Z77/Z87 Specifically for 3D Gaming/Streaming SLI, 3 Monitor rig: Motherboard+CPU

monkeyskin

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Mar 24, 2013
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Due to the above mentioned end build setup it is pronounced my current motherboard and cpu are not a strong enough pair for what is desired. That in mind, the components you should take into account are below:

Rosewill Blackhawk ultra super tower
1000w OCZ Z series modular 80+ gold PSU
WD 640G 7200 rpm caviar blue with OCZ synapse cache 128G ssd
Viewsonic 3D 23" 2ms gtg monitor ( plan to add 2 more)
Corsair H-60 cpu cooler
16G (4x4GB) 2133 mhz Patriot Viper Xtreem memory cl9

Will involve the addition of 2 GTX 770's or HD 9970's (waiting for release to purchase GPU's

Fairly certain that's the pertinent information, if not i can post anything needed. I have narrowed down everything to only a few comparable items that my experience cannot take any further. Ive got a friend running a 3770k on an ASUS maximus ROG board with liquid cooling capability and in the heart of friendly competition..., nah, I'm about kicking butt! I'd like some info on these pairings of core components to enhance my discrete graphics and blow his mind on the 3 screen rig. So here are my currently viewed part combinations:

it's been said if you are coming from AMD to Intel go for Haswell and pay attn to the heat so i have 2 options with 100.00 differences, both seem to fit my SLI requirement. Ive opted for the core I5 overclock edition for cpu. It seems to be widely recommended in the price performance category for gaming but my only apprehension would be 3d capability and its relation to processor power.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128617
Gigabytes Z87 board at 190.00 on newegg fits my red themed case and lighting and most of the features for my entertainment.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131998
Asus Z87 board doesn't match the red, but has all the bells and whistles but for 100.00 more. Could also drop 3 slot cards in this if I desired.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116899
Either one paired with this processor would fit in the 500.00 range and to my knowledge perform very nicely.

If we drop back to the 3rd gen. I5 processor I picked one 1155 Z77 socket board that fit the bill and held inside my range.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157322
Asrock offers quite an arsenal here.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157322
1300+ review 5 star(egg) rated processor...nuff said

as always any recommendations beyond these are very welcome especially considering my concern for the 3D portion of desired entertainment regarding the I5 which doesnt have hyperthreading. Not sure if that pertains to 3D at all but if so the 3770k/4770k processors will cause me to rethink 2 of the 3 motherboards to stay on target with the budget. I'd like to stay with a predominantly red board color and have bragging rights with my buddy but in the end performance is the factor i hold at the top.
thanks.
 

drewhoo

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Apr 5, 2012
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I'm not very familiar with the processor demands of 3D gaming, but I have to wonder: if you're on a $500 budget, and you are going to use a multi-gpu configuration, shouldn't you be looking at the 2011 socket? It has 40 PCIe lanes in contrast to the LGA 1150's 24 (and LGA 1155's 20). This means that in an SLI configuration, the LGA 2011 board runs both cards at x16, and the LGA1150 runs one at x16, one at x8. In tri-SLI, an LGA 2011 board would run x16, x16, x8 and the LGA 1150 would be x8, x8, x8. Although I'm not 100% sure I've got all the speeds right, so perhaps another forum creeper can tell us.

And, it's true that GPUs cannot saturate x16 PCIe 3.0 lanes anyway, but you never see Tom's Hardware test multi-GPU configurations with anything other than the a 2011 socket based system.

Also, I would not consider AMD GPUs for a multi GPU configuration; they scale horribly, and they get very hot, so you don't get your money's worth.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong as this is not my expertise--In theory, a 3D monitor should be fed frames at 120hz, one frame is for the left eye and one for the right eye in order to create the 3D separation. That means that you're trying to run 5760x1080 at 120 fps. If this is true, then you're going to need more than 2 770s. Take Crysis 3, for example. A 770 at 2560x1600 (which is not as demanding as 5760x1080) only gets into the 40s for fps. You need to do three times better than that, at a higher resolution.

But perhaps I'm wrong, and you only need framerates near 60 like normal, in which case the two 770s ought to meet your needs. I hope someone else with more expertise can weigh in on this.
 

monkeyskin

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Mar 24, 2013
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hey, thanks for the informative response.
id like to point out that the asus and asrock boards both offer 2 pcie 3.0 lanes at x16 speeds.
the other board would sacrifice this option but offers most of the other options at 100.00 less. this would only be viable if it would handle the workload of the rig and still perform nicely. I've looked at quite a few 2011 boards and they are very drool worthy, however my 500.00 budget would have to incorporate both the cpu and mainboard. im sure this is possible on this socket but i think the mainstream consumer uses the core i-5/i-7 more frequently. although my budget may be a little higher than the majority of people would allocate toward entertainment, i do have to adhere to a limited dollar amount to avoid wife aggro.

id like to venture a bit further down the road of video cards if you will. I'll admit a bit of a fanboy crush on AMD. I've used their products in my personal pc's for years. I can't fully commit though considering how much Intel dwarfs them in the processor market. If im going to be a fan of their company they will have to grow by leaps and bounds and at least be competitive with Intel. This should provide some insight into my objectivity. I'd like to point out a couple things and have you correct me if im wrong so here goes.

We all have heard to some extent that AMD is releasing 8000 series parts already from their graphics division and it seems we won't actually see a re-release as we have with Nvidia's current architecture. The 9000 series is scheduled to hit the market with a never settle bundle that includes BF4 and some other possible games. This will be new architecture and should quite possibly be a speculated 25-40% performance increase? Sorry for the broad spectrum but if you look at Nvidia you see their current architecture (save the Titan) pushed to its limit and performing beautifully.

So if the above is anywhere near true, this new AMD architecture should be on par with Nvidias next gen or the Titan correct? I mean, doesn't the fastest single GPU card sitting at a 1000.00 premium look lonely at the top? I could be wrong but it appears as though the 890 would be a 2 GPU version of the Titans architecture to some extent or am i assuming to much? Keep in mind i do realize the gpu sitting humbly inside the Titan could wind up being somewhere in the upper mid-range cards if Nvidia pulls a few folks out of the android building and relocates their brilliance back to beefing up desktop graphics. For example, the current architecture from nividia has survived 2 series and the current one really grew quite a bit past the other with the same foundation.
I could be completely out in left field with my speculation but ive been mulling it over throughout the workday and wanted to see if i had the right idea. Hopefully AMD has already predicted this and will respond with some absolute pristine graphics that really are on par with a beefed up titan. otherwise why should Nvidia even bother paying the electric bill at their desktop graphics building? They have next gen on the market already all they have to do is make it in multiple configurations and release it to their partners and head off to the REAL volcanic islands for a vacation.