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SLI 680's with 3*27" 3D monitors.
- Thread starter Gregster
- Start date
Soldato
I did a large comparison myself but my 680's are fairly golden.
Edit: my graph. All full Ultra settings unless stated):
To summarise my wall of text in a nice graph:
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Just a quick test and I will do a full test at some stage. I will say that at full ultra with no overclock, this game struggles at 5760*1080. I did see it dip as low as 32fps and it never felt smooth. VRAM was at 2009 (most used) at one stage and it generally sat around 1900 with +/- going on. VRAM is not the issue here, it is GPU grunt.
I changed settings to Ultra with no AA and HBAO @ 4* and this was the ideal settings. It still dipped to high 40's when tanks were blowing up and lots of explosions but generally sat around 60 fps with mid 70's quite often. The VRAM here sat around 1400 being used, so no chance of running out.
The testing I used was 64 man Caspian Border with 61 players playing (when I joined). I love this map and feel it is probably the most intensive with all the trees/rocks. Temps are my concern at the moment (hence no overclocking) and as soon as I finish this post, I will be swapping the GPU's over. I noticed my temps reaching 80C+ on the EVGA, which is not good. My GPU's are the wrong way round but the lead from the far left monitor is stretched as far as it will go and this was why I hadn't changed it as yet. My comp is precariously balanced on my sub woofer
This was full ultra, and to anybody who says "there isn't much going on in the screen shot", this pic is a tiny fraction of the 5760*1080. I was just grabbing the Precision X. There is lots going on.
Same goes with this screenie. Loads happening but just a tiny portion cropped for Precision X to be readable. I am very happy with how well it looks on Ultra -AA and 4*HBAO.
I changed settings to Ultra with no AA and HBAO @ 4* and this was the ideal settings. It still dipped to high 40's when tanks were blowing up and lots of explosions but generally sat around 60 fps with mid 70's quite often. The VRAM here sat around 1400 being used, so no chance of running out.
The testing I used was 64 man Caspian Border with 61 players playing (when I joined). I love this map and feel it is probably the most intensive with all the trees/rocks. Temps are my concern at the moment (hence no overclocking) and as soon as I finish this post, I will be swapping the GPU's over. I noticed my temps reaching 80C+ on the EVGA, which is not good. My GPU's are the wrong way round but the lead from the far left monitor is stretched as far as it will go and this was why I hadn't changed it as yet. My comp is precariously balanced on my sub woofer
This was full ultra, and to anybody who says "there isn't much going on in the screen shot", this pic is a tiny fraction of the 5760*1080. I was just grabbing the Precision X. There is lots going on.
Same goes with this screenie. Loads happening but just a tiny portion cropped for Precision X to be readable. I am very happy with how well it looks on Ultra -AA and 4*HBAO.
Soldato
Just a tiny correction, HBAO is an on/off setting rather than 4x/2x etc. It's MSAA which is Off/2x/4x.
I would set a custom fan profile in EVGA Precision X Gregster. It'll be relatively loud while gaming but if you have headphones on you won't hear it.
Both my reference and Gigabyte WF sit under 65c and while it is most definitely not quiet I can't hear a thing over my phones.
I would set a custom fan profile in EVGA Precision X Gregster. It'll be relatively loud while gaming but if you have headphones on you won't hear it.
Both my reference and Gigabyte WF sit under 65c and while it is most definitely not quiet I can't hear a thing over my phones.
Yep sorry, it was MSAA I changed. 4am start at work this morning has mashed my brain (and gaming till real late last night).
Soldato
Also the EVGA will be sucking in the hot air from the Lightning so that won't help 
Also the EVGA will be sucking in the hot air from the Lightning so that won't help
It is and that card is hotter than the MSI individually, so it isn't being done any favours at all.
Soldato
As I have a reference/non-reference set up as well... with a fan profile of 70c = 70% fan speed or thereabouts...
Gigabyte Windforce 3x: 60/61c
MSI reference: 65/66c
Although my case does have a VGA air duct inside which basically sucks in some of the cool air being drawn in from from the front and blows it all over the graphics cards.
This lowered my temps by around 5-7c (on the same fan profile).
Gigabyte Windforce 3x: 60/61c
MSI reference: 65/66c
Although my case does have a VGA air duct inside which basically sucks in some of the cool air being drawn in from from the front and blows it all over the graphics cards.
This lowered my temps by around 5-7c (on the same fan profile).
I have switched GPU positions and can see the difference. GPU 1 is at 30C and GPU 2 is at 37C. Previously GPU 1 was 40C and GPU 2 was 28C. It was my own fault for not looking in the box and finding the flexi SLI bridge and thinking I had to use the solid bridge, which would not fit with the MSI at the top. Some testing needed now.
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Would you say you're happy with BF3 at the above settings? More than "playable"?
Soldato
If you're referring to me then I'm very happy with how it performs in Surround with MSAA and HBAO off. The latter I don't like anyway but MSAA off I can't say I really notice the difference unless I'm looking for it.
FPS at these settings are excellent. (mins around 75 in Multiplayer and average above 100).
Having MSAA x2 was OK most of the time but very occasionally it would struggle and that convinced me to turn it off completely. That's just me though and I would say I am more sensitive to under 50-60 FPS than most.
Associate
Cool.
Would you consider a third card? Obviously things don't scale as well - but would you? Just so you could have all the bells and whistles on.
For me, I am very happy. A slight tweak on Ultra and 60fps (what most monitors are) is very very playable with no stuttering and very smooth. My setting wasn't with any overclocking either. I personally wouldn't go for a third 680.
Soldato
Not with 2GB cards.
You're pretty much on the limit with VRAM with 2GB cards if you want to run with all the bells and whistles on in BF3. With 2 cards it's a moot point as you will get FPS minimums in the 20's/30's in Multiplayer depending on the situation and level of overclock anyway... 2*4GB cards don't help here. You're GPU power bottlenecked.
With 3 cards, potentially in the future you could end up where you have the GPU power to run maximum settings but not have the VRAM to back it up.
This is why it is recommended to get 4GB cards if there is a chance you'll go tri-SLI in the future.
So as I don't want to sell my 2GB 680's and then buy 3 more 4GB 680's - no way Jose
.TriSli does actually scale very well,
all my cards are at or around 90%-95% utilised in most games that I play
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What monitor setup are you using with Tri SLI ?
Associate
gregster - fancy getting some youtube vids of your setup on the go?
Man of Honour
Do you run your cards with waterblocks ?