Looking for advice on GPUs for three monitor at 1080p

[Guest]

Hello, I've been looking around and wondering on what might be the best setup for a panoramic three (about 23inch) monitors each running in 1920x1080 resolution.

My current thoughts were the following:

The GTX Titan, however overpriced, has 6gb of video ram, which seems to help in most benchmarking at this resolution and is still extremely powerful. However, completely overpriced.

I've been looking at a dual 7970 GHZ by sapphire, which might be enough for that resolution, but I've heard of so many driver issues with crossfire and the likes.

Which leads me to a single 690 or 780, dual 770 or dual 680. I've heard much praise recently on nvidia's drivers and there's apparantly much less trouble to be had with SLI than xfire.

Not really looking to go all-out murder on rigs like dual Titans and whatnot, looking for around 1k$ max.

For reference, I'm going with the ASUS Z87-PRO and an i7-4770k with h100i watercooling and 16gb RAM by corsair. Also, I'm running on a samsung 840 series pro SSD.

Updated: Should you recommend me to go SLI or xfire, I have a gold series AX850 PSU from Corsair. Will it be enough and is this motherboard any good? I'm still a bit confused on wether or not its two PCI-E 3.0 x16 lines will be enough (and wether or not the two cards would be too close to eachothers).

 

[Madn3ss795]

Askting Tom and he tells that a pair of gtx770 would be the best, just don't use too high levels of AA:

( GTX770 is a OC-ed 680 ).

A pair of HD7970 ( prefer ghz ones ) perform much better in benchmarks, however, but real life issues with its driver may bother you.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Id drop to the 4670k for gaming .... if ya doing rendering, keep the 4770k

Nice combo here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1328368

I'd lose the H series cooler in favor of the Phanteks
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709011

Dual 4 GB 770's from MSI, Gigabyte Asus would be my choice

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/4440/12/nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-review-incl-3-way-sli-and-frametimes-battlefield-3---1920x1080-+-frametimes

And yes, CF is not an option at this point in time which I find disheartening ...

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/videocard/

Just one 7xxx card (7850) in the Top 20

 

[Guest]

Askting Tom and he tells that a pair of gtx770 would be the best, just don't use too high levels of AA:

( GTX770 is a OC-ed 680 ).

A pair of HD7970 ( prefer ghz ones ) perform much better in benchmarks, however, but real life issues with its driver may bother you.

So a SLI gtx770 solution would actually cost less than a Titan, which is already a plus.

Since i've bought myself a lvl10GT case by thermaltake, i'm pretty sure any and everything would fit inside that. I'm more concerned about my motherboard.

I currently only bought my powersupply and my watercooler (for cpu) so far. Would the motherboard i chose be proper for a dual 770 setup, cooling and SLI wise? I've never had dual GPUs before and still don't quite get it.

 

[Madn3ss795]

Yes, the board you chose supports SLI and just any water cooler. What PSU did you pick, anyway?

 

[Guest]

For further reference, this was my current idea for the build:
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/13pAD

I shop canadian so i'd always rather use newegg.ca for the parts.

It's a AX850 by corsair. I'm pretty sure this PSU should run a dual 770 (or at least i hope so).

What I truly wondered for my motherboard was related to SLI and the card's cooling. Would the cards still cool themselves properly due to their proximity to eachother?

Also still bearing in mind that I would use three monitors, would there be any imbalance from having one card with two monitors connected and the other only one?

 

[DarkSable]

You don't need 6GB of VRAM, and I would avoid crossfire. Honestly, I would be most inclined to go with two 780s for both power and the 3GB of VRAM. It's slightly more expensive than 1k, but you can easily buy one and get a second in the future. Even if you have to buy it now, that's fine, and here's why:

1) You're wasting money on an i7. The only advantage it has over an i5 is hyperthreading, which gives you NO benefit in games.

2) You don't need a motherboard that expensive - I would much prefer something like the AsRock z87 Extreme 6.

3) An h100i is a good cooler, but Haswell doesn't overclock that well. You might be better off with something like a 212 EVO and lowered expectations of overclock.

4) You also don't need 16GB of RAM - 8 is enough to simultaneously run battlefield 3, photoshop, and 30 tabs in chrome.

The money you can easily save with the above should be enough to let you budget in a 780.

 

[Madn3ss795]

Ok so that's the build. Taking some of the advices from DarkSable and putting gaming as the 1st piority, I'd suggest this build instead ( HX850 is still more than enough to hold a pair of gtx780, if you are worrying ).


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($249.99 @ Newegg Canada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Canada Computers)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($100.47 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($659.99 @ Memory Express)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($659.99 @ Memory Express)
Case: Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition ATX Full Tower Case ($223.10 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 850W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($139.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $2258.51
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-13 22:39 EDT-0400)

 

[Guest]

You don't need 6GB of VRAM, and I would avoid crossfire. Honestly, I would be most inclined to go with two 780s for both power and the 3GB of VRAM. It's slightly more expensive than 1k, but you can easily buy one and get a second in the future. Even if you have to buy it now, that's fine, and here's why:

1) You're wasting money on an i7. The only advantage it has over an i5 is hyperthreading, which gives you NO benefit in games.

2) You don't need a motherboard that expensive - I would much prefer something like the AsRock z87 Extreme 6.

3) An h100i is a good cooler, but Haswell doesn't overclock that well. You might be better off with something like a 212 EVO and lowered expectations of overclock.

4) You also don't need 16GB of RAM - 8 is enough to simultaneously run battlefield 3, photoshop, and 30 tabs in chrome.

The money you can easily save with the above should be enough to let you budget in a 780.

Actually, I'm buying an i7 because I sometimes do some video editing and 3d modelling on the side. Nothing serious to warrant a monster build specced just for that, but I'd still rather have an i7. I've read the stories on poor OCing on haswell, but really the reason I bought the h100i was silence and that it was on sale.

That motherboard you linked is actually essentially the same price. Any advantage over the other one?

 

[Madn3ss795]

Swap CPU from i5 to i7 4770k would cost you 100$ more. If it's still OK then go for it.

 

[Guest]

Swap CPU from i5 to i7 4770k would cost you 100$ more. If it's still OK then go for it.

That build looks like so much unholy murder...
It's pretty damn hard to resist.

Using partpicker and considering only the pieces I still needed to buy, my original idea (http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/16bKB) costs only about 150$ less than yours* (http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/16bIV with an added 4770k).

I would suppose a dual 780 would bury a single titan, yes?

 

[Madn3ss795]

It's mostly your lvl10 GT case of choice that made the price went overload.

GTX780 is simply a cripped Titan. 2 GTX780 bury a Titan, that's for sure.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

It's a AX850 by corsair. I'm pretty sure this PSU should run a dual 770 (or at least i hope so).

I'd recommend the HX850 over the AX850

1. The HX comes in a lot of bundles
2. It is not as efficient but has lower ripple and better voltage stability than the AX

 

[Guest]

It's a AX850 by corsair. I'm pretty sure this PSU should run a dual 770 (or at least i hope so).

I'd recommend the HX850 over the AX850

1. The HX comes in a lot of bundles
2. It is not as efficient but has lower ripple and better voltage stability than the AX

Aah thanks but I bought the AX850 already. Essentially, it was on sale and I had heard pretty good reviews.

 

[Guest]

It's mostly your lvl10 GT case of choice that made the price went overload.

GTX780 is simply a cripped Titan. 2 GTX780 bury a Titan, that's for sure.

Alright well I'd like to thank you for your help, you've entirely swayed me. I'll actually go straight for your build idea and scrap the i7 for the cheaper i5 (and to hell with hyperthreading).

And yeah, that case is cheesy but it was love on first sight. There's just this mass effect feel to it I couldn't resist, and to hell with the price. It was also 40$ on sale, which helped somewhat. Its got a lot of nifty features to it, are there any chances they might not be standardly supported by the motherboard?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I would suppose a dual 780 would bury a single titan, yes?

Two 770s bury the Titan

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/4440/12/nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-review-incl-3-way-sli-and-frametimes-battlefield-3---1920x1080-+-frametimes

BF3 Ultra 4AA
2 x 770 - 141.5 fps
1 x Titan - 102.5 fps
1 x 780 - 95 fps
1 x 770 - 76.3 fps

And the Level 10GT is a wonderful case .... the door design alone w/ no wire to deal with for the fan is worth $100 alone.

Also those 780s only have 6+2 phase VRM design .... puts limits on OC capability .... the Asus DCII has a 10 phase design and the MSI Lighning has 11,
http://www.evga.com/articles/00746/#2781
http://uk.hardware.info/news/35531/asus-gtx-780-directcu-ii-with-10-mm-thick-heatpipe

 

[Djentleman]

Amd is always best for multi-monitor setups.
I would go two 7970's.

 

[Madn3ss795]

It's mostly your lvl10 GT case of choice that made the price went overload.

GTX780 is simply a cripped Titan. 2 GTX780 bury a Titan, that's for sure.

Alright well I'd like to thank you for your help, you've entirely swayed me. I'll actually go straight for your build idea and scrap the i7 for the cheaper i5 (and to hell with hyperthreading).

And yeah, that case is cheesy but it was love on first sight. There's just this mass effect feel to it I couldn't resist, and to hell with the price. It was also 40$ on sale, which helped somewhat. Its got a lot of nifty features to it, are there any chances they might not be standardly supported by the motherboard?

That case supports the motherboard, that pair of GTX780, H100i and almost any non-custom parts you want to throw into it.

 

[Guest]

Thank you very much for all this help. Especially Madn3ss795, for his great idea of build which i'm totally going to follow. Time to drop a boatload of money!

...Also hoping one of the components might go on sale for the black friday sale event on newegg, in about 40 mins!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Amd is always best for multi-monitor setups.
I would go two 7970's.

Except Crossfire has gone from being frustrating w/ 6xxx and prior series to problematic w/ current cards

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card-benchmarking-frame-rate,3466.html
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6857/amd-stuttering-issues-driver-roadmap-fraps/6
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Frame-Rating-Part-3-First-Results-New-GPU-Performance-Tools?page=2#comments
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_radeon_hd_7970_crossfire_review,21.html
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_6850_6870_crossfirex_review,15.html