One 690 for 3 120Hz monitors?

[Mike341]

hello fellow enthusiasts, i´ll get straight to the question-

im building a new gaming rig soon, and to replace my old crappy monitor, i was thinking, why not go 3-way? i´ll have a single GPU, which is the GTX 690, and i was wondering if it could pull something like 3 of these: http://www.benq.com/product/monitor/xl2420t/

it´s a good looking monitor, and quite affordable, i´d say at $445 on amazon.co.uk.
so i justs wanted to know if it could handle it with games like bf3 with all ultra settings and maybe a bit of AA.

my goal is to play like this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_6DWSEGkf0

Cheers!

 

[TheGreatHoylando]

Hi Mike341,
I'm no expert, but from what I've seen most have at least 2 GPU's to run, but it can be done off one GPU. The reason people have 2 is to lighten the load on the 1 GPU. You don't want to go frying your GPU.

Regards,
Dan.

 

[Mike341]

No, a single 690 cannot handle BF3 at ultra settings with AA on 3 screens. Also, that guy is playing on low settings.

If you are serious about wanting to drive 3 screens at max or near-max settings with as close to 120 Hz as possible, you should cross your fingers that this rumor comes true and drop $1800 on a pair of these:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Titan-Nvidia-GK110-gpu-tesla,20614.html

i see
so as i see it, i have 2 options left:

1) i could go with 1 120Hz monitors, or 3 normal monitors. what would you guys choose, and which monitor(s) would be preferred? (within a reasonable price range)

 

[AdioKIP]

You shouldnt be put off by the fact that you cant absolutely max the games out. A 690 is a powerhouse card and will get you the best performance you can get on 3 monitors from a single card solution. Even dialing down the settings a little running on 3 monitors still looks stunning. Also keep in mind, there is nothing forcing you to run games on all 3 screens when you have them. Not all games work that well when spanned across multiple monitors, I play more than half of the games I play on one screen. While gaming on one screen I'll usually throw TV or video on 2 of the other screens. Even if you went with 3 "normal" monitors, the 690 still wont be able to max every game when spanning 3 screens.

 

[Mike341]

You shouldnt be put off by the fact that you cant absolutely max the games out. A 690 is a powerhouse card and will get you the best performance you can get on 3 monitors from a single card solution. Even dialing down the settings a little running on 3 monitors still looks stunning. Also keep in mind, there is nothing forcing you to run games on all 3 screens when you have them. Not all games work that well when spanned across multiple monitors, I play more than half of the games I play on one screen. While gaming on one screen I'll usually throw TV or video on 2 of the other screens. Even if you went with 3 "normal" monitors, the 690 still wont be able to max every game when spanning 3 screens.

i hear ya man
is it possible then to run 3 benq xl2420l without all the 3D jazz? personally, i´m against 3D, and was hoping for the 120Hz experience alone. maybe i´ll even stick with just one monitor for now and when i can afford it, 2 more its not the end of the world anyways. and when i think of it, i don´t need ultra for all games. take bf3 for example (i keep bringing that up, don´t i) ive seen it played on 1920x1080 with medium, and it looks gorgeous nonetheless.

 

[redeemer]

Nvidia surround and just multi panel in general is a pain as far as gaming is concerned. A GTX 690 is excellent for a one 120Hz monitor on Ultra settings.

 

[djangoringo]

A 690 gtx is fine for triple monitor but you won't get of course 120 fps, but still you'll have a good experience :

That was with older drivers, you can expect some boost in fps for newer drivers...

 

[Derza10]

Nvidia surround and just multi panel in general is a pain as far as gaming is concerned. A GTX 690 is excellent for a one 120Hz monitor on Ultra settings.

What do you find wrong with nvidia surround and multi panel gaming? Do you use one? I for one have 1 GTX 680 and i play on multi-monitor 3x dell ultra sharp u2412m @ 6040x1200 res... I play mainly MMOs and i have yet to have one that i couldn't play on the very max settings and not get over 40 fps... I have never had any issues with it, and i don't think i could ever go back to one monitor.

I actually now can no longer get myself to play any games that do not support 3 monitors lol, Although most do now.

 

[JJ1217]

You could drive three 120hz monitors easily with a 690, as django said, but the issue is, why buy a 120 hz monitor when you are on average only going to get 60 fps?

Unless of course you play other less demanding games which you can hit 120fps.

If you are going to go for three screen setup, I would either go with dual highly factory overclocked 7970 GHZ (Which would be cheaper and faster, since AMD cards seem to perform better in multi monitor setups in comparison to Nvidia). Something like dual 7970 Vapor-X or 7970 Lightnings would help you out.

Or you can do the ideal thing, and wait for new graphics cards to come out somewhere in April (I'd estimate they'd be announced in march.)

 

[Derza10]

Personally I would say get three 60Hz IPS monitors (better color and much better viewing angles). I have used the u2412ms for about a year and i love them, so that would be my recommendation.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260047&Tpk=u2412m

 

[redeemer]

What do you find wrong with nvidia surround and multi panel gaming? Do you use one? I for one have 1 GTX 680 and i play on multi-monitor 3x dell ultra sharp u2412m @ 6040x1200 res... I play mainly MMOs and i have yet to have one that i couldn't play on the very max settings and not get over 40 fps... I have never had any issues with it, and i don't think i could ever go back to one monitor.

I actually now can no longer get myself to play any games that do not support 3 monitors lol, Although most do now.

I find myself the last few months reverting back and forth between drivers to get my Surround to work. Of course games that natively support the tech run fine. If a games does not like SLI it wont run surround!

 

[Derza10]

So you are having issues with the combination of sli and surround

 

[Mike341]

A 690 gtx is fine for triple monitor but you won't get of course 120 fps, but still you'll have a good experience :

http://www.hardocp.com/images/articles/1336013022RGIwKKc9yA_3_3.gif


That was with older drivers, you can expect some boost in fps for newer drivers...

thanks! thats the kind of info im looking for here.

are there any graphs for these setups:

1: playing BF3 on High (the settings just under ultra) 4x AA, at most 6x AA (i don´t need that so much). we´re talking 3 120Hz monitors (prefferably the benq ones) without 3D BS if possible.

2: Playing BF3 on Ultra (6-8x AA) on 3 60Hz screens

3: Playing BF3 on Ultra (8x AA) on 1 120Hz screen

either way, i wont be able to afford my rig, let alone the screens+the rig until 2-3 months from now, so i´ll be able to check out newer GPU´s and screens.

thanks guys

 

[helper800]

The best card to try this would have to be the HIS 7970X2. Please don't rage on me Nvidia guys... http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7990-devil13-7970-x2,3329-2.html

 

[Mike341]

The best card to try this would have to be the HIS 7970X2. Please don't rage on me Nvidia guys... http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7990-devil13-7970-x2,3329-2.html

no rage from here, but it looks like Nvidia gives a less stuttering image. and is overall better.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7990-devil13-7970-x2,3329-9.html
the benchmarks for the card is amazing, but with that much stuttering, its worth nothing. AMD, do better dammit! their prices are awesome, and the stats look perfect, but a smooth image is still on the wish list of their cards im afraid. i´ll wait till march/april or whenever new stuff come out, and make a decision then.

but is there any nvidia solution atm for running 5760x1080 on 3 120Hz smoothly ?

 

[bemused_fred]

The best card to try this would have to be the HIS 7970X2. Please don't rage on me Nvidia guys... http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7990-devil13-7970-x2,3329-2.html

I'd agree. If you're on triple-monitors, the Extra memory and memory bandwidth would make 7970's in C more attractive than 680's in SLI.

 

[djangoringo]

thanks! thats the kind of info im looking for here.

are there any graphs for these setups:

1: playing BF3 on High (the settings just under ultra) 4x AA, at most 6x AA (i don´t need that so much). we´re talking 3 120Hz monitors (prefferably the benq ones) without 3D BS if possible.

2: Playing BF3 on Ultra (6-8x AA) on 3 60Hz screens

3: Playing BF3 on Ultra (8x AA) on 1 120Hz screen

either way, i wont be able to afford my rig, let alone the screens+the rig until 2-3 months from now, so i´ll be able to check out newer GPU´s and screens.

thanks guys

Doesn't matter the refresh rate of the triple screen, it's not gonna hit the performance, now that levels of aa will obviously take a good hit in performance either being a 690 gtx or two 680 gtx(unless it's the 4GB card)
FXAA is fine for that resolution, no need for such high quantities of aa...
For a single screen, obviously a 690 gtx or two 680 gtx will run with that aa with more than 60 fps(it could reach 100)...

 

[Mike341]

Doesn't matter the refresh rate of the triple screen, it's not gonna hit the performance, now that levels of aa will obviously take a good hit in performance either being a 690 gtx or two 680 gtx(unless it's the 4GB card)
FXAA is fine for that resolution, no need for such high quantities of aa...
For a single screen, obviously a 690 gtx or two 680 gtx will run with that aa with more than 60 fps(it could reach 100)...

it is the 4GB version im talking about. its actually a funny dilemma if you think about it:

either play on 60Hz and get 60fps+
or play 120Hz and get 70-

would be the other way around in a perfect world...

 

[djangoringo]

Just get three good ips/tn panel monitors with 60hz, no need to spend the extra.
For a single screen then maybe a 120hz.
The 690 GTX only has 2GB effective ram...it's 2x2GB mirrored.
But 2GB is suffice for such resolution, as long as you don't put some crazy amounts of aa, which isn't needed.

 

[Mike341]

Just get three good ips/tn panel monitors with 60hz, no need to spend the extra.
For a single screen then maybe a 120hz.
The 690 GTX only has 2GB effective ram...it's 2x2GB mirrored.
But 2GB is suffice for such resolution, as long as you don't put some crazy amounts of aa, which isn't needed.

for a single, go 120Hz? isn´t 120Hz=3D? sounds confusing for the eyes. i think after all, im gonna go with either 1 120Hz or 3 60Hz...probably 3 60Hz for the better overall experience, and the badass setup

 

[helper800]

for a single, go 120Hz? isn´t 120Hz=3D? sounds confusing for the eyes. i think after all, im gonna go with either 1 120Hz or 3 60Hz...probably 3 60Hz for the better overall experience, and the badass setup

I would get 1 120 hz and 2 60 hz monitors lol you cant loose.

 

[masterman467]

I would get 1 120 hz and 2 60 hz monitors lol you cant loose.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ all my ^
i have one gaming screen at 1080p and my old 1600x900 screen for skype and sheet. purdy nice, honestly.