Graphics cards for gaming with mini display port

[staralfur]

Hope this is in the right place, hard to know where to put it!

Basically, I have a windows gaming rig in need of a new gfx card, I want one with mini display so I can use my 27" iMac as an external monitor. Can someone recommend a suitable card for hopefully around $200-$250 that will do the job for me? I have Battlefield 3 in mind for my next purchase so needs to be able to handle that ok.

Thanks folks.

 

[Mackilroy]

Here's an XFX HD 6950 with two MDP ports. One of the first reviews claims excellent performance on the BF3 beta.

 

[peskaa]

Only AMD offer MDP ports on some cards. So for good performance you'll be wanting a 6950, 6970 or 6990, these will all handle BF3 - just a matter of picking the brand you like (Sapphire etc) with the right ports.

 

[BigYellow]

Couldn't you just get one with a DVI or HDMI output and use a DVI-to-MDP or HDMI-to-MDP cable? We bought an HDMI-to-MDP to hook a Macbook Air up to a Samsung LCD with HDMI and that does the trick... I don't think the fact that you're using an iMac as the monitor would make a difference either.

 

[staralfur]

How much does such a cable cost?

 

[Kenndac]

You don't need a mini DisplayPort on the graphics card - a regular DisplayPort will work just fine too. My gaming PC has a Radeon HD 6950 that has a regular DisplayPort on it and it powers my iMac's display perfectly well with a DisplayPort -> mini DisplayPort cable I bought locally for like $10.

As a plus, if you have speakers connected to your iMac, the audio from your PC will actually go through the DisplayPort and be routed by the iMac to its speakers. It's a pretty neat feature! I'm not sure if that'll work with a HDMI -> MDP adapter, and it definitely won't with a DVI -> MDP one.

 

[staralfur]

In the end i've gone for a gtx560 ti, so all I need to hook up will be a mini displayport to hdmi adapter, hdmi cable obviously, and run in external display mode. Right?