3-Way SLI 660ti or something else? (BF4 Lagging)

[Spinny99]

Hi all. Just played the BF4 Beta for the first time, and my GPU which is a Nvidia Reference 660ti really couldn't handle it even overclocked. I think it's time to upgrade. So, what I'm trying to think is, do I go with 1 more 660ti for a 2-Way SLI, 2 more 660ti's for a 3-Way SLI, or a 700 series card, or a AMD Card (Which I have no idea how AMD does their cards). I play on 3 Monitors, and dislike lag

Any help is appreciated!

 

[grebgonebad]

Hi there!

First of all, you ahve to understand that it is the BETA version, and so there are bound to be some bugs and lagginess, it's the whole point of it being BETA, so they can fix it. =)

So you play on 3 monitors? What resolution? Playing on 3 monitors is very demanding, and im supprised you havnt thought about upgrading sooner to be honest. =P I would strongly suggest upgrading to a 780 if you can, or at the very least 2 670's. even a 3 way SLI 660Ti setup will be pushing it in my oppinion.

 

[Spinny99]

Hi there!

First of all, you ahve to understand that it is the BETA version, and so there are bound to be some bugs and lagginess, it's the whole point of it being BETA, so they can fix it. =)

So you play on 3 monitors? What resolution? Playing on 3 monitors is very demanding, and im supprised you havnt thought about upgrading sooner to be honest. =P I would strongly suggest upgrading to a 780 if you can, or at the very least 2 670's. even a 3 way SLI 660Ti setup will be pushing it in my oppinion.

Thanks for your response. I do suppose some of the laggyness comes with the BETA. I play with resolution somewhere is the high 4000's and 1900's I think(I'm not near my PC right now and I forgot). Should I go with a 780 or the 800's series cards, but those will probably cost a fortune...Will a 780 be able to max out BF4 on High at least?

Thanks!

 

[grebgonebad]

Yeah, a 4k res sounds about right for 3 screens. =)

I would strongly suggest a 780 if you were willing to part with the cash. Considering how close the perofrmance is when comapred to the Titian: (Look at the top 2...)

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

I wouldnt advise waiting for the 800 series. There is talk of the 800 series being released as early as Q1 2014, but I bet it'l be later than that personally. =P

A 780 will be able to max out B4 I should think, but at that resolution, I wouldnt expect to see a very high frame rate. You really do need a good SLI setup for that sort of res. If you were willing to go, for instance, 3 670's or 2 780's, then I would be quite confident in saying you could easily hit 60+ FPS at max settings. However this is all speculation due to the fact that the official system requirements have not been released yet.

Just a side note as well, running such a high res will use a large amount of VRAM, and so a minimum of 3gb should be used. if you can afford it, go for 4gb GPU's, as even though 2gb will work, you will ahve to run on lower settings to decrease VRAM usage. =)

 

[Spinny99]

Okay, how do you feel about the

http://www.amazon.com/Galaxy-GeForce-Express-Graphics-78XNH5DV8PXV/dp/B00DZIFN4M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380634534&sr=8-1&keywords=hof+gtx+780

this card. I sorta like the look, is it a decent 780 or should I go with a different one?

 

[grebgonebad]

Looks good! It does look quite nice, I'll admit. Although I prefer coolers that direct air out the back of the case rather than disperse it into the case. I find it makes all the other hardware heat up, specifically the CPU. =)

If I were to get myself a 780 (No way I could afford one myself at the moment though :-( ) I would get this one:

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperClocked-Dual-Link-Graphics-03G-P4-2783-KR/dp/B00CTY84KI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380635924&sr=8-2&keywords=EVGA+780

Mainly becuase it's EVGA, and the hot air will be forced out the rear of the case. EVGA generally cherry pick the best PCB's for thier signature/Supercloked and FTW edition cards for thier better OCing capabilities. So you would find that you could OC this card by quite a bit, getting even more performance out of it and maybe even matching the Titan! =)

Depends on what you want it for though really. If you arent into OCing your GPU's then I would suggest going with the card that has the highest factory OC.

 

[Spinny99]

Okay. Thanks a bunch. I'll most likely water cool this card (if you think thats a good idea), I will also most likely OC as well.

 

[bystander]

Take a look at these benchmarks: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CEkQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bf4blog.com%2Fbattlefield-4-alpha-gpu-and-cpu-benchmarks%2F&ei=9NdKUsLJNcrqyQGj4IGgCw&usg=AFQjCNHyDUqPK8Sv4gtr7PMDKl9mPQn4Sg&sig2=_HVc1JgHzS7Fv58d6UM9bQ&bvm=bv.53371865,d.aWc

Now realize there is no requirement to play at high settings. You may just have to lower settings. This is also a game which may expose 2Gb of VRAM at that resolution, although lower settings may help here.

 

[grebgonebad]

Okay. Thanks a bunch. I'll most likely water cool this card (if you think thats a good idea), I will also most likely OC as well.

No problem. Glad to help! =)

As far as watercooling goes, it is always preferable over air cooling as it keeps the card cooler, allowing for a higher OC. However, watercooling is more expensive, more time consuming and requires regular servicing (New coolant, waterloop cleaning, ect.). But another thing you have to consider with the new 700 series of GPU is GPU Boost2.0, which actually preferrs the card to run hotter than normal to get the msot efficient boost possible. However if you plan on OCing then this will be irrelevant. =)

The short of it is, if you can afford the extra cost of watercooling, and are willing to set it up and look after it, go for it. If not then the air cooler on the card will be more than sifficient, otherwise they wouldnt put it on there! Ha ha. =)

 

[grebgonebad]

Take a look at these benchmarks: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CEkQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bf4blog.com%2Fbattlefield-4-alpha-gpu-and-cpu-benchmarks%2F&ei=9NdKUsLJNcrqyQGj4IGgCw&usg=AFQjCNHyDUqPK8Sv4gtr7PMDKl9mPQn4Sg&sig2=_HVc1JgHzS7Fv58d6UM9bQ&bvm=bv.53371865,d.aWc

Now realize there is no requirement to play at high settings. You may just have to lower settings. This is also a game which may expose 2Gb of VRAM at that resolution, although lower settings may help here.

Granted, lower settings will reduce VRAM usage, but I still think it would be beneficial to have that extra VRAM there, especially on a 4k res.

 

[Spinny99]

I'm most likely going with the 780 that I chose above, but what I hear is the 7990 is much better than it, and cheaper. Is this true?

 

[Spinny99]

I actually had no idea there was a GTX 780 HydroCopper. I'm definitely going with that, it'll save me time not opening up the card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130923

Anyone agree with this over the other 780's?

 

[grebgonebad]

I'm most likely going with the 780 that I chose above, but what I hear is the 7990 is much better than it, and cheaper. Is this true?

Unfortunately, that information is false. If you take a look here, the 780 ranks 2nd and the 7990 ranks 6th, and the 780 has a good 2,500 point lead over the 7990, which is a hell of a lot. =)

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

 

[grebgonebad]

I actually had no idea there was a GTX 780 HydroCopper. I'm definitely going with that, it'll save me time not opening up the card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130923

Anyone agree with this over the other 780's?

Of course, I forgot you said you were going to watercool! Ha ha! I would go for the Classified over the basic though. =)

 

[Spinny99]

I actually had no idea there was a GTX 780 HydroCopper. I'm definitely going with that, it'll save me time not opening up the card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130923

Anyone agree with this over the other 780's?

Of course, I forgot you said you were going to watercool! Ha ha! I would go for the Classified over the basic though. =)

What is different between the Classified and normal edition?
http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=03G-P4-3789-KR

I'm a noob

 

[grebgonebad]

I actually had no idea there was a GTX 780 HydroCopper. I'm definitely going with that, it'll save me time not opening up the card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130923

Anyone agree with this over the other 780's?

Of course, I forgot you said you were going to watercool! Ha ha! I would go for the Classified over the basic though. =)

What is different between the Classified and normal edition?
http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=03G-P4-3789-KR

I'm a noob

Ha ha, dont worry about it. I was just the same when I first started looking into all this. You should see some of my earlier posts! XD

Basically, they are the same apart from the fact the Classified is running at slightly higher clocks, if you do a side by side comparison of the two (Looking at the tech spec) you can clearly see this. =)

Although the difference is minimal, I would think it is worth the $30 price difference. But there again, you could probablt OC the standard one to the same clocks as teh Signature. BUT there again still, the signature you can probably OC even more. Depends on how far you want to take it really. XD