Going bald scratching my head.. what to do?

[Kosmacal]

I currently have one GTX 560 TI from MSI in my system. I was looking at going multi monitor (3). Either Eyefinity or 3d Surround. I know that Nvidia requires 2 cards for this happen. So here in lies my problem. Do I get another 560 TI and do SLI? or Do I get a single Radeon card and use eyefinity? My Motherboard does support sli or crossfire. I am leaning towards the sli 560 ti. But, I would greatly appreciate any insight or comments. Thank you kindly everyone.

Kos

The MSI video card I have atm is this one..
MSI N560GTX Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti Video Card - 1024MB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0 (x16), 2x Dual-Link DVI, 1x Mini-HDMI, DirectX 11, Dual-Slot, SLI Ready, Overclocked
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7171406&srkey=M452-0560

Almost forgot, and sorry.. I am not looking at spending a ton of money.. I am purchasing 2 23" Monitors with this.. that alone is 300 for me.. So looking for a video card solution no more then 300 or so.. Thanks again..

 

[ko888]

If you want PhysX then you've already answered your own question as long as your power supply has the capacity to support the second graphics card.

 

[ricardois]

since you already have on 560 ti certainly add another if your PSU can handle it. the performance will be very good, 2x 560 ti performs better than a 580 (double the price) the only single radeon that can match this performance is a 7970 i think...

Just make sure your psu can handle it and that your case is well ventilated, but 2 twin frozr II coolers will be great, for sli.

 

[Kosmacal]

Thanks for the timely responses.. What recommended wattage would you suggest? aka.. what would be the bare min. I currently have an i7 at 4.5 GHz with 16 gig of ram. Running 2 7600 rpm h/d's. Thanks in advance..

 

[ricardois]

for safety i would take something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021&Tpk=corsair%20750

here you can see SLI certified psus list, any of those who have a check on 560ti sli are ready to go;

http://www.geforce.com/Active/en_US/en_US/pdf/PSU.pdf

 

[swifty_morgan]

you don't want to run multiple monitors off 1gig video cards. running 2 - 1gig - cards does not equal 2gigs. with aspirations of eventually going with 3 monitors i would get a single AMD card with at least 2gigs of vram. this alone will run 3 monitors. you can cross fire later giving better eyefinity performance. ( here I would over spend on a higher end card )

 

[larkspur]

Hi Kosmacal,

The key to your question is that you want triple monitors. I assume that your monitors are 1080p. That means with three monitors you would be pushing a resolution of 5760x1080.

Unfortunately your gtx560ti only has 1gb of vram. Even if you get another in SLI, each card will be limited to 1gb of vram each. That is simply not enough vram to drive that resolution with any decent degree of detail. So if you do go 2 x 560ti 1gb in SLI with nvidia surround you will have plenty of GPU but be totally bottlenecked by the vram.

What you need are cards with AT LEAST 2gb and preferably 3gb. I use a single 6970 2gb @4800x1200 with reduced settings (most stuff on medium). I could get some higher settings with a 2nd 6970 but I have noticed that when textures are set above medium and AA is on, my frames plummet as a result of the 2gb not being enough (vram usage measured with Asus GPU Tweak). It comes down to a need for more vram.

If I was you and really wanted to get into triple monitors, I would sell your current card and buy two of the 2.5gb versions of the 570 or the expensive route: 2 x 7950 3gb. There are also 2gb versions of the 560ti. A couple of those would do very well. You could also go with 2 x 6950/6970 2gb. I just wouldn't do eyefinity/surround with 1gb cards, you likely won't be pleased.

This may also help you (its radeon-specific but helpful): http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/344343-33-eyefinity-setup-guide

 

[dixon6393]

I currently have one GTX 560 TI from MSI in my system. I was looking at going multi monitor (3). Either Eyefinity or 3d Surround. I know that Nvidia requires 2 cards for this happen. So here in lies my problem. Do I get another 560 TI and do SLI? or Do I get a single Radeon card and use eyefinity? My Motherboard does support sli or crossfire. I am leaning towards the sli 560 ti. But, I would greatly appreciate any insight or comments. Thank you kindly everyone.

Kos

The MSI video card I have atm is this one..
MSI N560GTX Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti Video Card - 1024MB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0 (x16), 2x Dual-Link DVI, 1x Mini-HDMI, DirectX 11, Dual-Slot, SLI Ready, Overclocked
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7171406&srkey=M452-0560

Almost forgot, and sorry.. I am not looking at spending a ton of money.. I am purchasing 2 23" Monitors with this.. that alone is 300 for me.. So looking for a video card solution no more then 300 or so.. Thanks again..

Why scrap the 560 TI for the Radeon when you can get another 560 and have better performance?

 

[Rockdpm]

Hi Kosmacal,

The key to your question is that you want triple monitors. I assume that your monitors are 1080p. That means with three monitors you would be pushing a resolution of 5760x1080.

Unfortunately your gtx560ti only has 1gb of vram. Even if you get another in SLI, each card will be limited to 1gb of vram each. That is simply not enough vram to drive that resolution with any decent degree of detail. So if you do go 2 x 560ti 1gb in SLI with nvidia surround you will have plenty of GPU but be totally bottlenecked by the vram.

What you need are cards with AT LEAST 2gb and preferably 3gb. I use a single 6970 2gb @4800x1200 with reduced settings (most stuff on medium). I could get some higher settings with a 2nd 6970 but I have noticed that when textures are set above medium and AA is on, my frames plummet as a result of the 2gb not being enough (vram usage measured with Asus GPU Tweak). It comes down to a need for more vram.

If I was you and really wanted to get into triple monitors, I would sell your current card and buy two of the 2.5gb versions of the 570 or the expensive route: 2 x 7950 3gb. There are also 2gb versions of the 560ti. A couple of those would do very well. You could also go with 2 x 6950/6970 2gb. I just wouldn't do eyefinity/surround with 1gb cards, you likely won't be pleased.

This may also help you (its radeon-specific but helpful): http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/344343-33-eyefinity-setup-guide

I hate to knock you off the wall but, all the options you suggested are way out of this guys price range. And btw i am doing 2 way GTX 560 ti SLI 1GB. and i do have a total of 2Gigs of ram. From what NVIDIA's Auto Scan technology to auto detect my GPU. it recognizes 2Gb. Now if he could snatch a high end card for his budget he'd be set. But what the original poster needs to tell us what exactly is the budget for the card after monitor purchases. If you don't have enough to get more monitors after you buy a video card, it would defeat the purpose right?

 

[swifty_morgan]

DIXON

the only way that is a valid point is if you measure performance solely on FPS. in real life performance they are not the same or better. stop reading automated , heavily biased benchmark charts.

 

[Kosmacal]

Thanks everyone. I was worried that 1gig vram would not be sufficient enough to run what I was hoping to do. I did read the tomshardware link earlier. Hence me going bald. So much information at once just melts a person brain. I know that going sli with the 2 560 ti's would be a great performance boost.. but, apparently not for what I would like to do. I will have to rethink my plan of attack on this.. Hopefully waiting another week or so.. I might be able to get a different video card as suggested to better suite my wants.. hehehe.. You all rock for the fast responses and everything.. Thanks again.

 

[cyansnow]

Thanks for the timely responses.. What recommended wattage would you suggest? aka.. what would be the bare min. I currently have an i7 at 4.5 GHz with 16 gig of ram. Running 2 7600 rpm h/d's. Thanks in advance..

Sell that 560 ti and save up for a 7970 and eventually Crossfire it, the 7970 is one of the fastest cards and will run your monitors fine, assuming they are 1080p


About the power usage, a good PSU is key as some cheaper MF's make PSUs that claim to be 850w but they dip into the 650ish power range, a good PSU like Corsair will go a long ways. As far as wattage is concerned 750 will give you little to no wiggle room, and 850 will be plenty of power, both will work but it's up to you in the long run.

 

[Rockdpm]

Why scrap the 560 TI for the Radeon when you can get another 560 and have better performance?

Exactly, why spend more on the same level. When you can get another 560 ti, and be in the safe. Now Kepler is around the corner so its basically.....The worst time to get a new graphics card, because i guarantee anyone that buys a graphics card from nvidia now sees kepler and how kick @$$ its gonna be a situation where oh look at that performance its so ahhhhh, but oh well i gotta wait now. Done spent all funds..

Hopefully he will get the message a GTX 560 ti SLI and stick a fork in em he's done

 

[dixon6393]

DIXON

the only way that is a valid point is if you measure performance solely on FPS. in real life performance they are not the same or better. stop reading automated , heavily biased benchmark charts.

Technology wise, the SLI Nvidia cards will outperform the Radeon. Not just FPS. All around, THROUGH EXPERIENCE AND NOT BENCHMARKS, I have also been more satisfied with Nvidia cards compard to Radeon cards of the same or close to the same price caliber.

 

[larkspur]

I hate to knock you off the wall but, all the options you suggested are way out of this guys price range. And btw i am doing 2 way GTX 560 ti SLI 1GB. and i do have a total of 2Gigs of ram.

Vram doesn't pool. Each of your cards only has 1gb of vram and can only use 1gb of vram. Effectively you have 1gb of vram for a game to "use". Not sure why you would recommend someone to try and do nvidia surround with 1gb cards. If shows you don't really know what you're talking about.

I told the OP that his best bet would be to SELL his card and buy 2 cards with 2gb or more.

Buying two more monitors and not having the GPU power and vram to drive them doesn't make sense.

 

[internetswag]

You can SLi 560 ti's on a Antec HCG 620w

 

[ko888]

You can SLi 560 ti's on a Antec HCG 620w

Only if you never run Furmark or OCCT GPU stress testing.

 

[Rockdpm]

Vram doesn't pool. Each of your cards only has 1gb of vram and can only use 1gb of vram. Effectively you have 1gb of vram for a game to "use". Not sure why you would recommend someone to try and do nvidia surround with 1gb cards. If shows you don't really know what you're talking about.

I told the OP that his best bet would be to SELL his card and buy 2 cards with 2gb or more.

Buying two more monitors and not having the GPU power and vram to drive them doesn't make sense.

Woah excuse me, all i said was in NVIDIA's auto detect GPU


About Your GPU
GeForce GTX 560 Ti SLI
Your GPU Supports
Info >DirectX 11
Info >3D Vision
Info >PhysX
Info >CUDA
Info >SLI
Your core specs
Cores768
(384 per GPU)Memory2.04GB
(1024MB per GPU)Graphics clock822MHz
Rescan Your GPU


Plus dude, don't even questions someones knowledge before you know what they are capable of. I am in college to become Certified in Hardware

And i never said Vram pool, but if he was to get a Single card with a higher GPU with 2gb of ram he'd be fine. Now the way your are leading him is gonna over do his budget. which is 300$

 

[swifty_morgan]

Technology wise, the SLI Nvidia cards will outperform the Radeon. Not just FPS. All around, THROUGH EXPERIENCE AND NOT BENCHMARKS, I have also been more satisfied with Nvidia cards compard to Radeon cards of the same or close to the same price caliber.

and what does "radeon" have to do with my comparison of the 580 vs 2 560's ?

 

[larkspur]

Awww Rock, I'm not laying in too heavily and I apologize for making any assertation about your knowledge. /big-bear-hug I'm just saying that your post gave the impression that SLIing 1gb cards would double the vram. It only implied a pooling effect, I know you didn't specifically say it. Since Kosmacal wanted to know about nvidia surround it would make sense to let him know that SLIing 1gb cards isn't going to pool his vram.

 

[Rockdpm]

Awww Rock, I'm not laying in too heavily and I apologize for making any assertation about your knowledge. /big-bear-hug I'm just saying that your post gave the impression that SLIing 1gb cards would double the vram. It only implied a pooling effect, I know you didn't specifically say it. Since Kosmacal wanted to know about nvidia surround it would make sense to let him know that SLIing 1gb cards isn't going to pool his vram.

Apology accepted. And Good to know you care enough to make sure the Original person understands fully about what hes about to do/buy before he makes a mistake and spending money on something he will regret. i think we can all agree he needs atleast 2 gigs of ram on each seperate card. but even if he was to get a high enough performing 2gb or 3gb? card he'd be fine with just two monitors, but 3 monitors, may make a need for more vid ram

 

[Kosmacal]

I did a little more researching and I wanted to run this by you guys/gals.. Since I currently have a gtx 560 ti 1gig vram card. I was thinking.. If I purchased the gtx 560 ti with 2 gig vram now.. and save up for another 560 ti 2 gig vram.. I would be able to take advantage of sli, 1 gig vram, and then once I get the 2nd card.. I would be set?

Not to throw another wrench into the system.. Would it be better off to just save up and get the 7970 3 gig? I mostly play World of Tanks and have been reading that sli has problems with the game... Would the single card be a better solution? I understand that I have to get an adapter for eyefinity or a monitor that supports that output.. (Ever notice nothing is easy.. hehehhe)

 

[ko888]

I did a little more researching and I wanted to run this by you guys/gals.. Since I currently have a gtx 560 ti 1gig vram card. I was thinking.. If I purchased the gtx 560 ti with 2 gig vram now.. and save up for another 560 ti 2 gig vram.. I would be able to take advantage of sli, 1 gig vram, and then once I get the 2nd card.. I would be set?

That will work.

 

[ricardois]

I did a little more researching and I wanted to run this by you guys/gals.. Since I currently have a gtx 560 ti 1gig vram card. I was thinking.. If I purchased the gtx 560 ti with 2 gig vram now.. and save up for another 560 ti 2 gig vram.. I would be able to take advantage of sli, 1 gig vram, and then once I get the 2nd card.. I would be set?

if you have the money yes go for it, just be aware that you will be running 2x 1gb cards for now. yes and when you got the second card they will be 2x2gb.

Try selling your 1gb card asap.

 

[larkspur]

If I purchased the gtx 560 ti with 2 gig vram now.. and save up for another 560 ti 2 gig vram.. I would be able to take advantage of sli, 1 gig vram, and then once I get the 2nd card.. I would be set?

Would it be better off to just save up and get the 7970 3 gig?

Both options are great and it's really up to you. SLI/XFire has its problems but offers great performance for the $$. The advantage of the SLIed 560tis would be more raw GPU power for less money. The problem with the SLIed 560ti 2gbs would be that you've filled up both slots, less vram, more heat, noise (maybe), power consumption. The single 7970 would give you the 3gbs of vram and leave a slot open for another one in XFire down the road. But obviously the 7970 is really expensive.

Waiting sucks. I think since you want to do triple monitors now, then going the SLI route will get you in and make you very happy. The 2 x 560ti when you've still got the 1gb card will still play on triple monitors alright. Most games you'll want to keep your textures on low and probably turn off AA too. But with the lowered settings you should still get great frames with those cards. Also remember that if you can't get good enough performance on something you can always set the resolution to one screen and max it out. So you'll be happy either way.