Widescreen Gaming Forum

I do some part time coding and graphics work along side my real job. Mostly for hobby . . .

My computer is starting to reach its age but I've recently been given some 24" monitors (3 total, don't ask me where :P). I do some gaming, mainly WoW when I got the time. Its not necessarily a very graphics taxing game but I'd like to also run it in a large panoramic span mode.

So here's my setup:
Opteron 165 OC to 2.7 (yeah you can stop laughing now . . .)
DFI Mobo SLI
Seasonic 650W S12
4 gb ram
700gb HD
Audigy 2ZS soundcard

I'm not really sure what to spend on a video card. Plus I'm not sure what characteristic I should be aiming for?

For large resolutions, is it video ram that's the big one? (1gb vs 2gb vs. etc) or is it speed?
I was thinking of a 260GTX but not sure if my power supply can handle it.
I was also thinking of an ATI 4850x2 or a 4870x2, but I run an SLI setup. Can the card be used in crossfire mode despite being in one x16 PCIe slot on an nf4 mobo?
Can the card be used with SoftTH?
Can I use a 4870x2 and a 9500gt (at the same time) but use the 9500gt as a physics card?

Sorry for the all the questions. New here, not sure where to direct these inquiries.

For large resolutions, is it video ram that's the big one? (1gb vs 2gb vs. etc) or is it speed?
Depends on the game really. I don't play WoW, but it doesn't look like it needs a lot of vram. The sheer image size will need a fast card though. If you were to try Crysis at full resolution... as many GPUs as you can buy :P
I was thinking of a 260GTX but not sure if my power supply can handle it.
Seasonic makes good stuff, and 650 watts is way more than enough.
I was also thinking of an ATI 4850x2 or a 4870x2, but I run an SLI setup. Can the card be used in crossfire mode despite being in one x16 PCIe slot on an nf4 mobo?
Yep, they are great cards for systems with only one PCIe as well.. :)
Can the card be used with SoftTH?
From the looks of it, SLI and crossfire are useless at this point. If you want SoftTH, the fastest single GPU card would be your best bet.
Can I use a 4870x2 and a 9500gt (at the same time) but use the 9500gt as a physics card?
Not sure on this one sorry
Sorry for the all the questions. New here, not sure where to direct these inquiries.

Replies in red...

You'll love triplehead regardless what setup you go with :wink:

I agree 650w should be plenty for your needs.

The using of ATI with NVIDIA physics is probably possible but highly unlikely. When I dualed video cards ATI drivers seemed to conflict with NVIDIA drivers and cause nice error messages.

Remember you still have to buy the pricey TH2Go if you do not want to do soft2go.

Seeing as you already have 3 nice screens, I'd shell out the cash for a DTH2Go and an Nvidia card to avoid the ATI issues. A 280 or 285 would be a good choice. GTX295 even better ofc if you can afford it :P