Should i upgrade?

sk82jack said:
as said earlier by surveyor though you can only connect two screens to one nvidia card. well, you can have 3 but one of the screens will be a duplicate of another one. if this is OK for you then proceed lol

if you want each monitor with a different image then get an amd card such as the 5850 but to use eyefinity you will need to use the displayport connection. if one of your monitors has a displayport input its all gravy but if not you'll need a displayport to HDMI/DVI adapter, I think it needs to be an active adapter too, but correct me if I'm wrong :)
Click to expand...

How exactly does Eyefinity work then?

Basically, when im at my desk it will be the 2 24" Widescreen displays.(one main and one extended display)
When im watching movies or just using the pc from the bed it will be single display on the Sony 40" (the two desktop screens arent needed at that point.)

Its just to avoid me contantly switching the HDMI cables at the back of the pc to change between the two at the moment.

I see that that GPU has two DVI out-puts and an HDMI out put. I would probably use the DVI outs for the desktop screens (using a DVI-HDMI converter for the primary display and just DVI to the second.) The HMDI slot will then be for the Sony 40".

Will i need any adapters in that scenario?

OK so again, thanks for all the advise from everyone! Here is my current though going on the advise above -

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Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor -£164.99

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6870 OC HAWK 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Lara Croft Game - £143.99

MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** - £89.98

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1333LV4GK) - £27.95

Total : £438.30
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However, what about an AMD CPU? Keeping in mind the suggested memory and GPU how does this sound for a AMD alternative?
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MSI 870A Fuzion Power Edition (Socket AM3) DDR3 PCI-Express ATX Motherboard - £114.98

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 970 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.50GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail -£119.99

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1333LV4GK) - £27.95

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6870 OC HAWK 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Lara Croft Game - £143.99
TOTAL £418.91

(This is assuming the RAM suggested is fully compatible? I will also assume my 540Watt Cossair PSU wont be enough to run that setup either?
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Toms88 said:
How exactly does Eyefinity work then?

Basically, when im at my desk it will be the 2 24" Widescreen displays.(one main and one extended display)
When im watching movies or just using the pc from the bed it will be single display on the Sony 40" (the two desktop screens arent needed at that point.)

Its just to avoid me contantly switching the HDMI cables at the back of the pc to change between the two at the moment.

I see that that GPU has two DVI out-puts and an HDMI out put. I would probably use the DVI outs for the desktop screens (using a DVI-HDMI converter for the primary display and just DVI to the second.) The HMDI slot will then be for the Sony 40".

Will i need any adapters in that scenario?
Click to expand...

Eyefinity is just the ability to use 3 monitors as the whole desktop, where Nvidia or non-eyefinity will use 2 screens as the desktop with the 3rd screen as a duplicate of one of the other two.

Basically if you don't need the 3 screens to be all different at the same time then you can use any one card, even Nvidia. It's just that what you will see on your tv is exactly what you will see on your second monitor.

Also the 6870 is only a tiny upgrade on a 5850, not worth the extra £23. A 5870 performs better than a 6870.

6870 vs 5850

6970 vs 5870
 
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Ahh ok. Well knowing me i would end up finding a way to utilise 3 seperate screens as im quite fond of gadgets and tech etc. One for games, one for music and one for OCUK Forums :P haha

So do most ATI cards have 3 out puts then? My current card only has 2 DVI outs.
 
Any more thoughts on that AMD Processor over the Intel?

Its pay day on wednesday so il keep you posted!
 
Intel beats it hands down, especially when you overclock it to 4.5GHz+

OK check back on wednesday then because there may be some deals etc to save you some £££££ or manage to squeeze more out of your budget because weekly deals change wednesday at 12 noon or sooner.
 
As sk82jack said, if you want the best cpu for gaming but is good value also, you can't beat the intel chip, AMD will still be great but it depends what your aim. If you want a solid system on a budget and save a bit of cash for something else AMD will be fine.

If you want to spend a little more and get one of the best cpus that will last for years, go Intel cpu.
 
Changed my mind :P

Really wanted a Sandybridge processor but cant afford the price at the moment so im guna so what ebay has to offer! Got my eyes on something at the moment which ends in a few hours so il report back if all goes well :)
 
All is done!

This is what ive ordered.


Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 Game £166.66
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £129.99
Asus P67 Sabertooth Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £124.98
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9) £66.66
Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM3) £32.49

Order Total - £636.34
 
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