Best Graphics Card for 2 monitors on high to maxed settings with good FPS?

[Echocookie]

Hey guys, I am building a PC for my friend and his total budget is $1000 with OS, monitor, and peripherals included. He mainly wants to play games on this, so what graphics card is the best (for the price) for 2 monitors at high to maxed out settings? If it can only handle high settings, I'm sure he would still be glad with that. Thanks for your help!

 

[Derza10]

Well you won't be playing games across 2 monitors, the GPU power needed to run the second monitor is going to be very minimal... You are going to have to figure out what his GPU budget is... You don't list any parts or games he wants to run at high to maxed or resolution of the monitors...

Assuming its 1080p I'd say a GTX 760 or r9 270x would be needed to max most games... but those are both $215-$250 cards but with a budget of $1000 that includes monitors and OS and all that stuff that is probably not a realistic GPU.

 

[kewlguy239]

Performance to dollar, the GTX 760 is probably the best value card for the money. Its slightly higher in price than AMD's comparable offerings, but nvidia tends to have better support and in my opinion better features like Shadowplay (Record your gaming!) and the GeForce Experience automatically tunes your games to optimal settings based on your system specs. Dual monitor setup is a breeze on nvidia cards. Note that with a dual monitor setup, he will actually only be gaming on one screen, it will not split screen a game between two monitors. If he was going to expand to a 3rd monitor and wanted to go with 3 monitor gaming, a 4gb model of the GTX760 would handle that quite good, playing at ultra settings on most current AAA games with a playable 35-60 fps. With a system budget of $1000 and needing to buy monitors and OS, $250 for the GTX760 is about the most you could reasonably spend without cheaping out on other important components (processor, motherboard, ram).

If you had to spend less than $250 for a graphics card, i would recommend the GTX 750 or the GTX 750ti. Both will play games in 1080p on high settings (not ultra) and a playable 35-60fps. Those start at about $150, but again, you're getting much more performance out of the 760s.

I hope this has at least been informative. Good luck with the build!

 

[Echocookie]

Well you won't be playing games across 2 monitors, the GPU power needed to run the second monitor is going to be very minimal... You are going to have to figure out what his GPU budget is... You don't list any parts or games he wants to run at high to maxed or resolution of the monitors...

Assuming its 1080p I'd say a GTX 760 or r9 270x would be needed to max most games... but those are both $215-$250 cards but with a budget of $1000 that includes monitors and OS and all that stuff that is probably not a realistic GPU.

He wants to play games like CoD Black Ops II, BF4, Minecraft, and other general FPS games or ones that aren't too demanding.

Do you guys suggest he get 3 monitors? Seems like the 760 is the best for 2 monitors, both of you guys suggested it. He will be able to fit that graphics card as well as 3 monitors into his budget, so if it can handle 3 monitors you think he should go for it? As kewlguy suggested, I will get him a 4gb version if it can handle it. Thank you guys for your help so far!

EDIT: He told me that he could stretch his budget to as far as 1.5k, but I should check with him before going ahead and buying and building if it does exceed 1k.

 

[kewlguy239]

i would not recommend getting a 3 monitor setup at this time. a gtx 760 CAN run 3 monitors, but it will strain it and in games you would likely be bogging down to 35-50 fps instead of 50-60fps on a single screen. budget is too low for such extravagance. I think dual monitors are nice for gaming on one, keeping tabs on thermals and clock frequencies on the other (if you overclock). You might want to talk him out of a 2nd monitor and just get 1 really good monitor (1080p, 120hz to 144hz, low refresh rate, like 1ms or 2ms) for gaming. unless he has a specific need for the 2nd monitor (other than bragging rights) 1 good monitor should do him a lot better right now on his budget. it also allows some more money for a better graphics card if the $250 GTX760 was a little out of range.

 

[Echocookie]

i would not recommend getting a 3 monitor setup at this time. a gtx 760 CAN run 3 monitors, but it will strain it and in games you would likely be bogging down to 35-50 fps instead of 50-60fps on a single screen. budget is too low for such extravagance. I think dual monitors are nice for gaming on one, keeping tabs on thermals and clock frequencies on the other (if you overclock). You might want to talk him out of a 2nd monitor and just get 1 really good monitor (1080p, 120hz to 144hz, low refresh rate, like 1ms or 2ms) for gaming. unless he has a specific need for the 2nd monitor (other than bragging rights) 1 good monitor should do him a lot better right now on his budget. it also allows some more money for a better graphics card if the $250 GTX760 was a little out of range.

I made an edit to my earlier post that he could stretch his budget to 1.5k but if it does exceed 1k then I should contact him and get his approval before spending that much. Do you still think he could not get 3 monitors? With the extra $500 he could upgrade his GPU and get 3 decent monitors. Thank you for replying so quickly as well!

 

[kewlguy239]

or you could spend the extra money and go for a gtx770, which would be quite better than a 760 on a triple monitor setup. the monitors he could get at another time.

 

[ChrisR83]

I would just start with one monitor now and spend more on the GPU. It will be allot easier for him to get a 2nd-3rd monitor when he gets some more money and plug them into a quality GPU. Over gimping himself getting and getting lesser GPU now and not being happy with the performance down the road. When you are talking about doing a 3 monitor surround you are going to have to buy a high end GPU to play games like BF4 maxed out.

To sum it up, spend more the core of his system now (Motherboard, CPU, GPU, good quality PSU), then down the road when he gets more cash add in all the extras more memory, 2nd and 3rd monitor ect. In the long run it is going to be better for him because he will not have up upgrade his main components for a few years to keep up with the new games.

That’s my two cents, I hope it helps

 

[kewlguy239]

i mean is it practical? not really. you can always go BACK for more monitors down the road... I would recommend making sure his PC hardware is best bang for the buck, and if hes willing to spend more, to throw it towards that. Monitors are kind of in stasis right now as far as buying, there are a ton of monitors coming out later this year that are going to make the ones available now look like garbage. Especially if you are going with a nvidia graphics card, later this year they are releasing monitors with G-Sync modules in them... if you dont know what that is google it, its freakin awesome!

Scrap 3rd monitor for now, I'd even convince him 2 is too much right now. If you need 1 really good monitor go with ASUS VG248QE- a 144hz 1ms gaming monitor that has a G-Sync unit available for it (DIY kit).

And go for a GTX 770 4gb at about $400, or if theres money left still, go for a 780, although those are around $550.

 

[Echocookie]

Thanks for the help guys! I will tell him to start with 1 monitor now, and then once he gets a payday and gets some extra cash then to buy however many more monitors he wants. Thanks again guys!

 

[Derza10]

Just wanted to comment on the 2gb vs 4gb gtx 760... Do not get a 4gb version unless you are planning to get a second and SLI.. A single gtx 760 will not be powerful enough to take advantage of the 4gb of ram even on multi-monitor setups... My setup is 3 1920x1200 and 1 1920x1080 monitor I game at 5760x1200 and use my 1920x1080 to monitor the system/whatever else with a single gtx 780 ti (3gb) My card rarely goes over 2gb of vram usage.