Graphics Card for Racing Sims?

[EIF]

I'm hoping to build a pc for racing games/sims soon but I can't decide on a graphics card. I will be using a single monitor at 1920x1080 with an i5 cpu and 8GB ram. I know sims aren't the most graphically demanding but I'm also looking to play F1 2011 with very high/max settings.

My first thought was a HD5850 or GTX460, at the other end of my budget is the GTX560 ti or HD6950. I dont play shooters much anymore so maybe the 560 or 6950 ae overkill for racers?

Driver issues can be a problem with certain games so has anyone here found nVidia to work better than ATI or vice versa with racing games like F1 2010, iracing, rfactor ect Thanks.

 

[Lenard Schaeffler]

one screen at 1920x1080 a 5850 would support the needed framrates and eye candy just fine, personally i would say at that res anything over a 5870 is headroom that you dont need.

 

[Jim Cole]

Depending on cost, look at one of the ATI cards that ends in 70 to get the best performance on the single monitor. If you can get the 5770 at a decent price, go that way as it should out perform any of the others listed or match them. As for the drivers, all that I have been hearing about is the lack of solid drivers from nVidia. I don't know for certain if they have addressed this yet or not, but for me that means I am sticking with ATI for a bit.

Also, you said that you were going to be running an i5, is it the sandybridge 2400 or is it one of the older dies? If it is the sandy, you should be fine, if the older then you might be slightly underpowered on the CPU, but I don't think you will see much running just a single monitor.

 

[EIF]

Thanks for the input. I'l be using the i5 2500k so it wont be a bottleneck. Im leaning towards a 6950 because it gives me some headroom for future games and eyefity will allow me to triple screen if I suddenly find the space and money lol

 

[Alexander Rhodes]

If drivers are your main concern, you may like to know that AMD and ATI have been buddies for a while, and Nvidia have also worked closely with Intel, so from a drivers and stability point of view, Nvidia may be more stable with the Intel cpu.

Another issue that you need to look into will be soundcards, they are the most common issue when people have trouble with games and programs, get a good soundcard for the machine and get the drivers that will work best with it (not necessarily the latest). That way you can eliminate further conflicts and driver issues that normally occur with bog-standard on-board sound.

 

[Michael Vinall]

I can tell you my 5850 is brilliant, I've had it for a while and it runs almost every game I've played on maxed out settings, most of the time I choose not to have max AA as I have a 1920x1080 res. I agree that a 6950 would be overkill, and then I would say though it would work fine the CPU falls behind the other components.

If drivers are your main concern, you may like to know that AMD and ATI have been buddies for a while, and Nvidia have also worked closely with Intel, so from a drivers and stability point of view, Nvidia may be more stable with the Intel cpu.

I'm pretty sure AMD own ATI :wink:
In terms of compatibility they are both fine with each other, though when I bought my components a year ago AMD SLI motherboards were very bad value for money compared to ATIs I've heard they've come a long way