I don't think I could ever justify $500+ on a video card, unless I were making money on what I was doing.
I usually go for the one right below the top of the line. Usually not too far behind the top, can be OC'ed to match performance pretty well, and cheaper. ~$350 is about my upper limit per graphics card.
Most modern games are more heavily reliant on GPU than CPU, so I don't really mind dropping a little extra for more pretty. Especially when the reality is you don't need to update every generation, one generation usually lasts a few years before it is truly outdated by software needs.
I don't think I could ever justify $500+ on a video card, unless I were making money on what I was doing.
I usually go for the one right below the top of the line. Usually not too far behind the top, can be OC'ed to match performance pretty well, and cheaper. ~$350 is about my upper limit per graphics card.
Most modern games are more heavily reliant on GPU than CPU, so I don't really mind dropping a little extra for more pretty. Especially when the reality is you don't need to update every generation, one generation usually lasts a few years before it is truly outdated by software needs.
Then again most of the games I play are old as balls, and I'll rarely pick up something new. Only real power I need is to support my resolution and multiple displays. (I only got the 660 over the 550ti because I wanted to put something about a 550ti in another box, and it was cheaper to buy the 660 and since it was better I just put my 550ti in the other thing and put the better one in mine).
My rig is pushing 4 years old now and the machine busting games that have been coming out I have to lower settings quite a bit. So the reality is that with this new generation that I'm 3 generations old and just now struggling with games. I skipped the 600/700/Titan generations, and the original FX series was meant to compete with Sandy Bridge.
The Phenom series was great (what I was using before getting an 8120 when they first came out), but AMD has really been lack luster and I have run into a few CPU related issues in games. Like in Mass Effect during a few of the levels characters and monsters turn into giant black blocks... an issue that still has yet to be resolved, even on newer generation FX's. So ditching AMD this go around and shelling out for Broadwell soon as they release the unlocked models (or shortly there after).
I don't require the highest everything running 60 FPS like some people, but I do like to have a lot of "pretty" as I refer to it with minimal slow down.
My video card has 3 ports but will only let me use 2 of my monitors at a time. Do you see that kind of limiting often jet? Or is there just some software need to try
That is probably just the model.
Native 3 monitor support wasn't until the GTX600/Radeon 7000 era.
As for the multiple monitor thing: I didn't try to put 3 on until I had the 660, I still have the 55ti but I don't remember.
Utilizing 2 dvi ports and 1 hdmi, would prefer all 3 dvi, hence why I'm considering adding a second 660 (but would cut the speed back, but shouldn't be an issue).
I'm just lazy and am pretty much don't try to upgrade unless something breaks, or I can't do something). "meh"
SSD's are nice, but I wouldn't say they are game changing performance. I have nice boot up speeds and programs on the SSD do load faster, but once in the application there isn't a difference.
Still use a cheapo 7200rpm HDD for storage and booting games from.
Josi, I'll slap you if you ever try to use the windows experience index as a gauge of computer performance again. (only time I run it is after I installed a gpu to get aero).
A ssd would boost performance, but you have to take into consideration other things as well: connection speed 3.0gbps or 6.0, the cache of the drive, etc (type of memory too). So many variables.
This is a thread that I found on another website I post at. It can be really really interesting. I thought it deserved a place here.
Post your random thoughts for the day here, or anything else that intrigues you.
For starters, is it possible to give constructive critism to someone who doesn't have a neck? I totally just walked by a girl who didn't. Someone isn't getting a necklace for Valentines day!
And who decided black and white can't be colors? I want to say a racist. I really do.
