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2560 x 1600

ZardoZ

ZardoZ

ZardoZ

Associate
Joined
1 Dec 2007
Posts
125
You are better off with 3gb 580 SLI imo.

I can't see a single card being able to provide enough FPS at that resolution.

And your CPU will absolutely cripple it rotten. So no, I wouldn't.
 
Hmmm I 'think' at very high resolutions such as 1600p you become more gpu dependent, so I am assuming that it might work, though I would still advise that before long you upgrade the rest of your rig's foundations, cpu etc. Below that sort of res, 1440 / 1600, then I would have automatically said forget it. See what others have to say...:)
 
Then in that case I would say SLI 580 3gb or 7950 CF. I just don't see a single card cutting it, especially with any aliasing.
 
arc@css said:
Hmmm I 'think' at very high resolutions such as 1600p you become more gpu dependent, so I am assuming that it might work, though I would still advise that before long you upgrade the rest of your rig's foundations, cpu etc. Below that sort of res, 1440 / 1600, then I would have automatically said forget it. See what others have to say...:)
Click to expand...

At very high resolutions such as 1600p you become more gpu dependent when you have a good up-to-date CPU, not a 5 year old CPU that wasn't even the best for most games(2 cores). :)

Assuming a 2500k or better CPU upgrade. Using a single 7970 I can see you having to lower the quality to get reasonable minimum frame rates.

I'd have to say ALXAndy's suggestion of SLI 580 3gb or 7950 CF is the best bet.

Maybe the HD 7870 CF would be up to it as well.
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/4...eference_video_cards_in_crossfire/index1.html
(Been looking for HD 7850 CF reviews but can't find anything. :/ )
 
As already stated, your CPU is incredibly dated and will hold you back in many games. Further, it depends on what your expectations are in terms of performance. Although many games will run great at max settings with a single 680/7970 you'll find that an awful lot of games will struggle to get 60fps. If you don't mind turning down some graphical options or you don't mind less than 60fps in some games then it'll be fine.

I've ordered a second 680, as I was disappointed with the performance of many games: Alan Wake, Crysis 2, The Witcher 2, Batman: Arkham City, Dragon Age II, Metro 2033 (with DOF disabled), etc. There is no doubt that 2560x1600 is an incredibly demanding resolution and many developers are simply doing a poor job of optimising for it.
 
Hi,

I am thinking of pulling the trigger on a new cpu, mobo, ram and gpu. I saw this review and i thought a overclocked 7970 at 1200mhz might cut the mustard at 1600p.

aa is not such an issue at this rez for me personally. I usually find that 2xaa is enough.

have you tried overclocking your 680, how does it fair at this rez with adaptive sync?

2x 7850 might be a good option, im sure a saw a review of a 7970 card the other day and it had the 7850 in cross fire in the benchmark charts and they were faster.
 
ZardoZ said:
I am thinking of pulling the trigger on a new cpu, mobo, ram and gpu. I saw this review and i thought a overclocked 7970 at 1200mhz might cut the mustard at 1600p.

aa is not such an issue at this rez for me personally. I usually find that 2xaa is enough.

have you tried overclocking your 680, how does it fair at this rez with adaptive sync?

2x 7850 might be a good option, im sure a saw a review of a 7970 card the other day and it had the 7850 in cross fire in the benchmark charts and they were faster.
Click to expand...
My 680 is already overclocked to 1237MHz and adaptive vsync works fine, though you can sometimes notice the tearing.

Two 7950s would definitely be a good option, especially if you can get a nice overclock on them. As always, take a look at several reviews and with a variety of games.
 
Your processor shouldn't be to much of a bottle neck but if you can overclock it any higher it would help but from my experience 4gb of ram just isn't enough and used to crash my pc all the time untill I upgraded to 8gb. So I would say go for the best gpu you can afford aswell as another 4gb of ram and then your next step would be cpu and motherboard etc.
 
A single 7970 or 680 4gb should be fine for now and its what I'm currently trying to save up for. I currently use overclocked 5850's in crossfire at 2560 x 1600 res and can play Bf3 on high settings with frames averaging around 45-50fps. Obviously Crossfire 7970 or Sli 680 4gb would be ideal but you can add another at a later date when you really need it.
 
It's not worth going for two 7850s. The Tom's Hardware review shows a single card only manages 20-21fps at 1600p in both Batman: Arkham City and BF3 - even with 100% Crossfire scaling you're looking at 40fps.

Realistically if you want either a 680 or 7970 and to overclock it - you'll won't be able to run every game maxed out but you should get decent performance with a few settings turned down. At you can always add a second card if the performance isn't up to scratch for you. Don't forget that if you drop down the resolution that every game will run fine - it's far from ideal visually but it's an option. You could always set the drivers not to scale so that your image remains sharp (albeit smaller).
 
Disregard quite a lot of this nonsense.

I have a 560ti 1gb and most games I play run flawlessly at maximum settings 2560x1600. The only issue I possibly get is VRAM. It's utter rubbish when people assume you cannot cut this resolution on anything but 2x 580s or a 7970 etc. The only game I have had to knock the resolution down for was Battlefield 3 as it would dip to 30-40fps and I wanted a constant 60fps so I just went to 1920x1200 which still looks fantastic on a Dell U3011.
 
Supernaut91 said:
Disregard quite a lot of this nonsense.

I have a 560ti 1gb and most games I play run flawlessly at maximum settings 2560x1600. The only issue I possibly get is VRAM. It's utter rubbish when people assume you cannot cut this resolution on anything but 2x 580s or a 7970 etc.
Click to expand...
It's not "nonsense". I game at 2560x1600 with a 680 so I'm speaking from experience. Review after review supports my statement:

Alan Wake
GTX680: 46.6fps
HD7970: 54.9fps
GTX580: 35.2fps.

Batman: Arkham City [without anti-aliasing]
GTX680: 54.2fps
HD7970: 49.1fps
GTX580: 42.3fps

Crysis 2
GTX680: 38.4fps
HD7970: 39.5fps
GTX580: 29.6fps

Dragon Age II
GTX680: 44.1fps
HD7970: 41.5fps
GTX580: 34.3fps

ARMA II
GTX680: 40fps
HD7970: 47fps
GTX580: 34fps

With a single 580 you're looking at between 30-40fps at 2560x1600, so there's no way that you're getting playable framerates with a 560Ti. You're looking at 20-30fps and I wouldn't even class that as passable. Clearly you and I do not have the same definition of "flawlessly" or "maximum settings" - any reasonable person would assume that to mean 60fps with everything set to maximum. Sure you'll be able to run games like Diablo III, Dota II or Skyrim fine but not any of the games I listed earlier.

As I've said, a single 680 or a 7970 - especially when overclocked - will do fine but you'll have to turn down settings or accept a lower framerate for some games.
 
TAC4U said:
It's not "nonsense". I game at 2560x1600 with a 680 so I'm speaking from experience. Review after review supports my statement:

Alan Wake
GTX680: 46.6fps
HD7970: 54.9fps
GTX580: 35.2fps.

Batman: Arkham City [without anti-aliasing]
GTX680: 54.2fps
HD7970: 49.1fps
GTX580: 42.3fps

Crysis 2
GTX680: 38.4fps
HD7970: 39.5fps
GTX580: 29.6fps

Dragon Age II
GTX680: 44.1fps
HD7970: 41.5fps
GTX580: 34.3fps

ARMA II
GTX680: 40fps
HD7970: 47fps
GTX580: 34fps

With a single 580 you're looking at between 30-40fps at 2560x1600, so there's no way that you're getting playable framerates with a 560Ti. You're looking at 20-30fps and I wouldn't even class that as passable. Clearly you and I do not have the same definition of "flawlessly" or "maximum settings" - any reasonable person would assume that to mean 60fps with everything set to maximum. Sure you'll be able to run games like Diablo III, Dota II or Skyrim fine but not any of the games I listed earlier.

As I've said, a single 680 or a 7970 - especially when overclocked - will do fine but you'll have to turn down settings or accept a lower framerate for some games.
Click to expand...

15xvfxd.jpg
 
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