Recommendation

My friend wants to buy a new graphics card this holiday season. He will be upgrading from a 5670, and he has his eyes set on a 5870. I told him that it might be overkill because he games at 1280x1024. I recommended a 460 or 5770 to save him money, but he wants to be able to max out games for some time to come. Is the 5870 or 460 the best choice?

Specs: PII 965 3.4, 4gb of ram, 800w PSU, crossfire but other slot runs at 4x

If he has a 965 (and why game at that resolution?) tell him to buy a new monitor and a 6870.

He has an old gateway monitor he bought off somebody. I didn't think to mention the 6870. Is the 5870's performance margin over the 6870 enough to justify its price, or will the 6870 get it done at 1280x1024?

He has an old gateway monitor he bought off somebody. I didn't think to mention the 6870. Is the 5870's performance margin over the 6870 enough to justify its price, or will the 6870 get it done at 1280x1024?

IU_Stizzal

The 6870 is slower but cheaper. By slower I mean it can play any game at 1080p at less than 10% difference than the 5870. At your resolution you won't have a problem. I would still recommend a new monitor first, something like this:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/monitors/355315/benq-g2222hdl

Thanks for the info! I will pass it on.

I may look into the 6870 myself. I use a dual monitor setup for work, but since I am using my laptop more for work, I might start using it for some gaming too. I wish I had another pci-e slot, so I could hook up two 5770's.

The 6870 won't have the grunt to play some games on 2 monitors at the same time, depending on resolution. It can easily drive both, though.

I'll be sure to do some research then. I don't mind if I can't completely max out games, but I like to play at high settings.

hd 6850 or gtx 460 1gb.. thats all you need for that resolution anything more is overkill.

id recommend cards off this list:

hd 5830, hd 5770, hd 4890, hd 4870, hd 6850, gtx 260, 9800gx2, gtx 275, gtx 465, gtx 460 768mb or 1gb

and tbh even some of those are overkill. you could easily hit up like an hd 5750 and kick that resolutions upside the head

I might sell him my 5770. I play at 1080p and the 5770 does fine, but I may upgrade if I go to dual monitor gaming.