Graphics card recommendation/help

jt999 · August 29, 2016

Hi everyone, new member here!

I just wrote a very long post, and had the page time out on me when I submitted it, so here goes again

I'm looking to switch from console gaming to PC gaming without breaking the bank (the girlfriend would hit the roof if I ordered a GTX 1080) and am happy to use older cards that are second hand if they'd suit my needs, UK prices seem higher so that doesn't help. The other issue is I'm fairly clueless with graphics cards, I've never been a gamer, and am unlikely to become a 'hardcore' gamer, I'm happy to play games at lower settings, as long as it doesn't become juddery etc. I also don't know what games I'll be playing, perhaps some first person shooters (Battlefield) and some new(ish) racing games, I don't know if different games work best on different cards, but if they do I'm looking for an all-rounder really.

I'd like to reuse my existing PC setup where possible, but if something must change then it must change, here is the current setup:

CPU: i5 4570S

Motherboard: ASRock Q87M vPro

Memory: 4x 8GB Crucial PC3-12800 CL9

PSU: Be Quiet Pure Power L8 630W

OS: This is where it gets interesting, I actually run ESXi on this as I like to tinker with VMs without breaking everything at once, ideally I'd like to do a similar thing to 7 gamers 1 CPU, but with 1 gamer and 1 CPU, where the gamer is using a virtualised PC.

I'll also be looking to reuse my existing monitors (the system is currently headless, these are from something else), which are just 3x 1440x900 monitors, the main one is in landscape, and then one of each side is in portrait - I don't need them to all run during games, one will suffice but using more would be nice. This may change in the future to either 2x ultrawide monitors, or 2x 1080p monitors (most likely the 2x1080p due to cost).

I'll begrudgingly switch from ESXi if there is a reason to (I don't really want to rebuild everything on it if it can be avoided), I did try passthrough with a GT610 and it didn't work, but when researching I found a few people couldn't get it to work on that card, so perhaps it's the card, or something else.

Hopefully that explains roughly what I'm after, I look forward to any replies

JT