Considering Eyefinity/Nvidia Surround

[Shirnuu]

Hi (I'm a new guy), I am considering a multi screen setup and a friend recommended i check ur forums for consult. This section looked most fitting for this topic. ATM i have:
Intel i7-2600K@4,4Ghz
Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti (GV-N560OC-1GI)
ASRock P67 Extreme4/A/ASR
8GB RAM DDR3 ADATA 1600Mhz
Seasonic M12II Bronze 620W 80Plus PSU (2x24A @ 12V)
My main screen is iiyama ProLite E2403WS

I can't find any more of those (iiyamas) so i'll have to pick up new screens. I will need 3 new screens for the SLS and will use my current one as extension if possible.

Propably the most obvious choice would be to pick up another GTX560Ti but I dunno if my PSU can hold it. Also if I switched to SLI, the graphic cards would operate in double x8 mode instead of x16. You propably figured out my question by now. Is picking up another GTX560 for the sole purpose of Widescreen gaming worth it (considering PSU and x8 instead of x16 - i have no idea what impact it could have on performance) or should i sell my GTX560Ti and get a MultiGPU nvidia (590?) or some ATI alternative? In either case - is PSU upgrade also necessary?

I used to enjoy the beneficial impact that CUDA has on some of my video editing apps, but since i got the 2600K i don't consider it as important and am willing to betray Nvidia for the first time in my humble gaming history (if it pays off). I'm willing to pay up to 1500$ (+money from sold parts if upgrades are necessary). I want to be ready for the new Deus EX :)

[Delphium]

:welcome

SLI running in 8x mode you should not notice much of a difference as the card does not saturate the bandwidth that pci-e 2.0 8x provides.
I am not sure about the PSU, it is of a good brand so it may be ok, although I would personally look at something a bit more powerfull around the 800/840w range.

[suiken_2mieu]

:welcome

SLI running in 8x mode you should not notice much of a difference as the card does not saturate the bandwidth that pci-e 2.0 8x provides.
I am not sure about the PSU, it is of a good brand so it may be ok, although I would personally look at something a bit more powerfull around the 800/840w range.

I second this, a better PSU is going to be needed.

[Paradigm Shifter]

To be fair, I had SLI GTX470s running off a 620w PSU, with a Phenom II 1090T, and it was fine.

Having said that, it's not something I recommend, and I swapped the PSU out for a more powerful one as soon as my order arrived (it had been delayed/lost in the post) but for a week I had considerably more power hungry cards and a more power hungry CPU, with sundry other devices (DVDRW, 3xHDD, fan controller) all happy.

[GeneralAdmission]

Regarding PSU needs, everyone should have one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4400-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307319139&sr=8-1

Seriously, this little meter is a wonderful device and will tell you a lot about your rig's power needs. With my most recent build (hexacore, 5850OC, 2 optical drives, 4 hard drives, surround resolution) I wondered if my 600W could handle it. After putting various heavy loads through the Kill-A-Watt I discovered that my rig almost never broke a 400W draw. Question answered.

About NVIDIA vs AMD...it's mostly about preference. If you can make use of the card you already have that would be optimal for your wallet.

CUDA is nice, and has a head-start in the market, but OpenCL is also finding its legs. As you noted, though, the i7 relegates both to "nice but not essential" category.

[tet5uo]

Heh my rig has pulled 1.1 kW on my meter... 3 GTX 480's are juice-hungry.. :P

[GeneralAdmission]

Heh my rig has pulled 1.1 kW on my meter... 3 GTX 480's are juice-hungry.. :P

haha...cooked any bacon in that rig? :D

[QuackingPlums]

If it's of any use in helping you decide, I have 2x GTX580 on my ASUS P8P67 Pro and it draws ~560W under load (3DMark/Unigine) which was less than I thought it would, but enough to warrant me upgrading to the 1200W PSU.

I have no optical drives, no HDD, and all non-essential ports disabled (Marvell SATA, USB3, etc).

[Gilly]

If it's of any use in helping you decide, I have 2x GTX580 on my ASUS P8P67 Pro and it draws ~560W under load (3DMark/Unigine) which was less than I thought it would, but enough to warrant me upgrading to the 1200W PSU.

I have no optical drives, no HDD, and all non-essential ports disabled (Marvell SATA, USB3, etc).

You are about perfect (50%) loading on the PSU for best efficiency too. Will just put my 2 cents in for a Corsair AX850 PSU, should allow passive (fan turned off) under idle, and quiet, stable operation under load.

Can't ever skimp on the PSU, well, you can, but you will end up being sorry (this being the person that had 1 garbage, 1 so-so and one high quality PSU die on him, before getting the PC PnC one I still use today (5 years old)).

[Abram]

And when a cheapo PSU goes, it ALWAYS take out other components. I had a friend whos' PSU went berserk and it fried his mobo, RAM, CPU, one hard drive, Front panel, and an optical drive. And his apartment had the delicious smell of fried electronics for weeks.

[Paradigm Shifter]

And when a cheapo PSU goes, it ALWAYS take out other components. I had a friend whos' PSU went berserk and it fried his mobo, RAM, CPU, one hard drive, Front panel, and an optical drive. And his apartment had the delicious smell of fried electronics for weeks.

Just goes to show, a computer is powered by special smoke! When the smoke escapes, it stops working. :lol: