Graphic Card Confusion!!!!

[Tyla1073]

Hello All,

I have just started using triple screens with SoftTH but seeing the benefits want more!

The games I want to play are:

MW3
iRacing
Dirt 3
FSX

I'm currently running a GTX 560 with a second nvidia card but need to know what to do next. After hours of research I am still no wiser, so my question is with £500 what graphics card or multiple cards do I buy?

Specs;

i5 2500k OC 4.3
Asus P8P67 deluxe M/Board
8gb 1600 RAM
OCZ 700w PSU
Acer S243HL BMii 24" monitor
2 x Viewsonic VA2213w Monitors

Thank you in advance.

Tyla

[Haldi]

Mhmm, you could get a HD7970 for 500£

If you want to go Multiple cards go GTX580 3GB SLI! not sure if that works with 500£ though, guess not. Then go for GTX570 2.5gb. Better than 1.5gb GTX580!
IF you wan't to go Nvidia you need two cards! So you're also gonna have Micro stutter on SLI (not as bad as on AMD Crossfire though)

IF you overclock a HD7970 to 1125mhz it's around 5-10% Slower than a HD6990, in Eyefinity resolution maybe nearly as fast! But you won't ger problems with micro stutter.

[ugzz]

also some people just don't really percieve micro stuttering, monitor quality comes into play there as well.
ive never noticed an issue and to my eyes my frames are butter on 2x nvidia cards.

this is 6 months old and driver updated have helped some, but its still pretty accurate if you want to read about micro stuttering comparisons;
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995-15.html

using a single card for multi mons removed the issue. and a lot more people are going to ati for eyefinity multi mon cause you can just pop for a fast single card and get it done.
not a bad way to go imo, and eliminated all the trouble of crossfire/sli

im happy with my nvidia setup and wont be changing for some time. ive actually been much more please with nvidia and initial game support and surround support lately. i dont have an eyefinity setup to compare multi mon with, but we have plenty of ati cards at work so i still use both pretty consistently and ive always hated atis drivers. i swear they make them with a personal vendetta against just me and what i need to do lol

[mixfloors]

From an iRacing perspective only, one key point to avoid micro stutters is not to use cards that have multi cpu on board. 6990 590 etc. Although this issue is not specificly defined it seems to be the root cause of it in iRacing. 6970 and 2x 580's dont have this problem (in iRacing) and you can get good FPS with high detail settings over multi screens. I am no expert on this subject and am only rehashing what I have read on iR forums.

I use 2x480's over 3 x 22inch screens and have no problems with most setting maxed for 100+ fps on most tracks. Lowest fps comes from Spa and Suzuka where at the start of a race with a full field it may drop to 50 fps for a second or two, once the cars spread a bit there is never a problem.

Hope that helps a little.

[ugzz]

did you ever pull the trigger on something?

i think if i was in your shoes i would just get another 560.. games that support sli properly are seeing serious 80+% boosts by going sli. either that or sell the current 560 and drop the crazy cash for a 500$ card, maybe nab that ati mentioned above.. but im a cheap skate heh, id get the 560

[barryoo]

FSX was mentioned in the topic and street talk suggests that the old 32 bit program does not work well in SLI or crossfire or a dual gpu graphics card.

[LuckyNoS7evin]

Going to chip in and say you could for £500 get 2 x HD9750

just a quick look and the Gigabyte Windforce 3s are £239 at the moment at overclockers (could probably get cheaper else where but it was a quick look)

I saw FSX was mentioned and although I'm not sure if it's that old surely switching off CF for it wouldn't harm your performance that badly? Forgive me if I'm wrong. Another bonus of getting these cards is the fact you get two versions of Crysis 3 and Bioshock to sell making it cheaper.

If you're worried about performance I wouldn't something like Crysis 3 can run on these badboys @5760x1080 "medium system spec" but with Very High Texture detail at SMAAx1 with 40 - 60 FPS, I haven't tried any higher AA settings as it looks stunning at those settings.

Do take into account what the others say too as Crossfire is not for everyone

[ugzz]

this thread flows great with the months.. but that whole year thing throws the mix around a bit lol.
jan-feb-march... but we jump from 12-13 in there

[LuckyNoS7evin]

haha I didn't even notice that when I posted