7920x1440 Which cards next ?

[DavidS14]

Have TriSli EVGA 670 FTW 4GB's at the moment on a RIVE with a 3930@5GHz all on water. I've decided that X99 is not enough of an upgrade for the costs involved so am looking at graphics only for now, don't have a budget to aim for.

Was looking at 970/980's but the lack of Vram/bus plus some articles on poor scaling past two cars is putting me off. Now there may be 970/980 8GB cards on the horizon but there's still the bus width question plus scaling which would be a concern.

The 290's with 8GB Vram look interesting and as they'll be on water don't have to worry about the noise/heat.

Do I stick with what I have for a bit longer and see if the full fat Maxwell appears or go for one of the 8GB variants (970/980/290) ?

 

[Tonester0011]

Your 670s must hate that many pixels lol.
The 900s even with same tiny bus seem to fare a damn sight better than anyone would have thought, the 290s start to catch up around 4k res so opting for 8gb 290s for you res might be you best bet, providing your screens can all plug into 1 card.

 

[Geeman1979]

As above, but one's not going to have enough grunt.

What you looking at, 3 cards?

 

[Tonester0011]

As above, but one's not going to have enough grunt.

Doesn't Eyefinity only work from the main card? Unlike Nvidia you can plug whatever into your cards.

That's what I meant, assumed he was getting 3 cards again.

 

[Geeman1979]

Doesn't Eyefinity only work from the main card? Unlike Nvidia you can plug whatever into your cards.

That's what I meant, assumed he was getting 3 cards again.

You are correct I believe. Then one 290X 8GB won't be enough.

 

[DavidS14]

Thanks for the replies so far

I have 3x2713HM's each on a DP cable to each of the 670's at the moment.

I'll be looking at 3 cards and am reading the 290x 8GB reference thread at the moment

 

[Tonester0011]

Should be good to go, 3x 8gb 290Xs. 2 monitors on DVI and 1 on DP.

The perf gains will be huge, at 1080 surround the 7970s were 30% quicker than 680s. Would love to see a benchmark before and after.

 

[Uncle Petey]

What games do mainly play/are looking to play?

 

[DavidS14]

At the moment BF4, LOTRO, Titanfall etc.

Looking at Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous for the future so I like a mix of games really.

 

[Geeman1979]

How did your current cards cope with that res?

 

[DavidS14]

Not too bad but I do have to tailor the settings as the cards are maxed out most of the time. I'm after being able to just select high or equivalent and not having to mess about with custom settings to see what works. I'd rather spend some extra and have a graphics set up that is better than I need rather than one that's just good enough.

 

[ChrisD.]

The 290X's with 8GB would be great for this, can recoup some of the money selling the games as well.

 

[andybird123]

I would wait for big maxwell personally

 

[Gregster]

Agreed with Andy, at least wait for some news but if you can't, then look at the 290X 8GB versions.

 

[DavidS14]

Reading the news/rumours on the Titan II or whatever they end up calling it makes me think I'll wait for a while, at least until the news/timetable firms up a bit.

I have decided one thing though, if the new card is the monster it looks like it could be then I'm going to be a multi card release day buyer (hopefull <£1k/card) as looking at the longevity of the current Titan the new ones should be good for a while

Even given the die shrinks that will happen I think that if you have enough grunt you can stretch the lifetime out, even my 670's have lasted OK (given my res)

 

[snips86x]

Wait for the next set of AMD cards!

 

[DavidS14]

I've been in both camps so will look at either red or green depending on release date/spec