Seeking Gaming Video Card for 30-inch Monitor

[GamingDaemon]

Hi Everyone,

I've come to the most technically advanced geeks to look for a new gaming video card for my 30-inch monitor. I bought the ATI 5870 back when it first came out ($400), and I had a 24-inch monitor then. Over a year ago, I got a 30-inch monitor, and the 5870 has been limping along when I play games like Fallout New Vegas, Skyrim and City of Heroes.

Pri-0 Requirements

• A budget of $300 to $500
• Handles my games with high to ultra settings turned on, with stock settings and no aftermarket fans
• Single card solution, not interested in trying to get more than one card to work in my PC

Pri-1 Requirements

• After using the ATI video card, I think I would prefer going the nVidia route now, but I am not hard-core on that. Maybe 70%

Thank you in advance!

 

[Grooveriding]

The best possible performance you could get out of your $500 at that resolution is 6950 crossfire. If you are set on nvidia you should get two 2gb 560ti, but this is slower than the 6950CF.

Alternately for single cards there is a 7970 for the same price but less performance than 6950CF. If you are set on nvidia and single card there is the 580 for less performance than 6950CF and the 7970.

 

[billyb0b]

580gtx 3gb

 

[-Slacker-]

2 6870s in crossfire (the 2 gb version) are the best price/performance setup for that monitor (I assume it's 25x16 res), though when I say 'performance' I'm talking about it technically; technically you get the most FPS of any other setup by far at that price point, but you might encounter or notice microstutter.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150563

two of these^

or one of these (didn't even know they existed, but it looks fantastic for that price):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131446


If you want a single GPU, I would think that either the hd7970 or hd7950 are the best choices. I would pick these up over the gtx580 because they are both faster and with better price performance, and they are also more ergonomical (not sure that's a word but whatever...) ... basically they need much less power, are cooler and quieter, in other words, better in every non-gimmicky aspect.

 

[superjim]

A non-reference, overclocked 7950 is the best single-card solution for <$500 on that resolution (guessing 1440p?). Crossfire will usually be better but with it comes other potential issues.

 

[GamingDaemon]

Thank you everyone. Seems like if I want to go the nVidia route, the 580GTX should be enough to do the job.

That said, the AMD 6870X2 that was linked (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131446) gives better peformance, is cheaper, uses less power and will probably be quieter. That seems like a no-brainer then.

What about waiting for the Kepler? Anyone have any idea on how long I would need to wait? And is it necessary? Seems like the 6870X2 is all I need, yes?

 

[AnandThenMan]

Kepler should be out in a month, why not wait? Unless you absolutely must have a video card now, wait until it hits, with some luck we'll see price drops.

 

[Phynaz]

580gtx 3gb

Single card driving a 30" display? Not a chance.

 

[Stuka87]

Personally I don't think there a single card solution on the market that will do what you want. Running Ultra at that resolution requires massive GPU power. I can slow my overclocked 7950 down below 60fps at 1080P in BF3 at Ultra settings, much less 1600P.

If you are not in a rush, then wait 1-2 months (looking like april, maybe late march) for Kepler.

Or, you can grab a set of 6870's before they go off the market which should work ok for you. But they need to be 2GB versions for that resolution.

 

[uclaLabrat]

Single card driving a 30" display? Not a chance.

Running 6970 stock on BF3, most settings ultra, no MSAA, 49-60 FPS constant.

 

[GamingDaemon]

Ok, so let me back off of the ultra settings. I'd be happy with high settings.

In fact, right now, I don't have ultra settings on, but I do have the settings pretty high (don't have the specifics off the top of my head) and everything looks great. But the fan is loud when I play the games. Most recently, I have been playing City of Heroes. So, which fan? I haven't checked, but I assumed it was the video card.

If I play for a while, or I sleep the machine, and play after waking it, I start to see artifacts on the screen. I keep playing, and then I blue screen.

Yes, I have my CPU overlcocked, but it is a relatively mild overlcock (3.6GHz see sig), and it should not be the cause of the problem.

Do you guys think this is a video card problem?

 

[reputationZed]

Single card driving a 30" display? Not a chance.

Running single 7970 at 2560 x 1600 in Skyrim, ultra settings, and seeing 60 fps avg

 

[RaistlinZ]

Thank you everyone. Seems like if I want to go the nVidia route, the 580GTX should be enough to do the job.

That said, the AMD 6870X2 that was linked (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131446) gives better peformance, is cheaper, uses less power and will probably be quieter. That seems like a no-brainer then.

What about waiting for the Kepler? Anyone have any idea on how long I would need to wait? And is it necessary? Seems like the 6870X2 is all I need, yes?

That 6870X2 likely won't work for a 30" monitor. It has 2GB of RAM but only 1GB is actually useable since it's a dual GPU card. You need more than 1GB of VRAM if you're planning on running 2560x1600 resolution at high settings. There's just no way around this.

I would go with a 7950 3GB card and overclock the heck out of it. It will still likely outperform a 6870X2 and give you the benefit of 3GB VRAM.

 

[GamingDaemon]

That 6870X2 likely won't work for a 30" monitor. It has 2GB of RAM but only 1GB is actually useable since it's a dual GPU card. You need more than 1GB of VRAM if you're planning on running 2560x1600 resolution at high settings. There's just no way around this.

I would go with a 7950 3GB card and overclock the heck out of it. It will still likely outperform a 6870X2 and give you the benefit of 3GB VRAM.

Ok, good point about the memory. So should I go with a 3GB 7950, or a 3GB 7970? There's a 7970 on NewEgg for $50 over my budget: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161399

Or is the 7950 good enough?

 

[BFG10K]

A high-end single card can push 2560x1600 but you should be prepared to reduce the details sometimes, including running without AA in some games (e.g. Crysis). If you want comfortable performance in almost every game at high settings with AA, a pair of 7970s should do it.

 

[DooKey]

I always recommend you get the most card you can get. High end cards sell better on the FS/FT forum and help to offset your cost for an upgrade later on. Of course this is assuming you can afford highend.

Anyway, if you can swing the extra $50 I'd say buy a 7970.

 

[Joseph F]

I always recommend you get the most card you can get. High end cards sell better on the FS/FT forum and help to offset your cost for an upgrade later on. Of course this is assuming you can afford highend.

Anyway, if you can swing the extra $50 I'd say buy a 7970.

Ditto.

 

[Elfear]

I always recommend you get the most card you can get. High end cards sell better on the FS/FT forum and help to offset your cost for an upgrade later on. Of course this is assuming you can afford highend.

Anyway, if you can swing the extra $50 I'd say buy a 7970.

+1

I game on a 30" as well and at high or ultra settings you really need a lot of graphics power to run games. I was using a pair of 2GB 6950's which worked pretty well in the games I played. Crossfire works well but I've been wanting to go back to a single card for awhile and the new 7970 looked like the ticket. I've been very impressed with the performance, especially when overclocked. Skyrim with HD texture pack, 8xMSAA, 8xAAA, and FXAA runs smooth and looks gorgeous. I've seen vram usage at 2.2-2.4GB so the 3GB comes in handy.

You can either wait for Kepler to arrive in the hopes that prices will drop a bit or, if you want something today, my vote would be for a 7970 or non-reference 7950. With overclocking those cards are amazing.

 

[GamingDaemon]

I always recommend you get the most card you can get. High end cards sell better on the FS/FT forum and help to offset your cost for an upgrade later on. Of course this is assuming you can afford highend.

Anyway, if you can swing the extra $50 I'd say buy a 7970.

So, several folks are saying the 7970 is the way to go. And I know the 580 with 3GB of memory was poo poo'd earlier, but I found this article on last years MSI 580 3GB video card: http://hardocp.com/article/2011/06/06/msi_n580gtx_lightning_xe_3gb_video_card_review/1

They reviewed it and concluded it was more than enough to play video games at 2560x1600. Is that still an option? Or should I just focus on the 7970?

Again, thank you in advance!

 

[GamingDaemon]

+1

I game on a 30" as well and at high or ultra settings you really need a lot of graphics power to run games. I was using a pair of 2GB 6950's which worked pretty well in the games I played. Crossfire works well but I've been wanting to go back to a single card for awhile and the new 7970 looked like the ticket. I've been very impressed with the performance, especially when overclocked. Skyrim with HD texture pack, 8xMSAA, 8xAAA, and FXAA runs smooth and looks gorgeous. I've seen vram usage at 2.2-2.4GB so the 3GB comes in handy.

You can either wait for Kepler to arrive in the hopes that prices will drop a bit or, if you want something today, my vote would be for a 7970 or non-reference 7950. With overclocking those cards are amazing.

Cool! How easy/hard is it to overlock the 7970 or 7950?

 

[Stuka87]

So, several folks are saying the 7970 is the way to go. And I know the 580 with 3GB of memory was poo poo'd earlier, but I found this article on last years MSI 580 3GB video card: http://hardocp.com/article/2011/06/06/msi_n580gtx_lightning_xe_3gb_video_card_review/1

They reviewed it and concluded it was more than enough to play video games at 2560x1600. Is that still an option? Or should I just focus on the 7970?

Again, thank you in advance!

Battlefield 3 was not out a year ago. As well as several other games.

A 580 was the fastest card out back then. But you can now get a 7950 or 7950 that use far less power, and are faster (the 7950 is only a little faster, 7970 a decent amount).

Over clocking the 7950/7970 is a piece of cake really. Took me all of 30 seconds to do so.

 

[GamingDaemon]

Battlefield 3 was not out a year ago. As well as several other games.

A 580 was the fastest card out back then. But you can now get a 7950 or 7950 that use far less power, and are faster (the 7950 is only a little faster, 7970 a decent amount).

Over clocking the 7950/7970 is a piece of cake really. Took me all of 30 seconds to do so.

Thank you. Looks like I will settle on the 7970 then. It is faster on day one, and I should be able to overlcokc it to keep up with games in the future. Thank you!

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

I would strongly advise AGAINST crossfire and instead advocate a 7950 or a 7970.

 

[Elfear]

Cool! How easy/hard is it to overlock the 7970 or 7950?

It's very easy. You can do some light overclocking (for a 7970) right in CCC. MSI Afterburner is a nice 3rd party app and will allow you to max the card if you so choose.