Which sould I get?

[Rapishorrid]

The parts are arriving for my new build:

E4300 (to be overclocked)
Gigabyte DS3 (P965)
2gb OCZ Platinum rev2 (PC2 6400)
Corsair HX520

and an Enermax Chakra, 2 Yate Loon 120mms plus an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro to cool it all off

My dilemma now is whether to get a monitor or graphics card first. I am on a tight budget obviously and have a little over $300 to spend on one or the other.

Options:

- I get an 8800GTS 640mb now and run it on my crappy, aging and dying 17" CRT until I get the cash for the monitor.

- I get the Samsung 226BW 22" now and run it on a crappy $20 PCI graphics card until I can get the cash for a real graphics card.

Each option obviously has its pros and cons.. Getting the card I will enjoy the full potential of my rig, but will constantly be reminded of that day I picked up my CRT from the dump.. or wherever it was. On the other hand if I get the monitor I can enjoy a huge screen upgrade doing day to day tasks and what not since at this point there aren't any *new* games I am itching to play. However I am not sure how well a $20 PCI card will handle the high res of the 22". And there's always the potential it could make my LCD look like total crap.

Thus I find myself here at the trusty Anandtech forums seeking advice!

 

[ScrapSilicon]

why not split the difference and get a 8800gts 320mb and a 19" lcd <edit>typo

 

[Rapishorrid]

why not split the difference and get a 8800gts 32mb and a 19" lcd

32mb would be less than what I'm getting with the PCI card...

But all spelling mistakes aside - that's not an option. This is an upgrade I've planned for a while and I don't want to skimp out this time

Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[ScrapSilicon]

so you didn't check the results of the 320mb vs. 640mb cards ?

 

[Rapishorrid]

so you didn't check the results of the 320mb vs. 640mb cards ?

Of course I did. I told you I've been planning this upgrade for a while and one of the first things that popped up was the 320mb vs. 640mb issue. The problem with this is that current benchmarks are of little use for comparing the two as current games don't utilize much more memory than the 320mb provides. Though there are some games that are reaching into higher memory useages (Company of Heroes, Neverwinter Nights 2 and Gothic 3 to name some) available now I am looking more towards the future. So I made my choice based on the fact that the 640mb card has a performance increase almost proportional to the increase in memory (twice the performance, twice the amount of memory)in the games available now.

I am also dealing with a relatively high resolution (once I get the 22") which can sometimes have benefits from 640mb. This can be seen in some benchmarks, the only one I can pull off the top of my head is BF2142.

 

[Firsttime]

I would go monitor first GPU second, just because monitors tend to hold value a little more then video cards. If you buy your monitor now you will get something closer to what you would get in several months. There is a greater chance of GPU's decreasing in price over the same time period.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: Firsttime
I would go monitor first GPU second, just because monitors tend to hold value a little more then video cards. If you buy your monitor now you will get something closer to what you would get in several months. There is a greater chance of GPU's decreasing in price over the same time period.

Agreed.

 

[Rapishorrid]

I would go monitor first GPU second, just because monitors tend to hold value a little more then video cards. If you buy your monitor now you will get something closer to what you would get in several months. There is a greater chance of GPU's decreasing in price over the same time period.

Didn't even think of that. That is a really good point.

By the time I can afford the GPU it will probably be substantially cheaper (ATI releasing their new line and what not) or there will be a better one out to take its place.

I'm still not 100% yet - I am a little worried that a 20 dollar graphics card is not going to handle the monitor that well..

 

[Kirby64]

Why not get the best of both worlds? Find a 19" CRT off craigslist or something (people give em away), and get the GFX card? It's no awesome 22" LCD, but it's way better than a crappy 17" CRT

 

[Rapishorrid]

Nah I'm being stubborn. I want to play Crysis on a 22" with an 8800

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Monitor first!

 

[Smartazz]

Monitor first, your eyes will thank you.

 

[Roguestar]

Too much hate for 17" CRTs in this thread for my liking :|.

 

[Rapishorrid]

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Too much hate for 17" CRTs in this thread for my liking :|.

Well in this instance my monitor happens to have a huge crack in the screen