SLI and 3 monitors

[Rizengrom]

Well, I finally got my new PC built a few days ago. Currently using 2 x ASUS ENGTX580 DCII/2DIS/1536MD5 GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit (which has 3 DVI ports and 3 slot back-plate) with single 24 inch monitor. My next step is to get 3 monitors setup with resolutions 1920x1080 and higher. The question is how well two GTX 580’s will hold three monitor setup. They are still on 30 days return policy and money is not an issue. So I’m thinking maybe I should get a replacement while it’s not too late (for more RAM) . What would be the best options?

System:
I7-2600K
Gygabyt GA-P67A-UD5-B3
Corsair Vengeance 16GB 1866

 

[Rizengrom]

3 x 6970's
2 x 6990's
2 x 590's

Any suggestions would be much appreciated

 

[g8orboy11]

I'm not completely sure but I think those cards should do pretty well in nvidia surround. Oddly enough, when I am researching graphics cards to buy i turn to youtube to see how they perform in different games. I'm sure you will find something if you just look up 580 sli surround.

 

[taso11]

One thing you should be aware of is that you have to have enough video memory to supply three monitors. If you run out, performance drops drastically. High resolution and lots of "eye candy" push memory usage up. Here is a good post on the issue:

http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/801683-surround-gaming-nvidia-gtx460-mainstream-card.html

 

[Rizengrom]

Thanks mate. This is very helpful link, helped me to move forward towards replacement. Considering all future game/software releases within a year or two it may be wise getting something with more RAM as for surround quality and stability. I'm trying to choose between cf 6990 and sli 590...

Surround SLI GTX 590 vs CrossFire Radeon 6990 battle:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/triple-monitor-gaming-on-geforce-gtx-590-and-radeon-6990/

 

[taso11]

That was a pretty good article Rizengrom. It would have been nice if they showed video memory usage. I'm pretty sure the 6990 and 590 only use half of the available video memory. Like how my sli'd gtx 460's have a total of 4 gig of ram but only use 2gb in sli. If anyone could explain why that is I'd appreciate it. I have looked and never found a better answer than "that's how it is" Another thing is the 590 memory interface is faster, 768 bit versus my 460's 256 bit.