Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hello, all.

So I'm looking to build my first triple-display rig.

First and foremost: I have a small bias toward nVidia, but this does not mean I am against buying AMD. The top priority of this rig is to get great surround gaming, and I've got a fairly lofty budget for it. This doesn't necessarily mean "money is no object", but I'll save expenses where I can. (For instance, if a dual GPU is only slighty worse than two of its single-GPU counterparts, I may spring for the dual GPU because it is cheaper than the two single GPUs combined. Ex. GTX 590 = $749, GTX 580= $549). The three displays are 25" 1920x1080.

The main goal is the run most games on the triple monitor display with all of the video options turned all the way up while maintaining 60 FPS at least. Anti-aliasing, multisampling, V-sync, the 'works', so to speak.
Mass Effect 3 is the game that has to function this well. So, in essence, with components that will be on the market by the time it is released (March 6th, 2012), I am looking for the very best GPU setup.

First, I'd like to address a few questions I've got from the little things here and there I've picked up on over the last few months.

1) Single GPUs vs Dual GPUs in SLI/Crossfire.
Are two single GPUs more powerful than their dual GPU counterpart?

2) AMD vs. nVidia.
As I mentioned before, I have a slight lean in favor of nVidia. I'm attracted to PhysX, and I hear that their drivers are slightly more reliable. On the flip side, I hear AMD's Eyefinity has support for more games. I'm looking for an unbiased comparison between the two. Currently, I'm leaning toward AMD since its most powerful GPUs are being released in time for me to use them in my rig.

3) Battlefield 3 and other games.
Battlefield 3, I'm told, is the most GPU-bound game right now. Is it possible for this game to be run in triple-display with maximum graphic settings and maintain great FPS? Are there many other games so graphically demanding? How graphically intense are other new games like Arkham City in comparison?

4) Terminology and the important factors:
Pixel Fill Rate, Texture Fill Rate, Scaling, Micro-stutter. There are a lot of terms being thrown around. I read that the GTX 590 has greater texture and pixel fill rates. What are truly the more important stats of a GPU?

The Rig (So far).

Chassis: Cooler Master HAF X
CPU: Intel i7 2600k 3.4GHz.
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth P67
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB)

1) Yes and no, the 6990 for example is very fast, but a pair of overclocked 2GB 6970s would be faster. Although I can guess that heat output and power draw may also be higher with 2 cards, worth considering as you will probably need a 1000W PSU witht he level of hardware you are looking at, and enough cooling to stop it all melting :)

2) This is a bone of contention. I would say that nV generally has better out of the box support, at least, their stuff doesn't need a display port screen, or adaptor. I cannot comment on drivers, but I had to format W7 to get CCC to install, so don't get me started on AMD drivers :P I have had great sucess with them in the past though. nV generally has faster support for new games with SLI profiles (or has in recent times). Might help you a bit.

3) This might be of some use.

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1362/pg4/amd-radeon-hd-7970-crossfire-performance-review-battlefield-3.html

If you want to use max settings at 1080p x3 at 60fps, you need a lot of power, you are looking at a pair of 6970's or 7970's or 580 SLI, to get anywhere near 60fps. That also includes a GTX590 and 6990 card in that range. You really need the 7970 pair to pull of 60 fps, according to that benchmark anyway. If you don't crave 60fps constantly, or can manage on some medium/ high details, not ultra details, you could probably manage with 6950's or GTX570s.

4) I generally ignore those figures, and just look for bench performance. Fillrate doesn't generally mean anything, if it is not backed up with other equally as advanced bits on the card. High memory bandwidth without enough memory to pull of anti-aliasing for example, is useless.

My money would be on a single 7970, on a single screen, and I don't think you would be far wrong with a pair of them. But that would be around $1100 I guess, quite steep. My 2nd pick would be a pair of 2GB 6970's, IMO the extra cost (for me, would be £1100, compared to around £600) isn't worth it. I would drop the details a hair, and keep the higher frame rate personally.

All my 2 cents though! But whatever you do, DO NOT SKIMP ON COOLING OR THE PSU!!!!!!

There's no way I'm gonna use less-than-suitable cooling for these GPUs. I just have yet to figure out exactly how much power I need to supply, and then I'll look at cooling. I was interested in water cooling, but since this is my first venture into PC building, I'll approach water cooling at a later time. I'll do what I can for air cooling, though.

Which reminds me. I was looking at the Cooler Master HAF X, and then realized aluminum cases are better for heat dissipation. How vital would it be for the case to be aluminum? Are we looking at a sizable difference in heating by just what the case is made of versus the air cooling the Cooler Master HAF X is capable of?

Also, a steep price tag is not going to ward me off, unless I can save a couple hundred by going with GPUs configurations that are only slightly behind others. For example, if two GTX 580s are only slightly better than a single GTX 590, I would go with the latter because I save about 200 bucks that way. But that's just to demonstrate how I'm willing to play with my money with this rig.

I'll poke through Hardware Heaven for a little bit, and then I may come back and ask a few more questions.

Thanks, Gilly, for your help!

i would go for the 2 580s at 3 gig each!
i think the 590 only uses 1.5 gig per gpu..limited there on grafx!
this is where the problem exists....because you want hires with full anti and stuff..u need the vram big time :}
i use 2 evga 580s 3 giggers and can max everything out..16x..etc..bf3..grid..arkam..all incredible..so great man!
also..if u use liquid cooling on your CPU..no need to use it on the cards...i found this out also..while building mine..
they used to get super hot when cranking out surround gaming..not anymore..and now super quiet!
i just added the corsair h60..and bang..instant cool down on the cards!
strange but true my friends!
good luck and enjoy..
here is link to my hypersim build with surround..
so amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwxCVC_3yWQ&feature=plcp

I moved from Eyefinity to Nvidia because it offers more features when dealing with multi-monitor setups. I am just moving away from two Nvidia cards in SLI to a single more powerful card because I am sick of SLI performance issues.

I advise you read this article, and if nothing else, than the conclusion page - as it compares to pros and cons of each setup: http://www.wsgf.org/article/red-vs-green-vs-blue-v2

It is good that we are trying to help the TS, but this thread is more than 6 months old. Maybe his problem has been already resolved.

True, but other people may just read through it looking for similar advice now. Good point though.