New rig - what graphics card should I get?

[allbies1]

Hey all, I'm currently looking at purchasing a new rig as my old one isn't even worth mentioning its that bad. I've never fully understood everything to do with whats the best to get etc but I was wondering if you could give me some ideas.

My main question is about what graphics card I should get (I think I'd like to stick with Nvidia, i've heard ATI drivers can be annoying and game issues).

I was looking at http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-146-GW&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1341 earlier but I've been reading about SLI and multiple graphics cards? :S Is that card worth buying and using alone as a single?

I don't want to run Crysis2 on ultra setting or anything I just want to play future games like BF3 in high graphics with smooth fps.

I've been looking at an AMD Phemon II 1100T Hex Core 3.3hz processor with 3x4gb sticks of RAM to give you an idea of a few of the other main components i'm looking at.

BUT my main focus is the graphics card.


Thanks

 

[jay2tall]

The 560Ti is a good card. It's AMD equivalent is the 6950. They are in that upper midrange gamer card area. Your next best card from Nvidia would be the GTX570 which is an awesome card. If your budget allows I would recommend bumping up to the 570. However, if you are limited the 560 will still get you where you want to be. When you build a full system there are some areas you can sometime tweak to get the extra cash for a better video card. Like bring your CPU down to a quad core instead. You will get more from a better video card than you will from going to 6 cores over 4.

 

[allbies1]

Okay thanks

The GTX570's seem to be in the £300's+ area and thats a little out of my price range so if I downgraded to a quad core and put some more cash in my gcard I would get more out of gaming performance?

Also I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to specs to the gtx 560ti with 2gb memory is lesser than a gtx570 with 1.2gb for example? So my question basically is, how much does the memory on the card matter in these situations?

Thanks

 

[jay2tall]

The difference between a 1GB and 2GB video card usually does not matter until you get to high resolutions or multiple displays. There are many reviews that compare the same cards with 1 or 2GB and the performance is almost identical. The GPU and memory speed really give you the performance.

 

[jay2tall]

If you are going to overclock your video card, I would suggest this one off that site. It is one of the best GTX 570's for overclocking as it has alot of upgrade parts on the board and also LARGER cooler. If you don't plan to overclock, I'd just stick with a standard model.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-250-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

 

[allbies1]

Your helps been much appreciated, thanks

 

[Guest]

As your need of GPU is gaming so monitor is also matters.If you want to buy or have a 3D monitor then you must pick nvidia because you get much more option for monitor from great manufacturer like ASUS and Alienware.570,580 both cards give you superb performance with high FPS.AMD 6900 series is also great according to high performance but with high temperature and less number of vendor for 3d monitor which is also not good.I'm still using 6970 and happy with performance but i paln to buy a 3d monitor so i'll buy nvidia.

 

[allbies1]

Best answer selected by allbies1.