What GFX cards for 42" monitor (HDTV) ?

[Antec-User]

My buddy wants to run his computer on his TV. He'd like to get into PC Gaming, but with the setup he has now, it's just good enough for accessing the internet. He's got some kind of 7600gt NVidia card.. He's a Play3 Gamer that I'm trying to convert.

Would two 8600GT cards be good enough for 42" TV gaming?

His rig.. (IIRC) I'll fix the cooling and GFX for him.. I'd like to get him a different board so I can juice it up a little.

Intel E8400 ~ish w stock cooler
Basic Gigabyte board -no real OC options.
OCZ Platnum 2g RAM
7600 GT GPU
400w PSU..



on a funny side note, my game was clipping for the first time ever on my big rig and he told me to try it on his computer.. he said his was just as good.. LOL!! Noooooo it isn't even close.. my 4870 1G > his 7600gt card.. not to mention the rest of his system compared to mine.. lol!

 

[philbar71]

no, a 8600GT is going to choke at 1920x1080. at the bare minimum i would recommend a GTS250/HD 4850. A GTX 260/ HD 4870/ HD 5770 would be a better option. but what games does he play?

 

[Antec-User]

^ he plays MW2 a LOT..

COD 4
COD W@W

mostly FPS Games..

I ran my 4870 on my 42" plasma for a short time and you can see it missing a couple pixels here and there.. = needs 2 cards..

 

[philbar71]

Well a 8600GT is not going to be good for that. COD4 should be ok on medium, MW2 i dont know.

depending on budget i'd say a GTS 250/ HD 4850.

 

[Antec-User]

^ That's exactly what I was thinking.. GTX 265.. or so.. dual 4850's maybe. I think MW2 is a little more demanding, but I gotta wait to see some more tests first. But I don't want him having a better GPU set up than me, YET.. lol I'm the computer guy, not him... Gimme a couple months and I'll have a new case and possible dual loops.. 2 4870's on liquid and an 800D case..

 

[philbar71]

yep. a HD 4860 (4850's are being killed) will be fine at 1920x1080

 

[Antec-User]

Possible stupid question: If I order a second vid card, does it have to be the EXACT SAME card?? Two 4870 1G's could have such a difference in PCB's that would make xfire not work?

 

[Burn]

nah as long as the cards are the same Xfire will work fine, PCB revision does not matter

 

[Antec-User]

^ oh phew... That's good news.. I dind't feel like buying 2 new cards due to possible revision differences..

 

[philbar71]

^ actually, you can xfire with any 4800 series card.