Hello everyone,
Planning an eyefinity/nvidia surround gaming rig, and the more research I do, the more confuddled I become.
Currently I have a not-so-good £500 prebuilt computer (Can I say the D*** word on here?) from about 10 years ago with a Pentium 4 and a Radeon X550 - which is somewhat limiting the range of games I can play. If it was released after the year 2002, chances are I can't play it - I'm well overdue for an upgrade.
Primary use for the new computer will be BF3 and other games, along with some occasional video editing and photoshop. I'd like the build to be fairly future proof, I can't see myself upgrading again for another 5-10 years short of a miracle/lottery win.
Budget is around £2,000 for the computer, not including the monitor(s) and other peripherals - I'll start worrying about those later.
I'm not after a full specification of parts, but it would be very helpful if somebody could clarify the following for me:
1] Really like the sound of 120hz gaming, but I also really like the look of the 3 screen eyefinity/surround setups. What kind of graphics card(s) would be necessary to run 120hz accross three 24" screens? Would the new Sapphire 7970 6GB be up to the job or will I need to go down the CF/SLI road?
2] Ivybridge or Sandybridge? I am pretty sure I'd rather go with an intel CPU over an AMD, but have read conflicting advice on which Intel chip would be better for my purposes. From what I gather, the Sandybridge chips overclock better, but OTOH the Ivybridge chips run much cooler (or am I just wrong?). I narrowed my options down to either an 2600k or the 3770k - any thoughts?
3] Motherboard - Oh dear god this is confusing topic. I basically closed my eyes and picked one at random. I was after one with as many 6GB/s ports as I could find, with CF/SLI support just to keep my options open in the future. I settled on the ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe - is this a good option for my needs?
4] Is now even a good time to be planning an Eyefinity/Surround build? I hear there's something called ThunderBolt around the corner that is perfect for high res multiple displays and such, am I best waiting for this to land before spending?
Sorry for the wall of text, but I do feel better now that it's on screen instead of whizzing round my poor old brain.
Thanks in advance
Planning an eyefinity/nvidia surround gaming rig, and the more research I do, the more confuddled I become.
Currently I have a not-so-good £500 prebuilt computer (Can I say the D*** word on here?) from about 10 years ago with a Pentium 4 and a Radeon X550 - which is somewhat limiting the range of games I can play. If it was released after the year 2002, chances are I can't play it - I'm well overdue for an upgrade.
Primary use for the new computer will be BF3 and other games, along with some occasional video editing and photoshop. I'd like the build to be fairly future proof, I can't see myself upgrading again for another 5-10 years short of a miracle/lottery win.
Budget is around £2,000 for the computer, not including the monitor(s) and other peripherals - I'll start worrying about those later.
I'm not after a full specification of parts, but it would be very helpful if somebody could clarify the following for me:
1] Really like the sound of 120hz gaming, but I also really like the look of the 3 screen eyefinity/surround setups. What kind of graphics card(s) would be necessary to run 120hz accross three 24" screens? Would the new Sapphire 7970 6GB be up to the job or will I need to go down the CF/SLI road?
2] Ivybridge or Sandybridge? I am pretty sure I'd rather go with an intel CPU over an AMD, but have read conflicting advice on which Intel chip would be better for my purposes. From what I gather, the Sandybridge chips overclock better, but OTOH the Ivybridge chips run much cooler (or am I just wrong?). I narrowed my options down to either an 2600k or the 3770k - any thoughts?
3] Motherboard - Oh dear god this is confusing topic. I basically closed my eyes and picked one at random. I was after one with as many 6GB/s ports as I could find, with CF/SLI support just to keep my options open in the future. I settled on the ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe - is this a good option for my needs?
4] Is now even a good time to be planning an Eyefinity/Surround build? I hear there's something called ThunderBolt around the corner that is perfect for high res multiple displays and such, am I best waiting for this to land before spending?
Sorry for the wall of text, but I do feel better now that it's on screen instead of whizzing round my poor old brain.
Thanks in advance
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