What should i do with £450 to upgrade this i7 rig?

engstrom0304 · 28 Apr 2009 at 19:58

Ok, so i have a i7 920, 6gb ram, gtx 280 rig. No monitor at the moment though. Soon i will have £450 to spend. I was thinking either...

1. Sell gtx 280 and buy 2 4870x2's (would require selling my corsair tx650 and buying a 1000w psu. All bought from a well known auction site)

2. Get 3 22" monitors for use with softth (Plus money for suitable graphics card(s))

3. Any suggestions???

gary996 · 28 Apr 2009 at 20:10

get a 24" monitor and keep the rest

engstrom0304 · 28 Apr 2009 at 20:12

gary996 said:
get a 24" monitor and keep the rest

Well i think at the moment a mere gtx 280 is not making the potential use of the i7. So i want better graphics or triple monitors. What do you guys think?

reflux · 28 Apr 2009 at 20:16

Get another 280 and a nice 24''. Anything else is a waste of cash tbh.

engstrom0304 · 28 Apr 2009 at 20:18

i have a msi platinum non sli version. I should be able to flash the sli bios to it though. I just love the idea of 4870x2 cf, maybe you are right though.

reflux · 28 Apr 2009 at 20:21

Two 4870X2s didn't give a worthwhile performance increase last time I looked. Anyway, one is enough to play everything maxed out....what is two gonna do other than heat up your case?

Thought of buying an SSD or two?

Guardsmon · 28 Apr 2009 at 20:26

I'd recommend a nice 24" - can recommend the 2408wfp... brilliant. I wouldn't get 2x 4870x2's - just doesn't seem worth it

engstrom0304 · 28 Apr 2009 at 20:38

Surely the 4870x2 would scale much better with a i7 wouldnt it. Or am I wrong?

engstrom0304 · 28 Apr 2009 at 20:40

reflux said:
Two 4870X2s didn't give a worthwhile performance increase last time I looked. Anyway, one is enough to play everything maxed out....what is two gonna do other than heat up your case?

Thought of buying an SSD or two?

At the moment i just have a single wd caviar blue. But for gaming ssd's just dont seem worth it. I occassionally do some after effects etc, but still not enough to justify an ssd.

Really I just want to play crysis on very high and get 70+fps

J.B · 29 Apr 2009 at 01:05

Personally I think a GTX280 is enough at the moment, Id spend the money on a nice big Samsung screen or something similiar.

jamiehavok · 29 Apr 2009 at 01:29

you've got a very similar rig to me - i'm going to upgrade the gfx next as the 280 deffinitly seems to bottleneck the i7 - crysis on dx10 for instance is abysmal!

widdyst · 29 Apr 2009 at 01:32

Now thats a lot of money to spend to just play one game isnt it. I honestly dont want to sound condescending But I think wanting to play crysis at high frame rates is purely for bragging rights aint it ?? I play crysis maxed out and get 35 fps and honestly its sweet, Crysis doesnt need high frames like that to run nice.

danceMB · 29 Apr 2009 at 08:14

engstrom0304 said:
At the moment i just have a single wd caviar blue. But for gaming ssd's just dont seem worth it. I occassionally do some after effects etc, but still not enough to justify an ssd.

Really I just want to play crysis on very high and get 70+fps

Same ideas as me, my friend!

Serisously though, my machine should be with me tomorrow (At the mercy of OcUK) and then I should be up there with the best of them!

I will have the Dell 22" monitor, the one thats isnt a TN model, and will have a similar spec to yours, but my graphics card will be GTX295.

Is there any settings to use with my machine so I get the best performance out of Crysis?

naknakkus · 29 Apr 2009 at 09:31

Get a very nice monitor.

MoRT489 · 29 Apr 2009 at 14:47

Another GTX 280 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-143-LT and a 24-28" monitor

danceMB · 29 Apr 2009 at 17:29

I think creed has the best idea, if you can pick another GTX280 cheaply enough, and then whats left buy a decent 22"-24" monitor, if your happy with a 22" version the Dell UltraSharp 2209WA is the best monitor around, but if you want a larger screen size, it would be best to ask around as they get very expensive once you move past the 22" size of things

MoRT489 · 29 Apr 2009 at 17:37

Unless u go 24" or bigger i would say the 2nd GTX280 would be a waste of money :eek:

danceMB · 29 Apr 2009 at 17:40

Well as I only had limited cash, I bought the 22" DELL monitor, and im going to have a GTX295 inside my machine, as all the 24" did not match up to the DELL monitor that has won high praise everywhere