1TB Caviar Black, 37GB Raptor) is night and day. It's enormously fast. I recommend SSDs to everyone, even if it is the cheap 40GB version so you only put windows and your web browsers on it.
 
I just wanted to chime in. Buying a new corsair force 3 120GB SSD was one of the BEST investments I have ever made on my personal machine. It makes a large, noticeble difference in your computing expierence. I will never use a mechanical drive for anything other then storage again.

Your Build looks solid! You might consider, just buying 1 6950 and see how it goes. If you buy that monitor, it's only 1080p so unless you plan on getting eyefinity you might be fine on that one card with that res. You can always buy another one and go Xfire later should you feel 1 card even with it's OC is not getting it done for you.
 
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apav said:
I never understood the hype for SSDs. I'm not paying $300 more for extra space which I will never need(I have a 500gb HD in my current desktop and I think that's huge and my new desktop is getting a 1 TB harddrive- thats ENORMOUS) and a marginal difference in the OS speed. That's just me though.

Maybe for $100 I would consider. What is the lowest size of a SSD you could get away with as a boot drive?
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You can get by with a VERY small drive if you make the concessions.

I bought a 64GB M4 for $85 (was on sale again today but sold out) and was conservative in putting some programs (including all games) onto a HD and some on the SSD. Hibernation and page file off, system restore is still on. 3 months later and I've only used up 16GB!

Fry's has a 90GB Corsair Force 3 for $100AR right now.



ClearM4 said:
I'd pick up one HD6950 for now and when the HD7*** cards are released sell it and buy 2 HD7*** cards for crossfire (assuming they are good for the price) or another HD6950 used for cheap.
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Yeah, I would do something like that also. Buy one now, you will know quickly if that will satisfy you for a long time, some time or not at all. Decide later to add another, replace or whatever.
 
apav said:
I never understood the hype for SSDs. I'm not paying $300 more for extra space which I will never need(I have a 500gb HD in my current desktop and I think that's huge and my new desktop is getting a 1 TB harddrive- thats ENORMOUS) and a marginal difference in the OS speed. That's just me though.

Maybe for $100 I would consider. What is the lowest size of a SSD you could get away with as a boot drive?
Click to expand...

As others have said, it's not "hype", it's a really valuable upgrade. You can get a lot of sub-$150 SSDs these days, and I'd say anything 40 GB and above is fine for a boot drive. You could probably get away with 20 GB, but you're likely going to run at LEAST one or two games off of it (I pretty much just do ArmA2 due to the high drive I/O streaming requirements of the game).

It's not so much the overall speed that is improved with the SSD, but rather loading times. The difference is night and day booting from an SSD versus even a fast HDD. Also, like I said, some games really benefit from the SSD, either from texture streaming or load times.
 
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