Dilema: Upgrade whole PC or just gfx?

deadsquirrel

deadsquirrel

deadsquirrel

Associate
Joined
10 Feb 2003
Posts
620
Currently have:

Q6600 on an ASUS board
8 gig of ram
gtx280

I only really play Crysis and Farcry with my son every now and then.

As we recently closed an office, we now have 3 identical dell 24" IPS screens so I am thinking of ways of getting FarCry to work on all 3 and have read that Its better with an ATI card. Now, I know I will need to upgrade my gfx card, but, would that be ok or is it REALLY necessary to change the whole pc?

If card only, what would you recommend for a 3 screen setup?

Any advise would be appreciated.
 
IF you want to use eyefinisty you will need a better overall rig, if you want to stick with 1 screen and are on a budget you could get away with just a GPU upgrade if you have an OC... Something like a 7950 or 760 would be nice, anything higher than that would be seriously bottle necked by your rig...
 
Gaming over three screens is pretty intensive.

a new you is a must, the only issue is whether your CPU will bottleneck the GPU or bottleneck the resolution you want. If I remember rightly, big resolutions such as this put more strain on the CPU too.

Would getting a GPU and giving it a go be a problem? If it works its good news.

If not get a mew rig or ditch two of the screens and have a great single screen rig. :)
 
Whats your PSU and price range?
I personally would buy a new graphics card if your board can take it.
Like littlepuppy said, go for a 7950/760 but your platform might bottleneck it. Both is needed but I am sure a Graphics card will give you more performance for the money.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone.

The board is an Asus PK5 Premium with PCI express (16x I think)

The cpu is a quad core Q6600 @ 3.0

The PSU is quite good. I think its only 500watts but a good make if I remember correctly so should be able to take it.

I think ill get the 7950. Do I need to look out for anything specifically on that model or can I just get the cheapest one? Also, would I need anything else to hook up to 3 screens?
 
Personally, I would go for the Gigabyte cards because they have ace cooling, are quiet and have an amazing warranty. (As I think they are UK based and have a 3 year warranty. See: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18231329)

Go with this card IMO: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-098-GI&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673

The only thing is that the card is 3GB and may not be enough for 3 screens.

As far as connections go for the monitors, the outputs are as follows:
- Display Connectors: 1x Dual Link DVI, 1x HDMI & 2x Mini-DisplayPort

So adapters may be needed.

If you are sure about that PSU, 500watts is good. I had a cheap PSU blow up and catch fire a few days ago. Good news is that the carpet is still in tact. :D

You should defo think about platforms upgrading around Broadwell/Skylake.
 
nVidia have something called 'nVidia Surround' that seems to work like eyeFinity, although I've not used it personally.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom