Should I go SLI for 2560x1440?

[soopytwist]

I recently got a Samsung S27B971D, which is a 2560 x 1440 monitor. Most games I've thrown at it with my single EVGA GTX 690 perform admirably. However my performance test of Crysis 3 was a bit of a let down. While I couldn't get any sort of benchmark or a record of the FPS it certainly felt sluggish even with the graphics settings on High instead of Very High as they were before when running at 1920x1200 on my previous monitor. At the highest settings it was very jerky and difficult to aim making it unplayable.

 

I can afford to buy another GTX 690, so should I? Next gen games are just around the corner, I want Watch Dogs to zoom along with full settings at 2560x1440 but my fear is that my single 690 won't be able to cope. My motherboard is an Asus P9X79 Deluxe and will only take two GPU's with my X-Fi sound card in a x16 slot between them. So 3-Way is out.

[Andi]

the difference between normal sli and tripple sli is very small, and the jump th quad sli doesn't really exist. If you have enough money for a 2nd 690 i would suggest you get 2 GTX 780s instead

[sabot]

Really you are struggling with a 690. I thought that would be able to handle it. If you think you need it then get it.

[Vitalius]

.... It's Crysis 3. It's going to be the hardest benchmark.

Anyway, a 690 is 2-way SLI already. Going with 2 would be 4-way SLI. I would do it. It should help in most games. It won't help in all of them because not all of them are programmed to take advantage of SLI setups. 

Be sure to turn AA down as it could be your VRAM limiting you and getting another GPU wouldn't help that at all.

[Guest GRRigger]

crysis is known to be very wasteful. i think you should wait. on very high you may not be able to play but at high. also, you can turn down anti aliasing. 

[Elven]

I recently got a Samsung S27B971D, which is a 2560 x 1440 monitor. Most games I've thrown at it with my single EVGA GTX 690 perform admirably. However my performance test of Crysis 3 was a bit of a let down. While I couldn't get any sort of benchmark or a record of the FPS it certainly felt sluggish even with the graphics settings on High instead of Very High as they were before when running at 1920x1200 on my previous monitor. At the highest settings it was very jerky and difficult to aim making it unplayable.

 

I can afford to buy another GTX 690, so should I? Next gen games are just around the corner, I want Watch Dogs to zoom along with full settings at 2560x1440 but my fear is that my single 690 won't be able to cope. My motherboard is an Asus P9X79 Deluxe and will only take two GPU's with my X-Fi sound card in a x16 slot between them. So 3-Way is out.

 

 

Heya,

 

The GTX 690 is essentially two 680's in SLI. So, on that basis. You are already running in SLI. Whichj will explain the performance numbers you are getting. 

 

I, personally would suggest selling the 690 for a 770 or, if possible the 780. The 780 is just pure awesome, and scales well in SLI, if you decided to go SLI.

 

Elven

[ViruZ_HUN]

yes if u want to go with it

[wtfxmitchell]

i would go for it, you can always place the soundcard in another slot

[ShadyHost]

Sell the 690, get 2 or 3 780s instead. 

[delet my acc pls]

Sell it buy 2 780s or wait for next gen AMD

[soopytwist]

I like all your suggestions but I haven't had the 690 for very long so it would be silly of me to part with it so soon. I agree Crysis 3 is a high end benchmark (as the original Crysis was back in the day). Maybe I'll see what performance I'll get from the first bunch of next gen games, starting with Watch Dogs. AA I can probably turn off altogether as at 2560 x 1440 I don't think its needed. So yeah, if some of you agree a second 690 is worth it then I'll do that when I hit that bottleneck if it comes.

[JupiteL]

The GTX 700 series are the best card for running in a high res monitors. Get them instead of putting another 690

[soopytwist]

The GTX 700 series are the best card for running in a high res monitors. Get them instead of putting another 690

Alright. So let's say 2x EVGA 780's. There's the vanilla card but also two pre-overclocked cards. The vanilla is £549.34 from Scan.co.uk, the Superclocked at £575.74 and the Superclocked ACX, which is just the superclocked with the reference cooler replaced, at £587.74. I'm quite comfortable overclocking the reference card myself - in fact Linus as his overclocking settings on the review video, so I'll save myself a bunch of money if I went with the reference card and overclocked them both. At £1098.68 for the two that's still a lot of money, I have no issue with the cost and I don't like what I'm seeing with the Titan when I can get almost equal performance from one 780 compared to one Titan. Yeah I can afford two Titans but I'm not that frivolous with it!

 

Linus' recent benchmark results of the 780 put's my single 690 to shame and when you factor in the results from games like Metro: Last Light (which I'm downloading right now from Steam!) I really need to make a decision now. If not another 690 then, which 780? Or maybe two Titans?

[Andi]

Titans are a waste of money...get 780s with good cooling, lower temps = possible higher clock speeds.

 

I don't think it matters all that much if you get a MSI gaming, a Asus DirectCUII, a Gigabyte Windforce or a EVGA ACX.

[soopytwist]

The ACX cards have two fans which means more noise I guess. My system is pretty quite as I have a Corsair H100i so the ACX cards are kind of off putting and two of them would make even more noise.

 

My system specs:

 

Intel Core i7 3970X Extreme (not OC)
16Gb Corsair Vengeance 1600
Asus P9X79 Deluxe
EVGA GeForce GTX 690
X-Fi Fatality Pro
Corsair H100i Watercooler
1200W Cooler Master Gold Pro
Samsung 840 Pro 256Gb SSD
Western Digital Black 1Tb HDD

Western Digital Blue 500Gb HDD
Seagate Baracuda 500Gb HDD
Corsair 600T chassis
Samsung S27B971D
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

[Andi]

the MSI 780 Gaming is really quiet

 

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_780_gaming_review,9.html

[soopytwist]

the MSI 780 Gaming is really quiet

 

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_780_gaming_review,9.html

Hmm, that does look good. I'm a sucker for EVGA's Precision X though, but the MSI Twin Frozr OC (which I think is the UK name for the MSI Gaming...?) sounds pretty awesome.

[Andi]

EVGA's Precision should work with every card, or not?

[soopytwist]

EVGA's Precision should work with every card, or not?

It might, never tried it. Okay then...two MSI Twin Frozr OC Gaming 780's wins the top spot...unless someone has a better idea?

[Thunderjolt]

Alright. So let's say 2x EVGA 780's. There's the vanilla card but also two pre-overclocked cards. The vanilla is £549.34 from Scan.co.uk, the Superclocked at £575.74 and the Superclocked ACX, which is just the superclocked with the reference cooler replaced, at £587.74. I'm quite comfortable overclocking the reference card myself - in fact Linus as his overclocking settings on the review video, so I'll save myself a bunch of money if I went with the reference card and overclocked them both. At £1098.68 for the two that's still a lot of money, I have no issue with the cost and I don't like what I'm seeing with the Titan when I can get almost equal performance from one 780 compared to one Titan. Yeah I can afford two Titans but I'm not that frivolous with it!

 

Linus' recent benchmark results of the 780 put's my single 690 to shame and when you factor in the results from games like Metro: Last Light (which I'm downloading right now from Steam!) I really need to make a decision now. If not another 690 then, which 780? Or maybe two Titans?

Totally go with two 780s. It'll take anything you throw at it easily. Twin Frozr Coolers are one of the best coolers on the market.

[soopytwist]

I loose the glowing green "GEFORCE GTX" without the reference cooler, that's the only down side :( .

I have a window panel, it's all black inside except for the green geforce and the blue from the Corsair H100i. Kind of looks like a hologram when the room is dark.

[OneGun]

Just turn off AA at 1440p as its not really needed..I have two 7950s and i play at 1440p on a OCed 120hz monitor and with AA turned off i get 115 FPS...

[acturisme]

.... It's Crysis 3. It's going to be the hardest benchmark.

Anyway, a 690 is 2-way SLI already. Going with 2 would be 4-way SLI. I would do it. It should help in most games. It won't help in all of them because not all of them are programmed to take advantage of SLI setups. 

Be sure to turn AA down as it could be your VRAM limiting you and getting another GPU wouldn't help that at all.

This because the aa isn't as necessary with such a high pixel density.  Balance the force young padawan.

[CarDesinr]

You people and your problems. Try this one on for size, GTX 550Ti on a 2560x1600 Dell 30in monitor. I'm the guy that needs an upgrade. Anyway, as for you dilema, save up 200 more and buy some 4gb GTX 780s. Your 690 is probably bottlenecking in the vram department. I'm sure that if you had 2 GTX 680 4gb cards that this problem would be not a problem. And you cannot 3-way SLI a 690. It already has 2 gpus and the max is currently 4. Hope this helped....

[soopytwist]

Just turn off AA at 1440p as its not really needed..I have two 7950s and i play at 1440p on a OCed 120hz monitor and with AA turned off i get 115 FPS...

In which game(s)?

 

CarDesinr, yes I agree another 690 is not a good idea with it already being an SLI card, so another one would be 4-Way SLI not 2-Way. Still, the performance gain would be more than two 780's right? So cost aside and practicality aside also - are there other reasons why two 690's aren't a good idea?

 

The other thing is, not all games take advantage of multi GPU setups (you can blame the consoles for that!). So if a game decides to only use one of the two 780's it'll perform worse than my one 690. Looking at benchmark results the GTX 690 still out performs the GTX 780 even when OC'd. If a game uses both GPU's then obviously that's a different story and it blows the single 690 away - but not all games are going to do this.

 

It's still cheaper for me to buy another 690 to go with my current one (which I've had for only five months) than to buy two brand new 780's, so if 4-Way 690 is stable that's still an attractive offer to me. Yes I won't be able to put another card in but by then I'd have ditched the 690's for a...I don't know, a GTX 880 in quad SLI or something....or Tesla! B)