Need Help Selecting a New Graphics Card

Afternoon all, looking for help selecting a card... I currently have 2 monitors @ 1600 x 1200 and looking to get a third. Not sure what card to go for - I think I'll probably go for AMD, and will start with one card to run games on a single screen until I have the other screen then upgrade to crossfire setup.

So my question is would 2 x 7850/70 be good enough to run the setup... I usually don't go in for AA and all that graphics jazz but like the idea of lots of screen room. Or is there any other suggestions I could look into.

What games are you playing??

If your Q6600 is at stock clockspeeds it might be a bottleneck though. If you can overclock it some more it should help,but ideally even if you get a new card,I would be looking at some point over the next year on changing the CPU. For two screens, this card should do well as long as it fits in your case:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-m...cores-hdmi-mdp

http://www.msi.com/product/vga/R7950...r-3GD5-OC.html

It should save you £100 over a pair of HD7870 cards.

It is around 10.3" long. HD7950 cards also tend to be decent for overclocking too and should be able to turn up some AA for example.

Alternatively,I would look an HD7870 or GTX660 if you don't mind turning settings down like AA.

Just updated my system specs... I'm running a 3570k now. I play a mix of games - at the moment xcom, civ 5 and looking to pickup sleeping dogs on the bundle deal.

You will need to check what sort of clearance you have in your current case,ie,will an HD7950 fit. IMHO,an HD7950 would do the job well.

However,it seems only Ebuyer and OcUK do the extended games bundles:

http://blogs.amd.com/play/this-holiday-never-settle/

With the postage the MSI HD7950 will cost more than Scan once you get free postage,but you get more games:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...56&subcat=1673

Should fit fine... It's 261mm long and I have 274mm to play with, I'm upgrading the case later this year anyway. Would the 7950 manage 3 screens or would I still have to xfire?

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Originally Posted by andyjt

Should fit fine... It's 261mm long and I have 274mm to play with, I'm upgrading the case later this year anyway. Would the 7950 manage 3 screens or would I still have to xfire?

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It depends on the games and what sort of framerates you want.

The GTX670 is another possibility,but with the latest 12.11 drivers,the HD7950 is cheaper and still competitive,although the nomal HD7970 cards can be had for around £300. However, as both HD7900 seires cards tend to overclock to a similar amount,you can see why the HD7950 is more popular. The extra VRAM of the HD7900 series also helps for mods too and HD7950 cards are known for being decent for overclocking. HD7850 Crossfire might be faster,but you only if the drivers work. I would be more compelled to start with a single card and move on from there.

As I said I'm not one for flashy graphics, so long as it looks good and is smooth enough (30 frames min) then I'm happy. I just don't want to spend 250 on a single card then buy a third monitor and find out I need to shell out for another when a sub-200 card (+1 later on) would be sufficient and cheaper.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

You will need to check what sort of clearance you have in your current case,ie,will an HD7950 fit. IMHO,an HD7950 would do the job well.

However,it seems only Ebuyer and OcUK do the extended games bundles:

http://blogs.amd.com/play/this-holiday-never-settle/

With the postage the MSI HD7950 will cost more than Scan once you get free postage,but you get more games:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...56&subcat=1673

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Ask and you shall receive - that card on Scan now comes with the "never settle" games pack! Looks like I'll be putting in my pre-order, wish their was a ETA on them though!