2x GTX660 3GB SLI. Triple monitors?

[Beeble]

Hi, my plan for an upcoming build is to run 2x EVGA 660 3GB Superclocked+ cards in SLI. The aim is to run three 2560x1440 displays off the machine. I wouldn't be running 3D or anything, and only 60Hz, but nVidia surround could be cool.

My use is mostly 3D graphics, with a lot of rendering and a little bit of gaming. Basically, can I run those three monitors off that card, and what will performance be like?

[tengarp]

Soooooo... If you plan to play games like battlefield 3 or Crysis, no, you won't be able to run those at framerates above 30fps. So, be careful there, but as far as the memory, you should be good with 3gb of memory.

[SubTract]

for gaming, at that resolution. Hmm would work but not great. Rendering would be fine, I would suggest putting money into 1 high end card. I wouldn't crossfire/SLI unless you have to.

[Beeble]

The reason I'm looking to use SLI is because I need as much graphics memory as possible for a fairly low price, the software I use stores calculations for simulations in the graphics memory, so 6GB would be amazing. Could you suggest some other card(s) that may be a good option? I'm a big fan of how the EVGAs look and overclock but I'm open to other brands :)

[Helltech]

The reason I'm looking to use SLI is because I need as much graphics memory as possible for a fairly low price' date=' the software I use stores calculations for simulations in the graphics memory, so 6GB would be amazing. Could you suggest some other card(s) that may be a good option? I'm a big fan of how the EVGAs look and overclock but I'm open to other brands :)[/quote']

Honestly at that resolution you might want to look into going AMD. I wouldn't get anything less than 670 4GB cards though, and even then you won't get amazing frame rates. That is a VERY large resolution to run, and depending what games / settings you want you might not be able to find anything that works for you that is reasonable.

[killerx525]

The small memory bandwidth on the 660 is not enough even though the card has 3GB of Vram but it will definitely struggle at these gigantic resolution.

[Rhizo]

The reason I'm looking to use SLI is because I need as much graphics memory as possible for a fairly low price, the software I use stores calculations for simulations in the graphics memory, so 6GB would be amazing. Could you suggest some other card(s) that may be a good option? I'm a big fan of how the EVGAs look and overclock but I'm open to other brands :)

SLI only uses one card worth of memory.

[Beeble]

So dual 670/680s? I definitely need to go with nvidia as I use almost exclusively Adobe products. What spec do you guys reckon would suffice to run some games at playable frame rates?

[EChondo]

The reason I'm looking to use SLI is because I need as much graphics memory as possible for a fairly low price' date=' the software I use stores calculations for simulations in the graphics memory, [b']so 6GB would be amazing. Could you suggest some other card(s) that may be a good option? I'm a big fan of how the EVGAs look and overclock but I'm open to other brands :)

That is wrong. You will only be able to use 3GB of the GPU's RAM. It does NOT stack, it mirrors each other. You will not have 6GB, only 3GB.

[Salmiakbal]

The reason I'm looking to use SLI is because I need as much graphics memory as possible for a fairly low price' date=' the software I use stores calculations for simulations in the graphics memory, [b']so 6GB would be amazing. Could you suggest some other card(s) that may be a good option? I'm a big fan of how the EVGAs look and overclock but I'm open to other brands :)

That is wrong. You will only be able to use 3GB of the GPU's RAM. It does NOT stack, it mirrors each other. You will not have 6GB, only 3GB.

Exactly. I hate it when double GPU cards are marketed as having 4GB of memory like the Nvidia 690 while it only has 2GB of useable memory.

[Beeble]

The reason I'm looking to use SLI is because I need as much graphics memory as possible for a fairly low price' date=' the software I use stores calculations for simulations in the graphics memory, [b']so 6GB would be amazing. Could you suggest some other card(s) that may be a good option? I'm a big fan of how the EVGAs look and overclock but I'm open to other brands :)

That is wrong. You will only be able to use 3GB of the GPU's RAM. It does NOT stack, it mirrors each other. You will not have 6GB, only 3GB.

Aw :( Well that sucks!

[wpirobotbuilder]

The reason I'm looking to use SLI is because I need as much graphics memory as possible for a fairly low price, the software I use stores calculations for simulations in the graphics memory, so 6GB would be amazing. Could you suggest some other card(s) that may be a good option? I'm a big fan of how the EVGAs look and overclock but I'm open to other brands :)

Not for software other than games. Rendering and programs that use CUDA for GPU computing will be able to access it all.

[wpirobotbuilder]

The reason I'm looking to use SLI is because I need as much graphics memory as possible for a fairly low price' date=' the software I use stores calculations for simulations in the graphics memory, [b']so 6GB would be amazing. Could you suggest some other card(s) that may be a good option? I'm a big fan of how the EVGAs look and overclock but I'm open to other brands :)

That is wrong. You will only be able to use 3GB of the GPU's RAM. It does NOT stack, it mirrors each other. You will not have 6GB, only 3GB.

For your purposes, you WILL be able to access it all. Gaming in SLI will not do it, but rendering and CUDA programs can access all memory across all cards, if they're written correctly

[Beeble]

So if I were to get two 670 or 680s, run them in SLI, the memory from one card would be enough for gaming on just the one monitor, and the two of them together would monster the renders. Right?

And just to confirm, I'd only be able to use the display outputs on one card right?

[killerx525]

Yes, the memory would be fine for single monitor gaming and 2 cards could boost the rendering.

[Dim]

You'll need all the memory you can get with that resolution; perhaps take a look at dual 7950s or, if it's within your budget, dual 7970s. 6GB of VRAM would be enough.

That would give very decent settings on games such as BF3.

[Beeble]

As I said earlier, I need to go with nvidia cards to take advantage of the CUDA cores for the work I do. Looks like dual 680s then!

[vanwazltoff]

i was able to do triple screen gaming with 3 1440x900 monitors on a single gtx 670, i didnt have any higher end games to test but it blew through borderlands 2 at a smooth 60fps. 2 670s would probably do for you, dual 680s would be even better. tried to install bf3 but everyone knows origin is the worst program ever so i couldnt even get it to install or work properly

[Dim]

You'll need all the memory you can get with that resolution; perhaps take a look at dual 7950s or' date=' if it's within your budget, dual 7970s. 6GB of VRAM would be enough. That would give very decent settings on games such as BF3. [/quote']

Sorry, I didn't see that :P

To be honest, try and get 2x 4GB 680s if you can. With a 7680 x 1440 resolution, you really DO need a lot of memory -- 4GB might suffice, though. In general it's usually 3GB for three 1080p screens--you're packing nearly double that resolution.

[s0nrise]

You wont play anything with that cards on that resolution.

[TechFan@ic]

There are no 3GB GTX 660 cards, only 3GB GTX 660 Ti cards .

[YowZman]

the guys that are saying that 3gb is not enough memory are right on the money.

you will need 4GB MINIMUM. 1 GB, is just enough for a single 1080p monitor. If you up the resolution, you will end up writing to system memory and sucking.

4GB or more. This is the best and worst thing about PC gaming, you bank account is the limit of what you can do. But better to do it right or not at all.