2560x1440 gaming

[Mayfair]

Hello all,

I'm currently debating about upgrading and getting a Dell U2711 which has a resolution of 2560 x 1440, although I'm a little concerned my single GTX 580 1.5GB won't have enough power to run that resolution.

My current PC Specs:

i7 2600k @ 4.6GHz (Under water)
Evga GTX 580 SC 1.5GB @ stock (Under water)
8GB XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz

I'm currently running at 1920x1080 and I see the VRAM hitting 1000-1200 already, so I can imagine what it will be like at 2560 x 1440.

I was at first going to sell my 580 1.5GB and get two 3GB 580's but they are pretty hard to come by now! and it may be better to get the newer gen card(s).

So I'm not sure what to do, I would like to say though I'm the sort of person who likes all settings all the way maxed in games and with at-least 4xAA.

Games I mainly play:

BF3
Tera Online
SWTOR
few others

I was at first thinking of taking the plunge and getting 2x GTX 680's although the price is a little more than I wanted to spend really, after doing some reading for the past 4 hours many people seem to recommend 2x GTX 670's in SLI since the price is decent and the performance of the 670 isn't that far behind the 680. Also I would like to add I will be water-cooling so if need be I have some headroom for overclocking which ever card(s) I do get.

Although I'm still a little concerned about only 2GB VRAM at this resolution and I like to have my games fully maxed out with at least 4xAA although I have heard gaming at this resolution doesn't require much AA anyway.

If you was in this situation what would you advise? I would like to spend as cheap as possible(Don't we all? )

If I did go for the GTX 670 it would have to be the Gigabyte Windforce as currently that and the Zotac seem to only have a fullcover waterblock from EK.

I would like to hear your thoughts and/or experience at this resolution, and any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

-Mayfair

 

[Rusty0611]

Yes your 580 1.5GB will struggle at that resolution both with GPU power and probably VRAM as you crank the settings up.

670 SLI would have enough GPU power to drive that resolution with all the eye candy enabled and VRAM would not be an issue either. It only really becomes a debateable point with 3 monitors in Surround/Eyefinity.

You are correct that as the resolution is increased the amount of AA required to get a nice IQ (less jaggies) is less but as mentioned above: if you find the IQ is not to your standard you will have enough GPU power to add it and have decent frame rates still.

 

[Mayfair]

Thanks for the quick response Rusty0611, I don't plan on going Surround/Eyefinity so that's good to know 2GB VRAM won't be an issue at this resolution.

Going by your response, it seems the GTX 670 SLI route seems like the best option then?

Also I hear people complain about issues with SLI itself, seeing as I've never SLI'd before is this a major issue these days?

 

[Rusty0611]

Thanks for the quick response Rusty0611, I don't plan on going Surround/Eyefinity so that's good to know 2GB VRAM won't be an issue at this resolution.

Check some reviews out as well of how 670 SLI performs. More often than not they'll bench at 1440 or 1600 so this will give you a good indication across the board.

Going by your response, it seems the GTX 670 SLI route seems like the best option then?

It's much better £/performance to go 670 SLI than 680 SLI although when both are overclocked the 680 SLI is the best performing combination on the market at the moment. The difference between 670 SLI and 680 SLI isn't all that much though and if I was buying today I would buy a 670. I bought my 680 on release day and definitely don't regret it in the slightest but it's a different kettle of fish if you're buying now.

Also I hear people complain about issues with SLI itself, seeing as I've never SLI'd before is this a major issue these days?

There's always going to be some issues lurking around multi-GPU set up's unfortunately. It's much better than it used to be 2-4 years ago but there's still issues which to be fair get ironed out relatively quickly.

There's a generally held belief that SLI is slightly more robust than Crossfire although there are of course people with issues on the former and without issues on the latter as well. It's down to who you trust more with their drivers IMO. And others would disagree with this anyway.

Would you consider purchasing the 7970? And going Crossfire with that? It's at least a consideration you should make as the 7970 is an excellent card and priced fairly decently these days.

 

[Culinia]

You might also be interested to know there may be a stutter problem with the 6x0 series concerning the boost clock pollrate, especially affects some games if you have vsync on:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/GeForce-GTX690-GTX680-GTX670-V-Sync-Stuttering-Fix,15670.html

Here's a list of some games, although IMO take it with a pinch of salt = since some games listed do not do seem to stutter on my setup and others listed as do not do not have stutter: point being that there are perhaps many factors which determine it

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18406411&highlight=stutter

The reason why I am highlighting these issues because I think you should be aware of them since these problems do unfortunately make the GTX670 SLI not simply *the best option* which otherwise would be solid cards. However, the games I play I personally do not find the GTX670 SLI to be infringing on my game experience therefore have chosen to keep them...plus with future driver releases hopefully it can be resolved...

Also for reference the Gigabyte 3x is the ones I have, lovely cards (nice and quiet - even on air).

 

[no_1_dave]

Also I hear people complain about issues with SLI itself, seeing as I've never SLI'd before is this a major issue these days?

It took a while for a Alan Wake profile to released but other then that I have had zero problems with SLI. It has been as simple as having just 1 card

 

[Rusty0611]

You might also be interested to know there may be a stutter problem with the 6x0 series concerning the boost clock pollrate, especially affects some games if you have vsync on

Yes a consideration but not affecting a majority of users (based on the people who got one in the 670 thread).

 

[Macro]

I did exactly the same move fairly recently (you'll love the monitor by the way). I went for 2 x 3Gb 7970s and everything runs beautifully.

 

[Boomstick777]

Hello all,

I'm currently debating about upgrading and getting a Dell U2711 which has a resolution of 2560 x 1440, although I'm a little concerned my single GTX 580 1.5GB won't have enough power to run that resolution.

It is well worth the upgrade to 2560 x 1440, I recently bought a Shimian 27" and games look awesome at this res, it is a big upgrade from 1080P. You will need to go SLI tbh for good performance, im running a pair of overclocked GTX 480's they can max everything at 2560 x 1440, so if you add another GTX 580 you should have no problems, 580's are getting better priced now aswell..

So I'm not sure what to do, I would like to say though I'm the sort of person who likes all settings all the way maxed in games and with at-least 4xAA.

To be honest at 2560 x 1440 AA isn't as essential as it is at 1080P. GTA IV for example which does not have AA, looks amazing at 2560 x1440, I run Battlefield 3 with just 2 x AA, you literally can't tell any difference between 2 X and 4 X at 2560 x 1440...

 

[Boomstick777]

It took a while for a Alan Wake profile to released but other then that I have had zero problems with SLI. It has been as simple as having just 1 card

Same here, love SLI, get epic performance from my 480's .

 

[Wucked]

I play BF3 and TERA @ 1440p with a single GTX 680 2GB at stock, both games pretty much maxed, and its nice and smooth for me with good frame rates. Of course with SLI you'll get epic frame rates, just as long as you're aware of the potential downsides to it.

 

[HaloUK]

I play BF3 and TERA @ 1440p with a single GTX 680 2GB at stock, both games pretty much maxed, and its nice and smooth for me with good frame rates. Of course with SLI you'll get epic frame rates, just as long as you're aware of the potential downsides to it.

Oh yes!!! So my EVGA GeForce GTX 680 FTW w/Backplate 4096MB (when I get it that is...) is going to max out BF3 @ 1440p and run it like a dream. Sooo cant wait to get my new kit. The stock settings on these are 1084 MHz GPU, 1110MHz Boost Clock

I will prolly pick up a second hand one in the future to SLI them.

 

[Nuwidol]

Wouldn't be so sure on maxing out BF3 & running like a dream with one 680. 2 680s in sli still have slow down in certain scenarios online. FPS dips to 30s if you're tank gets blown up...

 

[KRiSX]

I game at this res on my gtx470 with most things maxed out (maybe not the newest games) without much problem. Saying you need sli for 2560x1440 is total ****.

 

[andybird123]

I game at this res on my gtx470 with most things maxed out (maybe not the newest games) without much problem. Saying you need sli for 2560x1440 is total ****.

so because your card can play old games at lower settings, no one needs anything better to play new games on maximum settings?

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-670-2-and-3way-sli-review/15

38FPS average is not what I would call playable, 68 however probably is (without them stating mins), Crysis 2 the same and Metro2033 isn't even playable with 2 cards at that res

granted at that kind of res AA becomes less critical but I wouldn't imagine you would want to run with it turned off entirely

 

[MOOGLEYS]

I manage fine at 2560x1440 with a single 7970. I run everything at max and have no slowdown or stuttering. I have said before a 7970 @ 1440p performs like a 6970 @ 1080p in my opinion...

 

[andybird123]

I manage fine at 2560x1440 with a single 7970. I run everything at max and have no slowdown or stuttering. I have said before a 7970 @ 1440p performs like a 6970 @ 1080p in my opinion...

out of interest, what games do you play?

I only ask as I had been assuming I would need to go to SLI when I buy my 1440/1600 monitor based on all the reviews of 670/680/7970, to keep playing the same games at the same settings as I do now

 

[MOOGLEYS]

out of interest, what games do you play?

I only ask as I had been assuming I would need to go to SLI when I buy my 1440/1600 monitor based on all the reviews of 670/680/7970, to keep playing the same games at the same settings as I do now

Pretty much all of them tbh. BF3, Batman, Skyrim and Diablo have been the latest and they all run fine. I do feel the FPS thing is subjective, personally if a game runs smooth and has no slow down or juddering then to me it's fine no matter what the FPS may be.
Going by my own gaming experience at 1440p with a 7970 you do not need a second card to run games at this res. The very few times the fps may dip it's hardly noticeable and certainly not worth adding another £300+ Gpu to overcome.

 

[andybird123]

ah, see, in 6 months I've gone from a single 560ti, through 560ti SLI, 570, 580, 580 3GB and now 670 to avoid dips/stutters/texture caching at 1080p and to get my FPS locked at 60FPS... so for me, dips and stutters would not be acceptable, having spent the best part of 6-800 quid on a new monitor to be let down for the sake of a another couple of hundred

now, I haven't got so much disposable income that I can just order £1500 worth of kit all in one go and not worry about it, so I will be ordering the monitor first and graphics card later so maybe I will get away with one for a bit, but my expectation is that I'll be wanting to go SLI once the new monitor arrives

 

[MOOGLEYS]

But they are hardly noticeable not like what has been described or not to me anyway. If your buying the monitor I would try it with a single card first before splashing out on a second card. I'm using a 7970 so maybe the 670 will give different results although I could not tell any difference between a 680 and a 7970..