ams4127

Thanks for that.

Chronus

That's an interesting point. Whilst I want decent gaming performance, that's a concession to a younger member of familly. Personally, I am more interested in video. Apart from Quadro's (and a decent one of them is outside my budget), the only gaming nVidia cards that are "recommended" for Adobe CS6, that I want to use, are GTX570 and 580 (I don't know how critical that is).

Will I actually be struggling, with a 1GB GTX570, if I want to add a second monitor, in the future. Do I need to do some research whether two slightly lesser cards, in SLI, would be suitable. To be honest, comparing the performance of, say, two 560's in SLI, with single 570, is way beyond my skill level!

Have spotted that EVGA do a 2GB version of the GTX570, which would appear to be fine, for any monitors I'm likely to use.

EVGA have thrown up another issue, however. I was under the impression that, whilst the Z77 chipset was brought out, with IvyBridge in mind, the Z68 was also compatible with IvyBridge (1155), and it was a question of "you pays your money and takes your choice".

Whilst checking out EVGA's graphics, thought I'd also check out their mobos (had been intending to use Asus mobo with Asus GPU), and emailed them a couple of queries.

Just had email, from EVGA, saying ONLY their Z77 mobo is COMPATIBLE with IvyBridge.

Is that JUST EVGA?!? Cos if not, I'm now REALLY confused!

As of yet, apart from going with AN i7, for video (I have seen arguements for hex-core, but that is OTT, as I'm not planning a remake of Star Wars), and probably going with that 2GB EVGA GTX570 (unless someone suggests not to), I've not got anything written in stone.

Between IV and IS, and between Z68 and Z77, I've yet to decide. There don't seem to be more than marginal differences, in either case. If Sandybridge, there's also the choice between 2600 and 2700. I do tend to think, if all other things equal, "latest" can be best, for no other reason than that it may be SLIGHTLY more "future proof", for the next big thing that comes along (wish I had a crystal ball).

I shall do a bit more research, and post my "proposal" here. Then everyone can poke holes in it, but it's the best way to avoid a total c* up.

I note I did, originally, read the standard GTX570 memory wrong. It is 1.25GB, rather than 1GB. I would appreciate some advice whether that will run two 1920 monitors. At the rate I'm going, I would be able to afford anything special. I will probably get something like a Dell U2312, for now, and, if anything, get another, slightly larger/better, at later date.

The other possible option is to "bite the bullet", and get GTX670, which will solve all issues, but it's a bit OTT, for what I really need. I'll have to try and convince myself it's "future proof", to justify the expense. I suppose it's better VALUE than the 570.