New graphics card or monitor?

[Mr. Lennon]

Right now I have a 8800GTS 512mb and a Dell 22 inch 2001fp.

I have $500 bucks to blow...so its either going to be a:

HD4870X2

or

BenQ FP241VW

I am leaning towards the monitor because I want a bigger screen to watch movies and plug my xbox 360 into threw HDMI. If I upgrade to a bigger monitor, I'm afraid my card wont be able to give me the same performance due to having to match the native resolution. If I upgrade to the HD4870X2, I'll be able to play every game and future titles with max settings. Hmmmm what to do?

 

[Insomniator]

Get the monitor then in a year or whatever get another card. A good monitor can far outlive a good card right?

 

[Sylvanas]

Hmm interesting, comes down to two things. Could you live without playing with max settings on everything or could you live without 1920x1200?

 

[s44]

Monitor. Just play at your old resolution at 1:1 if you can't get the settings you like -- same space on the screen anyway!

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I'd say go for the monitor. That particular BenQ model offers 1:1 pixel mapping, so I assume if you want to run a game at a lower resolution than 1920x1200 it will display the actual video source with no image scaling. In other words, it will put up some black bars instead of stretching the image. Or it could handle and scale lower resolutions just fine.

 

[octopus41092]

I'd say get the monitor, a good monitor will last you many years whereas a video card will only be 1-2 maybe 3 at the most before it gets too slow.

 

[Mr. Lennon]

Thanks guys, you sold me on the monitor.