GFX recommendation

[NewPC]

Hi,

Building new PC, one major problem is what GFX to get?

I need dual DVI for my 30" TFT from DELL, 2500x1600 res.

7900 geforce?
1950 ATI?
1900? 1300?

I'd obviously want to save cash, go for a cheap 7900 now and upgrade in a year to a directx 10 card?

Recommendations please, cant answer this problem - read tonnes of reviews... Uhhh

 

[prozac26]

7900GS is a good choice.

X1950Pro is also good.

Which cards exactly are you referring to exactly? 7900GS, GT? X1950Pro XT? This will decide which is best.

I think 7900GS and X1950Pro are your best choices.

 

[NewPC]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-070-HT Maybe this?



or to save cash this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-089-LT


Then i can upgrade to 8800 laterin the year when DX10 is supported?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

There are cheaper X1950Pros at Overclockers;
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-064-CO

The main thing will be what games do you play, and what else do you do with the system.

Both will be great options, and will easily help you into the end of the year.

 

[NewPC]

youve got a 30" TFT, you play the occasioanly FPS(GR3) for example aswell as FLIGHT SIM 2004 and prob the newer flight sims out.

your on a limited budget(as low as poss)

what would you buy ?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Well FlightSim is CPU dependant far more than VPU/GPU, so it won't matter really between these two, they'll be equal.

Both support dual-link DVI so they'll run a 30" panel fine.

The only drawback is neither is really in that performance class for the 30" resolution. In the US a cheap X1900XT would likely be the better choice for that.

I'd pick a specific one because of the games I like to play, but here's a review to help you, it has the X1950P and GF7900GS and a ton of benchies/resolutions;

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-x1650xt.html

For the higher resolution you'll find it hard to get a review that covers those cards even Firingsquad and [H]ardocp tend to only show those resolutions on the X1900XT or GF7950GT at least.

 

[NewPC]

FOr gaming ill prob switch to a 19" CRT so i can run at standard resolutions, sound good/?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Yeah actually that would be my recommendation but most people with nice panels seem to get offended by that recommendation.

I think you're in good shape then, either will do you really well. Look at the benchies to help you decide, I think 16x12 will be your sweetspot for most games, and when you finally move to the G8x or R6xx series card you'll finally be able to play at that 30"s native resolution well.

From what's there my personal fav game that plays well on the X1Ks and GF8 series cards is Oblivion, but if you're not playing it then likely you'll want to look at other tests. Also consider the future role of this card, are you going to sell it or is it going to be used for physics.

Anywhoo, mull it over, I'm going to get ready to watch the SuperBowl, but I'll try to check in tonight afterwards, or tomorrow from work if you have any more questions, hopefuly someone else can help you too.

 

[NewPC]

Yeah actually that would be my recommendation but most people with nice panels seem to get offended by that recommendation.

Haha, yeah well 30" is pretty awesome and i'd love to run it on that. Im not sure if the GFX will stretch to fit it if i ran it at 1600x1200? Or does it show up small in a framed window?

19" CRT for gaming is fine, infact maybe better for gaming? not sure, i guess 30" wont ghost.

Also consider the future role of this card, are you going to sell it or is it going to be used for physics.

Well my 9800 PRO radeon will be sat in this PC rotting away and displaying a desktop for my gf lol.


So i assume the 7900 wont be much use in a years time? Or can you use it a physics processor? won't it be fairly obselete?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Haha, yeah well 30" is pretty awesome and i'd love to run it on that. Im not sure if the GFX will stretch to fit it if i ran it at 1600x1200? Or does it show up small in a framed window?

Depends on the settings, both are available, but if you stretch it, then the image get interpolated, and it loses it's sharpness, which kinda defeats the purpose. Think of it like Anti-AF making things blurrier not sharper.

19" CRT for gaming is fine, infact maybe better for gaming? not sure, i guess 30" wont ghost.

Most of the new 30" monitors don't ghost anywhere near what they did and it's rare you see the drawback effects of LCD, ghosting is rare, moire is rare (other than what occurs from the card/program).

So i assume the 7900 wont be much use in a years time? Or can you use it a physics processor? won't it be fairly obselete?

Well the GF7900 will be ok as a physics processor, but it is weaker (like 3:1) at FP calculations and dynamic branching, and thus weaker at physics, but it will still be better than nothing, and early tests show it to be better than the Ageia PPU (which is about 60% the performance of the X1600XT), whereas the X1900 is significantly better. Of course you have to wait for the finalized version of Direct Physics and Havok FX (plus Crytek's own adaptation of VPU based physics for Crysis) before their true value will be known.

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=308&pgno=1

The fact of the matter is that these cards do have a future and unlike the R9800P, either solution has some future potential. Of course it's likely that the GF8600 will outperform both, but the X1900s won't be any slouches, as the X1950XT is close to the GF8800GTS, wichi would lead me to believe the GF8600Ultra will likely be close to the X1950Pro.

 

[NewPC]

Ill put the decision to you

So you game occasionally, have a 30" TFT and want your PC to be as cheap as possible.

Currently your planned setup is probably:
Antec TruePower Trio 550W PSU £54.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £46.99

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £173.99

Gigabyte GA_965P_DQ6 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £119.99 This is really expensive, i think i can drop to a cheaper mobo - but i'd like to overclock one day? I.e. dont want my PC DOA. If i can overclock it one day ill get more life out of it, i.e. faster so can run newer games for longer?

Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-6400C4 TwinX (2x1GB) £164.99 Can downgrade this i think also? I wanna pay around £600 or less lol

The big Q is what gfx card would you buy for my needs?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Personally I'd say the X1950Pro has more legs, both now and for a future as a physics processor. Also you know that all X1950Pro are HDCP key enabled, whereas the GF7900GS you have to check to see which one has suppor, so that affects future resellability as well as current BluRay and HD-DVD playback (like just plug-playing an external Xbox player), but that may mean nothing to you, it does mean something to me due to the nice Xbox option, but most people won't care one bit.

There are some situations where the GF7900GS is a better choice, but they are mostly for more OGL/Linux/Workstation apps than the usual mundane Windows/Gaming stuff, and video playback is basically even with slight edges to each side depending on preferences.

As I mentioned in the PM the ASUS MoBo is pretty good, but to be honest I'm a fan of Gigabyte's feature (be sure to enable the expert features in the BIOS if you wanna tweak a Gigayte board).

The memory is a toss-up, I personally prefer Corsair, but OCZ is also damn fine for the right sticks, and they go back and forth. Unfortunately being in the UK your access to some xotic and cheap memory (like Patriot) is a little less than even ours here in Canada. Go with the best specs you can find for the price, and you should be fine, check with some forumsto see the best OCing modules that are good across the board (you don't want something that is good for only one specific batch of chips which you have to hit/miss to find). When I looked for laptop memory I was going to buy OCZ stick due to their lower timings, and Corsair's laptop memory sucks IMO, but then I found some nice Kingston memory and it was better 667 timings than OCZ 667 stick (the OCZ with good timings was best 533 only). So best to lok for what youfind to be the best bet. Also OCing memory has mixed results, not as important as OCing the CPU, so make sure out of the two the mobo has more stable CPU OCs and healthy memory OCs, than Good Memory OCs and mediocre CPU OCs IMO.

 

[NewPC]

Hi Ape,

Ok i decided on this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-064-CO


Uses same chips as others and is cheaper, also as you said 1950PRO.




My Final setup now is this:

Hiper HPU-4K580-MK Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Black UV £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Arctic Cooling Arctic Fan 12025L 120mm Fan - 3 Pin £4.99
(£5.86) £4.99
(£5.86)
Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £61.99
(£72.84) £61.99
(£72.84)
Connect3D ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £99.99
(£117.49) £99.99
(£117.49)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £173.99
(£204.44) £173.99
(£204.44)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC) £104.99
(£123.36) £104.99
(£123.36)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)
Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU £28.99
(£34.06) £28.99
(£34.06)
Sub Total : £576.92
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
Vat : £102.88
Total : £690.75 #



Mobo seems good from what i've read.
CPU decided upon, wont be OCINg as i need it stable but can OC in a year when requirements change.
GFX - as said, what you also recommended and others(Plus websites).
PSU - Got told this ones good!
Case - Well cheap standard stuff.
Ram - Hardest thing to chose, suppose to OC well.


Thoughts ?