[Daclivont]

I've started deciding on what parts to get for my wife's new gaming machine.

I just ordered the motherboard (an EVGA p67 SLI)

I plan on getting a core I5-2500k 3.3Ghz processor for it.

Now, I'm on to deciding what graphics card to buy for the machine.

It will be used mainly to play games like Skyrim, Brink, Hunted: The demons forge, ETC

We're hunting for something in the $100-$150 range give or take. We'd like to stick to ati cards as I have a Diamond ATI Radeon HD5750 in my machine that will be getting replaced soon and we'd like to set up with CrossFireX with the new one at that point.

As I'm a complete newb when it comes to graphics cards I'd really appreciate any help making a selection.

I'll keep researching in the mean time, Thanks for stopping in.

Edited by Daclivont, 25 July 2012 - 09:51 PM.

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I'm currently thinking of getting this SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 . It lists it's Crossfire capable, but, will it work well in tandem with the HD5750?

[Daclivont]

I'm currently thinking of getting this SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 . It lists it's Crossfire capable, but, will it work well in tandem with the HD5750?

[phillpower2]

Hi Daclivont


Couple of pointers, you do not always get better performance from a Crossfire set up than you would a single slightly better card + you may need to upgrade the PSU to be able to power the additional card and from research I found a 650W PSU being recommended for a pair of HD 6850 cards.

If you can spend that little bit more you can get a faster card more suitable to your gaming http://www.newegg.co...ID=3938566&SID= benchmarks http://www.videocard...=Radeon HD 6870

[Daclivont]

Awesome! Thanks for the pointers and the suggestion.

What are the key points I should look at when picking video cards?

[phillpower2]

You are welcome

Key points to look for in video cards are the power the card requires, does it need any supplemental connections from the PSU, 1GB of Ram and 256 bit as a minimum and the dimensions of the card, do you have enough room in the case.

Also worth mentioning for others who may read your topic, the majority of video cards in use today are the PCI-E X16 type but there are also still AGP and standard PCI types around but they tend to be in older or custom built machines.