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Need Help

Lobby24

Lobby24

Lobby24

Associate
Joined
1 Oct 2011
Posts
7
Hi, I need a graphics card for playing the latest games and most probably having two monitors. i was wondering weather the gtx570 2.5gb is better than two cheaper cards for the £300ish mark or is the normal 570 just as good? what about the hd 6970 or 6950? are these worth the price or what. im so confused with so many choices and numbers =/

Thanks for your time!
 
At this level, it is generally better go for the single fastest card you can fit in your budget. At around £300, these are the Nvidia GTX 570 and AMD HD 6970. Here is a review which compares these cards in a range of games, along with many other modern cards.

That said, may I ask what the specs of the rest of your system are?
 
Thanks. im making a new one and this was the thing that confused me. do i need the 2gb on the card for the new games coming out or is it not really needed.i might be using two monitors. but i want to play bf3 and the like. with a 1gb card be fine? like even the cheaper gtx570 or would it be better to get the radeon that comes with 2gb for the same price?
 
The amount of video memory you require really depends on the resolution you plan to play at. If this is 1920x1200 - then 1.25GB (like in the standard GTX 570) is usually enough. However, as you start introducing higher resolution textures or use higher resolution monitors (or run the game across two or more displays) then you do start to need more.

Do you have any ideas in mind for the monitors you will be using, and do you play games across both screens (remember there will be a pair of bezels in the centre of your image if you do this)?
 
ah ok, well im going to get a new montor soonish. i mainly want to play on one screen while doing other stuff on the other like browser. i wont be gettin a massive expensive screen. would this mean i need 2gb?
 
May I ask what kind of games you usually play?

If you are mainly into fast-paced games, then a 120Hz TN monitor like the LG W2363D would be a good choice for your gaming screen, as it has very quick response times (so very little ghosting), 120Hz refresh rate (for smoother quick movement) and no input lag (so your controls feel very responsive). However, the TN panel it uses does have downsides in that the viewing angles are rather tight (if you move your head a bit, the colours shift) and the colour accuracy isn't great.

If you are playing slower paced games (like RPGs) then I would reccomend an E-IPS monitor like this or this for your gaming monitor. Compared to a 120Hz TN monitor like the LG above, these don't have quite as quick response times (so there is a bit more ghosting), only 60Hz refresh rate (so not quite as smooth for quick motion) or zero input lag (though the lag they do have is very small). However, the benefits are very wide viewing angles and very accurate colours - so the image quality is generally better compared to the LG.

For the "non-gaming" monitor I would suggest an E-IPS monitor for sure - the prices are now reasonable and they will do very well as "general use" monitors. If you went for the E-IPS gaming monitor - then I would go for the same one again - so they match. If you went for the LG, then I would go with this one.
 
Thanks for all the explaining, im starting to make sense of the numbers. the main games im going to play are BF3 and SWTOR. so abit of both lol :D so do u reccomend the 570 1gb or the hd 6950 2gb. from what u were saying before i dont think it worth buying a £300 card because im not going to be dual monatoring gaming just the brosawer and gamer on one each.

Those monitors look nice, i was lookin at a few before and didnt really get it. now i kinda know what the good bits are lol xD

Thanks again!
 
Cheers you have been a lot of help :) and patient with all the noob questions!
just looked at the reviews they say is huge one last question do you thihnk it would fit in the zalman?
 
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Yea, its a big card (three slots deep), but that means it has a really excellent cooler than runs cool and quiet (plus allows a lot of headroom for overclocking).

It is indeed also pretty long - at 11.7 inches or 29.7cm - so a bit too long to fit in a Zalman Z9 plus case. If you need to fit your card in this case, then a more conventional 6950 like this MSI (which is 27cm long) would be a better option.
 
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