Will two 980's be enough?

[Campfirecrucifix]

The only information I could find on a Phantom case supporting 4-way SLI is the Phantom 820 Series which I dont believe is the model you have.

Dam, this will really set me back, i'm going to have to switch out over 2/3 of my components. Might as well go overkill and sell my current rig overpriced on ebay/craigslist.

 

Since I'm going to go overkill might as well make a silent gaming pc like linus did.

 

 

the reason for the 4x is that the z97 cpu's all have only 16 PCIe lanes, so even your 2 780's are running at x8 x8. t get more lanes you need the LGA2011-3 (or 2011) the 5820k has 28 lanes ( http://ark.intel.com/products/82932/ ) and the other two cpu for that socket have 40. So you could do three cards at x8 x8 x8 with the 5820k, or you could do two, x16 x8 (and still have 4 lanes to play with, if for example you have a raid card opr some other PCIe device)

 

Thank you for clearing that up. Are there any cpu's that will deliver x16 to all 4 lanes?

 

 

This is not native PCIe lanes driven by the CPU... there´s nothing wrong with what I said and the Maximus VI Extreme is an expensive motherboard, and correct me if I´m wrong but didn´t you have a sabertooth?

 

So where am I lying here exactly?

 

When you come up with somehting like that make sure you do proper research before accusing people of lying.This is PLX and not native PCIe lanes. Sure it will give you more bandwith than 4x 3.0 but then again this board features this and some others do but that doesn´t mean this is featured by alle Haswell 1150 boards.

 

Kind of upets me really when some one comes up with this without knowing the proper background.

 

And PC Gameshardware just released an article today on how PCIe 3.0 x16 performs to PCIe 3.0 x8 (which equals to PCIe 2.0 x16)...

 

Can you please explain to me why it is so bad then? I did some research and came up with this.

http://prntscr.com/4pebea

[Campfirecrucifix]

Bump. Still looking for answers.

[RuKiddin06]

Dam, this will really set me back, i'm going to have to switch out over 2/3 of my components. Might as well go overkill and sell my current rig overpriced on ebay/craigslist.

 

Since I'm going to go overkill might as well make a silent gaming pc like linus did.

 

 

 

Thank you for clearing that up. Are there any cpu's that will deliver x16 to all 4 lanes?

 

 

 

Can you please explain to me why it is so bad then? I did some research and came up with this.

http://prntscr.com/4pebea

I don't think so. But the difference between 16x and 8x in performance is not that much. jay from Jaystwocents on youtube is running three 780's on the 5960x (I dont know if he runs them at x8 x8 x8 or x16 x16 x8 or what. I'm not even really sure what combinations are possible). You could try messaging him on what he recommends as far as sli setups go. 

[Najuno]

Dam, this will really set me back, i'm going to have to switch out over 2/3 of my components. Might as well go overkill and sell my current rig overpriced on ebay/craigslist.

 

Since I'm going to go overkill might as well make a silent gaming pc like linus did.

 

 

 

Thank you for clearing that up. Are there any cpu's that will deliver x16 to all 4 lanes?

 

 

 

Can you please explain to me why it is so bad then? I did some research and came up with this.

http://prntscr.com/4pebea

There is nothing wrong with a x16 x8 x8 x8 quad SLI setup in PCIe 3.0 setup because you´ll be running at the performance of PCIe 2.0 x16 with all lanes x8 lanes. The difference between PCIe 3.0 x16 and PCIe 3.0 x8 isn´t that  much, but it is within the range of 2-8% performance depending on the application or game (this has been tested with a GTX780 Ti SLI by PC Gameshardware). I´m running right now with my 2way GTX980 SLI PCIe 3.0 x16 on both cards, but when I´ll add my 3rd I will break it down to x16 x16 x8 since my CPU supports 40 native lanes of PCIe 3.0 (I guess this is what Jay from JayZ Two Cents is doing as well).

 

If you are running on a CPU that supports enough native lanes this is a good setup. PLX isn´t native at all it´s a controller that manages your PCIe 3.0 x16 lanes (there are just overall 16 native lanes) of your 1150 Haswell CPU more effective but creates some more latency.

 

I think the best thing to take away is that PLX helps PCI-E efficiency as far as bandwidth and throughput, but doesn't give you any more bandwidth than the PCI-E lanes that already exist off the CPU when it comes to PCI-E on the motherboard. The PLX chip more or less shares the bandwidth of all the lanes connected to it with all the devices connected to the PLX chip. It's like a network switch. On a GPU it's just to bridge the two GPUs using PCI-E.

 

Think of the PLX chip as an integrated network switch, where PCI-E is the network. Hard wired vs switched data. To dedicate bandwidth or to share it.

[CraftThatBlock]

As started above, it would be better, but not good enough.

 

Tri-SLI would be much better, and even Quad if you have enough money to drop on this bad boy.

[Najuno]

As started above, it would be better, but not good enough.

 

Tri-SLI would be much better, and even Quad if you have enough money to drop on this bad boy.

A 3way SLI is IMHO as good as it gets with the right CPU and board.

 

The 4way SLI looks cool no doubt about it, but it doesn´t really scale very good and you´re not getting too much more performance out from the 4th card.

 

Here´s something to support what I try to explain:

 

http://www.ocaholic.co.uk/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1295&page=2〈=english

 

And the scaling with the 4th card is even worse.

[Campfirecrucifix]

A 3way SLI is IMHO as good as it gets with the right CPU and board.

 

The 4way SLI looks cool no doubt about it, but it doesn´t really scale very good and you´re not getting too much more performance out from the 4th card.

 

Here´s something to support what I try to explain:

 

http://www.ocaholic.co.uk/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1295&page=2〈=english

 

And the scaling with the 4th card is even worse.

I'm afraid that without the 4th card I will not have enough processing power to run 4k surround games on ultra settings.

[Najuno]

I'm afraid that without the 4th card I will not have enough processing power to run 4k surround games on ultra settings.

Don´t worry about that because in demanding games a 4way SLI won´t provide Ultra settings either. We are just not there yet with raw GPU power, and the GM204 makes no exception. Maybe the next gen in 20NM will change that, but this is still months away from reality.

 

But as written before 4K surround even with 4 GTX980, and given that you have a CPU that supports native 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes which would mean a change to 2011 (old) or 2011-3 and at least an i7 5930K would not provide Ultra settings.

 

I do not know why you bought 3 4K monitors without doing some research before that purchase, this is something that only you can answer yourself, but I run a single 4K display with a 2way GTX980 SLI and I am thinking about adding the third to squeeze a little bit more FPS and maybe higher settings out of that.

 

When I start older games I can tune up the settings pretty good even settings that allow me to use AA. But in demanding games there is no way that I can hold up to this. Sure what I see so far VRAM wise the 980 is an improvement with its 4GB to the GTX780Tis that I had. But I can bring both of my cards very quickly to their limits in 4K even without AA in some games.

 

I don´t think you can make 4K Surround happen in decent settings with the existing GPU right now. Maybe you can run games, especially older titles with acceptable FPS, but throw a game like Crysis3 or Metro LL at this and you won´t have decent or enjoyable frame rates.

I do not want to drag you down on this but reality is, I do have all this hardware here and I can see with my own eyes how good this performs. In fact, what I´ll do real soon (hopefully next week) I´ll buy the Acer Predator XB280HK monitor as soon as it is available because I think the G-Sync will enhance my experience. My Samsung will be sold then.

It seems like to me you are waiting for someone to tell you that you will be fine with what you´ve got... but this won´t be me since then I would lie to you.

[Campfirecrucifix]

Don´t worry about that because in demanding games a 4way SLI won´t provide Ultra settings either. We are just not there yet with raw GPU power, and the GM204 makes no exception. Maybe the next gen in 20NM will change that, but this is still months away from reality.

 

But as written before 4K surround even with 4 GTX980, and given that you have a CPU that supports native 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes which would mean a change to 2011 (old) or 2011-3 and at least an i7 5930K would not provide Ultra settings.

 

I do not know why you bought 3 4K monitors without doing some research before that purchase, this is something that only you can answer yourself, but I run a single 4K display with a 2way GTX980 SLI and I am thinking about adding the third to squeeze a little bit more FPS and maybe higher settings out of that.

 

When I start older games I can tune up the settings pretty good even settings that allow me to use AA. But in demanding games there is no way that I can hold up to this. Sure what I see so far VRAM wise the 980 is an improvement with its 4GB to the GTX780Tis that I had. But I can bring both of my cards very quickly to their limits in 4K even without AA in some games.

 

I don´t think you can make 4K Surround happen in decent settings with the existing GPU right now. Maybe you can run games, especially older titles with acceptable FPS, but throw a game like Crysis3 or Metro LL at this and you won´t have decent or enjoyable frame rates.

I do not want to drag you down on this but reality is, I do have all this hardware here and I can see with my own eyes how good this performs. In fact, what I´ll do real soon (hopefully next week) I´ll buy the Acer Predator XB280HK monitor as soon as it is available because I think the G-Sync will enhance my experience. My Samsung will be sold then.

It seems like to me you are waiting for someone to tell you that you will be fine with what you´ve got... but this won´t be me since then I would lie to you.

 

I see. I have a question though, if you're 3 980's can't handle 4k surround then why can 4 titans handle 4k surround at @ 60fps on high settings? 

youtube.com/watch?v=P3wpgjM2Tic

 

 

Also why can two GTX 980's handle 4k surround at 60Hz? 

youtube.com/watch?v=TmAXedJ4FKQ&feature=youtu.be&t=3m9s

 

I'm not trying to flame here I just want to get an answer out of the community. I want to know what will be the best decision to make.

 

Also I got these monitors at a very low price so don't worry about how much I spend on 4k monitors. Origionally the plan was to play 2k surround on most games and switch over to one 4k monitor if I had a demanding game but I noticed that most games (less demanding) I can run on 4k surround with my 780's. (Gmod, The Witcher)

[Najuno]

I see. I have a question though, if you're 3 980's can't handle 4k surround then why can 4 titans handle 4k surround at @ 60fps on high settings? 

youtube.com/watch?v=P3wpgjM2Tic

 

 

Also why can two GTX 980's handle 4k surround at 60Hz? 

youtube.com/watch?v=TmAXedJ4FKQ&feature=youtu.be&t=3m9s

 

I'm not trying to flame here I just want to get an answer out of the community. I want to know what will be the best decision to make.

 

Also I got these monitors at a very low price so don't worry about how much I spend on 4k monitors. Origionally the plan was to play 2k surround on most games and switch over to one 4k monitor if I had a demanding game but I noticed that most games (less demanding) I can run on 4k surround with my 780's. (Gmod, The Witcher)

First of all I´m not worried about anything concerning your setup or your person... really not. I was trying to be kind and give you my opinion on what you asked for, if you are not happy with it... sorry but then you should not ask in a forum, but instead call nVidia and let them quote you for a 20k USD computer. Who am I trying to talk someone out of something? I guess you are old enough to make you own decisions and come to conclusions. I´m afraid our persperctives are very different.

 

Get yourself a new demanding game with your GTX780 2way SLI and put it on high settings... you will see what happens in 4K surround. Performance will be bad from the start but when the VRAM is full your game will simply crash due to this overwhelming setup.

In fact I´m getting tired of arguing here with you all the time, since all you do is poor research and throwing something into this just to make this with your 1150 Haswell somehow happen, and sorry a 4 way SLI or CF belongs on the right board with the right CPU supporting such a setup. Can´t you see that the 4K Surround setup from nVidia on that stand with a specific playable graphics demo of project cars (which btw is not high settings) is just a PR gag? And just because you´ve got a 60Hz monitor does not mean you have 60+ FPS.

 

The games you are talking about are so old that I can run them off my tablet...sure if these are you favorite games, absolutely cool with me. But understand this, these games were cool in 2007 but we have 2014 and the standard is set to different games. What do you think happens next year with games like The Witcher 3 or GTA V? This will demand even more hardware than current games.

 

But here is something you can do, and maybe this will resolve your issue and get you all set for 4K surround. Don´t buy GM204. Wait for the Highend Chip as well as for AMD´s highend chip in 20NM. Maybe we will see cards with 512Bit Memory Interface and 8GB GDDR5 with a performance 50% better than the current R9 290X, GTX780Ti or GTX980s can provide right now. Intel will release Broadwell and who knows when Skylake comes. So there´s a ton of new powerful hardware in the pipeline from all big developers.

 

If this text upsets you I´m sorry, but like I wrote before, to me it appears, that you want to make this happen very badly. But before thinking about putting 4! GPUs on a 1150 board I´d rather upgrade to X79 or X99 to have the right base for it, then get 20NM cards and look into this how much they are able to provide enjoyable FPS in 4K surround.

Or you decide to stay on older games or some Indie games, then get three GTX980s SLI them and play 4K Surround, but I´d never try then to play something demanding, because you might dissapoint yourself.

 

See I do not want to flame you either, but just like I wrote I guess our perspectives are too different that we would agree on smething here, the only difference here is I have the hardware that you think about buying and so what I´m saying doesn´t come out of the blue

 

Regards,

 

Naj.

[Campfirecrucifix]

First of all I´m not worried about anything concerning your setup or your person... really not. I was trying to be kind and give you my opinion on what you asked for, if you are not happy with it... sorry but then you should not ask in a forum, but instead call nVidia and let them quote you for a 20k USD computer. Who am I trying to talk someone out of something? I guess you are old enough to make you own decisions and come to conclusions. I´m afraid our persperctives are very different.

 

Get yourself a new demanding game with your GTX780 2way SLI and put it on high settings... you will see what happens in 4K surround. Performance will be bad from the start but when the VRAM is full your game will simply crash due to this overwhelming setup.

In fact I´m getting tired of arguing here with you all the time, since all you do is poor research and throwing something into this just to make this with your 1150 Haswell somehow happen, and sorry a 4 way SLI or CF belongs on the right board with the right CPU supporting such a setup. Can´t you see that the 4K Surround setup from nVidia on that stand with a specific playable graphics demo of project cars (which btw is not high settings) is just a PR gag? And just because you´ve got a 60Hz monitor does not mean you have 60+ FPS.

 

The games you are talking about are so old that I can run them off my tablet...sure if these are you favorite games, absolutely cool with me. But understand this, these games were cool in 2007 but we have 2014 and the standard is set to different games. What do you think happens next year with games like The Witcher 3 or GTA V? This will demand even more hardware than current games.

 

But here is something you can do, and maybe this will resolve your issue and get you all set for 4K surround. Don´t buy GM204. Wait for the Highend Chip as well as for AMD´s highend chip in 20NM. Maybe we will see cards with 512Bit Memory Interface and 8GB GDDR5 with a performance 50% better than the current R9 290X, GTX780Ti or GTX980s can provide right now. Intel will release Broadwell and who knows when Skylake comes. So there´s a ton of new powerful hardware in the pipeline from all big developers.

 

If this text upsets you I´m sorry, but like I wrote before, to me it appears, that you want to make this happen very badly. But before thinking about putting 4! GPUs on a 1150 board I´d rather upgrade to X79 or X99 to have the right base for it, then get 20NM cards and look into this how much they are able to provide enjoyable FPS in 4K surround.

Or you decide to stay on older games or some Indie games, then get three GTX980s SLI them and play 4K Surround, but I´d never try then to play something demanding, because you might dissapoint yourself.

 

See I do not want to flame you either, but just like I wrote I guess our perspectives are too different that we would agree on smething here, the only difference here is I have the hardware that you think about buying and so what I´m saying doesn´t come out of the blue

 

Regards,

 

Naj.

Why do you keep saying that I want this on a 1150 board? All I asked was if two 980's would be enough. I even mentioned before that if needed I would build a new system from the ground just to handle 4k surround. All I want is information and you are flaming at me for no reason. I gave you examples of systems that handled 4k and asked why they worked so well and yet now you keep insisting that I want to make it run on my 1150. 

 

I know that Garry's Mod is an old game and I even stated that I can run it 4k surround because of the low requirements. I'm just explaining how people kept telling me that I would barley be able to play any games on a single 4k display and yet my GPU handles 4k high res games such as bf4 on a single 4k display perfectly; I am even surprised I can play old games on 4k surround.

 

If this is starting to bother you then please cool off and leave this thread. It's open to the public not just you. All I am looking for is information right now so I know what to do in the future.

 

 

Edit:

I really don't see what would be wrong with two gtx 980 though. I just tested titanfall (what I consider a medium to high graphically dependent game) on my 4k sli and here are the results.

 

 

Resolution: 11520x2160

Graphics: High

AA: 4X MSAA

Texture AA: 4X

Framerate: Average was 20, sometimes if there was alot happening on the screen it would drop to 12.

GPU Usage: http://prntscr.com/4psafc

Result: Not playable and if played for to long crashed due to low vram.

 

Resolution: 11520x2160

Graphics: High

AA: None

Texture AA: None

Framerate: Always above 30 except for one area that was completely wide open, dropped to 20 then went back up to 30.

GPU usage: http://prntscr.com/4psb8b

Results: Perfectly playable without the AA turned on. FPS would usually stay at 30.