Dual Gefore GTX 560Ti OC for 3 monitor

[Seph99]

Hello Guys,

I was looking for some advise to run 3 monitor on my computer.
I am currently using a Gefore GTX 560TI OC in my rig which only supports the use of 2 monitor.
However since I want to run a 3rd Monitor I basically only have 2 options:

1) Buy a Gefore GTX 680 which supports 3 monitors out of the box and costs about 550 Euro
or
2) Buy a 2nd Geforce GTX 560 Ti OC to attach my 3rd monitor to the 2nd card. The 2nd card would cost me about 170 euro.

My motherboard Asus P8P67 Deluxe supports 2 pci express cards in SLI mode.

Right now I am leaning more to the 2nd option as it is a lot cheaper and should enhance the graphic performance of my pc by a little bit due to the 2 cards running in SLI mode.

My question is now:
Is there any other option that I have overlooked ?
Does anyone have experience running 2 Geforce GTX 560Tis in DUAL SLI with 3 monitors ?
If I want to get a 2nd 560Ti is it best to use one of the same manufacturer, in my case Zotac or can I use one from another manufacturer ?

Thanks in advance for any advise / information you could give me.
Seph

 

[bucknutty]

I run 2 gtx470s to power 3 monitors. Question is what are looking to do? Do you want to run games at 5760x1080?

Or do you just want the extra screen for productivity?

The nvidia driver gives you 3 ways to run 3 monitors from 2 cards. "SLI dissabled", this treats the 2 video cards completely seperatly.
"activate all Displays" in this model the video cards load balance but they do not really run sli in that a 3d app or game will max both cards.
"span displays with Surround" This tricks windows into thinking you have 1 big 5760x1080 monitor. In this model SLI is working to keep the same picture or video playing on all 3 screens.

 

[Seph99]

I want to use the 3 monitors basically just for separate usage.
Monitor 1: Running video stream , movie , tv series etc
Monitor 2: Playing a game
Monitor 3: Chat windows etc

 

[claysm]

If you still intend to only game on one screen, then another 560 really isn't necessary (unless you just want the performance boost). If all you want the extra screens for is, as you said, chat windows and streaming movies and the like, then a simple cheap card that has the necessary video outs will suffice.

Obviously if you intend to game on all three, then you would definitely need another 560. The only thing to worry about would be, and correct me if I'm wrong someone, even using two GTX 560's in SLI may not be enough power for some games at 5760x1080; there's simply not a large enough frame buffer nor enough memory bandwidth.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/441

That's how two 560's in SLI perform in a variety of games. All of those benchmarks are for a single screen, however, so bear that in mind.

 

[fantastik250]

That is correct you need a higher VRAM 2-3GB if you plan on higher resolutions and multiple monitor setups.

 

[Seph99]

Nah I was not planning on using more than 1 monitor for Gaming, I don't really like to have my game stretched over more than 1 monitor. Thanks for all the information.

 

[Sunius]

If you only want second card for 3 screens - as others mentioned - just get a cheapest nvidia card you can get, something like GT 220 or GT 520.

 

[Seph99]

Thanks for the info. I will probably go the SLI route with a 2nd card for the performance boost.
However I am not sure if my power supply has enough juice to handle all that.
Is there anyway to check in like an online calculator or configurator where you add all your hardware and it lets you know if the power supply is sufficient ?

Currently my rig has a be quiet 580W pwr supply.
Hardware that is powered with it:
i7 2600k 3.4ghz
2x 120gb SSD
1x 2TB SATA HDD
1x DVD Burner
1x Geforce 560Ti OC
3x 120 MM fans
1x Scythe Mugen CPU fan

I know that the 560 is one of the less power hungry cards but not sure if the 580W power supply is enough to power both in SLI.

 

[Sunius]

I'm afraid not. GTX 560 Ti on its own consumes up to 210 watts, so two of them would consume 420 watts. Furthermore, your CPU has a TDP of 95 watts, but might consume more than that. Total - 520 watts. That's just on 12V rail, and even if it has that much power on that rail - pushing PSU to the limits will make it fail very fast.

I'd suggest this power supply:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMPSU-750TXV2UK-Enthusiast-Series-Performance/dp/B004O0P9VC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338726746&sr=8-1

You might be able to find something similar cheaper in your local shops. Remember, stick with quality brand, such as Corsair, Antec, Seasonic, XFX. You can check the PSU hierarchy here (I would not suggest going for anything lower than tier 2 for SLI):
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?108088-Official-XS-Power-Supply-Ranking-Phase-I

 

[Sunius]

Yea probably I made a mistake - it's closer to 170 watts. But still considering he will have them overclocked, I really doubt he can run it on 580 watt PSU, especially with 2600k which he might overclock in the future. I don't know, maybe it's just me - but I wouldn't do it.

 

[bucknutty]

Also keep in mind if gaming on 1 screen and you want to use SLI for a FPS boost you have to choose a focus display and a primary card. The secondary card can not run a monitor when SLI is used. So you can have your main card playing a game on your main monitor, and the second monitor on your main card for chat and videos, but the thrid monitor plugged into the secondary card will be off.

If you want 3 monitors at all times anouther 560ti for SLI is a waiste because you wont be able to use all 3 screens and SLI at the same time. I would get a 520.

 

[Seph99]

Mhm if I cannot use a 3rd monitor in SLI mode than it would be pretty useless to buy a 2nd 560Ti cause I would also need to upgrade my power supply.
Now assuming I would go the GT 520 route as a 2nd graphics card which would only set me back 50 euro.
I assume the GT 520 would run with my current power supply.
However my question is does Win 7 automatically recognize the 2nd card and allow me to dedicate the 3rd monitor to it and extend my display across all 3 ?

 

[jjb8675309]

lol 'i will get a 520' what the hell are you talking about.. imo anything above mals res is going to struggle due to the lack of vram.

I tired 4800X900 and it was not pretty in bf3... other than that most games ran fine given reduced settings or resolution...

at the end of the day though I went back to a single 1200p monitor... it was really cool but imo 1 gig of vram is more suited towards this setup

 

[Seph99]

Mhm ok if I can run the 3 monitors in SLI than I am going for the dual 560TI. Thanks all for the great information.

 

[bucknutty]

Perhaps I was not clear.
The orginal post said he did not want to use surround for a 3 screens running 5670x1080 because he did not like the way games look on 3 screens.

He wanted to run the game on 1 screen and have the 2 extra screens doing extra things like video, chat and internet. If this is all he wants he does not want to enable SLI. He just wants an extra video card. No point in spending the extra money on a video card that will be idle most of the time.

When SLI is enabled to power a game running at 1920x1080 like the poster asked for then the second screen on the main card works for other things but the 3rd screen that is attached to the second card is disabled by the driver.

If he wants all 3 screens, 1 with a movie, one with a game, and one with internet on it, then he does not want to enable SLI. If your not going to enable SLI, might as well just get a cheap card.

 

[bucknutty]

I just want the poster to understand that he may not want a $250 extra video card (how much is a GTX560 these days?) and a new $100 PSU. If all he wants is an extra monitor for core temp and afterburner a $20 8400GS will work fine.

With SLI on... not Surround... (its not the same), the driver gives you this when you try to turn on the the 3rd monitor.

with SLI OFF (activate all displays) you can do this.

which allows you to run the game on the main screen and watch a movie and monitor temps.

The game is in black cause the screen shot was done from windows.

This does not need sli. If this is what you want get the cheapest card you can find.

 

[bucknutty]

I would rather have the option to turn SLI on and off as well, and thats why I went with 2 gtx470 and 3 screens more than 2 years ago. Heck 5 years a go I was rolling 2 8800gt and softTH to run surround before Nvidia had anything for multimonitor gaming.

Point is thats a $300 to $400 upgrade while a cheap card is a $20 to $30 option that might just serve the posters needs.

 

[bucknutty]

Now... who called me insane?... I do some nutty stuff but im not nuts.

 

[Seph99]

Thanks a bunch for the info bucknutty,.I think i will go with your suggestion since the extra 560TI for SLI would cost me about 170 euro + another 120 or so for a new power supply as my current one does not have enough juice, I think I will buy a Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GT520 Zone (PCI-e, 1GB GDDR3 Memory, 2x DVI, HDMI) instead for 40 Euros since it does not need extra power from my power supply and is passively cooled which mean it does not add more noise to my rig.

 

[Seph99]

Well as long as I use the 3rd monitor which is for either a 720p video stream or for chat on the GT520 it should not have any problems while running my main and 2nd monitor through the 560 TI right ?

 

[Seph99]

Why would I make the GT520 the primary if I only want to use it to extend my screen to the 3rd monitor. Iam thinking the setup as this:
Monitor 3 (connected to GT520 via dvi ) Monitor 1 (connected to 560Ti via dvi ) Monitor 2 ( connected to 560ti via dvi )
On the desk they stand all in a row Monitor 3 on the left Monitor 1 in the middle monitor 2 on the right.

 

[Seph99]

Uff good, my heart just skipped a beat since I already ordered the 520 just now
I could have canceled the order and the GT 440 is only 20 euros more but why not save money where you can

 

[Seph99]

Is there any good reason to take the 440 above 520 for what i want to use it for ?
I can still cancel the order after all

 

[Seph99]

On the top of my head this should be it:

i7 2600k 3.4ghz overclocks to 4.2 ghz under max usage
Nvidia 560TI OC 1024mb GDDR
8 GB DDR 1666
Board: Asus P8P67 Deluxe
2x 120gb SSD
1x 2TB SATA HDD
Bequiet 580 watts pwr supply

 

[Seph99]

True , just canceled the 520 order and ordered the 440 thank god for amazon