I'm putting together a computer on the cheap and have a couple questions about graphics cards.

It appears AGP is dead, PCI is back. I want to run a 57" TV as a monitor right now, eventually I'll get a three monitor set-up.
I'm looking at these for the primary card, which would you pick and why?

• http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121714
• http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127679
• http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150641

Am I better off running a 128-bit 2GB card for half the price of a 256-bit card? What features am I paying for in the more expensive card? I assume I'll need an additional two cards to run the ancillary monitors, right? Cheaper is better and my target is 60FPS.

Is 16MB RAM a waste of money?

Will this CPU cooler from my old P4 work on a modern AMD processor?

Thanks for the help. I haven't pieced-together a computer since circa 2000. That computer was hot **** with 512MB PC333, 32MB vid card, and the mobo was awesome because it was jumperless.

 

Links aren't working for me.....
But this might be of interest to you:

How To Build A Great Gaming PC For Under $700

 

16MB of RAM is not nearly enough. 8GB is plenty though, no need for 16.

I'm guessing that the CPU cooler won't fit, or you will have to DIY attachment to the motherboard. Just get a retail version of the CPU you want (rather than OEM version), it will come with the factory cooler. Unless you are overclocking you don't need anything better than that.

You can easily run 2 (and probably all 3) monitors from one video card. You certainly don't need 3 of them. And yeah the links don't work.

 

MSI Z77 MPOWER ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K - Newegg.com
XIGMATEK Gaia SD1283 CPU Cooler bracket included dual fan push pull compatible - Newegg.com
Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G - OEM - Newegg.com
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9R - Newegg.com (or like spec)

i have 2 of these running sli MSI N660Ti PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Newegg.com
i would get 1 if you want the best for less.
if you want to save $60 MSI N660TI-2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 Ti Video Card - Newegg.com
if you want better MSI N670 PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 670 Video Card - Newegg.com
if you want the best MSI N680GTX Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 680 Video Card - Newegg.com
if you want lol my brain is melting MSI N680GTX Lightning GeForce GTX 680 Video Card - Newegg.com

Now lock this thing up.

 

Can we talk about the important things for an iRacing rig? Like what steering wheel and pedal setup do you plan on using? Are you going to actually use a real racing seat built on a frame to hold everything?

After I buy a new place, building a racing sim setup is on my to do list so this thread is relevant to me. So far I have a spare miata seat, spare comp, and a welder. My plan is to attempt to build some sort of frame to hold the seat, steering wheel, and pedals.

 

If you are going to run a decent size monitor setup, its best to have 256bit cards

 

So I need to find a vid card with three DVI plugs, basically?

 

I used this guide (albeit over a year ago, it's changed since then) and built something similar to what they call Tier 2.

http://www.hardware-revolution.com/b...ming-pcs-v3-6/

It runs iRacing without issue, and the video card I have is capable of running three monitors (I think...).

Anyway, check out that link, the website seems to provide decent info.

Jeffman is the expert on this though, so listen to him...

 

I think any combination of three decent video outputs.

I think mine has 1 HDMI, and 2 DVIs

 

my 670s have 1 HDMI, 1 Displayport (I have no idea what that is), 2 DVIs.

per card.

 

Lars, A friend of mine up here at school has an Iracing rig setup made out of some random car seat still on the slider, one piece of plywood, and a bunch of pvc piping, I can get pics if you would like next time I am at his house.

 

Thanks. It's a little irritating how everything that's 1-year old is no longer stocked or totally discontinued so I have no idea what to buy.

 

Is my 10-year old 440w power supply still usable?

 

Nvidia cards only support 2 monitors per card. My Nvidia Ti has 2 hdmi and 2 dvi but they share inputs . 2 max inputs. Some ATI cards will do more than 2.

 

Not with most of the better video cards. Especially if you want to do multiple monitors and maintain a decent frame rate.

 

Not if you want to run 3 monitors, to run 3 monitors you're going to need 2 video cards, heck even running 1 decent gaming card is most likely going to take more than a 440 can handle, and if you are from the land of AGP that PS likely doesnt even have the correct connectors for any modern card. Video card wise, dont get too caught up in the features and numbers, buy a range topper card from the previous generation or two and it'll be fine, hell even a mid level card from the previous generation will be enough to run practically anything.

 

Honestly Trey, I would use the older computer you where talking about before with a single monitor for a while. You could get a decent enough frame rate out of it and have minimal investment. Get a decent wheel, and you will be out $300-$400 total. Plus if you do decide to go more advanced with the setup, your main expenses from your first setup would transfer over.

 

I racing is not a very computer intensive game. Whatever you're running with that 440 watt PS is probably enough to play it, maybe not maxed out, but iRacing isnt a very pretty game to begin with. As long as you can do your native resolution and maximum viewing distance with everything else turned all the way down you can play it. In the order of spending your money with iRacing assuming you've got a computer made within the last decade wheel/pedals/shifter->racing seat->motion simulator->top end computer

 

False. It can support 3...

...just need a 2 card SLI minimum...

 

Thanks everyone. Right now the only worthy computer I have is a notebook without a real video card so I expect the computer to have a tough time running the game and I fully expect it to look like ****.

doesn't the iRacing site say that I can't play the game with an onboard vid card? I don't know since it's blocked at my office, lol.