Corsair 800d Build

[Theocnoob]

So 2 6970s could easily handle 3 screens at 5760 by 1080?

As Knufire pointed out:

1 6970 < 1 580
2 6970s > 2 580s

They just scale differently.

I would urge 1 core per monitor if you're running 6970s. 3 cards. That would guarantee you smooth framerates at your high resolution.

A simple way to look at it is that 1 6970 on 1 1080p monitor= a great gaming experience.

But, what if you took away 1/3 of that 6970? That's essentially what you're doing when you run 3 screens on 2 cards. You'll have a mediocre experience that could be great if you'd just slap one more card in there.

 

[Knufire]

But, what if you took away 1/3 of that 6970? That's essentially what you're doing when you run 3 screens on 2 cards. You'll have a mediocre experience that could be great if you'd just slap one more card in there.

It's not exactly like that, as the scaling decreases with ever card added, but it'd still be a decent boost in FPS. You would need probably a 900W PSU at minimum, and a board with an NF200 or Lucid chip that gives you more PCIe lanes. Adding that 3rd card is pretty expensive.

 

[Theocnoob]

It's not exactly like that, as the scaling decreases with ever card added,

I know . Trying to hesplain things simply. Also lazy.
The difference that having 'lane augmentation' makes on a board where the CPU is the PCIE controller is moderate at best IMO. But yes you should have an NF200 on the board. Or you can run 1 6990 1 6970.

 

[Vengance_01]

IMO with a Sandybridge rig, W/Cing is just not needed and is a waste of money. Now that being said if you have the cash and want to spend the money, then go for it. Also Stick with a single 580 and pocket the rest of the cash. SLI and CF are a PITA, currently a single 580 does everything perfectly fine and will for the next 1-2 years easy. As you get older you start to realize how much a money pit this hobby can be and most of the time you can easily make due with spending less and pocketing the difference. You can use that cash to go out for a nice night, mini trip, save it, or even invest it. All much better ideas(when I was younger you never would have heard me saying things like this LOL)

 

[Knufire]

IMO with a Sandybridge rig, W/Cing is just not needed and is a waste of money. Now that being said if you have the cash and want to spend the money, then go for it. Also Stick with a single 580 and pocket the rest of the cash. SLI and CF are a PITA, currently a single 580 does everything perfectly fine and will for the next 1-2 years easy. As you get older you start to realize how much a money pit this hobby can be and most of the time you can easily make due with spending less and pocketing the difference. You can use that cash to go out for a nice night, mini trip, save it, or even invest it. All much better ideas(when I was younger you never would have heard me saying things like this LOL)

This is what I would normally advise, even to just get a single 6970, as IMO there really is no reason to get a 580 due to the high price (unless you want to go 3D). However, he wants to go triple screen, and to get decent framerates, he's going to need more then one GPU.

 

[Ducktape]

All right so 1/1 screen/card ratio? How much worse would 2 6970s across three screens be as opposed to 3 6970s?

 

[Ducktape]

I also still do not understand the scaling issue....if one 6970 can scale better than one 580, then why is one 580 better for one screen than one 6970?

 

[Theocnoob]

I also still do not understand the scaling issue....if one 6970 can scale better than one 580, then why is one 580 better for one screen than one 6970?

It's self explanatory. They don't scale as well. When you multi GPU you get diminishing gains the more GPUs you add. Nvidia's diminishing gains are greater. 2 6970s are better than 2 580s. 1 580 is better than 1 6970.

 

[Ducktape]

I get it. Thanks for the explanation

 

[Knufire]

All right so 1/1 screen/card ratio? How much worse would 2 6970s across three screens be as opposed to 3 6970s?

IMO everything would be playable at high or near high, I think you'd be fine. It gets hard since Sandy Bridge doesn't support 3 way SLI/CFX, so you'd need a pretty expensive motherboard that can split the PCI lanes and a pretty big PSU.

 

[Ducktape]

What mobo would you recommend? The Asus Maximus IV Extreme-z has the NF200 chip on it....and it supports 3 way SLI/CFX. And for the PSU, I was looking at the Corsair AX1200. It's supposed to be really good.

 

[Knufire]

I can put together a list, but it's going to be over $2200.

 

[Ducktape]

So the parts that I mentioned at the beginning of this post are not sufficient to run 3 6970s in CFX?

 

[Vengance_01]

Get it out of your head that you need 3 GPU's. Its not worth it, for the extra money, the heat, and they are not need for a decent triple screen setup.

 

[Ducktape]

OK.....then how about for 2 6970s?

 

[Knufire]

What I posted in Post #18 has two 6970s.

 

[Ducktape]

I like what you put together. My only objection is the mobo. I have researched the Asus Max 4 extreme-z, and it has everything that the Gigabyte mobo in your post does--and more. The Asus will support 2 6970s in CFX, right?

 

[Knufire]

I have researched the Asus Max 4 extreme-z, and it has everything that the Gigabyte mobo in your post does--and more.

Of course it does. It's ASUS top board for the socket, and an utter waste of money for any non-bencher. The Gigabyte costs less then half of the MIVE-Z and will do everything you need it too.

All Sandy Bridge OCing is multiplier base, meaning that nothing but the CPU is stressed. You don't even need a halfway decent motherboard to overclock on Sandy Bridge. Save the top boards for the people who would actually utilize it.

 

[Vengance_01]

Of course it does. It's ASUS top board for the socket, and an utter waste of money for any non-bencher. The Gigabyte costs less then half of the MIVE-Z and will do everything you need it too.

All Sandy Bridge OCing is multiplier base, meaning that nothing but the CPU is stressed. You don't even need a halfway decent motherboard to overclock on Sandy Bridge. Save the top boards for the people who would actually utilize it.

THis man speaks 100% truth. Gone are the days where boards make a big difference in O/Cing on the Intel side with Sandybridge.

 

[Ducktape]

All right...so what is a decent board that supports CFX/SLI and is in socket Z68? I am willing to pay up to $330.