What do I need for a 21:9 Monitor?

[Neodymie]

Haven't had the time to play much video games in the last couple years and have not kept up at all with whats good as far as components and all the latest and greatest stuff. Anyway, now I've got a a good job with steady hours and my own place and plenty of extra time and I've wanted to get back into raiding.

My computer is a little old but pretty solid, it runs WoW fine.

i7 - 920
ASUS p6tse Motherboard
6gigs DDR3
Radeon HD 5770

The thing I really want to upgrade is the monitor, I've still got a crappy lcd from my preivous computer and it looks terrible.

I'm really interested in these 21:9 monitors but I don't know what it would take to run one. According to AMD my card will go up to 2560x1600 and the monitor I would get would run at 2560x1080 but I don't know if it would play games(Mostly WoW) at that resolution. Am I going to need a new graphics card to do it? If so any recommendations on what to get. I don't want to spend more than about 300 on the card, if it would be more than that I'll probably just get a normal monitor.

Any other things I should consider?

I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks.

TL;DR Would I need a new graphics card to play WoW on a 21:9 monitor?

[Deleted]

Right as someone that owns a 21:9 monitor, for wow, not so much, your cpu is quite good, but the GPU which I have actually owned before has 1 GB of Vram, and ideally be better to get a newer gpu, the resolution has increased from 1920x1080 = 2073600 pixels - 2560x1080=2764800 pixels, however, you also get more real estate and view point thats rendered on the screen so that also adds to the stress, so more Vram can help and added extra grunt, this is more important if you are gonna play other games as more potential effects will be present on screen then a 16:9 screen.

For WOW you might actually be fine in some areas, out in the open world you will see some more dips, but in instanced content, you might not noticed really anything different, though 5770 is a reasonably weak card. When it comes to raids, I didnt notice much of a FPS increase from 5770 - 7970 with a 1920 x1080, cpu stayed the same with I5 3570 K at 4.4 GHz but I had a better min frames granted. For other games, I defo felt a notch down on the upper FPS when getting the 21:9 monitor.

All the panels made for 21:9 are made by LG and all are IPS so you will have good colour, and also, for mmos, you will absolutely love 21:9
A nvidia 760 is prob the best sweet spot at the mo, and you defo dont need any better gpu then that for WOW, other games will play still very nicely with it.

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-D...4&keywords=760

However this being said, WOW is getting prettier and more pixels with each expansion as the new models are rolling out and the new zones which have had a noticeable fidelity increase with each expansion and also spell effects seem to be getting flashier.

[Deleted]

I think your are looking for a 1920x1080 monitor with that gpu. Even with a new gpu 99% of the time you will still play at that resolution.

A comment about the spell effects for wow. Although polygons and such as toon remodelling are getting higher, spell effects are getting towned down by alot for next expansion and 25hc will become 20man. So you gain and loose somewhere. If i would have to guess, i'd say WoD will be less than 10% more gpu intensive than it is now. A 760 is a solid mid-range gpu.

[Deleted]

I think your are looking for a 1920x1080 monitor with that gpu. Even with a new gpu 99% of the time you will still play at that resolution.

If the OP would get a 2560x1080 monitor, why would he drop down to 1920x1080? It is just one monitor, there wont be a bezel in the middle

[Dilbon]

R9 280X or GTX 760 are your best choices for a less than 300 (dollars? euros?) graphics card.

[Deleted]

If the OP would get a 2560x1080 monitor, why would he drop down to 1920x1080? It is just one monitor, there wont be a bezel in the middle

With that gpu he got?

[Neodymie]

Thanks for the input guys. I was thinking that my video card wouldn't run anything well at that resolution.

What do you guys think of this card? It shouldn't have a problem with it right? Dilbon mentioned a GTX 760 so I assume this will only be better?

EVGA GTX 770
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo

I'd really prefer to go back to nvidia.

Thanks.

[tielknight]

A 760 would be more than enough for WoW.
Though you can grab a 280X for $30-40 more, which does better at higher resolutions and performs better in general. Especially if you get a overclocked card like the Sapphire Dual-X.