video card dilemma

[duskguy]

so im getting a desktop computer built in preparation for PS2.

for similar prices i can get a:
AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card
NVIDIA GeForce GT 630 4GB 16X PCIe Video Card
or
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card

im not much of a pc guy, i mean i know you want more processors and ghz and a decent video card for decent frames per second and all, but i can never tell the difference between companies and their numberings. the case im getting will have plenty of space so that i can add new components or change old ones out and have plenty of room for bigger components. im just not sure which video card would best work with what i've currently lined up.

what im looking at right now is:
MOTHERBOARD:[CrossFireX] ASUS M5A97 AMD 970 Chipset CrossFireX Support DDR3 Socket AM3+ ATX w/ 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III, RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1, & 2 PCI
CPU:AMD FX-8150 3.60 GHz Eight-Core AM3+ CPU 8MB L2 Cache & Turbo Core Technology
HDD:500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200 RPM HDD
MEMORY:8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (G.SKILL Ripjaws X
POWERSUPPLY:700 Watts - Standard Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready
Video card: one of the above

[roadrunner]

I have a nvidia GTX 670 and love it so far. From what Monkey said SOE was targeting nvidia owner for beta invites which raises a eyebrow regarding their current support of AMD cards. Not sure what that means for when PS releases but for now it seems they play better with nvidia.

As far as the nvidia card I would go for the NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card. My 670 only has 2GB of memory and I can safely say that I have not come close to using all of that when playing games (BF3, WoT, ...) on the highest settings. The 640 has more CUDA cores, and clock speeds which translate into more FPS.

It also supports PCIe 3.0 which is nice as it support the latest specification. Granted the additional bandwidth available with PCIe 3.0 bus is almost untouched it is still nice to get the latest.

As for the PSU I would highly recommend a modular design for cable management.

[duskguy]

did some research into it and went with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card.

both specs and reviews claim this to be about equal the 7770 in frames per second but is better all around on keeping the memory flowing. the 7770 specs are better for pixelization but other than that the 550 was comparable and had a higher recommendation by gamers.

if i were to add a second video card, how much would it really help? as i said im not the biggest computer geek, so im not sure about the whole second video card/ hard drive and all that. i understand there are ways to make the second hard drive only do certain procedures, and likewise, have the second video card only back up the first, but i was reading and from what i got out of it, the second video card would only really help if i run multiple monitors?

what i currently went with, with a mind towards upgrading later:

CAS: Xion Predator 970 Gaming Series Mid Tower Case w/ 2 External Removable HDD Bays
CPU: AMD FX-8150 3.60 GHz Eight-Core AM3+ CPU 8MB L2 Cache & Turbo Core Technology
HDD: 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200 RPM HDD
MEMORY: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (G.SKILL Ripjaws X )
MOTHERBOARD: * [CrossFireX] GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 AMD 970 Socket AM3+ ATX Mainboard w/ On/Off Charge, 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe X16, 3 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI
POWERSUPPLY: 700 Watts - Standard Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card
FAN: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) (Dual Standard 120MM Fans (Push-Pull)

the case and motherboard have plenty of room for expansion and upgrading, and i plan to pull a fan or two and whatever else i can from my old computer and case, which wont be much aside from the fan(s) and optical drive, will have to take a look at the RAM and the video card (old as hell), and thats why i was wondering about whether the second video card would matter at all, and what it would do, if you know road, or anyone else.

[roadrunner]

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 is a good card which should make you happy. SLI is neat but not sure you will need it unless you are running multiple monitors and high resolution. Even then the GTX 550 should be able to handle multiple monitors with reasonable performance.

I have a solid state drive for my primary and I can say it definitely helps with performance, boot-up time and such. You will see a lot of people have a solid state drive 120GB or so for their primary OS drive along with games/application they run a lot. Then add a bigger HD for bulk data (music, pictures, etc). You can run multiple drives and setup a raid to increase performance or data security but for that may be overkill. The nice thing is that you can add a solid state drive or more HDs later as a future upgrade.

You like the liquid cooling system. I have a similar one modded to cool my GPU.

The case looks like it has the potential for good cable management which is good.

[duskguy]

yeah, i looked after the fact at the 560...and its much better, but the critics agree that for a mid level gaming system the 550 is good.

have an old geforce fx 5500 that i was wondering if i could shove into the new computer, but im not sure if its even able to run with other cards.
after literally just ripping the old computer apart to its base components, i have a 450 watt powersupply, 2 sticks of 512 mb ram (cant believe that was it), the video card, a sound card, motherboard and cpu which are basically melted together an intake fan, an outtake fan and a case fan and a dvd/cd and a cd drive, and lastly, a hard drive which failed and somehow duplicated everything on the computer before more or less wiping itself and a floppy drive (yeah...one of those).

figure i can use the case fan, the dvd drive and possibly (unlikely) the video card, which will have saved me about $50, plus an old wireless card which never really worked properly as well as a d-link wireless external usb drive, which saves another $75 assuming either of them work. if not i can always plug in the ethernet wire, which is my preferable way of gaming.

will be using my 32 inch tv i use for my xbox, which was why i was worried about the video card being able to keep up. i have an OLD monitor that im not sure will even connect to the new video card as well, but that will only be used if i need the tv for the xbox, or feel the need for a multi monitor thing, possibly a side window for firefox while gaming.

computer total after shipping will be 896, although i do have some freebies, rebates and things like a mouse pad in addition to the computer, and then i will need to invest in an hdmi cable, which is about $20. overall, i think i made out well since the computer base model was $900 before the sale, and i was able to upgrade it and cover shipping for less than it would originally have cost.