gpu + monitor or gpu?

[Banzai_Joe]

Hi all,
usual "spec me a gpu..." i guess, but this 16yr olds i5 rig, has SSD, 4gb ram, w7 x64.
He now wants to do some hi-end gaming (Although he spends most of his days on minecraft ).
He was gonna spend £250 on a gpu, but he only games on a 19" monitor at 1440x900.

I see 2 options for him:

1. Buy a card to suit his resolution, which will be much cheaper than £250.
2. Utilise the full £250 and buy a card and a 22" full HD monitor.

If he wants to start playinbg BF3 and the like he'll want the best he can get for his money so he doesn't have to upgrade against anytime soon.

Your opinions please?

 

[beejjacobs]

If it were me, I'd want a new monitor + GPU. Even if you have to turn more settings down, the extra real estate will make a bigger difference IMO:


YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked FTW 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (01G-P3-1363-KR) £119.99
1 x BenQ G2420HDBL 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £119.99
Total : £253.48 (includes shipping : £11.25).



Medium/High should run fine on BF3 at 1080p:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2011/11/10/battlefield-3-technical-analysis/4
Remember this card is heavily overclocked already too! [675Mhz to 867Mhz]

If you were gunna go with 1440x900, a 6850 will run well:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-178-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

 

[Banzai_Joe]

Thanks beej will consider that.
If the 460 is clocked then its likely to run hotter, which could be an issue as iirc the pc case is not too good.

edit: how do you get that YOUR BASKET quote layout. I've seen loads of people doing it, but can't figure how to myself.

 

[beejjacobs]

Basket bookmarklet:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18371076

The 460s run quite cool, I had mine at 850Mhz no problems [i.e. not loud or particularly hot under load]. As long as there's some air flow it will be fine.

 

[Banzai_Joe]

Excellent. Thanks for the bookmarklet thingy and the gpu advise.

 

[beejjacobs]

Excellent. Thanks for the bookmarklet thingy and the gpu advise.

Happy to help