Graphic Card Choice

[gizmo]

Hi Gents,

 

I'm in a dilemma! I am torn between to graphic cards ATI & Nvidia.I'm seriously in need of a new graphic card and don't know which to get. I plan to have a 3 monitor setup. What would you recommend?

 

These are the criteria i am looking for and not in any order.

1) Cost

2) Reliability

3) Power

4) Driver Stability

5) Over-Clocking

6) Memory

 

Please help me make my graphic card of choice.

 

Thank you :helpsmilie:

[EtherealN]

Given that you intend to power 3 monitors, I'd suggest narrowing down your search to AMD. (Note: there's no such thing as ATi anymore. They were bought by AMD years ago, and the brand has been discontinued and replaced with AMD's own.)

 

Drivers are a problem, imo, with AMD cards, especially for OpenGL applications, but not sufficiently so to merit replacing a one-card AMD solution with a 2-card SLI towards powering those three screens. The exception would be if you already have an nVidia card, and the three screens will not be used towards a 3-screen panorama setup in-game (where the three screens act like a single screen). For example, if you have an nVidia card currently, you could purchase a new nVidia carda and use that for your two main displays, and marshal the old one towards whichever display runs the least graphically intensive application (for example running instruments for DCS).

 

Regarding specific AMD cards, I am not the right person to offer suggestions since I am slightly foggy on their offerings, but if you were to put a dollar (or other currency) figure on the amount of money you are willing to part with, it might make making helpful suggestions easier.

[gizmo]

Hi EtherealN,

 

With regards to the money i'm willing to part......i was looking at around SGD 400 -500.

[EtherealN]

For the AMD people - make that ~300 to 400 US dollars.

 

For an nVidia SLI configuration, you'd not get much better than 560's for that (non-Ti's), and since 2 cards would be necessary there to get you your three screens, that's nVidia out I think. Awaiting people more familiar with AMD's cards - I know some of them okeyishly but I'm not familiar enough with the full range to feel secure with giving good value-for-money calls on it, and the overclocking variable i am even more unsure of. Sorry about that.

[gizmo]

EtherealN

 

Thank you for your advise. AMD people, please input your thoughts. Really need help.

 

Thank you

[Cali]

If you want 3 monitors, then there is only one choice...ATI. Is this for DCS or FC2? What other games do you play? For $300~400 you can find a ATI 6xxx series card that should fit you nicely.

[gizmo]

Hi Cali,

 

Predominantly DCS A10c & FSX

[Cali]

Then a 6xxx series should be fine for you, that should fit the criteria you have.

[gizmo]

Cali,

When you say 6 series, what would you recommend? I understand the HD7970 is out. What do you think of that card versus the 6 Series?

 

Thank you

[Cali]

Cali,

When you say 6 series, what would you recommend? I understand the HD7970 is out. What do you think of that card versus the 6 Series?

 

Thank you

 

The 7970 is out of your price range, I'd recommend a 6970, just saw one at newegg.com for $350

[gizmo]

Cali,

 

Ok thanks but 1 final question, between the 6970 & 6990, which would you strongly recommend?

[Cali]

I'd get the 6990 hands down! I'm getting a new computer in a few weeks and I'm looking at getting the 6990 or 7950 depending on the price. I run 3 monitors now, not in surround gaming though and I have a forth 1 that I want to hook up also. Google 6970 vs 6990 and have a look at some of the test.

[sobek]

Cali,

When you say 6 series, what would you recommend? I understand the HD7970 is out. What do you think of that card versus the 6 Series?

 

It doesn't fit your budget by a large margin. The 79XX cards are 400+ euros (500+ for the 7970)

[KillaALF]

Well, neither are 6990 cards, and if I had to choose between the 6990 and the 7970, I would always choose the single chip card = 7970

[gizmo]

EtherealN, Cali & Sobek,

 

Thank you very much for your input n feedback.I will look at the 6990 & 7970 n compare n make my decision. Thank u again guys for helping me to narrow down.

 

Cbeers!

[sobek]

Ok thanks but 1 final question, between the 6970 & 6990, which would you strongly recommend?

 

The 6990 doesn't fit your budget either, also it's essentially 2 graphics cards molded into one, which translates into the card being huge, consuming vast amounts of power (and dissipating the very same as heat) and may actually scale not that well with some applications (compared to the single GPU 6970).

 

Edit: I agree with KillaALF. The 7970 will give you more than enough processing power and scale reliably with most applications, it will consume (a frikkin lot) less power than the 6990 and be in a lower price range. Sound advice, if you ask me.

Edited February 22, 2012 by sobek

[Cali]

He is looking to spend around $300-400 dollars, the 7970 is $550+ over $150 more then his budget.

[sobek]

He is looking to spend around $300-400 dollars, the 7970 is $550+ over $150 more then his budget.

 

So is the 6990, i though he reconsidered his budget since he only contemplated top of the line cards in his recent posts?!? :huh:

[EtherealN]

As a side note, when considering dual-GPU cards, the old objection to nVidia ceases to exist. Though to be honest, the nVidia dual-GPU cards have too much of the microstutter problems to be worth it in my opinion. (Though the same goes for single-PCB crossfire solutions, imo.)

[Cali]

So is the 6990, i though he reconsidered his budget since he only contemplated top of the line cards in his recent posts?!? :huh:

 

The 6990 is $350 at newegg.com, the 7970 is $550. Gizmo where are you located, this might help cause I'm looking at US $$$ not foreign. If for some miracle the 7970 drops another $50 bucks in the next few weeks...I think I'll go with that. As this system will last me for a few years.

[WynnTTr]

For DCS do not get he 6990. Why? Cos it's a CF setup welded onto one board. DCS does not scale well with CF and you'll probably end up with worse performance in CF v single gpu. IIRC the 6990 in single gpu config is basically a 6870(?) in any event it's most definitely not up to 6970 speeds.

 

But the most important thing for triple screen setups is the VRAM. You want at least 2gb no matter which brand you go with.

With your budget the best, easiest and less problematic option is for a single 6970 2gb card or get a 6950 reference board and oc it up to 6970 specs.

[Gunnergolly]

Gizmo

 

I'm not an expert on graphics cards by any means but i've just bought an XFX HD7950.

 

So far it has had about 24 hours of hard use over the 4 days that i have owned it and has proven to be very stable even when overclocked.

 

Initially the HD7xxx series cards when first released last month were reported by other forum members as not being stable with DCS.

 

From my personal experience of using this card thankfully i have found that this is no longer the case when using these drivers:-

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?dji4ozqk22q7sr9........(thanks Mustang)...

 

Personally i wouldn't bother considering the HD7970 for DCS as in the UK it's over a £100 more and in my opinion i don't think you would gain anything more in terms of performance/FPS for that extra outlay in cash........ I'm sure that within my system the CPU is now the main FPS bottle neck...

 

I still have to make compromises with this card in terms of graphics settings as i'm a dual screen halios user running in "windowed mode"...........However DCS looks stunning now, (Rise of flight is just awesome !!!).

 

However nearly all my settings are on high with the exception of water and mirrors are set to off.

 

Knowing what i know now, i'd certainly buy this card again....even if it meant spending that little bit more outside of your budget :) !!!!.....

 

Before you ask........no i don't have any affiliation with AMD !!!.....:lol:

 

Regards Gunner....

Edited February 22, 2012 by Gunnergolly

[sobek]

The 6990 is $350 at newegg.com

 

Hmm, interesting, it's almost twice that here in europe.

[Cali]

For DCS do not get he 6990. Why? Cos it's a CF setup welded onto one board. DCS does not scale well with CF and you'll probably end up with worse performance in CF v single gpu. IIRC the 6990 in single gpu config is basically a 6870(?) in any event it's most definitely not up to 6970 speeds.

 

But the most important thing for triple screen setups is the VRAM. You want at least 2gb no matter which brand you go with.

With your budget the best, easiest and less problematic option is for a single 6970 2gb card or get a 6950 reference board and oc it up to 6970 specs.

 

I haven't played DCS in a long time and didn't know about this problem. Are you the only one that this has happened to? Looks like I may have to rework my budget to make sure I can get a 7970. But if the 6970 is ok for DCS then I might just do that. The only games I play are BMS, Arma, FC2 and DCS-BS 1/2 which I haven't played DCS-BS2 was waiting til I got my new computer, I bought it cause it was $12. A few days before I buy/build I'll look around and see what is going on with parts.

[Cali]

Hmm, interesting, it's almost twice that here in europe.

 

That sucks! :shocking: