Best video card for widescreen gaming?

[neutralizer]

My old geforce3 ti200 will definitely game at 1680x1050. I haven't seen any benchmarks running at that resolution, so I'm not sure what's the minimum video card to play the current games at that resolution. So help would be appreciated.

 

[Bona Fide]

There's no minimum video card, but if you're gonna splurge on such an expensive monitor, get a good video card.

nVidia : 6800GT Minimum
ATI : X800XL Minimum

nVidia : 7800GTX Recommended
ATI : X850 XT Platinum Recommended

 

[peleejosh]

Originally posted by: Bona Fide
There's no minimum video card, but if you're gonna splurge on such an expensive monitor, get a good video card.

nVidia : 6800GT Minimum
ATI : X800XL Minimum

nVidia : 7800GTX Recommended
ATI : X850 XT Platinum Recommended

Thats funny. Best one you can afford.

 

[neutralizer]

Originally posted by: Bona Fide
There's no minimum video card, but if you're gonna splurge on such an expensive monitor, get a good video card.

nVidia : 6800GT Minimum
ATI : X800XL Minimum

nVidia : 7800GTX Recommended
ATI : X850 XT Platinum Recommended

I meant minimum video card that'll play the games at decent frames at that resolution. For example, I doubt I'll need a 7800GTX to play BF2 at a decent fps especially at that resolution since its only 1680x1050, somewhat easier to render than 1600x1200.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: neutralizer

Originally posted by: Bona Fide
There's no minimum video card, but if you're gonna splurge on such an expensive monitor, get a good video card.

nVidia : 6800GT Minimum
ATI : X800XL Minimum

nVidia : 7800GTX Recommended
ATI : X850 XT Platinum Recommended

I meant minimum video card that'll play the games at decent frames at that resolution. For example, I doubt I'll need a 7800GTX to play BF2 at a decent fps especially at that resolution since its only 1680x1050, somewhat easier to render than 1600x1200.

Would that BF2 actually supported 1680x1050.

The video card needed is going to vary. You will need a more powerful video card to run B2 at 1680x1050 than you would need to run Q3 or UT2k3.

In general, I wouldn't go with less than a 6800GT. Their prices have dropped a lot of late.

 

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: neutralizer
My old geforce3 ti200 will definitely game at 1680x1050. I haven't seen any benchmarks running at that resolution, so I'm not sure what's the minimum video card to play the current games at that resolution. So help would be appreciated.

No one can give you a real answer to that. It depends on what game you are talking about, what settings you want to run it at, and what framerate you would like to maintain. Some newer games you simply won't be able to keep things above 30fps with everything on high at that resolution reguardless of what videocard you get as your CPU is slow enough to hold things back; while other games you could get by easly with your current system and a decent midrange card.

If you look at 1600x1200 benchmarks of the games you are interested in, that should give you a decent idea of where things sit. I suppose I should also warn that many games don't support 1680x1050 or even widescreen at all, in which case you'll have to live with a more comon resolution like 1280x1024.