just a quick question about what resolution is best for gaming?

[jc6699]

does the higher the res mean the better the game will look? if I had a 30" display at 2560x1600 but didnt have a vid card that could handle all the extra settings turned up would it still look better then say a 46" hdtv at 1920x1080 with all graphic settings maxed? Im talking pc gaming on a hdtv. sory in advance if this is a dumb question.

 

[Djizasse]

More rez just means that, more pixels. It can start to make a difference if your screen is bigger. 30" and 2560x1600 is overkill in my opinion. I mean, can you notice the difference between 1920x1080 and 2560x1600 at 32"?

Another aspect, as you mentioned, is the GPU power needed to drive so many pixels. You'll have to go SLI, Tri-SLI or QuadSLI to be able to enjoy some games with maxed settings (think Crysis).

Right now I'm using a 32" Samsung 656 (1920x1080). I'm +-3 feet from the screen and I really could not use anything bigger. In a month or two I'm gonna build a new PC with a new GPU (maybe an AMD 4870x2) and enjoy many games with max settings at 1920x1080. For now I'll get by with an Opteron 165 + 8700 GTS (still playing HL2 and COD4 at 1920x1080). Not exactly a hardcore setup.

Take a look at www.widescreengamingforum.com for more information.

 

[alexwakelin]

One more thing to consider, running 2, 3 or 4 vid cards means you need a massive psu not to mention the heat they are going to emit so stock cooling won't be sufficient anymore either. There's a bit more involved than just cramming a bunch of vid. cards in your computer case. A system that hardcore needs to be designed from the ground up for that purpose with sufficienct power and cooling in mind. It will take a lot of fans to keep that system cool, so if noise is a concern you may want to look into liquid cooling.