Graphics Cards to run a Dell u2711

C'mon son. Your 18 and a student studying graphic and web design? Why are you spending so much money on a computer? You could half the cost of that and still have a hugely powerful computer and have money to live on. University, living on your own and life in general is pretty damn expensive at the moment so take a step back and ask if you need to spend so much on a computer.

 

Haven't read the whole thread but the last post caught my eye in the 'Latest Posts' whilst flipping through the forum in Tapatalk. In a similar vein to what DRB just said;

I had a computer that was as impressive a spec, if not more impressive, when I was 18. It was liquid cooled with a powerful tri-loop cooling system and was almost the most powerful production PC that money and talent could build at the time, without going into 5 figures.

Granted that was a company show PC and it got me a lot of sales, but I still think that If I had the choice again tomorrow, I'd spend the money I used to build that on something more sensible. Like part of a deposit on a house, or even my project car. At least those would be investments. A year after I built that PC it was outdated and already worth a lot less than it was when I built it. It was used for a total of 3 years before I rebuilt it with a less power hungry but ultimately more powerful spec. In it's original form it drew 800W from the wall under load, and was only built with an 850W PSU. It cost me a lot of money to run when I was a student and looking back on it, wasn't worth it.

I think you should consider what DRB is saying. It's sensible thinking.

 

wow, this is an exercise in excessiveness.

2500k
single 6970 2GB
16GB
more than enough

before i got a full-time job, back when i started uni at 18, i was happy with mid-range card and low end CPU. did a summer placement and upgraded to mid-range CPU and ~£200 graphics card. notice how i didn't upgrade to latest sandy bridge or gone SLI? i haven't touched my PC for a year now (the spending spree on my first pay cheque was my last upgrade). there's a point when you say enough is enough.

university is a very expensive activity. even if you are doing graphical design, you can always use facilities at university. In fact, you will need to use facilities at uni even if you have the faster computer, due to software licence issues most of the times.

 

i have to agree with that.

i have spent a lot on my computer, and the last things i was going to do was get a uber gfx card a new psu, and then id be 'done forever '

but you are never really done forever. its ongoing.

i dont even need a new gpu. its addicting.

 

A 4870 cannot handle BF3 in 1080p let alone U2711 res.

 

3 6970's? No, no. Crossfire is great with 2 cards, but even now it still scales pretty poorly if you add in a 3rd or even 4th card.

It might also be worth echoing what others have said here. You could spend far less and still have a great PC, and no matter what you put inside your PC it will be out of date rapidly. But I do understand the itch of wanting the best. Unfortunatly life has a way of throwing more important things to spend money on in your path, and getting the best goes out the window (unless you are rolling in it).

 

hence i said 'those'. referring to the components i listed

lol i play on ultra just not fullscreen cos im used to it.

 

I'd echo what the others are saying, its total overkill.

This is what I'd buy

i5 2500k
3GB GTX 580
Corsair H60/Antec 620
A good mobo capable of SLI with good spacing between top and bottom PCIe slots
a good 850w PSU
8GB of RAM - but if you need 16 then fine, as its so cheap.

This will give you enough power to drive the panel for now - even BF will run on high or ultra if you apply FXAA instead of MSAA.

Then, if you need more power further down the line all you need to buy is another GTX 580 - which by that time will be cheap as chips anyway since a whole batch of new cards will be released.

 

now now guys, you wouldnt want me to use macs would you? :| thats all the uni has, and nah im defo guna go with what i listed, i get a student loan when i join anway, I just need everyone to help me work out the final few parts like 1000 watt psu? thanks, Luke

 

Get an HX1050 (I think that's right) by Corsair.

 

its only 80plus silver bro

 

88% efficiency? Is that right? Somehow I doubt the added few percent of efficiency of Gold and Platinum ones are going to make a difference to your electric bill given the system you're building

However, should you want a Platinum rated one, this is the one for you Can't really beat Seasonic, they make Corsair PSUs as well.

 

yehh had a look at that one surely it wont use much electric anyway :O

 

This. Use whatever cash you have left to buy a computer for 2nd year

 

I forecast at least a 50% increase in your bills

 

are you joking -.- ? the 6970's are supposed to be competition for these 580's, they use alot less dont they? i cant seem to find a comparison at this resoloution :/

 

Not a lot less, they use less but I wouldn't say it's a deal breaker. Plus they are slower at this resolution than 3GB GT580s. I'll have a quick look for some real facts to back this up.

And ok, 50% was an exaggeration. But think of it this way, a mid range gaming computer will draw around 300 watts at full load. Your new build will draw over double this. So say you game for 3 hours a day, 7 days a week. That's a cost increase of £100 a year. Which is a tenner a month or there abouts.

Having worked that out it isn't really that much. Have I done a calculation wrong somewhere?

 

sounds about right to me, i had a look at some comparissons there showing 40fps in most games :| thats horrible... maybe this is a retarded question, but can you run the monitor at 1080p say when i want to game? or would it look crap? btw thanks for all the help noizdaemon666 and everyone else

 

No. It does point out how massively over specced your original build was. A 27" monitor would be a cool thing to have but if you want to play games at those resoloutions you are always going to need an expensive GPU.

 

You could run it at a lower resolution than it's native one, but it won't look as good. Obviously the pixels are being stretched to make it full screen so look more blurry. And if your monitor can run 1080p at it's proper size (so you'd have black borders all the way round) then you may as well have bought a smaller monitor.

40fps is a decent frame rate at that res if you're maxing out the graphical eye candy settings. It's still very playable.