3 Monitor setup, video card of choice?

[cosmo41]

I'm planning my 4 year build and would really like to get into 3 monitor 1080p gaming (currently using a 3.5 y/o 15.9" alienware laptop from eons ago so rejoice with me in this upgrade!). I've done my best to scour google, youtube, LTT forum for my answer but I haven't found anything conclusive. So, aim: to run 3 x 1080p monitors with everything jacked up - super/uber sampling, physx, tomb raider super-amazing hair tech - the lot! And I do say that within reason, I am flexible.

 

Watching/reading, it seems the Titan is the obvious choice - Vram, clock speeds etc. But would a 780 also do the same job? A number of people have stated that 3GB Vram minimum is needed when attempting to run 3 monitors at this res, thus leading me to ponder the 780. Further, would a 780 Sli setup, even though they'd be sharing the 3GB Vram, assure me of my goal? 

 

One last question, oh genies of the tech world, considering I'll be building Oct/Nov '13, would I be better off waiting for Maxwell? I've done my best to find a specific month for it's release but to no avail. I'd really like to have this done and dusted before Christmas, but if the juice is worth the squeeze, then...?

 

I hope this is enough info. If there's anyone who's done something like this and would share their own build then that'd be awesome, too!

 

[HirgaLTTki]

Since you gonna build it in oct/nov why not wait for AMD to see what they can do

[panfriedpuppies]

I'm sure Maxwell won't be ready for when you want to build. The titan's vram is definitely attractive for multi monitor setups, I'd say you'd probably want it for 3x1080p with everything turned up.

[FloRolf]

I dont think a single titan has enough power for that res and everything maxed out. You would probably want two titans (if you cann afford). But i suggest to wait for amd aswell. If not for the performance then maybe price drops on nvidia cards.

[cosmo41]

Since you gonna build it in oct/nov why not wait for AMD to see what they can do

I've got an AMD 5850M right now and have been very happy with it. Before that I had the 4890 and before that I had the Radeon 9850. Nothing against AMD, I'd just like to change for the sake of change.

 

 

I dont think a single titan has enough power for that res and everything maxed out. You would probably want two titans (if you cann afford). But i suggest to wait for amd aswell. If not for the performance then maybe price drops on nvidia cards.

Interesting, thanks. But what do you think about 2 x 780's? Would the 3GB be enough with the horse power of the two cards behind it? Or do you think I really would have to go all out with the Titan Sli?

 

Good point with the price drop, too.

 

If anyone knows of any benchmarks that would be great!

[SkyArmy]

You could get a 7990. That is enough to run whatever you want and the micro-stuttering will be fixed in future drivers. And its great for bitcoining. :P

[OneGun]

You could get a 7990. That is enough to run whatever you want and the micro-stuttering will be fixed in future drivers. And its great for bitcoining. :P

The AMD Microstutter drivers are being released July 31st but until then he can use RadeonPro..

[beefalo]

Two titans,two of amd's next high end card,two 780s would all do well.  3GB of vram is enough and you're going to need more gpu power to keep playing at high settings before the vram becomes an issue.  Titans are obviously going to give you the best performance and probably will still beat everything for at least 6 months to a year.  I play at 3414 x 1920 on a single 7970 right now and it works ok, but I bought another 7970 to get it a little more enjoyable.

[cosmo41]

Two titans,two of amd's next high end card,two 780s would all do well.  3GB of vram is enough and you're going to need more gpu power to keep playing at high settings before the vram becomes an issue.  Titans are obviously going to give you the best performance and probably will still beat everything for at least 6 months to a year.  I play at 3414 x 1920 on a single 7970 right now and it works ok, but I bought another 7970 to get it a little more enjoyable.

Thanks! The info from your own card really helps. I'll keep researching for the best solution, but if 3GB renders itself as more than viable, i'll probably go with 2 x 780's.

[FloRolf]

Interesting, thanks. But what do you think about 2 x 780's? Would the 3GB be enough with the horse power of the two cards behind it? Or do you think I really would have to go all out with the Titan Sli?

 

Good point with the price drop, too.

 

If anyone knows of any benchmarks that would be great!

So, we have a few things to consider.

First: if you can easily afford two Titans, go for them!

Second: Two gtx780 deliver enough raw horsepower for 3x1080p but the vram will prevent you from really maxing out everything. I read about games like Hitman, Far Cry or Crysis, which take around 4-6gigs on that res. But, significantly cheaper than Titan but you simply cant push 8xMsaa, only 2-4xmsaa on you games (not a huge issue for me personally)

Third: with the new consoles out, which have 8gb of vram/ram we can expect a huge increase of vram usage in the upcoming game titels.

Fourth: either way, wait for amd first since you have time till christmas anyway.

[Jtrain]

I'm currently running a single GTX780 with a 5760x1080 setup, i can run any game i want, its just when you turn the AA up to 4x it cripples the gameplay experience. Coming from an AMD 5970 i can attest to having the extra VRAM is a huge bonus. IMHO if you want a great experience get two 780s in SLI and enjoy the gaming! I'll be getting mine soon!

[d33g33]

I would have though a single Titan wouldn't have an issue with a 3 monitor setup at all... Raw power wise it slightly beats a 780 but has access to 6gb ram instead of 3gb... and on 3 screens is memory you want...

 

DeeG

[beefalo]

A titan wouldn't have any "issues" with a 3 monitor setup and for the most part even a 7970 or 770 wouldn't either but with a single card AA is pretty much unusable and some games (far cry 3, crysis 3) really demand two cards to be able to play at high/ultra settings. The titans power would become a bottleneck before 3GB of memory does in most games.

[mechanicalfluff]

I run 3 1080p monitors on a 780, works well. Kind of a pain to adjust fov, but i haven't played anything that it couldn't run at max settings yet. Arma 3 maxed out gets it pretty warm on a single monitor, but you can still get ~50-55 fps on 3 monitors. Completely playable.

[Morfy]

Titan won't cut 3 monitors, i tried a ton of games on a beast system with a Titan, not looking good. But any 2-card combo will work. When i say 2 card, i mean 2 GTX770 4gb flavour, 2 Gtx 780 or 2 Titans. Anyone of these will be great.

[cosmo41]

Second: Two gtx780 deliver enough raw horsepower for 3x1080p but the vram will prevent you from really maxing out everything. I read about games like Hitman, Far Cry or Crysis, which take around 4-6gigs on that res. But, significantly cheaper than Titan but you simply cant push 8xMsaa, only 2-4xmsaa on you games (not a huge issue for me personally)

Third: with the new consoles out, which have 8gb of vram/ram we can expect a huge increase of vram usage in the upcoming game titels.

 

 

These two points are what I was thinking. Even with 2 x 780's I felt it a little lacking in that next gen consoles are being released with 8GB VRAM (albeit, shared). I really want to limit the bottleneck be it CPU, VRAM or clock speed.

 

 

Titan won't cut 3 monitors, i tried a ton of games on a beast system with a Titan, not looking good. But any 2-card combo will work. When i say 2 card, i mean 2 GTX770 4gb flavour, 2 Gtx 780 or 2 Titans. Anyone of these will be great.

 

Thanks for the example. Would a 4/6GB 780 variant ever be released? 

[Morfy]

I doubt it.

[beefalo]

There can't be a 4Gb 780 and they won't release a 6Gb since there's the titan already.

[ltguy]

I'm currently running a single GTX780 with a 5760x1080 setup, i can run any game i want, its just when you turn the AA up to 4x it cripples the gameplay experience. Coming from an AMD 5970 i can attest to having the extra VRAM is a huge bonus. IMHO if you want a great experience get two 780s in SLI and enjoy the gaming! I'll be getting mine soon!

Its a crying shame that anything can cripple a $650 dollar video card. For that kinda money it should play everything out now and everything out for the next year at max settings.

And i agree, my 5970 taught me you can never have enough vram, That card is still beast today (5 teraflops, suck it consoles! its almost 4 years old) but insanely crippled by its 1 gb of vram.