Wants to run 3x23" monitors/medium gamer

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bobby43

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Mar 20, 2012
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Hello all,

I want to run 3x23" monitors mostly for work and also enjoy gaming on a basis of 60/40.

My PC is mostly dedicated to work, running multiple 5-6 VirtualMachines so I have 5 hard drives, two different raid setup, 24 gigs of ram and I7 920. My current video card is GTX275 with two monitors and in my box, I cant have a bigger card than this one mostly because I have many hard drives and the GTX size is about limit without changing the enclosure. I may change it if really necessary. My Power Supply is Corsair 750 watts.

I want a third monitor so I am seeking different advices mostly because I simply cant make up my mind. Money is not an issue if kept reasonable. Wont go with the latest 900$ Radeon.

It looks like HD Radeon has a serious advantage over GTX cards which needs to be SLI to get more than two monitors but I am very satisfied with GTX since years. I remember more than 5 years ago thinking I would never go with ATi anymore but things may have changed.

GTX SLI or a single HD Radeon card. Cant make up my mind.

When I run games, I enjoy racing series like NFS, Flight Sim, Skyrim like games once in a while but no Battelfield or Masse effect game types. So what are your suggestions if I want to decently play these type of games with 3 monitors?

I know it may been asked a thousand times in different flavors but reading the subject for weeks, I still cant decide. So I think I need advices knowing my needs with my current setup.

Thanks all



 
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CaedenV
For running 3 monitors you need a minimum of 2GB of ram on the card. I would suggest one of the new 7000 series cards and go as expensive as you can afford. Tripple-head gaming is not really ready for prime-time yet, in another gen or 2 then it will really be perfected, but until then you will get mixed results depending on the game.

Oh, and as an nVidia fan, stay away from the GTX cards for now. The 600 series coming out may be OK for this type of application (we have to wait until we see real benchmarks), but AMD has typically done a little better when it comes to massive resolutions like you are talking about.
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kyle1015

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im not the smartest on here by any means, but my msi radeon r6950 2gb card handles it really well... eyefinity is for sure the way to go. i run battlefield 3 at the highest possible settings and never get a flicker. i get massive fps. just my opinion



 
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bobby43

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Mar 20, 2012
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If I stick with one card, size is no problem cause it is facing an empty drive bay. (just realized that)
If I go with a second card than it has to be lower than 10 inches cause it will hit one of my 5 drives.

If I go with two cards, will my power supply 750 watts be ok with two cards and 5 drives etc. ?

Am either thinking 2x gtx560i or a single radeon card, but dont know which radeon will run ok these type of games with 3 monitors and of course being ok for some newer games in the future.

Wanted resolution is 5760x1080

Thks for your inputs.
 
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RussK1

RussK1

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Apr 15, 2011
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Really? Massive fps at highest settings in eyefinity? At what resolution? 2400x600? Because I have 2x 6990's 6040x1080 and I don't get those "Massive" fps. I run everything maxed, but no serious fps unless it's Call of Duty or some other console port.

@Op

If you're going to be running @ 5760x1080 or above I'd suggest atleast 2 2GB cards.
 
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CaedenV

CaedenV

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Jun 14, 2011
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For running 3 monitors you need a minimum of 2GB of ram on the card. I would suggest one of the new 7000 series cards and go as expensive as you can afford. Tripple-head gaming is not really ready for prime-time yet, in another gen or 2 then it will really be perfected, but until then you will get mixed results depending on the game.

Oh, and as an nVidia fan, stay away from the GTX cards for now. The 600 series coming out may be OK for this type of application (we have to wait until we see real benchmarks), but AMD has typically done a little better when it comes to massive resolutions like you are talking about.
 
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kitsunestarwind

kitsunestarwind

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Dec 24, 2011
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Having 2 6990's if part of your problem, BF3 suffers negative scaling and performance loss on Quadfire even with the CAP for BF3
Having gone from Quadfire to a single 7970 (overclocked) , my performance in most games is similar to my old setup, but in BF3 in both single and eyefinity modes (1920x1080 and 5670x1080) my performance is nearly double in all instances
 
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alrobichaud

alrobichaud

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BF3 at 6048x1080 in Ultra settings with no AA gets roughly 40FPS in the worst case with only one 6990. Crossfire 6990 boosts that to nearly 80. All 4 gpu's run at approx 95%.

Skyrim at 6048x1080 in ultra settings with 16X and 8X AA(or 8 and 16...can't remember) gets 55-60FPS with one 6990(only scales with 2 gpus).

Need for speed the run at 6048x1080 completely maxed out gets 40FPS with a single 6990. Two 6990's brings that to over 70FPS with 4 gpu scaling at90%

Crysis 2 6048x1080 with ultra settings gets 75FPs with crossfire 6990's with 90% gpu scaling. With the high res texture pack the fps drops to 50.

Dirt 3 6048x1080 completely maxed gets 82FPS with 4 gpu scaling at 90%.

There are times when quadfire sucks and times when it is great.

BTW, I tried a single 6970 back when I had two with BF3 at 6048x1080 in ultra settings and I barely got 18 FPS so I am pretty sure a 6950 won't give you massive fps unless you are playing with lower settings at a lower resolution.
 
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RussK1

RussK1

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Really? Is this why I run with nearly 99% scaling on all four GPU's in BF3? BF3 is arguably the most optimized game for quad-fire.

And to say a single 7970 is similar to 6990 CFX is beyond ludicrous. :pfff:
 
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SinisterSalad

SinisterSalad

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I'm sure Kyle wasn't referring to using Eyefinity when he talks about his experiences, so everyone relax.

I'm currently running XFire 6870 1GB cards. If I run BF3 in Eyefinity 1080p, I can only pull in 28-30 fps on LOW settings. I'm going to be waiting for Kepler to release, let the prices drop a bit, then go for a 7950 or 7970. I'm shooting for playability at MEDIUM setting at least. My 6870s would probably do better if I had more VRAM.
 
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alrobichaud

alrobichaud

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I had read a review somewhere that showed the 7970 getting around 28FPS at 5760x1080 in ultra settings in BF3. I think you will be able to do better than medium with one. :)
 
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RussK1

RussK1

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43119.png

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http://www.anandtech.com/show/5261/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/22

5760x1080 has 34% more pixels than 2560x1600 so going by the numbers of say 50 fps * .66 = 33 fps @ 5760x1080
 
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crofty616

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As others point out this seems a bit misleading, if your meaning without eyefinity, then ok, but again "massive fps" is something of an overstatement, if you're meaning with eyefinity then its a down right lie.

I use an overclocked AMD 6970 with a i5 750 and 8GB of RAM with eyefinity, I can play BF3 nicely (40-60fps) at medium settings, Its unplayable at ultra settings.
 
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bobby43

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I think I made my mind and go with a single card, either the Sapphire 7950 OC or 7970 OC if PSU is ok to handle it. I saw a 60 watts difference between them.

Should I be concerned about my 750w Corsair PSU knowing:
I7 920 stock for the moment, OC a bit if needed in the future.
24 gigs ram
5 hard drives
7950 OC or 7970 OC
ASUS P6T Deluxe V1

Thks for your inputs.
 
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azeem40

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alrobichaud

alrobichaud

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The glaringly obvious reason is benchmarks are done in ultra settings. Seeing as how those of us who mentioned 'ultra' do not have a 7970, this is the only real source of info.
 
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