Need help picking mobo and cpu

[Dr Burrito]

Im looking at building a surround gaming rig and was going with a z97 mobo (not sure which one yet) and a 4790k processor. The issue with my rig is that i was looking at getting 3 980's in SLI and i realized that the 4790k only supports up to 2 at 8x mode. Am i correct that this cannot work or is 3 way SLI possible with this processor? If this processor won't work then i assume that going X99 should be the next option, and if so should i just go for the 5960X then? keep in mind no budget really as this is being built over time

[mr.skyrim_pc]

Just because you need x99 doesnt mean you need a 5960x...get a 5820k

 

But if you want z97 get a gigabyte z97x-ud5h.

[glewin7]

I am going to be completely honest with you and just say that it isn't worth throwing 3 980's into a rig together, the performance you'll get will be inconsistant at best. If you're going to put that much money into a rig I would suggest getting 2 980's and do a custom water loop with the money you saved from the third one, that way you'll get beast OC performance and it will be FAR more consistent than 3 way SLI. If you don't believe me take it from the horses mouth

[glewin7]

I'm guessing that money isn't an issue so ddr4 won't be much of a hinderance, get an asus x99 board with ddr4, a 5820k and 2 980's all on a custom water loop

[Dr Burrito]

I'm guessing that money isn't an issue so ddr4 won't be much of a hinderance, get an asus x99 board with ddr4, a 5820k and 2 980's all on a custom water loop

ok so pretend your talking to a complete idiot (yes, me) and when I would hook up 3 monitors, would hooking up 2 to 1 card impact performance? or is it like a pool and all gets divided equally when you put the cards in SLI?

[i_build_nanosuits]

Im looking at building a surround gaming rig and was going with a z97 mobo (not sure which one yet) and a 4790k processor. The issue with my rig is that i was looking at getting 3 980's in SLI and i realized that the 4790k only supports up to 2 at 8x mode. Am i correct that this cannot work or is 3 way SLI possible with this processor? If this processor won't work then i assume that going X99 should be the next option, and if so should i just go for the 5960X then? keep in mind no budget really as this is being built over time

it will work absolutely fine with 3 GPU's so long that you pick a motherboard with a plx chip, any board from this list will get it done:

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/motherboard/#c=99&l=3,4&sort=a8

[i_build_nanosuits]

ok so pretend your talking to a complete idiot (yes, me) and when I would hook up 3 monitors, would hooking up 2 to 1 card impact performance? or is it like a pool and all gets divided equally when you put the cards in SLI?

in SLI, the third GPU will often be sitting there doing nothing cause many games only supports 2 way SLI...and the games that in fact do use 3 way sli will only see a slight benefit from your 3rd card (about 10 to 20% performance increase tops) i'd suggest you get only two graphics cards.

[glewin7]

The graphics performance is essentially pooled. Remember that when youre rendering 3 monitors in a surround setup youre not actually rendering "3 monitors" but a stretched horizontal resolution. It's exactly the same as running a large single monitor but the aspect ratio is splayed horizontally. Take my advice on this and get 2 980's, spend the extra money on water cooling, and get a 5820k

[glewin7]

Regardless of whether youre running 1 monitor or 3 monitors, or 1 graphics card or 3 graphics cards, it's always an equation of GPU horsepower vs resolution. The thing is as nanosuits said that most developers don't make optimizations for 3 way SLI support, they aren't common enough to warrant the extra work, this leaves it up to Nvidia to create drivers that will support games but with little success. Even 2 way sli is janky with some mainstream games.

[glewin7]

Your best solution is always a single video card as you will incur the least amount of problems, the more cards you throw in your system them more problems you're going to have. From the questions youre asking I'm just gonna go ahead and say that your knowledge base doesn't support the amount of trouble shooting that will be involved with a tri-SLI setup. Even someone who really knows what they're doing is going to have a nightmare that will eventually result in the acceptance that they spent 500 dollars on a GPU that hardly gets utilized.

[i_build_nanosuits]

also you should watch this video about surround gaming...for most players its actualy a pretty bad idea and a single higher resolution gaming monitor (1440p 120hz..) is a much better pick...in a nut shell if youre not playing racing sims and flight sims its defenetly not something you should be interested in: