Video card decision...

[Firune]

I am looking at purchasing a new computer and have come to the proverbial fork in the road, and that is which video card to use. At this point in time I plan on getting 2 video cards and running them together but that also brings up questions as well. Do I buy 2 slightly lower end video cards and connect them (SLI is that the correct term? or is it crossfire I forget) or 1 higher end video card, or do i get 2 high end video cards and connect them? Now I have always looked at computer parts as basic stat sticks and I don't honestly know what those stats mean, I figure the bigger the number the bigger the bang for my $. Also I am using the Ibuypower website as I dont honestly know how to put a computer together myself and would rather leave it in the hands of experts then trust it to myself even with a Youtube tutorial. With my new computer I will be(plan) using a ASUS P8Z68-V Pro mother board and have been looking at either 2 x AMD Radeon HD 6870 - 1GB or 2 x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 - 2GB. At his point in time those are the two I am looking at but it's simply going off of numbers. The choices range from a AMD Radeon HD 6450 - 1GB to AMD Radeon HD 6970 - 2GB OR NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 - 1GB to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 - 3GB. As far as computer usage I will be using it for internet, watching movies, WOW, COD: Black Ops, Counter Strike, Pron, Portal 2, and Starcraft 2. What I am looking for in this post is only a few things, 1. Of my choices of video cards which one is better 2. Is that mother board good for my setup

P.S. I plan on running 2 monitors once I purchase this computer

[Skelly]

SLI is the term for Nvidia cards, Crossfire is the term for AMD cards.

Don't look at the stats on video cards. They don't tell you much. Look at benchmarks of high end games and see if you can get the setting and fps you want with the card you're looking for.

You can max out WoW and SC2 with a good cpu and a GTX 560 Ti. Other games like COD will require a bit more. If you don't need more performance that that of a GTX 580, I would not suggest SLI or Xfire, as they each come with drawbacks (google them for yourself).

[Cantii]

Whoa whoa whoa... Call of Duty requires more power to run at max than StarCraft 2? Are we playing the same games? A good CPU and a GTX 560 Ti or 6950 will be able to run just about any modern game on max settings at 1920x1080 damn easily. Hell, even going for something a little weaker, like a 6870, will run most games at max settings at 1920x1080 (only game I can't run *truly* maxed out is The Witcher 2, and I use a 6870... oh no, I lose out on Übersampling...) If you're going for two monitors at 3840x1080, then something like a GTX 560 Ti or a 6950 will run it just fine as well, though using two monitors like that seems lost on me... three monitors would be best for that sort of set up.


For the record: Even stock, my i7 950 with a 6870 runs everything on max at 1920x1080 with the exception of Witcher 2, and that's only with Übersampling turned off, still gets 45FPS.

[Firune]

Ok so you don't recommend SLI or Xfire, but is 1 video card enough to run two monitors with either WOW or SC2 running full screen on one?

Edit: I am not looking to run the program's across both screens but play on one and have other programs up on the 2nd

[Cantii]

Ok so you don't recommend SLI or Xfire, but is 1 video card enough to run two monitors with either WOW or SC2 running full screen on one?

When I played WoW, I had a similar setup. Two monitors and my 6870 with my i7 950 at stock speeds. The 1GB of VRAM on a single card is more than enough to run a desktop on one monitor while playing a game on another, I got around 50-60FPS in most areas, and SC2 ran flawlessly as well.

[taekvideo]

If you want to crossfire/SLI, 2x 6870, 2x6950, or 2x560ti (make sure it's ti) are your best bets.
Honestly though, just 1 of any of those is plenty of power.

[Skelly]

Whoa whoa whoa... Call of Duty requires more power to run at max than StarCraft 2?

*Shrugs* maybe? I just kind of assumed since it would be more graphics heavy, being realistic and all.