Do I need a second video card (SLI) for a bigger monitor?

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I have a 19" CRT now that I mostly run games at 1280 X 1024. But I've been eyeing a nice big 24"-26" LCD with a 1920 X 1080 resolution. I'm just wondering if my current setup will be too slow for the games I usually play if I make that jump. I mostly play games like Lord of the Rings Online, D&D Online, Oblivion, Flight Simulator X, Company of Heroes, and Guild Wars. Here's my key components now:

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216
Core2 Duo E8400 @ 3.6GHz
8GB DDR2-800MHz
XFX nForce 780i mobo (3-way SLI)

So would a second GTX 260 Core 216 be worth it? I think they are around $150 after rebate on Newegg. Or should I just upgrade to a faster single-card solution? Or should I just get the monitor first and see what kind of frame rate hit I'm going to take at high resolution?
 
I don't know what hardware they were using in conjunction with the card or what the settings were at apart from the resolution, but anandtech benchmarks have the card running Crysis @ 1920x1200 at almost 30fps.

Likewise, the 260gtx running Oblivion at 1920x1200 with x4 AA and x16 AF is hitting 43fps on average.

You're gonna be just fine.
 
Ahh cool, I'll get the monitor and see how it goes then. By the way, do you guys know if the dimensions for monitors given on NewEgg include the height with the monitor stand or without? My desk with the credenza can only fit a monitor under 21" tall.
 
Yea from what it sounds like you should be ok, although if it does slow down, you can always scale back the resolution of the one monitor that you dont use. I know I have a dual setup, and my smaller one is only used when I need it for projects, so i scale it back less than the other bigger one. Truthfully, unless your technophile, I dont think SLi is worht the money just because double the money doesnt net you double the power, I think if i remember correctly the gain for SLi is only like 20-30% at best. I could be wrong though, its been a while since I looked it up. And I SLied my old 8600.
 
[quote name='redline']Ahh cool, I'll get the monitor and see how it goes then. By the way, do you guys know if the dimensions for monitors given on NewEgg include the height with the monitor stand or without? My desk with the credenza can only fit a monitor under 21" tall.[/QUOTE]

Yeah they should have dimension of most of the LCD monitors, including measure for the height with the stand. It seems like many of the 24" are below 18" in height with the stand. So I think you're in the clear.
 
I could be wrong but afaik it's the amount of memory on the card that lets you push higher resolution in games. Also the chipset too but more on the memory.
 
[quote name='XxSmityxX']I could be wrong but afaik it's the amount of memory on the card that lets you push higher resolution in games. Also the chipset too but more on the memory.[/QUOTE]

That's correct. More memory will allow the games to run at higher resolution (above 1920x1080) without taking a major hit in framerate. The GTX260 has something like 896MB which is good enough for most recent games, maybe without turning on AA.
 
I don't think that's right. More memory will let you use higher resolution textures. Not a higher display resolution. The display resolution is more dependent on the gpu itself.

I tried looking at some official sources but couldn't find anything to confirm or deny the role of VRAM in display resolution. It isn't listed, but it isn't denied either. However, textures are certainly listed as one of the key things that VRAM takes care of, so I'm inclined to believe myself.

[quote name='wiki']In modern 3D graphics cards, the video memory may also hold 3D vector data, textures, backbuffers, overlays and GPU programs.[/quote]
 
You will be just fine with those games. But....if you decide to run more demanding games, you will need either a better GPU or you will have to SLI it.

Display resolution is supported by the GPU chipset and drivers altogether. In terms of screen resolution, at high resolutions you are required to display more textures and therefore need more RAM to buffer and support it. Think of the higher the RES the more programs open. More RAM allows it to run smoother, not necessarily faster.
 
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