Upgrading to a triple display (5760x1080) and I'm not sure if I need to upgrade my from my GTX 770 2GB

jdrouillard1 · Nov 11, 2013

As the title states, I have just recently purchased a new monitor setup. I will be running a triple monitor surround view system. When I originally built my PC I decided to go with an ASUS gtx 770 2gb GPU. This card works perfectly for my current single monitor display. However, based on other forums and reviews, it seems that this card may not be powerful enough to run triple monitors for intensive gaming. I plan on using this build for a long time so I would like to maintain the ability to upgrade (I have two slots for SLI). I have been looking around and the titan superclocked would be the absolute top of my budget. I am willing to spend this much, but not unless I need to. I am always a fan of the new games and will be using this build for the next gen games.

Current Specs:

Intel i7 4770
AsRock z87 Extreme3 MoBo
Xion 850W PSU
ASUS gtx 770 2gb GPU
8gb Corsair vengeance RAM (2 4gb sticks)
GeminII Heatsink

I want to be able to run any game on max settings. I understand Crysis 3 is insanity but I would like to see it maintain 40+ fps. I do believe the Titan can cover this.

I would like to stick with nVidia cards if possible.

Overall question, is a Titan justifiable? Is now a bad time to buy a new GPU because of upcoming releases? I know a Titan will hold it's ground for a long time, but I don't want to buy one now and watch the price drop a few hundred in two weeks.

Apbg10 · Nov 11, 2013

Thought any about the 780ti? I'm pretty sure that it has better performance than the Titan and it's 3gb of memory should be enough for that resolution for several years.

fudoka711 · Nov 11, 2013

I would instead look to buy the gtx 780, 780ti, or r9 290x. Don't go for the titan since you don't need it (for gaming). Tom's recently did a review of the 780ti and you can see its framerates in comparison to other top gpu's, including the 770 that you currently own.

EDIT: Somehow I missed where you said you preferred nvidia. I would go for the 780ti then. Again, look at tom's most recent review of the 780ti and how it stacks up against the other top cards right now.

jdrouillard1 · Nov 11, 2013

Thanks for the replies! I kept looking after making this post and finally found a solid comparison between the 780 ti and the titan. It seems that the titan sees a smaller drop in fps as you add monitors, but the 780 ti stays neck and neck and even beats the titan on some occasions. I will have some overclocking capability as well if that makes any difference. Not a ton as I don't have amazing cooling systems or anything. I have four 120mm fans on throughout the case and one big 180mm fan on the side.

I figured the 770 I currently have wouldn't be powerful enough. The main problem is I should have this setup ready to go by the end of the week and the 780 ti is currently out of stock (EVGA).

Edit: The superclocked is out of stock for EVGA. They have regular 780 ti's.

jdrouillard1 · Nov 11, 2013

Another concern that I have is that new generation games are starting to use more VRAM. If battlefield 4 is any indication, it will be rising in the coming years. Battlefield 4 is already recommended to have 3GB which is the top of the 780 ti. That was something I forgot to mention in my original post. I don't want to buy a card and have to upgrade again anytime soon. Buying a second card this year will be bad enough...

fudoka711 · Nov 11, 2013

jdrouillard1 :

Yea, a couple games can already use more than 3gb vram. If you really think vram will be an issue, then I would strongly suggest going with what amd has to offer. However, 3gb vram should be enough for your total resolution. In BF4, 3gb was sufficient for 3840x2160 resolution, which is 2million more pixels than what you're going to be using.

jdrouillard1 · Nov 11, 2013

Well what would you recommend in terms of AMD cards? If i go with the 780 ti I may as well get the superclocked version which is currently out of stock..

Just a heads up, I have no familiarity with AMD cards whatsoever.

jdrouillard1 · Nov 11, 2013

Another question to add, what is it about the Titan that makes everyone pull away? I understand that the price is ridiculous, but the VRAM far exceeds that of any other card currently on that market, and I don't think I've ever seen a review come back with a DOA or an RMA. Everyone who receives that card seems to love it.

a1blaster · Nov 11, 2013

770 sli or gtx 780 ti

jdrouillard1 · Nov 11, 2013

a1blaster :

I've done enough research to know that my 770 will not be enough even in SLI. My main issue is the lack of VRAM and SLIing my 2GB 770 with another will do nothing to improve my VRAM.

fudoka711 · Nov 11, 2013

jdrouillard1 :

From AMD, I would recommend the r9 290x. Tom's also did a recent review of the r9 290x. In the 780ti review, you can see a comparison between the 780ti and 290x, among other comparable cards. Make sure you read up on the r9 290x though, as there are currently issues with fan speeds/throttling. The r9 290x comes with 5gb vram. However, we can probably expect AMD to fix those issues soon.

jdrouillard1 :

The Titan simply costs too much for the gaming performance it gives. The 780ti does better at most games. The titan is better for non-gaming applications (compute).

nVidia probably made the 780ti only 3gb on purpose, to try to make people pay $300 more for the titan (6gb). Also, the 780ti is made from the best binned pcb's, so it should theoretically have the best reliability among the 780, 780ti, and titan. I believe Titans and 780's are made from pcb's that had a small defect and/or problem with power leak.

As I said earlier, 4gb should be fine for your needs. If you ever think you're going to be gaming on a 4k monitor/resolution before you upgrade your gpu, then I would go with a titan. If you're going to stop at 5760x1080 for a few years, then the 780ti should be fine.

jdrouillard1 · Nov 12, 2013

fudoka711 :

jdrouillard1 :

From AMD, I would recommend the r9 290x. Tom's also did a recent review of the r9 290x. In the 780ti review, you can see a comparison between the 780ti and 290x, among other comparable cards. Make sure you read up on the r9 290x though, as there are currently issues with fan speeds/throttling. The r9 290x comes with 5gb vram. However, we can probably expect AMD to fix those issues soon.

jdrouillard1 :

The Titan simply costs too much for the gaming performance it gives. The 780ti does better at most games. The titan is better for non-gaming applications (compute).

nVidia probably made the 780ti only 3gb on purpose, to try to make people pay $300 more for the titan (6gb). Also, the 780ti is made from the best binned pcb's, so it should theoretically have the best reliability among the 780, 780ti, and titan. I believe Titans and 780's are made from pcb's that had a small defect and/or problem with power leak.

As I said earlier, 4gb should be fine for your needs. If you ever think you're going to be gaming on a 4k monitor/resolution before you upgrade your gpu, then I would go with a titan. If you're going to stop at 5760x1080 for a few years, then the 780ti should be fine.

I guess one other question then. I do some work with heavy photoshop files. For work I can have up to five 1000 layer files open at a time. My work computer isn't powerful enough to handle it (It's a piece of junk honestly). So I may start bringing some of this work home. Would the 3gb from the 780ti still be enough for something that puts that large of a load on the computer?

jdrouillard1 · Nov 12, 2013

Another question to add, if I do go with a titan, would it be better to buy the superclocked version for $20 more? Or would I be better off buying a regular one and overclocking myself? I guess I'm asking, can I overclock the superclocked version further than the regular version with the same environment?

fudoka711 · Nov 13, 2013

I'm not familiar enough with photoshop to give you a solid recommendation, but from what I know photoshop will use system ram, except for filters that are gpu accelerated. Technically, the titan should perform better than the 780ti at photoshop just because it has more available ram and its cores are better set up for compute. My gut feeling tells me 3gb would be fine....it would help if someone more familiar with photoshop could give input though.

As for regular vs superclocked. If you're already spending $1000 on a titan, $20 isn't that much more. But more importantly, superclocked versions are better binned versions of their "regular" counterparts. The superclocked version can be overclocked more than the regular version with the same environment.

jdrouillard1 · Nov 13, 2013

fudoka711 :

Thanks for your help. Hopefully someone with photoshop experience can confirm which would be better. A better binned version of a titan for $20 more is definitely worth it in my eyes. I will probably wait for the black friday/cyber monday sales in hopes that the titan has a sale since the 780ti is probably putting some hurt on the sales of titans.

faxfan · Nov 13, 2013

I have a 3 monitor setup and running 2 x 680's in SLI and it certainly isn't enough - maxing out VRAM on both 2GB cards. I'm trying to get my head around what cards I need - minimum 6GB VRAM, mulling over 2 x 780 in SLI...

jdrouillard1 · Nov 13, 2013

faxfan :

I assume you are talking about this in terms of photoshop work? Or is this for gaming?

In regards to your comment about needing 6GB VRAM minimum, the only general user card that can provide this is the GTX Titan. Two 780's in SLI will still only provide you with 3GB of VRAM since VRAM is mirrored between the two cards, not added.

faxfan · Nov 13, 2013

I was talking about gaming and I did know that vmem was shared, live and learn!

jdrouillard1 · Nov 13, 2013

faxfan :

If you look at the other posts on this thread I believe you will find that SLI 780ti models will make gaming a breeze on a triple monitor setup. Most of the recommendations in this threat only suggest one though because it should do fine in the current market. However, I may be doing heavy photoshop work and am looking for a way to futureproof* my computer.

I am not sure if it is against the rules to put this but: I have a post on reddit where I was given very helpful links to compare some graphics cards. Most references lead to other threads on this site, so if you do a little hunting, I'm sure you can find the benchmark tests between the 780ti and the titan that show almost equal performance at a lower cost.

* I know futureproofing is not possible. The proper term would be future-ready I guess.

ajl2011shooter · Nov 13, 2013

With the price drop in nvidia cards if I was in your shoes I'd give consideration to 780's in SLI. 3gb of vram is more that enough in surround. I have 4gb 770's (i also play in surround)and I'm just a bit under powered. I'v never used more than 2.5gb while playing BF4 So in my opinion even future games your pretty safe.

faxfan · Nov 13, 2013

The problem with stuff like this you don't know until you buy. Think I'll be going for the 780's in SLI, ti's may just be a little of my budget.

jdrouillard1 · Nov 13, 2013

faxfan :

With black friday right around the corner, I would suggest waiting a little bit. While it is very unlikely that the brand new 780ti will go on sale, you never know. I've been watching http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/new/ to keep an eye on the new deals that are coming out during newegg's black november, as well as other deals that I never would have seen without the site. I'm hopefully waiting until cyber monday to see if I can't find a titan superclocked on sale.

Upgrading to a triple display (5760x1080) and I'm not sure if I need to upgrade my from my GTX 770 2GB

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