robertneches: Maximum PC | Can You Build A 2560 x 1600 Gaming Rig Without ...

It's easy to build a gaming machine on a budget if you're playing at 1650x1080 or 1920x1200, but if you're rocking 2560x1600, you need a little more oomph

As Maximum PC senior editor Gordon Mah Ung puts it, building a budget gaming rig for a 30-inch panel is the metaphorical equivalent of slapping a Ferrari engine into a crappy Ford car. If you can afford a display that rings up north of $2,000, then why the heck are you trying to cut corners on the system you?re connecting it to?

I can?t answer that one for you. But what I can tell you is exactly how you can go about getting the best frame rate for your buck without purchasing a PC that?s more expensive than your mega-monitor. That?s my task for this build-it: killer gaming performance without needless budgetary destruction. And as you might expect, picking the perfect graphics card for the mix is the biggest challenge of this build.

So in the interest of fairness, I selected two videocard setups that I put to the test in this build: the best of Nvidia?s dual-GPU monstrosities, and two high-end ATI cards in a CrossFire setup. Compared to what these cards can do, everything else on this PC is practically window dressing.

Choosing the Right Hardware

As far as top-notch processors go, Intel?s Sandy Bridge architecture is a no-brainer for my killer system build. I?ve opted for the 3.3GHz 2500K instead of its 2600K cousin because it?s less expensive and is easy to overclock up to the 2600K?s 3.4GHz, and I don?t feel that the addition of Hyper-Threading is going to make that much of a difference to gaming frame rates. To keep the system speedy (and load times low), Intel?s Z68 platform and its integrated Smart Response Technology allow me to use an SSD as an expanded read/write cache for a standard hard drive. What little benefit in speeds I?d see by jumping from a Western Digital Caviar Blue to a Caviar Black drive is eclipsed by the SSD cache?s performance.

And now for the elephant in the room: the videocards. The point of this system build is to present an affordable PC that can dish out top-notch gaming on a 30-inch panel. That?s why I?m not just taking the easy route and slapping in two Nvidia GTX 590 cards or two ATI Radeon HD 6990 cards in a paired configuration and calling it a day (don?t do the math; the cost of these cards hurts.)

Maximum PC recommending a CrossFire scenario instead of a single-card setup? What is this world coming to?

As for my ultimate decision to go with two ATI Radeon HD 6970 cards in a CrossFire configuration instead of a single, dual-GPU Nvidia GTX 590, I?ll let the benchmarks (see page 2)?and the price points?speak for themselves. Simply put, I found that I could achieve similar or even better performance (depending on the game) from a comparably priced CrossFire setup than with Nvidia?s single-card solution.

From benchmark tests of Batman: Arkham Asylum, to Dirt 3, to Metro 2033, to an ever-punishing trip through Crysis 2, my CrossFire setup consistently spanked Nvidia?s GTX 590. Now, I realize that my selection flies in the face of the advice that Maximum PC has been giving you since videocards were invented?namely, that you should always purchase the fastest single-card solution you can get under the presumption that you?ll later be able to bolster your setup with a wicked-fast SLI or CrossFire setup, if you so desire.

But with the price of these extreme videocards shooting up into the $700 range, I think we can take that suggestion and throw it out the window. If you can afford $1,400 worth of videocards, you?re reading the wrong article. For the best out-of-box solution that can make your games scream on a 30-inch display without breaking your bank account, you can?t go wrong with dual ATI Radeon HD 6970s.