- Nov 26, 2011
- 8
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So I've been assembling my first ever build through the past month or two, jumping on deals as I came across them. I now have every piece except for the video card, which is rather essential considering this is going to primarily be a gaming computer.
I picked up an i5 2500k, 8GB of RAM, a 750W PSU, and a 1920x1080 monitor. If there's any other info you need, please let me know.
I'm looking for something that will be able to run newer games on high (not necessarily max) settings for some time to come. Right now, that'd probably be Skyrim, Arkham City, and possibly BF3. I'd also like to be set for Diablo 3 when it comes out. My price range could go from $150-300, but I'm looking more at <$250, and of course cheaper is better. I've already overshot my budget on this build.
Right now the two main cards I'm looking at are the Radeon HD 6950 (not sure if 2GB or 1GB, how much difference does it make?), and the GTX 560 Ti. The GTX 570 looks very nice but I'm not ready to drop that much money after just purchasing an entire computer. I have no preference as to AMD vs. Nvidia. I'm currently running a venerable souped-up Dell with a Radeon HD 4650, and I haven't had too much trouble with AMD's drivers.
I'm also interested in the possibility of unlocking a 6950 to a 6970, though I'd have to look into which cards reliably unlock. Are there any driver issues after doing this, or do you just essentially have a 6970? And even if it fails, it still remains a usable 6950? It doesn't fry it or anything?
Of course, if there are lower-end cards that would serve me nearly as well for a fraction of the cost, please let me know! I've put together a rather nice computer and I'm not going to skimp on the video card, but I'm not interested in paying $100 more for a 5% performance increase.
As far as SLI/Crossfire goes, it's a possibility in the future but not a strong one, and I certainly won't be buying two cards to start. Compatibility with that is not a major concern. Additionally, I'm not going to be going above one-monitor 1920x1080, so that doesn't need to be accounted for either.
Thank you for reading, and any advice you have/deals you know of would be greatly appreciated!
I picked up an i5 2500k, 8GB of RAM, a 750W PSU, and a 1920x1080 monitor. If there's any other info you need, please let me know.
I'm looking for something that will be able to run newer games on high (not necessarily max) settings for some time to come. Right now, that'd probably be Skyrim, Arkham City, and possibly BF3. I'd also like to be set for Diablo 3 when it comes out. My price range could go from $150-300, but I'm looking more at <$250, and of course cheaper is better. I've already overshot my budget on this build.
Right now the two main cards I'm looking at are the Radeon HD 6950 (not sure if 2GB or 1GB, how much difference does it make?), and the GTX 560 Ti. The GTX 570 looks very nice but I'm not ready to drop that much money after just purchasing an entire computer. I have no preference as to AMD vs. Nvidia. I'm currently running a venerable souped-up Dell with a Radeon HD 4650, and I haven't had too much trouble with AMD's drivers.
I'm also interested in the possibility of unlocking a 6950 to a 6970, though I'd have to look into which cards reliably unlock. Are there any driver issues after doing this, or do you just essentially have a 6970? And even if it fails, it still remains a usable 6950? It doesn't fry it or anything?
Of course, if there are lower-end cards that would serve me nearly as well for a fraction of the cost, please let me know! I've put together a rather nice computer and I'm not going to skimp on the video card, but I'm not interested in paying $100 more for a 5% performance increase.
As far as SLI/Crossfire goes, it's a possibility in the future but not a strong one, and I certainly won't be buying two cards to start. Compatibility with that is not a major concern. Additionally, I'm not going to be going above one-monitor 1920x1080, so that doesn't need to be accounted for either.
Thank you for reading, and any advice you have/deals you know of would be greatly appreciated!
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