Do i have enough grunt?

Abz Hussain · 22 Jan 2013 at 23:53

i have a 1.5GB PNY GTX 580 - not overclocked. Im looking to go from my Dell U3011 to a 3 monitor portrait set up, possibly with 23 or 24 inch monitors.

Will the 580 suffice and give playable FPS?
If not, then what are suitable upgrade options?
Im open to both AMD and Nvidia.
I would consider SLI/Crossfire.
Budget wise i would like to stick to middle of range, 'bang for your buck' options/cards.

CPU is an i7-2700k and mono is Gigabyte Z77 UP7. Everything is stripped down at the moment so its a non working pc for now.
Thanks

P.S wrong part of the forum i know but if anyone wants to recommend monitors then feel free, please remember they must allow portrait orientation.

arc@css · 22 Jan 2013 at 23:55

I doubt it.

I would buy a 7950 with a view to overclocking it / crossfiring with another one further down the line.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-098-GI&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673

Abz Hussain · 23 Jan 2013 at 00:53

arc@css said:
I doubt it.

I would buy a 7950 with a view to overclocking it / crossfiring with another one further down the line.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-098-GI&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673

Thank you for your reply.

Diagro · 23 Jan 2013 at 01:08

7950 would work if you are tight on money, its the memory thats an issue.

My 7970 will run FC3 all on ultra at 60fps (vsync) @ 75% GPU.. So if you wanted to run it accross all the monitors you may need more than a 7950.

( i use a 2560x1600 res)

Abz Hussain · 23 Jan 2013 at 04:22

Diagro said:
7950 would work if you are tight on money, its the memory thats an issue.

My 7970 will run FC3 all on ultra at 60fps (vsync) @ 75% GPU.. So if you wanted to run it accross all the monitors you may need more than a 7950.

( i use a 2560x1600 res)

Two 7950's or something else then?

weehamish · 23 Jan 2013 at 05:38

Faecry 3 on ultra at 60fps? What CPU you got?

Diagro · 23 Jan 2013 at 08:48

weehamish said:
Faecry 3 on ultra at 60fps? What CPU you got?

i7 2600k @ 4.8Ghz.

Abz Hussain said:
Two 7950's or something else then?

yea if you can stretch that far, get a single one and overclock it for now and see how it runs, if you need more power then get a second

Gregster · 23 Jan 2013 at 10:47

2*7950 will be needed and Gigabyte on offer is a great purchase.

Abz Hussain · 23 Jan 2013 at 11:41

Diagro said:
i7 2600k @ 4.8Ghz.

yea if you can stretch that far, get a single one and overclock it for now and see how it runs, if you need more power then get a second

Yeh i think i will go for one right now and see how it goes. I will be water cooling it. Just need to get rid of my GTX 580 first and two water blocks.

how about this one? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-049-HS might even get two.

kissenger · 23 Jan 2013 at 11:57

7950 Xfire would be best. Buying one with a view to getting another later is a false economy imo.

Abz Hussain · 23 Jan 2013 at 12:00

kissenger said:
7950 Xfire would be best. Buying one with a view to getting another later is a false economy imo.

Ok so is the one i linked above a decent card for the price? Im not too bothered about the fancy cooler aspect as they will go under water.
Thanks for your reply too, all comments appreciated mate.

Gregster · 23 Jan 2013 at 12:05

Reference blowers are noisy but are great for using in CF.

sieze2 · 23 Jan 2013 at 14:18

Diagro said:
7950 would work if you are tight on money, its the memory thats an issue.

My 7970 will run FC3 all on ultra at 60fps (vsync) @ 75% GPU.. So if you wanted to run it accross all the monitors you may need more than a 7950.

( i use a 2560x1600 res)

Not with post processing on high you don't !

Diagro · 23 Jan 2013 at 14:20

sieze2 said:
Not with post processing on high you don't !

The thing that blurs the distance? Thet ruines the look of the game so thats off

Abz Hussain · 23 Jan 2013 at 15:25

ok, now its a toss up between 7950 and gtx 670. which one and why?
which one overclocks better?

arc@css · 23 Jan 2013 at 16:21

Abz Hussain said:
Budget wise i would like to stick to middle of range, 'bang for your buck' options/cards.

As you're water cooling :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-049-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673

The 7950 is the better value for money card. Both the 7950 and 670 overclock well, though I can't say for sure what is the best clocker (I'm thinking the 7950). Most likely not much in at all.

Abz Hussain · 23 Jan 2013 at 16:45

arc@css said:
As you're water cooling :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-049-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673

The 7950 is the better value for money card. Both the 7950 and 670 overclock well, though I can't say for sure what is the best clocker (I'm thinking the 7950). Most likely not much in at all.

Yeh im leaning towards it too, just need to figure out which one too get. Got one eye on this HIS one, what the others like from Asus, Gigabyte, EVGA etc?

arc@css · 23 Jan 2013 at 16:48

Abz Hussain said:
Yeh im leaning towards it too, just need to figure out which one too get. Got one eye on this HIS one, what the others like from Asus, Gigabyte, EVGA etc?

Seems to me that it would be a waste to get one with a non-reference cooler if you're water cooling.

Abz Hussain · 23 Jan 2013 at 16:51

arc@css said:
Seems to me that it would be a waste to get one with a non-reference cooler if you're water cooling.

im more than happy to have a look with reference coolers too

feel free to throw some my way.

skyjawa · 23 Jan 2013 at 16:55

As said, and I speak from experience, to drive 3x24" (mine are 1920x1200) and have decent FPS with nice image quality you need 2x overclocked 7950's.