3-4gb essential for 7680x1440?

B1gbeard · 7 Dec 2012 at 09:34

The above really.

I currently have 2x 2gb 680's and am wondering if these will handle 7680x1440well enough? I've had a look into it and it seems as though they could. There are many videos and posts of folk running this res on previous gen cards fairly well but they rarely seem to state the settings used.

Anyone have any first hand experience? I'm thinking of trading my two cards in for a couple of 4gb 670's.

psychodil · 7 Dec 2012 at 09:42

Well you would get far better performance at that resolution by going for a couple of 7970's, but I would say you need more than 2GB at that resolution. 2GB is at its limit really with 3X1080p screens.

It has been proven that at 3 screen resoultion, 2 overclocked 7950's will outperform 2 overclocked 680's, so 2 7970's will be your best choice for performance. If not then yes I would say 4GB 670/680's are needed. But ideally you will need 3 of them.

B1gbeard · 7 Dec 2012 at 09:47

I considered AMD and although the latest drivers really win the eyefinity resolution wars, there still seems to be issues with crossfire and what not. Maybe there isn't and it's all fanboy nonsense but at least with Nvidia, I now what's what. I haven't owned an AMD cards for many years and have no experience of crossfire.

OptimaLnrg · 7 Dec 2012 at 09:57

you'll need 3 gpus for a start.. for newer games.

2gb won't cut it.

B1gbeard · 7 Dec 2012 at 10:17

3 really. My current cards dealt with 5760x1080 admirably so was hoping a bump in ram might be all that's required. More studying required I guess.

Rusty0611 · 7 Dec 2012 at 10:44

B1gbeard said:
3 really. My current cards dealt with 5760x1080 admirably so was hoping a bump in ram might be all that's required. More studying required I guess.

You should really consider swapping to AMD now while the 680s are commanding a high sell on price IMO.

From 5760*1080 to 7680*1440 is a 77% increase in pixels so looking at just the VRAM amount side of it is missing a large part of the problem: you're going to struggle on raw processing power as well. Addtionally at even 5760*1080 the 680s are heavily limited by their memory bus so even adding a 3rd card won't improve it as much as you'd expect.

You can always try the two cards on that resolution first... drop settings to medium with no AA and see how it goes. I don't think that you'll run into any VRAM issues with medium settings and no AA on any games and you can monitor what is being used and what frame rates you're getting and tweak from there.

Have you seen my comparison thread?

p.s. don't quote me on it but the X79/CF/Eyefinity issue appears to be resolved in the latest betas...

Edit: just noticed 3 cards isn't an option for you anyway with your set-up so you should definitely consider swapping to AMD if possible. There aren't any massive CF problems on Z68/Z77.

Rusty0611 · 7 Dec 2012 at 10:48

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...php?t=18455827

If you haven't read already...

B1gbeard · 7 Dec 2012 at 10:52

My hesitancy with AMD purely comes down to ignorance/lack of experience on my part and what I have read. I thought crossfire was generally more problematic anyway even with the big multi-monitor performance increase with the latest drivers.

I did see your thread before but I'll go have another read now. I bought an X79 MB and CPU recently (still unopened) but I'm undecided on whether to keep them, the motherboard is ASUS typically.

Rusty0611 · 7 Dec 2012 at 10:56

Essentially it's practically the same experience overall with CF/SLI.

I will say that I believe nVidia are slightly better for multi-card set ups but this is part personal preference and part belief that the overall experience is slightly smoother and feels more robust especially over three screens. Multi-GPU on a single screen is the same. It isn't enough to swing me either way though and I'm fairly fussy as well.

Edit: not to take away from the fact that the 7950s/7970s are just quicker over three screens of course

What I would say is that if you want to commit to three 2560*1440 screens for sure then just try it with your 680s first. I definitely wouldn't go buying the graphics cards at the same time especially with Lightnings which are the best 680s on the market

.

B1gbeard · 7 Dec 2012 at 11:00

Eyefinity lets you mix and match monitors as well doesn't it? 2 more PB278Q's is a hefty hit to the wallet but then I'd probably struggle to get 2 different monitors to match my centre one colour wise etc anyway.

flopper · 7 Dec 2012 at 11:01

handle yea, turn down some visuals .
cant use AA to the extent people use normally as that fills things up fast at those resolutions.

try and find out.

Rusty0611 · 7 Dec 2012 at 11:03

B1gbeard said:
Eyefinity lets you mix and match monitors as well doesn't it? 2 more PB278Q's is a hefty hit to the wallet but then I'd probably struggle to get 2 different monitors to match my centre one colour wise etc anyway.

Not sure mate as I had 3 matching BenQ XL2420Ts so didn't test it.

tommybhoy · 7 Dec 2012 at 11:22

The last gen 580 users(I pressume that's what you watched in the videos) were sitting on a larger memory bus.

As Rusty's results show, the 7950's have a considerable lead over the 680's, as your planned res is even higher, the 79's will be even further ahead.

I would hazard a guess that the extra vram of the 680's would be almost immaterial to an extent due to the neutered memory bus on the 680's@7680.

Although 3 cards have been mentioned, as the above performance shows, with the clear advantage AMD has over Nvidia this gen on high res, it's quite possible 2 7970's will be ample.

B1gbeard said:
I thought crossfire was generally more problematic anyway

If you take the fanbois out of the equation, along with those that have never used CrossFire/SLi, then I can assure you will see far more positive user feedback in regards to negative.

Do a Rusty, sell up and go AMD-at that res I'd want the most I can get so 7970's would be a better choice.

Driver performance is constantly increasing these days, AMD is really stepping up their game at the moment.

Having said all that, if the 7680 res is a definitive purchase, try out your current setup first before selling up and see how you get on.

tommybhoy · 7 Dec 2012 at 11:23

B1gbeard said:
Eyefinity lets you mix and match monitors as well doesn't it?

Yes it does on the 79's.

AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology2
Up to 6 displays supported with DisplayPort 1.2 Multi-Stream Transport
Independent resolutions, refresh rates, color controls, and video overlays
Display grouping
Combine multiple displays to behave like a single large display

http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/amd-eyefinity-technology/Pages/eyefinity.aspx

BaDBoY_uK · 7 Dec 2012 at 11:24

7970s have issues with X79 and X58

gigeorge · 7 Dec 2012 at 11:29

WOuld love to see pics of your screen setup.

How do you deal with the bezel between monitors ?

tommybhoy · 7 Dec 2012 at 11:31

BaDBoY_uK said:
7970s have issues with X79 and X58

Naughty boy, living uo to your name, you never read the thread or the op's setup in his sig.

Rusty0611 said:
p.s. don't quote me on it but the X79/CF/Eyefinity issue appears to be resolved in the latest betas...

Edit: just noticed 3 cards isn't an option for you anyway with your set-up so you should definitely consider swapping to AMD if possible. There aren't any massive CF problems on Z68/Z77.

B1gbeard · 7 Dec 2012 at 11:40

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated.

I think I'll try the monitors with my current setup and see how I get on. The more I read though the more it seems I'll be moving to AMD purely on the basis of performance at multi-monitor. I'm assuming single monitor won't be an issue either whenever I need to use it (XCOM for example).

se_vietboi · 7 Dec 2012 at 11:55

Considering I went over 2GB on some games on just 1920x1200, I really think more than 3GB is needed especially for future titles.

Rusty0611 · 7 Dec 2012 at 12:06

se_vietboi said:
Considering I went over 2GB on some games on just 1920x1200, I really think more than 3GB is needed especially for future titles.

Because extra caching kicks in when you have more way more memory available than is required. Doesn't mean that it's required - in fact the opposite.

Having tested two 7950s and two 680s at the resolution of 5780*1080 (so almost 3 times your resolution) I can categorically confirm that with 2GB 680s the physical VRAM amount does not come into it at any point below this resolution. You're limited by the memory bandwidth/GPU power and as such have to lower settings to achieve acceptable FPS anyway... which in turn reduces the VRAM used well away from 2GB.

Image proof from my testing. On the results where I was close to the 2GB limit the FPS was so poor anyway due to bandwitch/GPU power limitations that it was a moot point anyway.