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680 SLI or 7970 Crossfire

ObixConstant

ObixConstant

ObixConstant

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Joined
20 Jan 2012
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698
Which is the better option for a 4 monitor set up consisting of the following

Samsung 3x S23A700D @ 5760x1080
Hazro HZ27WC @ 2560x1440

I was going to go with the Palit GeForce GTX 680 Jetstream 4096MB in SLI but I could save some £££ with a 7970 set up in crossfire instead what's the best choice from their range.


And overall which GPU's would you go for.
 
flopper said:
680 atm seems to work better in sli/crossfire.
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Yeah I don't really have much information when it comes to that bar benchmarks which put the 680 ahead at both resolutions for most games.


Just wondering if it's a better idea to go with 2GB 680's or stick with my decision or go with the 7970's which are even cheaper/similar price range.
 
From what I understand of SLI works considerably better than Crossfire for most games what with having to download additional things for some games for Crossfire setup. The thing is that I was told earlier VRAM doesn't increase in SLI so you would probably be ok with 2x 2Gb 680's in SLI. Saving money but still having the increase in performance. (not an expert but thats what I understand on the situation)
 
Ollie1132 said:
From what I understand of SLI works considerably better than Crossfire for most games what with having to download additional things for some games for Crossfire setup. The thing is that I was told earlier VRAM doesn't increase in SLI so you would probably be ok with 2x 2Gb 680's in SLI. Saving money but still having the increase in performance. (not an expert but thats what I understand on the situation)
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Yeah I can believe that without mods involved, but I'm also planning to texture mod the hell out of some games especially some of the simulation games out there, and seeing as I won't be upgrading the PC after these purchases for at least 12 months might as well go all out as best as I can in my price range ? :D
 
ahah well if you can afford £1.2k for SLI 4gb 6ghz 680's go ahead. :L or go for Crossfire.. but as mentioned before SLI seems to work better than Crossfire.
 
What games are you going to be running / modding?

A heavily texture modded Skyrim can use close to, or over, 2gb vram at 1920x1080, so I'd expect that 2gb vram might not be enough at 5760x1080.

Whether the hit would be enough to cause suttering I've no idea.
 
MoodyB said:
What games are you going to be running / modding?

A heavily texture modded Skyrim can use close to, or over, 2gb vram at 1920x1080, so I'd expect that 2gb vram might not be enough at 5760x1080.

Whether the hit would be enough to cause suttering I've no idea.
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X-plane 10
Skyrim
GTA IV
Crysis 2
Metro 2033
Project CARS
Battlefield 3

If I'm not happy with the performance on the triple monitor set up I'll probably sell the monitors on anyway and stick with 1440p
 
I suppose you could always try a one 2gb card setup push it to the max in a heavy graphical game see what happens if it doesn't work well then send it back and get a 4gb instead and SLI that?
 
ObixConstant said:
I haven't got any of the monitors yet I plan on playing on the 3 though in surround and then have the 1440p as an accessory display if I go the Nvidia route.
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Sorry my bad. Didn't read your original post properly - second time I've not read a post properly today!

I would say that with that set up you could possibly run into VRAM issues in the future. And with spending so much I'm guessing you don't want to change your cards until your next big upgrade. While SLI 2GB 680's are more than fine now it is a consideration nonetheless. Personally, I hate the whole "not enough VRAM argument" but I'd be reckless giving you advice and not mentioning it. I think 2GB will be fine for at least the next round of next generation games but after then, who knows.

With the 7970's dropping in price this looks like a nice alternative although I do feel that SLI is more robust than crossfire.

If money isn't an issue then 4GB 680 SLI would be my choice but this is hugely expensive at present.

Edit: D'oh - saw you were considering 4GB in the first place. I'll leave the post as it is for any one else considering :p
 
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Yeah :) thanks for taking the time to respond at this moment in time. I'll probably drop the accessory display and see how I like the surround setup if I don't like it, I can just sell it on at some point in the future. I'll then get a new 1440/1600p monitor when Dell release their new range at the end of the year.
 
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