Hey quick question about graphics cards!

[WiFiFishy]

Hey guys, im new to the forums and new to pc building. Im wondering what would be the best graphics card setup for dual 1080p monitors? I would prefer nvidia and nothing ridiculously expensive, im on a budget, but i am also pretty flexible in pricing.  

[ThyFeared]

Welcome to the forums! What's your budget?

[DarkEnergy]

Budget and Nvidia don't go well together. 

[I/O]

Budget and Nvidia don't go well together. 

This LOL.

[Sauron]

-

 

Welcome to the forum please remember to follow your posts so you're notified when someone answers!

 

I'll assume you'll be gaming on a single monitor and using the second one for other purposes because you can't game on 2 screens.

I recommend an amd r9 285, it's faster than the 760 at a competitive price. If you really want to go nvidia though get a 760 instead.

[connorpiper]

One 760 Should do. If not, 770. (Depends on budget)

Dual 760s are very powerful if you do do SLI later.

[Bogica]

Welcome to the forum please remember to follow your posts so you're notified when someone answers!

 

I'll assume you'll be gaming on a single monitor and using the second one for other purposes because you can't game on 2 screens.

I recommend an amd r9 285, it's faster than the 760 at a competitive price. If you really want to go nvidia though get a 760 instead.

^

Basicly that. This is like the 20th time I see you posting and I read thru your post and I think:"Wow, that's exactly what I thought."

[Guest Kloaked]

There's a card out there for your budget. Here's a brief run-down of the features of each brand.

 

 

Nvidia GTX

 

- Pros

• PhysX - Only in select games, but looks damn good.
• HairWorks - Again, only in select games that implement it, but looks damn good.
• TXAA - Another exclusive effect, but looks damn good in the games that support it and are actually optimized for it (Splinter Cell: Blacklist runs it like shit).
• GeForce Experience - Able to optimize visual settings for your games automatically based on your preferences and hardware. Also comes with GameStream and Shadowplay.
• GameStream - If you own an Nvidia Shield device, you can stream your games to said mobile device and play your games away from your PC and even on another network via internet.
• ShadowPlay - You can record your gameplay via hardware accelerated H.264 encoder which will already be compressed and not a gigantic file like what you would get with say, Fraps. While using ShadowPlay you can also stream to Twitch in a more efficient way.
• EVGA - Offers a very great warranty on all of their GTX products and will work with you to make you happy if you have an issue.

- Cons

• GeForce Experience is still iffy for many users, giving issues ranging from not booting up, ShadowPlay not working properly and one that personally bothers me is not downloading and installing GPU drivers properly.
• Poor price-to-performance compared to Radeon.
• Nvidia sucks at marketing

AMD Radeon

 

- Pros

• Mantle - An alternate API to DirectX exclusive to Radeon at the moment. Gives performance boosts in games that support it over DirectX, but the boosts vary depending on your setup.
• TressFX - Makes hair looks more realistic. The effect is no longer exclusive to Radeon cards, but it will run better on those video cards compared to the competition.
• TrueAudio - A great alternative to 'surround sound' to theoretically give more precision and immersiveness to your environmental audio.
• Price-To-Performance - Absolutely blows away Nvidia in the price-to-performance department. You get way more bang for your buck, as always with AMD.
• Drivers - Reason I listed this as a pro: Radeon's drivers are getting way better, so ignore the people shouting that Radeon's drivers suck, because they're not as bad as they used to be. I see just as many people complain about Nvidia in the same department.
• AMD Gaming Evolved - AMD's counter to GeForce Experience and does what the competition does, but you can also get rewards for simply playing your games. The rewards you get varies on the points you have.
• Sapphire - Sapphire make some of the sexiest coolers and the quietest coolers for Radeon cards.

- Cons

• Many people complain of DoA (dead on arrival) and cards not functioning properly later down the road, more than the competition it would seem. This isn't 100% a fact, however. Take this with a grain of salt.
• AMD's highest end 290x does not beat a 780ti in most areas, but only loses by a bit.
• AMD absolutely sucks at marketing and naming conventions, and some decisions they make, make absolutely no sense. Could be said about both companies.

 

 

- Conclusion

 

Both vendors have excellent products. Like every single piece of tech on the market, it is all prone to DoA and malfunctions down the road. This is why you choose the appropriate aftermarket manufacturer, such as EVGA (GTX exclusive) or Sapphire (Radeon exclusive). Everyone on this forum can agree that both companies absolutely suck at marketing. Nvidia says their Titan cards are gaming cards, which isn't the whole story that they try to sell, AMD keeps rebranding things with only little improvements and so on. They both make stupid decisions but they do it for business reasons, even though they are still stupid. Did I mention they make stupid decisions?

 

tl;dr, pick your card and don't be a brand whore.

 

[Thebman712]

Well nvidia should only be bought if you care about features and not price to performance.

The 770 has came down in price so it becomes a more reasonable card but still not quite as price/perf. as amds line up, take your pick on the 270x, 280x and 290

[Thebman712]

There's a card out there for your budget. Here's a brief run-down of the features of each brand.

 

 

Nvidia GTX

 

- Pros

• PhysX - Only in select games, but looks damn good.
• HairWorks - Again, only in select games that implement it, but looks damn good.
• TXAA - Another exclusive effect, but looks damn good in the games that support it and are actually optimized for it (Splinter Cell: Blacklist runs it like shit).
• GeForce Experience - Able to optimize visual settings for your games automatically based on your preferences and hardware. Also comes with GameStream and Shadowplay.
• GameStream - If you own an Nvidia Shield device, you can stream your games to said mobile device and play your games away from your PC and even on another network via internet.
• ShadowPlay - You can record your gameplay via hardware accelerated H.264 encoder which will already be compressed and not a gigantic file like what you would get with say, Fraps. While using ShadowPlay you can also stream to Twitch in a more efficient way.
• EVGA - Offers a very great warranty on all of their GTX products and will work with you to make you happy if you have an issue.

- Cons

• GeForce Experience is still iffy for many users, giving issues ranging from not booting up, ShadowPlay not working properly and one that personally bothers me is not downloading and installing GPU drivers properly.
• Poor price-to-performance compared to Radeon.
• Nvidia sucks at marketing

AMD Radeon

 

- Pros

• Mantle - An alternate API to DirectX exclusive to Radeon at the moment. Gives performance boosts in games that support it over DirectX, but the boosts vary depending on your setup.
• TressFX - Makes hair looks more realistic. The effect is no longer exclusive to Radeon cards, but it will run better on those video cards compared to the competition.
• TrueAudio - A great alternative to 'surround sound' to theoretically give more precision and immersiveness to your environmental audio.
• Price-To-Performance - Absolutely blows away Nvidia in the price-to-performance department. You get way more bang for your buck, as always with AMD.
• Drivers - Reason I listed this as a pro: Radeon's drivers are getting way better, so ignore the people shouting that Radeon's drivers suck, because they're not as bad as they used to be. I see just as many people complain about Nvidia in the same department.
• AMD Gaming Evolved - AMD's counter to GeForce Experience and does what the competition does, but you can also get rewards for simply playing your games. The rewards you get varies on the points you have.
• Sapphire - Sapphire make some of the sexiest coolers and the quietest coolers for Radeon cards.

- Cons

• Many people complain of DoA (dead on arrival) and cards not functioning properly later down the road, more than the competition it would seem. This isn't 100% a fact, however. Take this with a grain of salt.
• AMD's highest end 290x does not beat a 780ti in most areas, but only loses by a bit.
• AMD absolutely sucks at marketing and naming conventions, and some decisions they make, make absolutely no sense. Could be said about both companies.

 

 

- Conclusion

 

Both vendors have excellent products. Like every single piece of tech on the market, it is all prone to DoA and malfunctions down the road. This is why you choose the appropriate aftermarket manufacturer, such as EVGA (GTX exclusive) or Sapphire (Radeon exclusive). Everyone on this forum can agree that both companies absolutely suck at marketing. Nvidia says their Titan cards are gaming cards, which isn't the whole story that they try to sell, AMD keeps rebranding things with only little improvements and so on. They both make stupid decisions but they do it for business reasons, even though they are still stupid. Did I mention they make stupid decisions?

 

tl;dr, pick your card and don't be a brand whore.

 

great job m8

[shayned1997]

Hey guys, im new to the forums and new to pc building. Im wondering what would be the best graphics card setup for dual 1080p monitors? I would prefer nvidia and nothing ridiculously expensive, im on a budget, but i am also pretty flexible in pricing.  

Welcome to the forum  would recommend the 760 just like a lot of people. Since i'm assuming your budget is around there. Just a tip when posting about parts or looking for help try to give as much info as you can especially the budget. Happy Foruming ?

[I/O]

Well nvidia should only be bought if you care about features and not price to performance.

Implying that AMD does not have competitive feature sets ? Is price/performance not a feature ? It's at leased the most important factor in choosing which GPU to buy.

[D2ultima]

There's a card out there for your budget. Here's a brief run-down of the features of each brand.

 

 

Nvidia GTX

 

- Pros

• PhysX - Only in select games, but looks damn good.
• HairWorks - Again, only in select games that implement it, but looks damn good.
• TXAA - Another exclusive effect, but looks damn good in the games that support it and are actually optimized for it (Splinter Cell: Blacklist runs it like shit).
• GeForce Experience - Able to optimize visual settings for your games automatically based on your preferences and hardware. Also comes with GameStream and Shadowplay.
• GameStream - If you own an Nvidia Shield device, you can stream your games to said mobile device and play your games away from your PC and even on another network via internet.
• ShadowPlay - You can record your gameplay via hardware accelerated H.264 encoder which will already be compressed and not a gigantic file like what you would get with say, Fraps. While using ShadowPlay you can also stream to Twitch in a more efficient way.
• EVGA - Offers a very great warranty on all of their GTX products and will work with you to make you happy if you have an issue.

- Cons

• GeForce Experience is still iffy for many users, giving issues ranging from not booting up, ShadowPlay not working properly and one that personally bothers me is not downloading and installing GPU drivers properly.
• Poor price-to-performance compared to Radeon.
• Nvidia sucks at marketing

AMD Radeon

 

- Pros

• Mantle - An alternate API to DirectX exclusive to Radeon at the moment. Gives performance boosts in games that support it over DirectX, but the boosts vary depending on your setup.
• TressFX - Makes hair looks more realistic. The effect is no longer exclusive to Radeon cards, but it will run better on those video cards compared to the competition.
• TrueAudio - A great alternative to 'surround sound' to theoretically give more precision and immersiveness to your environmental audio.
• Price-To-Performance - Absolutely blows away Nvidia in the price-to-performance department. You get way more bang for your buck, as always with AMD.
• Drivers - Reason I listed this as a pro: Radeon's drivers are getting way better, so ignore the people shouting that Radeon's drivers suck, because they're not as bad as they used to be. I see just as many people complain about Nvidia in the same department.
• AMD Gaming Evolved - AMD's counter to GeForce Experience and does what the competition does, but you can also get rewards for simply playing your games. The rewards you get varies on the points you have.
• Sapphire - Sapphire make some of the sexiest coolers and the quietest coolers for Radeon cards.

- Cons

• Many people complain of DoA (dead on arrival) and cards not functioning properly later down the road, more than the competition it would seem. This isn't 100% a fact, however. Take this with a grain of salt.
• AMD's highest end 290x does not beat a 780ti in most areas, but only loses by a bit.
• AMD absolutely sucks at marketing and naming conventions, and some decisions they make, make absolutely no sense. Could be said about both companies.

 

 

- Conclusion

 

Both vendors have excellent products. Like every single piece of tech on the market, it is all prone to DoA and malfunctions down the road. This is why you choose the appropriate aftermarket manufacturer, such as EVGA (GTX exclusive) or Sapphire (Radeon exclusive). Everyone on this forum can agree that both companies absolutely suck at marketing. Nvidia says their Titan cards are gaming cards, which isn't the whole story that they try to sell, AMD keeps rebranding things with only little improvements and so on. They both make stupid decisions but they do it for business reasons, even though they are still stupid. Did I mention they make stupid decisions?

 

tl;dr, pick your card and don't be a brand whore.

 

 

There is more to this; such as nVidia's CSAA, better control panel functionality, SLI working in windowed mode, ability to dedicate second cards to more than just game performance, better 3D vision capability, etc.

 

And for AMD there's better triple monitor setup, no need to restart the PC after installing drivers/turning off and on CrossFireX, they have a fairly new shadowplay-type recording function (which name I forget), better high-resolution (1600p+) performance on the 290/290X architecture over kepler (this will be a moot point soon though), etc.

 

Anyway, as the people above said, just pick the card that suits you best. The feature-set's pros/cons are the things you should look for, then decide which set of pros/cons you want more.

 

 

Implying that AMD does not have competitive feature sets ? Is price/performance not a feature ? It's at leased the most important factor in choosing which GPU to buy.

Not for everyone in every situation.

[Thebman712]

Implying that AMD does not have competitive feature sets ? Is price/performance not a feature ? It's at leased the most important factor in choosing which GPU to buy.

not true, i love amd im just implying it has game stream and gsync which amd does not while a key point is it price

[WiFiFishy]

Thanks so much guys for the help. My "budget" isnt really such a fixed thing but the 760 does look nice and definitely do-able. Now would it be better to run multiple weaker graphics card or a single more powerful one? The main reason why i dislike AMD gpus is because a friend received one already broken in box and i dont really want to go through that but if there any advantages please let me know.

[Guest Kloaked]

not true, i love smd im just implying it has game stream and gsync which amd does not while a key point is it price

 

You may wanna fix that typo, LOL

[Guest Kloaked]

Thanks so much guys for the help. My "budget" isnt really such a fixed thing but the 760 does look nice and definitely do-able. Now would it be better to run multiple weaker graphics card or a single more powerful one? The main reason why i dislike AMD gpus is because a friend received one already broken in box and i dont really want to go through that but if there any advantages please let me know.

 

Getting a DoA card from either brand is likely to happen, but that has to do with the shipping most of the time, since they can be damaged during the trip.

 

It's better to buy the best single card solution that you can first, then buy another if you need it down the road. Again, only if you need it.

[I/O]

not true, i love smd im just implying it has game stream and gsync which amd does not while a key point is it price

Well nvidia doesn't have the "DMA engine" or a DX12 card so feature sets are at parity. Of course they don't have all the exact same features.

[Thebman712]

You may wanna fix that typo, LOL

oh lol

[I/O]

Thanks so much guys for the help. My "budget" isnt really such a fixed thing but the 760 does look nice and definitely do-able. Now would it be better to run multiple weaker graphics card or a single more powerful one? The main reason why i dislike AMD gpus is because a friend received one already broken in box and i dont really want to go through that but if there any advantages please let me know.

Doesn't like AMD cause friend received a damaged AMD card from shipping. Logic failed much.

[WiFiFishy]

Asus R9280 sound good?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Asus-R9280-DC2T-3GD5-ASUS-Graphics-Cards/dp/B00IXI5AT2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410133446&sr=8-1&keywords=R9280