FFXIV @ max 2560x1600

[eric4277]

I have been waiting for a combination of items to be released before I build my PC. One of which was the Dell U 3011. Currently, I like the nvidia cards and I am considering going with 2 Asus 460 TOPs. Will 2 of those cards in SLI be able to run FFXIV max settings (maybe 4x AA) at 2560x1600 at 40~ FPS? I do like the technology nvidia cards bring to the table (3D, cuda) and generally like nvidia over ATI. That said if the new ATIs are really good I will go with 2 of those. My current options would be:

2 ASUS 460 TOPs or 2 MSI 460 HAWKs or 2 Zotac 460 AMP!s
Will OC them if neccessary. Not many reviews on the Zotac, the one I found showed it ran pretty hot. But I like it's Display Port connection. I like the Asus design the most and it is cheapest of the three. HAWK isn't so bad either.

2 MSI Twin Frozr II 470

2 MSI Twin Frozr II 480

The main reason I don't want to get 470/480 is because their refreshes are supposedly around the corner with AMD 6xxx. The 460s would be nice and hold me over to see the 475/485 and AMD 6xxx, but I don't want crappy frames or less eye candy while I wait.

So my main question is how do you think 2 460s can handle maxed FFXIV at 2560x1600? (I know most people won't have this resolution for an accurate # but a ballpark would be nice to help my decision.)

Edit: Also, how high would I need to overclock my i7 950? I was hoping 3.5-3.8 would suffice.

 

[rekijitsu]

I have been waiting for a combination of items to be released before I build my PC. One of which was the Dell U 3011. Currently, I like the nvidia cards and I am considering going with 2 Asus 460 TOPs. Will 2 of those cards in SLI be able to run FFXIV max settings (maybe 4x AA) at 2560x1600 at 40~ FPS? I do like the technology nvidia cards bring to the table (3D, cuda) and generally like nvidia over ATI. That said if the new ATIs are really good I will go with 2 of those. My current options would be:

2 ASUS 460 TOPs or 2 MSI 460 HAWKs or 2 Zotac 460 AMP!s
Will OC them if neccessary. Not many reviews on the Zotac, the one I found showed it ran pretty hot. But I like it's Display Port connection. I like the Asus design the most and it is cheapest of the three. HAWK isn't so bad either.

2 MSI Twin Frozr II 470

2 MSI Twin Frozr II 480

The main reason I don't want to get 470/480 is because their refreshes are supposedly around the corner with AMD 6xxx. The 460s would be nice and hold me over to see the 475/485 and AMD 6xxx, but I don't want crappy frames or less eye candy while I wait.

So my main question is how do you think 2 460s can handle maxed FFXIV at 2560x1600? (I know most people won't have this resolution for an accurate # but a ballpark would be nice to help my decision.)

Edit: Also, how high would I need to overclock my i7 950? I was hoping 3.5-3.8 would suffice.

If you even had 1 GTX 480 you would get reasonable FPS. Your i7 950 should only be OCed if you have a good cooler, I have my 920 at 3.6 GHz on a Corsair H50. You won't get reasonable FPS if you turn on Ambient Occulsion for years, as they didn't really code it properly I think.

 

[rekijitsu]

Also keep in mind if you play in Windowed mode to look up websites and such, you will see no difference from 1 card to 2 cards. Fullscreen simply won't work as they prevent you from minimizing it due to botting prevention.

 

[eric4277]

Best answer selected by eric4277.