Dual GPU vs Single GPU FOR Dual monitors

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YesEvil

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Hey all,
In the process of planning a new rig to purchase at the end of University, has to last me for awhile. Something I don't have any experience with is dual monitors.

So this rig is going to cost around the $2000-$2500 mark, what would be my best option for GPUs?

NOTE:
I will be streaming the games I play on twitch. Meaning an i7 is the intended CPU.

Thanks in advance for any replies.
 
Solution
bryonhowley
For that a single GPU would work just fine.

The second option you could do would be to setup your second monitor onto the igpu build into your i7 that would free your GPU up for just the game.

One thing to note if you are running your games full screen most games will not let you interact with other application with out minimizing the game. Most games lock the mouse to the screen the game is running on. Just food for thought.
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13thmonkey

13thmonkey

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are you planning on gaming over two screens.

if not then either run both off the same gpu, or run one off the main gpu and one off the mobo (or a very low spec passive gpu (GT210 for instance). This second option allows your main gpu to idle when you are just using windows. At least up to GTX5XX's the main gpu will run at full clocks when idle with two screens, it's hot, it's noisy and it sucks an extra 100W+

Both/all three options will work, there is nothing scary about dual screens. gaming across dual screens is tricky, because of the bezel, but one decent gpu can work, if you need more power you'll have to go down the sli route.
 
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YesEvil

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One Screen for gaming, the other will have my streaming software and any other applications that I want up whilst streaming. I will probably have to post a further question somewhere else about what a PC really needs for higher-end streaming.
 
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bryonhowley

bryonhowley

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For that a single GPU would work just fine.

The second option you could do would be to setup your second monitor onto the igpu build into your i7 that would free your GPU up for just the game.

One thing to note if you are running your games full screen most games will not let you interact with other application with out minimizing the game. Most games lock the mouse to the screen the game is running on. Just food for thought.
 
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YesEvil

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Thanks a lot, probably going to save me a lot of money now with the single GPU. No worries about the fullscreen gaming, I play with windowed mode on. Thanks again :)

 
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13thmonkey

13thmonkey

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beware in windowed mode, it might be very easy to move the mouse outside of the window and lose control.

 
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Hello man

Hello man

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First off, I am a strong SLI supporter. The idea is great, and can really knock you price down by about $100-200. One thing to remember though is that SLI works like so. The first card splits the work in half, sending the other half off to the other gpu via the bridge or chipset, then once processed, the gpu sends it back across the bridge where the second card compiles it and sends it off to join the other data being processed by the cpu and other components. Because of that, the first GPU will always be hotter and be working harder with more memory used because it has to store the data the second card sends back. By doing this, you effective frame rate will usually about double. Even with crap or old gpus, (7800 gt), I was able to get 120 fps on my first build. A nearly doubled frame rate will happen EVEN if you plug both monitors into the same card. If you got 2 cards from 2010ish, like a GTX 460 1GB super clocked, you would have two gigs of GDDR5 memory and 672 processors. Just make sure your CPU would have enough power to handle that much data, and you have enough RAM to store it, plus have about a 800w PSU at least.
 
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13thmonkey

13thmonkey

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No. 2x1GB cards in SLI equals 1GB of usable Vram as both cards need to have the same data available to them. You do not get nearly double the fps, the factor is good if around 1.8 or better but 1.5 is more normal and it is game and driver dependent.
 
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Hello man

Hello man

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Oops! Meant physical memory.
 
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